Dedham Hall Hotel in Essex is in Constable country and as I walked to the front door I knew it was my kind of place – one of those fabulous gardens that looks abundant and artless and so natural – a garden that has soul and a sense of place – interesting ordinary plants in every corner and a garden that pulls and invites you in to sit and enjoy it. Such a treasure.
We gardeners probably learn most by trial and error, often making the same mistakes more than once. Here are some of the lessons I have learned through 30 years of gardening which hopefully will help you to avoid them.
London Cottage Garden in March is all about the views of the garden from the windows and doorways of the house. When it’s cold or wet these views we look out on every day are so important.
My January cottage garden has a lot of bare earth but as well as bulbs waiting to come up, I have faith that all those plants I bought last year are hunkered down in the soil waiting for the light and warmth to start them into new growth
I had thought making compost from all kinds of organic material was a doddle but I’ve found out how it can go wrong and make a wet, slimy, woody mess that would take far too long to decompose left as it is so I had to start again.
The satisfaction of throwing your own homemade compost onto your borders is a great feeling especially as it takes no work whatsoever – just an ability to chuck loads of stuff into a heap.
Discovering some really lovely artificial flowers has transformed my arrangements around the house – now I can have a mixture of a supermarket bunch filled out with artificial stems of all kinds. I hope you like them too.
I’ve recently discovered some online artificial flowers from Alex James that I think are beautiful and look wonderful either on their own or mixed with a fresh supermarket bunch. I aim to have a few flowers in the hall, living room and kitchen all year around and do that by having just two or three
Exciting new ideas for next year. By digging up several spreading clumps of perennials I’ve now got a few big open spaces of lovely soil to plant something NEW, something DIFFERENT.
Real flowers and artificial flowers – both fabulous
I've recently discovered some online artificial flowers from Alex James that I think are beautiful and look wonderful either on their own or mixed with…
How to introduce a new colour in a cottage garden
A new colour in early Spring Here's a way to introduce a new colour in a cottage garden in early Spring. Plants can't always provide…
How to use colour in the cottage garden style
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Daffodils in a small garden – tips on how to grow them.
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Gardening begins at 40 – I’m 67 now
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