This year’s drought has devastated lawns and much else besides – but where once there was grass, there’s now the chance to do things differently. This summer’s drought, which in England is far from over, put our gardens through one almighty stress-test. Soil baked. Borders buckled. Seedlings shrivelled. Greenhouses boiled. Crops stalled. Butts ran dry. […]
As our climate breaks down and food security is threatened, we need a new, bottom-up approach to local food-growing that will also knit our fraying society back together. We’re hitting the ecological buffers – hard. Five exhausting heatwaves, with record-breaking high temperatures; life-threatening wildfires (some in unlikely, urban places); wild life, from plants to animals, […]
As your garden greenery makes that summer shift from abundant to unruly, make the problem the solution with an on-the-spot mulch. I’d had enough. After time away (planned and unplanned), a first heatwave that forced plants to grow like billy-o, being poorly – vertigo and spring-into-summer gardening do not mix – and then a second […]
Studying natural history may open young minds – but if it’s to win their hearts, they need the chance to get their hands dirty. A huge, positive and potentially generation-shaping shift is underway in the world of education: there’s to be a new GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) in natural history. Students study for […]
Compost, leaf mould, bracken, wood chips, even grit… it’s time to sieve your way to gardening gold. Blackcaps are serenading overhead. Spring sun warms my cheeks. A cool, light breeze gets the bluebells shimmying – and I’m joining them. My arms and upper body are moving to a steady, repeating motion, left-right, left-right, as I […]
Solar technology is developing apace – but that’s not without controversy. For friction-free, life-enriching solar power, think no-tech – and look no further than your garden. I’m in my greenhouse, cheeks warmed by spring sunshine: calm, relaxed – smug, even. Beyond the glass, the sun at large is sending society into a bad-tempered frenzy; argy-bargy […]
With the price – and the cost – of oil overshadowing global politics, the need to break our gardens’ dependence on it is more urgent than ever. Imagine it: drops of black, oily rain pattering down onto your greenhouse roof, congealing, blocking out the sun. Outdoors, your plants coated in the same foul-smelling, hellish precipitation. […]
On dull days – and in dark times – snowdrops never fail to lift the spirits. Plant, sow, divide and share them, and light up Februarys to come! Envy alert: I’ve had a fabulous February. We’ve been blessed with an unusually dry January and February here in North Wales, though we haven’t escaped a […]
The smallest earth-friendly actions and choices in our gardens and greenhouses can build to make global waves. Garden dreaming – whether it’s by day or by night – is blissfully unavoidable, but sometimes dreams come to us back to front, the wrong way around. Recently, I night-dreamt that I was inside my greenhouse, early spring […]
Escape the stress – festive and otherwise – with a midwinter project that weaves calm, control and creativity back into the season. Tight. Knotted. Coiled like a wound-up, corroding spring. Stuck. All too much. That’s where my mind is right now. It wasn’t a quick journey getting there, via the stress-fuelled frustration superhighway – but […]
For truly green renewable power, just look up – and put your walls to work. Everywhere I look these days there’s a familiar glint, whether it’s in a city, town, village or even out in flat, open countryside. The most common and familiar sparkle bounces off the roofs of our homes, especially the just-built ones, […]
As we head into an increasingly alarming and unpredictable future, we have a powerful ally standing ready to mitigate the impacts and build our resilience – we just need to mobilise its transformative potential. There’s trouble ahead – and I’m here to help. I hear you’re having a spot of bother facing up to the […]
