£1 Therapy

Spring has been delayed

Last week my annual reminder popped up on my computer – ‘time to start pruning the roses’. I looked at the snow lying in the garden, and thought, “not today”!

I’ve been looking forward to the arrival of spring, as my garden, like many others at this time of the year, is in need of attention. But a quick look at the weather forecast told me that we’re going to be hanging on to winter for at least another 10 days. With overnight temperatures forecast to be as low as

The Garden in 2018

It’s time to plan

The postman will, at this moment, be stuffing seed and plant brochures into thousands of letterboxes throughout the country. When we’re bundled up, bracing ourselves against ice-cold winds and wishing we were indoors, the garden is far from people’s minds. But it shouldn’t be. This is the time to start thinking “what can I do in my garden this year?”

Two brochures arrived on my hall floor this morning, tempting me with 10% off every plant, bulb and packet of seeds featured inside. Even more tempting are the glossy, richly coloured flowers – not a single caterpillar has munched

Armchair Gardening

Gardening in winter

The wind is howling, roof tiles rattling and the rain is beating against the window. We’re not halfway through January and spring seems a long way off.

Here on the west coast, although there’s been no snow to speak of, we’ve had several storms, fog, heavy frost and huge hailstorms; but out there in the garden, some brave little roses are still hanging desperately onto their stems. It’s an inspiring sight.

At the beginning of this week,

October Beauties

The garden was looking rather sad at the end of August.  Perennials appeared to have reached the end of their flowering period – much earlier than expected.

But then the weather changed.  You don’t need me to tell you how beautiful September was. Dry, still and pleasantly warm days.  At this moment the wind is blowing and the rain is hitting against the window. The central heating has been switched on…probably until next June…or July…

However, the garden had some little surprises

Bill’s Garden

In a wee bit of a departure from the usual monthly post,  “The Garden in August (etc)”, I thought it would be good to look at one of our ward member’s garden.

But a little explanation first of all.  Part of the inspiration behind our Additional Meeting in April was Bill Tate’s first-year garden in their new home.  Bill sowed the seeds, grew the plants, while Frances cooked, baked and preserved.  Their first-year crop in 2013 was impressive.  The other source of motivation was

The Garden in August

What a dreadful weekend of rain!  I ventured into the garden on Monday morning to survey the damage to the plants.  The secateurs went into action and by Monday afternoon the garden was mostly just a sea of green.  But it’s only early August, and there’s still new growth on the roses, so hopefully (weather permitting) there will be some fresh colour in a few weeks time.

If you’re feeling a bit fed-up with your garden right now, scroll to the bottom and just listen to a lovely little bit of soothing inspiration!

I did say in the Garden in June post, that I’d let you know how the cut-and-come-again seedlings from

The Garden in July

Gardens are usually at their most abundant in July, with large displays of flowers and many fruits, salads and vegetables ready to harvest.

Our Additional Meeting in April was partly the inspiration to plant up a 6 ft x 8 ft raised bed (that displayed an amazing collection of weeds last year!) with some vegetable plants. The other source of inspiration was the impressive yields that Brother Tate’s first-year garden (at their new home) produced. Hopefully we can feature brother Tate’s garden here on the blog before too long.

Our patch isn’t particularly large, but