The life and loves of a time-poor plantsman
Every weekend is pretty much the same during the lockdown. A time to catch up on sleep, to read, phone friends and family, make lists, walk the dogs, eat, drink and do a few jobs outside. There are a great many substantial projects that need to be tackled at The Watch House: fixing the roof, […]
Read More
I’ve been out in the garden this morning assessing the havoc wreaked by The Beast from The East and Storm Emma. It is not a pretty picture, as you will see from the photographs below. Leaves and twigs have been ripped from the trees, semi-hardy plants are flattened and more tender ones have been […]
Read More
Oh! How we love a ‘snow event’ here in England. The rare instances when the white stuff descends from the heavens used to be referred to as ‘flurries’, ‘snow storms’ or even ‘blizzards’ back in the day, but are now elevated to ‘white-outs’, ‘snowmageddon’ and ‘snowbombs’ alongside other ‘extreme weather events’. Like our celebrities and […]
Read More
Most of the country experienced snow this week. We’ve seen nothing more than a few solitary flakes here in London, and life has gone on as normal; dank, dark and debilitating. Cities are not the place to be when it snows; the deadening whiteness soon gives way to slush and transport mayhem. Out in the sticks one […]
Read More
Last night, as we lay in bed, it was almost as if a BBC special effects man was standing outside the bedroom window chucking buckets of water at the window. The sea roared, the wind howled and the freezing rain came down in sheets. By this morning, arms tired, our imaginary tormentor had moved to […]
Read More
I’ve returned home to the seaside after three weeks away. Hurrah! It’s good to be back, but boy is it cold. In my absence, spring seems to have made little headway in it’s battle with winter. Snow is forecast today and the sky is low and leaden. However there are signs that the fight is […]
Read More
Ah, the English countryside in winter. So empty, so picturesque, so unbelievably wet! We spent most of Sunday eating, drinking or curled up by a roaring fire at the beautiful Bibury Court Hotel in the Cotswolds whilst it chucked it down outside. I pitied the poor trout in the River Coln, swimming hard against a […]
Read More
We’re a bit stuck this weekend. The white stuff came down constantly in central London yesterday, and whilst it made very little difference to life in town, it put me off going down to the coast on our reliably unreliable trains. We’ve also had to cancel birthday party no.2 as the Cotswold hotel we booked […]
Read MoreWith the first properly cold weather now on the horizon, a small gardener’s conundrum is what to save from the frost and what to leave to a chilly fate. Those lucky people with a conservatory, small greenhouse or generous windowsills are in the best position to overwinter tender plants. Sadly we have none of these, […]
Read More