Grow your own
Wild Way Newsletter – January 2021
TOMATOES In this first issue I name my favourites tomatoes grown over the years, list those in my 2021 trials and explore their wild origins and relatives. After the year…...
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How to grow organic tomatoes including heirloom tomatoes
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…
How to grow organic rhubarb and cook it – the tastiest around!
I love rhubarb. I love its flavour and I love how easy it is to grow. I always recommend planting rhubarb before anything else if you plan to grow your…
How to grow organic purple sprouting broccoli and cook it
It wasn’t until I started growing my own vegetables I even clocked that purple sprouting broccoli existed. In the supermarkets you can readily buy the green types and I had…
Growing avocados in London
It’s been widely known that avocados can grow in London for decades, I’ve seen the trees around the city since I moved here in 1999, including two small trees a…
Allotment Month 49: growing up
My fourth year on the allotment has whooshed by and during the very wet start to winter I popped down on a couple of dry and sunny days over the…
Allotment diary
Allotment Month 61: December vegetables with winter salad, kale, roots and squash
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…
Gardening in southern England’s changed climate
Where are we now, into the fifth summer on my allotment, and despite going into this year with optimism after two sun baked summers, I feel exhausted by it again.…
Come into my world: haphazard
On my allotment two years ago I started increasing the number of ornamental plants because I found I had loads of spares, to use for cutting and to help stop…
Allotment Month 55: vigorous legumes, squash and pumpkins, tomatoes
Do you ever have the feeling you’re being left behind in gardening? You think your tomatoes are doing well when you spot Bob’s on social media are three feet taller…
From plot to place: allotments benefit from a bit of character
Words can’t describe how much I love my allotment this year. It feels to me as though it has morphed into its own place, a destination for me to exist…
A right hodgepodge
Regular readers may recall that about two years ago I started planting spare cuttings, divisions and seedlings of plants I’d grown into one end of my allotment. I’ve since been…
Wildflowers
10 native UK weeds to grow for wildlife
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…
Stinging nettles, a troublesome but useful weed
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…
Umbilicus rupestris, navelwort
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…
Orchidize
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…
Pulsatilla vulgaris
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,…
An introduction to native wild orchids the alien wonder beings
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…
Places to visit
Trials and titillations at RHS Wisley after lockdown
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…
15 best free gardens to visit in London
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…
From the streets: London’s green spaces in Lockdown
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…
From the streets: Bonnington Square, Vauxhall in Autumn
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…
Garden of Medicinal Plants at The Royal College of Physicians
I’ve been interested in visiting the Royal College of Physicians’ garden of medicinal plants for quite some time. Despite having walked past it hundreds of times without realising while working…
The Newt in Somerset
On our trip to Somerset we popped into the Newt Hotel garden to visit the newly landscaped grounds. Previously called Hadspen House, it has been gardened for centuries, including by…
Design ideas
Littlebury Road through 2020
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…
Sarah Raven’s Perch Hill
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…
Why don’t we talk more about patterns in gardens?
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…
Come into my world: haphazard
On my allotment two years ago I started increasing the number of ornamental plants because I found I had loads of spares, to use for cutting and to help stop…
A right hodgepodge
Regular readers may recall that about two years ago I started planting spare cuttings, divisions and seedlings of plants I’d grown into one end of my allotment. I’ve since been…
From the streets: Bonnington Square, Vauxhall in Autumn
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…
Small gardens
Littlebury Road through 2020
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…
Late summer in the city
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…
How to make an Aeonium arboreum branch (part three)
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…
How to grow annual Persicaria orientalis from seed
One of the Persicaria we’re not judging on the RHS Persicaria Trial Forum is Persicaria orientalis because it’s an annual while the rest are perennial (trials are on hold for…
Pot’s Growing On in February? Peat free propagation, houseplant beautification and winter division
Over the last few weeks I’ve been gradually getting ready for spring one little task at a time. I haven’t had the luxury of having a full day or even…
Littlebury garden redesign (part one) – Goodbye pots! Goodbye paving!
I’ve been thinking of making changes to our garden for a couple of years. The number of pots we have are getting out of hand and I dream of lifting…
Container gardening
Different ways to grow from seed
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…
8 tips to demystify growing Begonias as houseplants
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…
Pot’s Growing On in November? Hedging my bets
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…
Pot’s Growing On: plant indoor bulbs for Christmas(ish) colour
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…
Pot’s Growing On: addicted to crazy leaves
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…
Outdoor mini aubergines for pots and containers in small spaces
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!