The life and loves of a time-poor plantsman
No good gardener ever turns down the offer of a load of well-composted horse manure. Some may even go weak at the knees at the very mention of muck. Why? Because horse manure is a fantastic natural fertiliser, soil conditioner and promoter of earthworms. For leafy plants, always hungry for nitrogen, there really is nothing […]
Read More
By mid-September, many summer-flowering annuals have started to burn themselves out. They’ve given their all, and their natural instinct is now to produce seed before the weather gets colder and they die. This can leave pots and containers planted in late spring looking rather forlorn. If you’re not ready to resign yourself to the onset […]
Read More
Whilst tempting to lament the summer that never was, now is the time to be looking ahead and planting your spring-flowering bulbs. The first 2022 catalogues seemed to arrive earlier than ever this year, some of them well before the last tulips had faded in our garden. With no opportunity to impress customers at the […]
Read More
I am surprised and embarrassed to note that the last time I wrote on TFG’s blog was back in January. Where have the last 7 months gone? I will endeavour to post more frequently going forward; however, we all know how life/full-time jobs get in the way so please, bear with… It’s National Allotments Week […]
Read More
January 2020 After waiting only four months, we got the news that we had reached the top of the allotment waiting list: if we were still interested, would we like to come and choose the one we wanted? Yes, we were still very much interested, although, I have to admit, I was a little hesitant […]
Read More
The year 2020. Where to begin? It’s tempting to dive straight into the obvious negatives – and let’s face it that would be rich territory – but I’m prepared to stick my neck out and say that in many respects it has been a good year, for us at least. I hope you won’t think […]
Read More
Where, oh where did May go? No sooner had it started than June was upon us. Now it’s midsummer, the longest day is almost here, and I am way behind with my garden diary. As I explained to our allotment neighbour at the weekend, May is a month where doing takes priority over writing about […]
Read More
April was a bittersweet month. Among many positives were the beautiful weather and being able to spend extra time in the garden with The Beau, Max and Millie. It is hard to conceive of going back to work as I did only six weeks ago, commuting five hours a day. I am achieving so much […]
Read More
Who could have predicted that the Month of March would end as it did? Over the course of two weeks our daily routines changed in ways we never imagined possible and there is more of this to come for sure. We are living in a new reality, in the short term at least. We must […]
Read More
I may be a composting virgin, but now that I have an allotment I am getting serious about the dark art of decay. Since the New Year I’ve been swotting up and assimilating all manner of advice about building, filling and maintaining a successful heap. Composting, like brewing and train spotting, attracts a certain degree […]
Read More