Spring has sprung and it is such an exciting time of year when everything really starts into growth and the change is palpable by the day. I was in the Physic Garden the other day and I could see the Pasque flowers (Pulsatilla vulgaris) were shooting up and Bears Breeches (Acanthus mollis) were spouting up… Continue Reading
March 2019 – It’s getting very close to opening time
How is it that the days just swoosh past as it gets nearer and nearer to the 1st April? Work in the garden has really ramped up and we are sowing seed like it’s going out of fashion. I need to get my planting design in plants and in the ground. The Cleveland Way National… Continue Reading
February 2019 – What are we to do?
Well February’s here and of course it is the usual maddening weather where it’s too cold or too wet or too something to be able to get on as one is itching to do. Here at the garden is no exception and we huddle in corners comparing notes on how far we got the last… Continue Reading
January 2019 – The whole year ahead
So the presents were opened, the Christmas dinner was eaten, the Christmas films were watched, the walks taken, the sofa snuggled in and now it is all over for another year and the whole of 2019 stretches ahead. Here at the walled garden we are focusing on clearing and cleaning. All the glasshouses need a… Continue Reading
December 2018 – Flowers to tell a story
Ladies and gentlemen let me take you on a little time travel as we go back to the middle ages and the time when plants were both the only form of medicine and also had myth and legend attached to them. In an age when only wealthy people could read and church services were in Latin,… Continue Reading
December 2018 – The best fruit trees to attract bees and how to plant them effectively
As a special Christmas treat I thought I would give you an extra blog piece. This is a guest blog by Julien de Bosdari of Ashridge Nurseries, a mail order plant nursery, specialising in hedging, trees, fruit, roses & shrubs. Julien has written about something close to all our hearts here at the garden, how to… Continue Reading
November 2018 – Hedgehogs have the right idea
In the Salad House yesterday I heard a strange noise. It took me a moment to realise what it was which was the contented snoring of a sleeping hedgehog. One of our hedgehogs has set up a nest in the second bay of the glass house. Hedgehogs often have more than one nest as they… Continue Reading
October 2018 – How come it just got busier?
I’ve just got back from two weeks holiday with a little garden visiting thrown in – I know, I know it sounds like a busman’s holiday and in a way it is. But, and it is a big but, getting out and seeing what other people do in their gardens is both interesting and informative.… Continue Reading
September 2018 – Apples
September is the start of autumn – if you are guided by the meteorological calendar as opposed to the astronomical one. So we are now in full harvest mode both in the Kitchen Garden and with the apples. Courgettes are turning into marrows the minute I turn my back and the beans, greens and beetroot… Continue Reading
