Scotland may have had its wettest winter for a century but water reserves in much of the rest of the country are at lower levels than in 1976, one of the worst drought years of the twentieth century. The Environment Agency’s drought map shows the East Midlands at high risk, and while the debate continues about how best to deal with the problem, it is clear that we all need to use less.
Read MoreThere are plenty of proverbs extolling the virtues of hard work in the garden. ‘Gardens are not made by sitting in the shade’ (Rudyard Kipling), ‘Gardening requires lots of water…most of it in the form of perspiration’ (Lou Erickson) and ‘You cannot plow a field by turning it over in your mind’ (Anon) are just a few. These insights reflect a truth about gardens - that they represent a taming of nature, to one degree or another, and the level of taming is directly proportional to the amount of effort.
Read MoreAt the time of writing, frosts have been rather thin on the ground this winter, in every sense. So perhaps an ode to master jack will entice this most useful of tools into our gardens before Spring.
Read MoreMy godmother planted a tree on the birth of each of her three sons. They have long flown the nest and she too has moved on, but I still pass their old front garden occasionally and see the trees continuing to grow strongly and it recalls nice memories.
Read MoreIt has been a strange autumn. Someone asked me recently what they should do with their iris, cut them down or leave them for a while. The foliage was apparently looking tatty though just about alive but to confuse the situation fresh flower buds were developing expectantly. Not bad for late November, but then perhaps not good either.
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