Six on Saturday: 24 Apr 2021: Tulips and Tomatoes

‘Can you all get in an orderly line please?’, I feel like saying to all the seedlings that are clamouring to be potted on, and particularly to the 19 tomato plants, which have demanded a lot of my time and attention this week. All of them had to be potted on, staked and tied in, but after doing about fifteen of the them, I got … Continue reading Six on Saturday: 24 Apr 2021: Tulips and Tomatoes

Just the right shade of red, Your Majesty?

As the much anticipated tulips open up in our gardens, it’s a joyous moment, but also a curious one, as we see just how much the promised shade in the bulb catalogues or online suppliers matches the reality of what we see with our own eyes. I have found myself delighted with some of the new tulips I planted, and disappointed in others, which didn’t … Continue reading Just the right shade of red, Your Majesty?

Six on Saturday: 17 April 2021: still cold!

We’re having a very cold spring here: the garden table, optimistically uncovered earlier this month, is used mainly by the pigeons as a landing site for their droppings, as they roost in the trees above. It’s not exactly the kind of weather than induces much gardening. In fact, I’ve been away from the garden this week, as we took off for a refreshing change of … Continue reading Six on Saturday: 17 April 2021: still cold!

Whisperings of war among the marsh daffodils

Where once RAF pilots were shot out of the sky by enemy fire, and Russian prisoners of war awaited their fate in a harsh wilderness, now a patch of naturalised daffodils grows. I’m in the high fens of eastern Belgium, or Ostbelgien, right up against the border with Germany, an atmospheric, wild place, borderland country which once belonged to Prussia, became Belgian after the first … Continue reading Whisperings of war among the marsh daffodils

Six on Saturday: 10 April 2021

Plans for a leisurely Easter break pottering about the garden were stymied by the fickle weather. Snow only looks pretty when there isn’t gardening to be done, and I was most disappointed to see the garden on Wednesday looking like this: The delicate spring blossoms were all smothered in snow, although the viburnum did carry it off rather jauntily: Thankfully, the snowy interlude was a … Continue reading Six on Saturday: 10 April 2021

Annuals or Perennials? Can’t we have both?

In researching an article on annuals for a gardening newsletter (while it snows outside), I came across this startling quote: “An annual is a plant that lives and dies in one growing season. A perennial regrows and reblooms year after year. In our busy world, why plant anything but perennials?“ – Jeanette Marantos, The Los Angeles Times, 28 Feb. 2020 – quoted on merriam-webster.com Now this … Continue reading Annuals or Perennials? Can’t we have both?