Posts by author:

muddywellies

How many gardeners begin their garden project trying to cover their plot with as many plants as possible? It’s a desperate race to cover ground with the plants you want in your garden before the unwanted weeds reclaim the bare soil. The scale of my own garden project was such that it took about 5 [...]

{ 0 comments }

Bamboo Bird Nest

Post image for Bamboo Bird Nest

by muddywellies on October 18, 2009

in Gardening

How Do birds do that?
Have you ever wondered or been amazed how a garden bird makes its nest in the branch of a tree? Now spare a thought for the amazing indviduals who created this nest in bamboo. By comparison, building a nest in the fork of the branches of a tree must be a [...]

{ 0 comments }

If summer is ‘Broadway Showtime’ then Autumn is for those all-important ‘rehearsals’. Autumn, and by that I mean October and November in particular, is often considered by gardeners as the month for pruning. – But there’s actually a lot more to preparing your garden for the winter than simply cutting back. In this article I [...]

{ 0 comments }

Fact: Most gardeners, if given  the chance, would relish working in a walled garden.
Fact: Most gardeners, believe a walled garden offers a wonderful, protected environment for growing plants.
So, imagine my surprise when I discovered that my walled garden did NOT offer any protection from the weather! Indeed, the opposite was the case! Let me explain. [...]

{ 0 comments }

Treat your plants like you would yourself

by muddywellies September 25, 2009

Treat your plants like you would yourself – and you won’t go too far wrong! That’s the advice many new to gardening don’t fully appreciate when they ask for gardening advice.
One of the biggest problems facing newbie gardeners is their own lack of self-confidence when faced with cultivating their strange new plants. After all, buying [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Stunning September Garden Colour

by muddywellies September 24, 2009
Thumbnail image for Stunning September Garden Colour

The South West of England is well-known for its glorious ’spring’ and ‘woodland’ gardens with their extensive and colourful rhododendron and camellia collections but, unfortunately such displays come to an end at the end of May leaving just a mantle of green for the summer visitor.
This was my own view when I discovered a derelict and forgotten [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Plant label frustrations – and solutions

by muddywellies September 7, 2009
Thumbnail image for Plant label frustrations – and solutions

As a self-confessed plantsman actively cultivating around 3,000 different plant varieties in his garden, you can be sure I’ve come across every type of plant label imaginable. Yet, for all that, I haven’t come across one that’s really up to the task of providing the would-be purchaser with all the information they need.
On the face [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

Good Gardening is getting the right balance

by muddywellies August 18, 2009

Any garden  is ‘in balance’ when there is a productive coexistance if you like between the pests, plants and their natural predators requiring very little intervention by the gardener.
Think of your garden in layers, each of which must balance with its adjacent neighbours. Planting in layers is the simplest, but have you considered just how [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Time well spent in the garden

by muddywellies August 7, 2009
Thumbnail image for Time well spent in the garden

The world moves at a frantic pace, catastrophic events from the furthest corner are thrust before us vying for our attention. Even when we are not watching the silver screen or paper media, still the incessant bombardment of our senses by advertising never lets up, on billboards everywhere. At weeks’end we owe it to ourselves [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

The Blacksmith his work, tools and training.

by muddywellies August 1, 2009
Thumbnail image for The Blacksmith his work, tools and training.

It’s difficult to look at this steel horse, see the depth of detail, detail that even includes the stitching on the horses halter, and still believe it was done by a Blacksmith – not a sculptor.
Pictured right: The ploughman behind the pair of plough horses pictured above.
For hundreds, if not thousands of years, the blacksmith [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

BBC TV Gardening – for beginners only?

by muddywellies July 24, 2009
Thumbnail image for BBC TV Gardening – for beginners only?

Why are so many BBC Gardening programmes targetted almost exclusively towards the newcomer? That’s the question being asked by many gardeners today. As Head Gardener of a garden open daily to the public I talk with gardeners of all abilities, from all over the country, who visit my garden while on  holiday in County [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Swallow

by muddywellies July 23, 2009
Thumbnail image for Swallow

Swallow fledgling newly out of its nest this morning when this photo was taken.
Total distance travelled = 6ft.  Truly awesome that this young ‘life’ which can be held in the palm of my hand can, in just a few week’s time, cross the English Channel, fly over south western Europe, across the Sahara, down through [...]

0 comments Read the full article →