Happy New Year! I’ve just completed some tardy bulb planting, the very last ones. I was experiencing mild but niggling guilt each time I went into the shed and those unopened packets started at me accusingly. Really, they should have gone into the ground and pots earlier, but they were a December gift, and they will still come up next spring, perhaps just a little … Continue reading Why you should never be without Alliums
…is sometimes dreary, grey, a little drab. Let’s be honest, unless you have a garden stuffed with artfully placed, tightly clipped evergreens, that look good no matter the weather, this is just par for the course. Plants die, colours fade, the light is low and weak, the sun becomes a stranger, and it rains. And rains. And rains. And yet…gardeners can always can find little … Continue reading The garden in winter
I thought I would bounce into a Six on Saturday for a little analysis of the garden in early spring (which began yesterday, on 1st March, as far as I am concerned!). What’s more, it’s a sunny morning, such a rarity that it’s worth celebrating in writing! We really have had dreary weather lately, and horrible horrible things happening in the world, it’s hard for … Continue reading Spring in waiting (Six on Saturday)
Continuing my mini-series on marvellous Middle Eastern plants, this one is so impressive that it warrants a post all of its own. PS: this is an expanded version of my recent post on Instagram/FB. Cedar of Lebanon, Cedrus libani, ‘Arz libnani The mighty and venerable Cedar of Lebanon is associated with divinity, epic heroism and the exploits of some of the greatest ancient civilisations to … Continue reading Tree of the gods: Lebanese Cedar
Welcome back and Happy New Year to you. I’m in rain-soaked Kent after a very bumpy channel crossing from France on the ferry. It feels like a long way from the Middle East, let me tell you. But these plants are a great form of escapism, a distraction from dark and dank January in northern Europe, and a delve into another world, but one that’s … Continue reading More Marvellous Middle Eastern plants! (Part 2)
Hello everyone! I hope you’re all doing well and not feeling overwhelmed by preparations for Christmas, if you’re celebrating. I wanted to let you know about a series I’ve been doing throughout this month on Middle Eastern plants. If you follow me on social media @the_nostalgic_gardener on Instagram or on my personal FaceBook @Selwa Calderbank then you might have seen these! If you have, I … Continue reading Middle Eastern plants in the spotlight
Brrrr…it’s cold outside, but in the relatively cosy confines of my cold frames, my winter salads are doing well. It’s a genuine pleasure to lift the lid on a frosty morning, and find vibrant, healthy salads ready for the picking. Cold frame growing is also a very simple and easy form of gardening, and a useful way to extend the season. Here are the main … Continue reading Cold frame growing for winter salads
Am having a bit of a slow day today. Is it maybe related to the time of year? August is a month of relaxing holidays, balmy evenings and that niggling almost back-to-school feeling that summer is slipping through one’s fingers. Something about all of these things begets slowness. Luckily, from a gardening perspective, there’s still plenty going on with the veg harvests coming in thick … Continue reading August harvests and sowings (Six on Saturday)
For this week’s Six on Saturday am going to focus on what could be both a blessing and a challenge: gardening under trees. In my garden, that is what I do. Big mature trees of lime, hornbeam and oak rise up from behind our walls, a bank of green laden with leaves and seed. The trees give the garden its special character, a green cocoon … Continue reading Six on Saturday: Gardening under trees
I am typing this on my phone in the garden on a Friday evening, sitting in the sun, the washing drying on the line for the first time in ages. The sun feels good on my skin. The pollinating insects know it too, they are out with the very fist ray. Yesterday I sent out August’s edition of my newsletter – The Green Gardening Newsletter … Continue reading Six on Saturday: the pollinator edition
