I think if anyone ever did a survey of the top plants grown with children, sunflowers would be number one on the list. My kids love growing them; the seeds are easy for little hands to handle, the plants aren’t too fussy and the end result is a real show-stopper. With this in mind, you’d be forgiven for thinking that sunflowers are just about huge blooms on tall stems and height competitions for kids. But there’s far more to them than this, ...
Exploring a Spring garden
Over the Easter holidays we visited my sister-in-law Sarah and her family, this week's post comes from her lovely garden. The last time we visited was back in December, it never fails to amaze me just how different the same space can feel at different times of the year. I always get loads of inspiration from Sarah's garden - and usually a bit of the green-eyed monster too, she has so much space and takes such ...
Cheap garden ideas: how to be a thrifty gardener
If you're keen on the idea of gardening on a budget, I've got lots of thrifty gardening tips for you! It’s that time of year when the weather really makes us want to get out in the garden and create some loveliness. My head is full of plans, wish lists and jobs to get done outdoors, and any spare time spent inside feels like a bit of a waste. All this planning and excitement can end up costing you a fortune though; I think this is the ...
Raised bed rejuvenation
I think we’ve all got a spot in our garden that niggles at us. This week I’ve been tackling the one that’s been niggling at me for about 5 years now! We don’t have a garden at the front of our house, but there is a small raised bed which we look out onto from the lounge. This bed was home to a very stubborn ivy which was always engulfing the gatepost, and the soil was constantly escaping through the stones onto the drive. I wanted to ...
How to make your garden a home for wildlife
Have you ever looked at your garden through the eyes of the wildlife that visits it? Probably not. You should though! When I was sitting with my kids deciding what they would grow on their allotment plots this year, we talked about which flowers were good for pollinating insects. This led to a lovely discussion about what it must be like to be a bee, buzzing around all the gardens and deciding which one had the most tempting flowers to visit ...
New life in old pots
This has been a very low-input week for us gardening-wise; we’ve been decorating Lily’s bedroom which has sucked up all potential outdoors-in-the-frosty-sunshine time. To make matters worse, after wrestling with a wonky stepladder I’m now the proud owner of a badly cut finger which means no ‘proper’ gardening for a few days. Not happy! Anyway, after feeling sorry for myself for a bit I finished my seed order, which got me fired-up for ...
4. How Does Your Garden Grow?
Happy New Year! We spent the last days of 2014 under a blanket of snow which was wonderful on many levels. Everything looked obligingly festive whilst also giving the feeling of a clean slate for the New Year, we were all suddenly desperate to get outside and burn off some energy which made for fab family time and rosy cheeks aplenty, and the light was just incredible, like a shot in the arm during these dark days. Inevitably I started ...
3. How Does Your Garden Grow?
I found myself in a reflective mood whilst working on this week’s post. I wandered out into the garden with my camera and was completely stumped for anything interesting to shoot. Well it is December, I know, but the fact that there was so little to excite despite all our hard work this year wasn’t exactly uplifting. This is the essence of gardening though; so much of it is transient and at the whim of the elements, you just have to embrace ...
2. How Does Your Garden Grow?
Last weekend we had a big family gathering at my sister-in-law’s house; she has a wonderful garden so our rather bare patch at home is off the hook this week! These photos were taken quite early in the morning; there had been a heavy frost but the Winter sun was working it’s magic before my eyes as I wandered around with the camera. Here’s a few of the things that grabbed my attention and made me linger long enough to lose the feeling in my ...
1. How Does Your Garden Grow?
Not the most exciting week on the calendar garden-wise to be honest! The light has been pretty poor here and I’ve had to make do with a bit of a murky outing with the camera; it was still lovely to have a reason to step outside though. The homemade fat cake bird feeders we hung up just over a week ago have been a huge hit, out of four only two are left. We’re seeing far more feathered visitors to the garden and now have a regular robin ...
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