Recently Chris and I were saying how fantastic our polytunnel has been, it’s a few years old now, is as good as new, and allows us to grow a range…

This week I finally plucked up the enthusiasm to work out the plan for our allotment in 2024, shown below. I rotate the crops in light green, and I’ve moved…

Tomatoes sit atop everyone’s grow your own lists, and if they don’t, they should! Relatively easy to grow – with a few quirks – tomatoes are highly productive plants that…

Growing onions and shallots organically from seed is easy, cheap and fun. In this post I will detail each step from seed packet to plate, you can grow along with…

I used to have a mild apathy toward Brussels sprouts, boiled and soggy, I can’t say I’d’ve rushed out to grow them… until I sliced and fried them. Fried sliced…

Microgreens are young salad crops that are grown from seed and then picked and harvested as soon as the first or second set of leaves have emerged. Best grown on…

This week I finally plucked up the enthusiasm to work out the plan for our allotment in 2024, shown below. I rotate the crops in light green, and I’ve moved…

Growing onions and shallots organically from seed is easy, cheap and fun. In this post I will detail each step from seed packet to plate, you can grow along with…

We took on our new allotment in Yorkshire in February 2021 and, with almost two full growing seasons now behind us, I’m starting to think ahead to 2023 (join my…

In our first year on the smallholding in some respects I should have done nothing but prepare areas, mend boundaries and get organised, instead I did none of that and…

Chillies and peppers are a really easy to grow, easy to use and easy to store set of edibles. Both chillies and peppers are closely related, grown in a similar…

My allotment needs a good weeding. It’s looking fairly overgrown in parts because I haven’t been down enough in recent weeks to keep on top of them, for one reason…

My book Wild about Weeds looks at the wildlife value of many weeds I feel are some of the most beautiful, concentrating on how to integrate these wild flower wonders…

Some people have asked why stinging nettles aren’t in my book Wild about Weeds and the answer is: 1) It’s celebrated right at the beginning on the contents page and…

At the end of June 2016 Chris and I were in Chilham, Kent for the beautiful and dreamy countryside wedding of our friends, Simon and Clara. The day after the…

One day there will come a moment when I’ll have seen all of the species of native wild orchids. I’m not sure how I’ll feel about losing that lack of…

Finally, after many years, today I came up close and personal with one of my favourite plants growing and flowering in the wild: Pulsatilla vulgaris. It was overcast and rainy,…

People tell you that magic isn’t real, that Utopia is impossible. They’re talking bollocks. I know because I’ve seen it. Little glimpses of wonder, scientifically explainable yes but magical in…

For our summer holiday this year Chris and I spent most of the week in Tenby, Pembrokeshire on the south west coast of Wales. I’d mixed up our dates however,…

I’ve been visiting Chris’ family for the past 15 odd years or so near Hebden Bridge and always wanted to go to the Midgley open gardens near by. Now we…

I love RHS Wisley. I will always credit the garden and the teams who manage it with truly opening my eyes to horticulture. When I’d booked my ticket to visit…

Looking for maximum planty wonder without spending a penny? Then check out my fave London garden and parks below. This is a realtime list of places I’ve visited that I’ll…

Everyone has been coping with the last month in their own way, surreal is a word I’ve been bandying around a lot, it feels the most fitting to me; we’re…

Last Sunday I gave myself the morning off writing projects and decided to visit Bonnington Square on the recommendation of my friend Lucy (about 30 mins walk away from our…

What’s most important to you and your small garden: planting? A place to sit? A place to dine? A place to sunbathe or play sport? No matter the size of…

It feels like the RHS Chelsea Flower Show has finally found its feet again after having the rug pulled from under it by the pandemic. Gardens were big budget, the…

Our parks, streets and town centres used to be filled with displays of annual flowers, but as council budgets have been slashed over the years, annual displays largely vanished. Environmental…

This year is a difficult one for all of us in many unexpected ways, through it our garden has given me an anchor and a project to focus on. I’ve…

This is one garden I have wanted to visit for many years, Perch Hill, home to cut flower expert and grower, Sarah Raven. Based in a quiet valley in East…

I find patterns in gardens fascinating (so much so I wrote a book about them) and I find it strange they aren’t discussed more in gardening because they are literally…

What’s most important to you and your small garden: planting? A place to sit? A place to dine? A place to sunbathe or play sport? No matter the size of…

For twenty years I lived in small flats with the tiniest (and often non-existent!) outdoor spaces, from rented rooms with metre wide shared balconies to others with only space for…

Do you have a patio that constantly has weeds coming up between the slabs? Perhaps some of them have tough chunky roots squashed into the tight cracks and it’s impossible…

This year is a difficult one for all of us in many unexpected ways, through it our garden has given me an anchor and a project to focus on. I’ve…

I really like to feel the seasons, feel them with all my senses. That’s why our garden is carefully planted in successional layers. Not only to provide continuous colour and…

I’ve been asked a lot over the last couple of years for an update on my Aeonium arboreum ‘Zwartkop’ and cuttings (read part one and part two) and I kept…

I don’t know how it’s happened but I seem to have used up all of my pots and seed trays. I don’t feel I’m growing more than last year, in…

When I first started going to garden events like RHS Chelsea Flower Show, the first thing I was drawn to was the begonia display on Dibley’s stand. Their giant leaves…

I’ve been thinking for a while that something is up with our small garden and these are the problems: Not enclosed enough: gaps in the jungly scene are breaking the…

It’s the time of year when you can sit back, put your feet up… and pick up a bulb catalogue cos there’s no rest for a gardener! I’ve ordered all…

Hello loyal reader! (Ignore if first visit or you plan on never returning). In the run up to our September open day I was worried. Our dependable dahlias were largely…

Here I show you the small aubergine plants I’ve been growing in pots at home and in a row on my allotment. I love them!