Tag: The Handy Gardener

  • Road Trip Pt 2.


    Road Trip Pt 2.

    The drive to Rock, a small coastal village on the Camel estuary, is an hour’s drive down the A39, passing nearby to Port St Issac. Rather than skirt this picturesque chocolate-box village, you could do as I did and drive slowly through its winding one-car-width street. Smile, wave and pretend like you’re a local, as…

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  • Road Trip Pt 1.


    Road Trip Pt 1.

    Whoosh… and it’s off I go along one of my favourite and now familiar routes, A4-M4-M25-M3 and finally on to the glorious vistas of the A303. It has to be one of the prettiest and most distracting A-roads in England on which to drive, trying to keep one’s eyes on the road ahead can prove…

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  • I’m Done With Hozelock.


    I’m Done With Hozelock.

    What is it with Hozelock, their spray guns never last more than a year before they malfunction, crack, split or simply fall to bits in your hands. I’ve bought their cheapo all plastic guns as well as their expensive metal models and no matter what, they still fall to bits in less than 12 months.…

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  • Still Waiting.


    Still Waiting.

    March and still no rain, wind yes, rain no. It’s odd having to get the garden hose out in March to soak things, but we’re all having to adjust and come to terms with our unusual weather patterns these days.  The daffs are now popping up their heads, however, last year they were doing this in…

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  • Where’s The Rain?


    Where’s The Rain?

    Well, that must have been the driest Jan/Feb I can remember in London for a long time, having to water the plants in the garden in winter, now there’s an odd thing, more evidence of climatic changes?   Talking of watering, I’ve promised this year to install an irrigation system for the ferns along the…

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  • Summer’s Gone, Did lt Ever Arrive?


    Summer’s Gone, Did lt Ever Arrive?

    The conkers dropped particularly early this year and as for summer, ehhh… wasn’t that the 3-week hot spell we had back in July?  Due to Mr Sunshine’s reluctance to show his face from behind those big fluffy white clouds, the Mediterranean herbs were puny and my usual bountiful crop of tomatoes wasn’t impressive either, some even…

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  • It’s The Little Things.


    It’s The Little Things.

    There’s something deeply gratifying, along with a sense of contentment, sitting down at the kitchen table once a week to clean, sharpen and oil my garden tools. Ritual can be a comforting thing, a sense of grounding with the familiar, in our otherwise chaotic 21st Century lives. So, it’s kettle on for a pot of…

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  • Hello Sunshine.


    Hello Sunshine.

    After all the incessant rain of May, encouraging masses of lush green foliage, but very little in the way of flowers, June followed with a few weeks of hot weather, and boom, there was an explosion of fireworks and colour in the garden. Six months into the year and the weather’s still playing at being…

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  • Down ‘n’ Dirty.


    Down ‘n’ Dirty.

    Being a Gardener involves sowing, planting out, pruning, snipping flowers to display on the dining table and plucking or digging up the fruit and veg of one’s labours, nice things like that. However, sometimes it’s just plain down ‘n’ dirty work. It gets muddy, cold and wet and there’s those poor throbbing pin-cushion like hands…

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  • Skip Diving.


    Skip Diving.

    I’ll admit, I’m rather partial to a spot of ‘skip-diving,’ one man’s rubbish… they’re ideal for sourcing old house bricks (more expensive to buy than new ones), with which I like to create rustic, worn-in mosaic paths in the garden. Due to all the trees surrounding my own garden, as lovely as they are, offering…

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