So. You go away for a few days and when you come back half the internal walls in your house are gone. You've got no bathroom, no kitchen, no heating, barely any ceiling and the only running water is a hosepipe sticking out of the middle of a concrete floor. The one safe, semi-liveable-in room is your bedroom but even here every available inch of floorspace is … Continue reading And Back Again
Photography
Oak Killer
Despite banging on about how much I love oaks, I plan to kill one. The Priory oaks add real structure, permanence and sheer weight to the beauty of the estate. (Rather like shrubs can do in an herbaceous border, I suppose). As well as oaks, we have other big trees here: enormous ash trees (including … Continue reading Oak Killer
Promises
Yesterday I finally pruned back the dogwoods, down to a few inches above ground level. This ensures new brightly coloured stems next winter. And I tackled the mahonia. The only one in the garden was outgrowing its space somewhat and I was becoming fed up, whilst mowing, of having my right arm painfully scratched. Mahonia … Continue reading Promises
A Particular Auricula
Another dismal and dour and dreary and dank and drizzly day yesterday. Yet more time in the greenhouse. I sowed chilli and sweet pepper seeds, cucumber and ten of my precious Echium pininana. A friend gave me an echium plant a couple of years ago after I saw them growing in Cornwall. Ridiculously tall, with … Continue reading A Particular Auricula
Sometimes,
not often, the beauty of something just takes your breath away.
Greenhouse Pesky Pest Control
Venus Fly Trap (Dionaea muscipula) I have two venus flytraps in the Priory greenhouse. They are working plants (standard terms and conditions) and help to keep down the insect numbers (I don't use any pesticides). You can buy yellow, sticky sheets to hang up in greenhouses. Attracted by the bright yellow colour, flies etc investigate, … Continue reading Greenhouse Pesky Pest Control
The Anxious Gardener 