Blue skies, light winds and real warmth from the sun……..it must be spring at last. I was able to do a lot of spraying of all the pernicious weeds including thistles, dandelions and perennial rose-bay willow herb. It was very

It might be cold with a strong wind but the plants are shooting and sprouting and budding up with great promise. The first flower today on Helianthemum ‘Bunbury’ and the polemoniums are beginning to flower. I’m checking plants daily to

Yesterday was the day we’ve all been waiting for. Plenty of warm sunshine and only light wind. People were happy to be out and about for a change and not having to wear layer upon layer of clothing. The hedges

There are an increasing number of red ants in the garden. Each year they appear in more and more places, usually deep in the middle of a choice plant. They are almost impossible to get rid of. Why don’t they drown

At last, the weather was fine, my helper Pat was available and we had 5 solid hours of cutting things back, weeding and general tidying. Masses of bees were out on the pussy willows. I felt warm, a rare feeling

Has anyone seen any daffodils yet? Not the dwarf early ones, although they have only just opened in the last few days, but the taller ones. Its all so late this year, it seems to me. I heard that the

Having complained endlessly about the rain and the soggy, boggy garden I find to my surprise that the ground is beginning to dry up. We ahve now had over a week of dry weather and the puddles are disappearing (its

We have just come back from a few days away in Portugal where we visited friends who live near Portalegre. They picked us up from Lisbon and drove us eastwards on the toll roads. I expected to see cork oaks

Its snowing again. The previous lot which fell last Sunday and the previous Friday was just beginning to thaw around the edges. But the temperatures haven’t been above freezing for over a week. Its allowed me to see the tracks