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
After a short break in the sun in Barcelona last week, am finding it difficult to readjust to life back in Belgium. Mainly because of the weather. It has rained pretty much non-stop for the past week, and while the slugs are delighted, I am not. There are upsides. Tithonias (Mexican sunflowers) love the rain and they are doing a good job adding some brightness … Continue reading Six on Saturday: Where is the sun?!
I was recently asked what my gardening style was by fellow blogger, book reviewer and garden enthusiast Rosie Amber who’s kindly featuring my garden on her blog this coming Sunday. I think that ‘romantic cottage garden’ sums it up best, and what month can be more romantic that June, billowing with roses and cottage garden favourites? Here are a few pics to share with you … Continue reading Romantic June: Six on Saturday
It was a sunny start for the chickens today, like me they do take every opportunity to bask when sunshine is on offer. The chickens don’t have a cockerel, I don’t think we could get away with it. One has to try to be on good terms with one’s neighbours and I doubt that a 5 am start to the day would be conducive to … Continue reading Soon I’ll be busy (6 on Saturday)
Hello everyone! It’s been a cold week here in Belgium but the compensation has been some stunning blue skies against which the plants and bare tree branches look gorgeous. My gardening activity has centred around sowing seeds indoors, and laying down some mulch outdoors. I can’t stress enough how valuable mulch is in improving the soil, retaining water all through the hot summer and doing … Continue reading Old friends in the garden (6 on Saturday)
Hello everyone! I hope the change in the weather to cold and grey isn’t getting you down (if you’re reading this in the Western hemisphere. If you’re on the other side of the world, I envy you!). You might have noticed that I have been a bit erratic in my postings of late. I promise you I have not been lazy! No, I have been … Continue reading Some news and some plants for Six on Saturday 03 Dec 2022
Today I’m going to give you a quick run through of a few experiments from my first proper year of allotmenteering (if mountaineering can be a verb, then why not ‘allotmenteering’? My spellcheck doesn’t agree, and suggests ‘allmothering’ as an alternative, which is actually not far from the truth!). I’ve been spending more time in the allotment than in the garden lately, maybe thanks to … Continue reading Allotment experiments: six on Saturday: 12 Nov 2022
I don’t think I have ever planted bulbs in autumn and got too hot doing it. But I did this week. It was 23 degrees C in my area of Brussels on 28 October, breaking meteorological records. As I popped tulips, alliums and iris into the ground and pots, I wondered what the future hold for them. Bulbs benefit from cold winters, so what happens … Continue reading Balmy October
