It’s 2023! Garden-wise January can be a bit of a grim month. Everything looks brown and soggy and the days are still very short and usually cold, offering far fewer opportunities to get outside and do anything more than tidying up fallen leaves or cut down decaying stalks. I do always get strangely excited aboutContinue reading “New Year, new blog post, new garden plans”
Category Archives: Grow Your Own
Quadgrow trial – part 1
Let’s talk tomatoes. At the beginning of this year’s growing season I was lucky enough to be sent a Quadgrow planter, after spotting them at this year’s Garden Press Event in London (back when we are able to travel freely around the country – remember those days?!). I was really impressed with the set upContinue reading “Quadgrow trial – part 1”
Get Into Grow Your Own
“Nothing tastes as good as home-grown!” – a familiar cry from allotment owners and keen gardeners everywhere. But is it true? And are you ready to find out for yourself? Why?There are many reasons why growing your own is a good thing to do – both for yourself, and for the environment. When you growContinue reading “Get Into Grow Your Own”
Garden Goodies @ GPE 2020
Last week I attended the Garden Press Event in London for the first time – this is an event organised to allow the horticulture industry to come together so that journalists can view the latest products, find out about new campaigns and generally share information and news. It was a whistlestop tour of all theContinue reading “Garden Goodies @ GPE 2020”
Peat free compost
I was recently sent a couple of sample bags of peat-free compost from Westland* – in fact, they turned up shortly before Christmas – cue much head-scratching as I tried to work out what on earth kind of huge, heavy present had I forgotten about ordering… The two kinds are New Horizon All Plant compostContinue reading “Peat free compost”
Flower & Food Festival
This is one of the highlights of my gardening year – Dundee’s Flower and Food Festival. I go every year and really enjoy being in the midst of the best of what our area has to offer in terms of plants, produce and food. There are displays of beautiful plants and flowers, from amateurs, dedicatedContinue reading “Flower & Food Festival”
Learning lessons…
This summer I have been learning a few lessons. Not the book-reading kind – I’ve taken a break from horticulture studies as I decided that it would be madness to add this to the summer agenda of school holidays, parenting, working, enjoying the heatwave and almost constant watering. I plan to resume studies in SeptemberContinue reading “Learning lessons…”
Spring has sprung…
…and my blog is suffering! But it’s a good sign – I’m blogging less because I’m spending more time in the garden. I have to – there are seedlings to prick out, beds to mulch, weeds to weed and plants to pot up. And it’s only going to get busier from here on in! RealContinue reading “Spring has sprung…”
Sow many seeds…so many seedlings
I’ve been on a sowing frenzy. Although I work part time and theoretically have two days each week to spend in the garden/greenhouse doing lots of lovely gardening…it never usually works out that way. Family/work/home responsibilities often creep into this time and so I have to grab gardening opportunities with both hands and make theContinue reading “Sow many seeds…so many seedlings”
Planning…
It’s time to get planning. For the past few weeks and months, a lot of ideas, plans and wish lists have been floating about in my head or, when possible, noted on my phone (Notes, Reminders and Evernote are the gardener’s friends for recording these on-the-go). I’ve also sorted through the seeds I have leftContinue reading “Planning…”
Catching up…
Well it seems it’s been a busy couple of weeks since I last wrote a post. Thankfully, part of the reason for that has been some lovely weather – when the sun’s shining I’m not inclined to stay in the house and stare at a computer screen, I want to get outside and garden! SomeContinue reading “Catching up…”
Sunshine and snow
It has been a week of VERY mixed weather, with the past couple of days seeing glorious sunshine…while little flakes of snow gently drift down from above. Beautiful but c-c-c-cold. So I’ve been wrapping up some of my tender plants or bringing in those in pots which I’ve been hardening off, like geraniums and fuschia.Continue reading “Sunshine and snow”
Mr Smith
As promised in my previous post, just a few hours ago, I grabbed the opportunity to get out into the garden and I’m pleased to say it was a productive afternoon and evening. I had to dodge a few showers but I managed to plant out pea seedlings, as well as sowing new pea seeds.Continue reading “Mr Smith”
Julianne Robertson 