Greenhouse Breather

Last weekend I decided to start bringing some of the plants from one of our greenhouses out into the open to start acclimatising them to outdoor conditions again. They have been crammed in there all winter, and now that its spring and and most of them are starting to show signs of new growth they could do with being repositioned or at least given more space. The weather outside is warm enough...

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Bye Bye Nosey Neighbour!

No not this one, she's really really lovely! And she's not nosey at all but rather very friendly! I meant this one, the 'nosey neighbour' as we said bye bye to him last weekend when we finally laid the last two layers of blocks to the pond to achieve a final depth of six foot and six inches. 'Nosey Neighbour' Thank goodness for the mild and sunny spell we're currently having as we were finally...

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Fine Dissaray 2

Standing at the back door, looking out into the garden while holding a hot mug of tea I saw this sight (and fortunately the camera was nearby too!): March 2012, with some new plants for this year Which reminded of a previous blog post I wrote autumn last year when I was preparing the garden for the then coming winter months. The same spot October 2011 And now it's become the other way around...

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A Rather Satisfying Weekend

Like many gardeners we always have one eye on the weather forecasts, and with sunny weather heading into last weekend we were rather disappointed with the forecast for the weekend itself - rain, rain and more rain. We had already made plans on the tasks we wanted to complete - block laying, being the main task. Unfortunately block laying and rain just do not mix, so on Friday evening we were thinking...

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Spring Clean!

My mind is buzzing with lots of creative ideas now that it's spring. But before I get very creative we must clean up the garden first. Cleaning up the garden means spring tidying up of course. We're about a month behind, usually most of the tidying have been done by now but because we have been concentrating on the new garden and pond we have pretty much left tidying up until recently. But now...

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Win a Signed Copy of Exotic Gardening by Ian Cooke

We have been kindly given a copy of Exotic Gardening by Ian Cooke, signed by the author to give away to one lucky reader. Ian Cooke will be well known to many of you having written several gardening books as well as being a garden designer and RHS Judge. Ian also has his own Garden Blog - Pampas2Palms where you can catch up with his gardens both in the UK and USA. Featuring...

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Wordless Wednesday

Knickers as a baby...

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Planting a Large Yucca

With the lovely sunny weekend we decided it would be the right time to plant out our Yucca faxoniana. We bought this last year and spent the winter dodging its vicious sharp spikes whenever we went past where it was temporarily sited. Not only was this a large plant to move, we were also planting it in the second raised bed next to the pond. Fortunately we have a sack barrow which helped get it...

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Catch it While You Can!

Spring, spring, spring! The weather has been consistently much more mild the past few days and coupled with such a sunny weekend you can't help but feel that spring is definitely here. And the length of daylight is steadily increasing too so you find yourself having more opportunity to do some gardening and undertake some preparation for the coming growing season. Exciting times ahead! And with...

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Wordless Wednesday

Pigeons on a Palm: Central Londo...

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A Weekend in Devon

As regular readers will recall we sometimes visit fellow Exotic Gardeners Lucien and Laura in the delightful Devon town of Exmouth. Since we last visited the garden won the Exmouth in Bloom competition for 2011, so this weekend not only were we visiting our friends but also an award winning garden! (Photos from last summer) The drive down to Devon from Bedfordshire takes about...

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