Resources

I seem to spend half my time at work repatriating rather confused bush crickets. That will be late summer, then. The apples are ripening on the trees, and it is time to decide what to do with them. Take them to Octoberfeast to be pressed for juice, or leave them as...

A few hundred years back, some quite serious wars were fought for control of the spice trade. At this time of year, one can see why. The crops available during an English winter are pretty bland, aren't they? And quite a lot of them taste of cabbage, which is not to...

February is the ungardening month, best seen from the warm side of a window. If you are looking for excuses, there are a couple of good ones - walking on a frosted lawn will do it no good at all, and walking on a sodden bed will compact the soil, which makes roots...

  You can plant almost anything in March, or you could, if the ground was not so depressingly wet. Walking on wet beds is not good for soil or carpets, and if the damp persists anything you have planted out might well rot. Raised beds, of course, are quick to...

We never did get a winter, did we? Autumn went on forever, and now spring seems to be here. Mild, wet and windy weather has brought some beneficial effects for the gardener; however, it probably means that we will have a bumper crop of slugs. Now, to my mind, slugs...

    " A cucumber, " said Dr Johnson, " should be well sliced, and dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out, as good for nothing."  I am inclined to disagree. Very good in a raita, of course, and goes curiously well with peanut butter....

  Gardening in June reflects the essential cussedness of life. The warm weather, sunshine and longer days bring one's beds to life; also, of course, they cause weeds to flourish. One is reminded once more that gardening is not an event, but a process. Never sit...