Planning my Orchard

Planting and caring for my own fruit orchard has been a dream of mine for quite some time. I think I can trace my excitement to one day about eight years ago when I went to the orchard tea rooms at Granchester, just outside Cambridge in England. It was a beautiful sunny day and we […]

Brrrrr…

It’s gone cold here. We’re down to -12C (10F) at night. That’s proper freezing. We’ve had a bit of snow too which is nice. It makes all the frost worthwhile. But my plants are suffering. The Winter garden is, well, wintry. The Sprouts and Red Cabbage are frozen in time but nothing is actually growing. […]

Gifts for the Head Gardener

It’s Chriiiiistmas! My most favourite time of the year. Because I get to put up my snow village, and dust off all my lovely Christmas ornaments, and drink Baileys every night without guilt. And of course snuggle down with my boys infront of a roaring fire and force them to watch The Snowman again, and […]

The Solitary Fig

Well, my Fig tree has one Fig on it. It’s a start! And everyone has to start somewhere, even a tiny Fig tree that in about 15 year time will dominate the garden (that’s the plan). But I’ll take one Fig. I fretted over whether to pick it (as you do when there is but […]

Tasting My First Medlar

I planted a Medlar tree last Spring. I don’t know why but the moment I first saw a Medlar I knew that I would have to plant one at some time. And the minute I had the space to do it, I did. I first saw one at The Courts Garden, a National Trust property […]