 We have quite a selection of gardening books so it’s been hard to choose just a few to review but these four have been invaluable in helping us to create our garden. All books are available from uk.bookshop.org/ and www.amazon.co.uk/
When we moved here two years ago we found ourselves facing a blank slate, as the garden was mostly lawn and a few established shrubs and smaller trees. So the first book in this review couldn’t have been any more appropriate. Adam Frosts’s How to Build a Garden has been really useful, especially for the practical aspects of creating a garden. The front garden was mostly just bare earth, with an established privet hedge. This was probably the only part of the entire garden where we actually made the planting area smaller but we used the advice in How to Build a Garden to create the gravel paths with reclaimed stone that was found in the back area of the garden. This book gives great advice on hard landscaping projects, even if you’re novices like we were. Frost also recommends getting to know your soil, aspect and which plants would work in your garden conditions. Monty Don’s The Complete Gardener is exactly what it says on the tin, a thorough guide to gardening with all types of plants including edibles. We did have the previous version of this book, but as that one was published in 2003, this is definitely worth getting as there have been a lot of changes in horticulture since then, not to mention the increasing importance of gardening with the climate and in a wildlife friendly manner. Which brings me to, The Wild Garden by garden designers the Butterfly Brothers. This duo have been on Gardener’s World and we both really chimed with their approach of organic gardening in order to create natural ecosystems in your garden so that pests and diseases are dealt with in a natural self sustaining manner. The Wild Garden also proves that wildlife friendly gardens are both beautiful, low maintenance and better for both ourselves and the wider environment. The final book on the first part of this series is the stunning Planting the Natural Garden by Piet Oudolf and Noel Kingsbury. We are both fans of Oudolf and have tried to incorporate some of his techniques and preferred plants into our own garden. As the majority of our plants are now perennials, we follow the advice of Oudolf in leaving the dead growth over Winter which can look a bit scruffy come January time but by doing this, it helps to protect the new growth from frost and also provides homes for overwintering invertebrates. It’s also so satisfying to have a big cutback in the Spring and see all the new growth coming through. These are the first four in a mini series of gardening books that have influenced our own style and helped us to create our new garden.
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 I was thinking the other day about all of the factors that have led us to creating a naturalistic style garden and as well as the books and television programmes that have influenced us, it is visiting gardens in real life that has probably been the most influential factor as there is nothing quite like seeing gardens in real life to feel inspired. Obviously the pandemic did have an effect on just how and when we could see gardens but here are the top three that have influenced us over time. (Please check online before you visit, in case any of these are currently closed).
Dove Cottage Garden www.dovecottagenursery.co.uk/ Dove Cottage is our favourite local garden. It was closed in recent years due to the pandemic, but we did visit the nursery during this time and bought some wonderful perennials, including some rare varieties which have thrived in our garden as all their plants do. The garden itself is set onto a hillside and feels like a secret garden as you go through a door that is surrounded by dense yew hedging and then find yourself on a winding gravel path where you are surrounded by grasses and dense planting of many beautiful flowers. It really is an awe inspiring place. RHS Hyde Hall www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/hyde-hall We’ve been here a few times with our family members as it is near to them. It is a lovely huge site that is well designed and has a beautiful array of perennial plants, shrubs and trees and the newish Global Vegetable Garden must be one of our favourite spaces as you can find such an interesting variety of unusual plants there. It is a great garden for kids and often runs kids activities in the holidays. Scampston Walled Garden www.scampston.co.uk/at-scampston-north-yorkshire/walled-garden Admittedly, we’ve not been here for a while, though we do intend to visit again, as soon as we can. Scampston was a very early Piet Oudolf designed garden and it is breathtakingly stunning. What we most enjoyed about this space was the inclusion of low Adirondack chairs, as when you sat down in these you were eye level with the gorgeous planting which has a very painterly-like quality to it. There are so many more gardens we are keen to visit and keep getting inspired by such as RHS Bridgewater and the garden of The Hepworth in Wakefield. Of course, it doesn't have to be actual gardens that you find inspiration from either. It could be a plant or planting combination in a park or in a neighbour’s garden that you find inspiration from or a painting or a particular colour you are attracted to. All of these are inspirational and can help us to create the feeling that we want to evoke in our own gardens.  I’ve been thinking about writing a blog on this for a while. The benefits of gardening on both physical and mental health are immense. Both myself and Matt grew up in gardening families. We were both lucky enough to have parents and grandparents who enjoyed gardening and both have fond memories of smelling the tang of tomato vine in a warm greenhouse, plucking snapdragon flowers off and making the petals open up like finger puppets. We both also used to watch Gardener’s World as kids, which was at that time presented by Geoff Hamilton. So, gardening has been in our lives from the beginning. This is something we’re keen to keep going and perpetuating as we know first hand the benefits of this approach.
We already have some experience of taking our nieces out to parks and gardens and have bought them flowers and vegetables to grow over the years. We recently bought a gardening set for our little one, though the pots that are included are too small for the vegetable seeds that came with it, so we’re going to grow cress in these at first which will be just fine. We also have wellies, gloves and a puddle suit ready for those muddier days, this one is Snoopy and you can't beat that! At first while they're younger, we’ll just be out and about in the garden, showing them the different plants and observing us gardening, finding different bugs and birds with them and generally just getting them used to being outside in the garden environment. The sensory element of the herb garden will be important too for them and we will point out different plants that they should in time recognise and learn about in the future. This will move on to sowing seeds outdoors, helping to plant bulbs and watering. Then, when they’re much older, we’ll teach them about propagation techniques. Of course, as we garden organically there will be times when the slugs and snails eat a lot of what we’ve grown (which happened last year) to avoid upset, we’ll tell our little one that the slugs and snails need food too and we’ll focus on enjoying what has done well in the garden that year as there are mollusc proof plants, some of which we do have, luckily! Creating a mindful, peaceful environment is a priority for us as ultimately we want the garden to be a place of healing and relaxation for the whole family.  Hello, it’s been a while since I’ve been able to post as we’ve had a lot going on here, but wanted to begin the New Year with a good start. 2021 was such an odd year of highs and lows. As a family, we lost an Aunt to Covid in January and in May, I lost an old friend to non-Covid related causes very unexpectedly too. I know that there are lots of people who found themselves in similar situations, especially as they have lost relatives due to Covid itself, or because their treatment for another illness has been affected by Covid, and my heart really goes out to them.
We’re currently sorting out our house for some good news, to welcome a new little one into our lives. Matt will be taking a few months leave to help us as a family to settle in, which is lovely and I know he’ll be a very hands-on Dad. We’ve redecorated a room and turned it from an office into a bedroom. It has the best view in the house too, over the garden and into the fields beyond, much nicer than our bedroom view out onto the road. It’s a decent size also and we’ve got a play rug on the floor. Incidentally, getting a new bedroom carpet fitted was the only job we booked that happened fast, probably because carpets aren't as popular anymore! Think we have almost all of the stuff needed now. I had great fun creating a library for them and found some excellent picture books. As it had been a tough start to the year, in November the extended family met up for a holiday in Hampshire to celebrate my Mum’s 60th. We stayed at Buckhurst Stables and the house itself was in the beautiful, deepest Hampshire countryside. The stables were surrounded by pheasants, red kites and large white cattle on the grounds. We also saw a dragonfly (in November) darting around the pond. I’m not sure if I believe in spirit animals, but we did see two dragonflies on the same day 200 miles apart and not near water on the day we had visited my Aunt’s grave, so I feel a kind of strange affinity with them now. Our garden is now pretty much completed, we just need to put up the trellis in the Spring. We’ve ordered some new dahlia tubers, as last year was a disaster here for dahlias, as it was too wet for them in the borders and they got decimated by slugs and snails! So, it’s back to the drawing board and we’re going to raise them in pots like we did in 2020 and hopefully we’ll get lots of flowers! Gardening is so therapeutic, it’s certainly helped us a lot this year and even though we’ll be welcoming a new addition to our family, we want to encourage them into gardening from a young age as we both were and carry it forward. I’ve already ordered a puddle-suit and wellies in advance! The first job we’ll have to do is the big garden cutback that we do in February / March time where we cut down all the dead old growth to reveal the new shoots below. We keep the old growth over Autumn and Winter to protect both overwintering invertebrates and the new growth from frost and snow. The garden definitely is not looking at its best right now, but we’re excited for the Spring as we’ve planted bulbs of more tulips, anemones and snakeshead fritillaries and our snowdrops, bluebells and white daffodils should begin naturalising. So that’s gardening plans for the year. Can’t wait to visit RHS Bridgewater garden in the Spring / Summer time as we’ve not yet been. We look ahead to this New Year, but this time as a family of three. Hope that you all have a good and blessed 2022.  As I’m writing this it's feeling well and truly Autumnal outside now. The days are getting shorter, the leaves are starting to brown, it feels like Pumpkin season in the air and a kind of nesting mood is setting in. Autumn is my favourite season of the year and has always been so, which may once have been due to do with it being my birthday in October but now, it’s more about an appreciation of the richness of colours in Autumn. Granted, it can be a month of variable weather but for some reason I do have memories as a child of cerulean blue skies adorned with fluffy clouds, contrasted with crunchy burnt orange leaves and bright shiny conkers of Autumn.
A couple of years ago I was visiting family in October half term and we went to a local farm to choose a pumpkin but also to go apple picking which was brilliant fun. The apple picking site was across the road from the pumpkin but which was packed but we almost had the apple orchard to ourselves, as everyone was there for the pumpkins. We picked the most delicious apples, think Honeycrisp variety was voted the favourite one we tried. Of course the fading daylight at this time of year does not suit everyone and I know some people who find this time of year to be extremely difficult. If it is a serious concern then reaching out for help is always a good idea. We’ve got a Lumie alarm clock that simulates a natural sunrise which can really help with darker mornings. Also taking a bit of time to look after yourself is always a good idea. Going out for walks to get Vitamin D, being in nature, doing some gardening, pampering sessions etc are always good. Also we’ve recently started to cook and eat more healthy comfort food that was too hot to cook in the Summertime. We've been cooking up nice warming lentil dahls and more spicy foods, stews and soups. Our garden has really started to change and is looking kind of rustic at the moment! It was always our aim to extend the seasons as much as possible and we still have work to do with this but it has improved compared with last year. The only thing is, that we have had zero dahlias to rely on as the slugs and snails ate the lot! They also robbed us of quite a few sunflowers and most of our runner beans! It has been a bad year for them as it’s been so wet but there are a few plants that have pulled through and that they don’t touch, such as hardy geraniums, grasses (looking their best right now), cirsium and of course asters which are so good and probably my favourite autumn plant. Aster Monch Frikartii is my favourite variety, it’s been around since 1919, doesn’t get touched by molluscs (at least in our garden), flowers for months on end and bees and other pollinators adore it! Another revelation for us has been our Wisley Crabapple. It flowered beautifully in the spring, and has produced the most amazingly huge red crabapples! We don’t have tons of them in number but what we do have, look very appetizing but probably taste awful unfortunately! We just need to wait for the edible apple trees to hurry up and start producing fruit now. More time indoors means more time catching up on stuff indoors. As well as all the practical stuff we need to do there are some cracking Autumn TV shows and of course new book releases coming up! We just finished watching Vigil which we thought was good and the BBC coverage for the first ever September RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Though the show itself seemed a bit smaller this year there were some brilliant gardens and exhibits. We hope to visit the new RHS garden in Salford, RHS Bridgewater as soon as we can, as it looks stunning. Anyway the next few months look set to be a very busy time for us. Am sure it will be for everyone, as Christmas is just around the corner!  This post is overdue but we've been so busy here with various commitments and appointments that time has flown by! It's good though to get this summery post up just before the schools break up for summer, which is always in my mind the true height of all things summer. This year, summer will be different, as we have the great unlocking but that comes with a lot of uncertainty around variants and rates of infection. Some people are evidently fed up with the long period of restrictions and want things to be as they were before, but there are others who are understandably a bit nervous about it all. We have been gradually doing a bit more but we'll continue to wear masks in public places.
As I write this, we are starting to get a heatwave. I put out the washing earlier and it was definitely feeling much warmer out there than it was earlier on. The garden is going through yet another change now as the spring flowers have faded, though due to a very cold April and washout May, the flowers are definitely later this year, so we had some tulips blooming in June and our roses have only just started coming out in July. It's been a very late start for our dahlias and sweet peas too and our veg growing is not great this year, as we focused more on getting the garden finished (it's very nearly there now) and also planting up the beds with longer term perennials, shrubs and trees. What veg we have tried (runner beans and sweetcorn) was massacred by slugs and snails, though we did get some replacement runner bean plants from a garden centre to try again. The beds are starting to look more knitted together now as they mature, though some of the newer beds and the bank at the end of the garden will take a couple of years to grow and look more established. We have largely stuck to our plans, though a shortage of timber has led us to compromise on our ideal fence around the large patio as we had to buy trellis instead, but we think it will look nice with some climbers grown up against it. We should also be getting a bespoke garden gate built soon (our talented neighbour who built a section of our fence and has also built a chicken coop and a sauna from scratch, kindly offered to build this for us). Hopefully it won't be too long till the garden is fully finished now, in terms of structure anyway, as it will always evolve planting wise. I spend a lot of the hot days in summer trying to keep cool and stay hydrated. I always stay in the shade, wear SPF and a hat and sunglasses. I'm not a sun basker, more of a shade one! Ice in drinks is a definite at this time of year. I remember Slush Puppies as a kid and freeze pops, Mr Freeze at our local newsagents were really popular in summer, I loved the blue raspberry flavoured ones. My Dad is over in Portugal now and the heat there is easily ten degrees over what we have now, it can reach the low forties in the summer months! Summer is also a time of choosing a great beach read book or just a good book in general. I'm reading a fab book at the mo called The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris, which is set in the New York publishing world and the characters and mystery surrounding them is so compelling. It's actually an e-library read and if you are a member of your local library then most of them have e-books you can borrow through various apps, so check out their websites to find out more. The colours I associate with this time of the year are golden yellows that reminds me of different tones of sunlight and sand, the blues and teals of water and sky and all the burnt oranges, peach and purples of blazing sunsets. What connotations and memories does the season of summer evoke for you? Let me know here or on Instagram. Links www.amazon.co.uk/Other-Black-Girl-meets-Cosmopolitan-ebook/dp/B08NDZT2BL/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+other+black+girl&qid=1626361970&sr=8-  My word of 2021 is ‘hope,’ although hope, has felt in short supply at times, as my family has been personally affected by Covid and it has been difficult. I had my first dose of the vaccine the other day and more and more of us are getting vaccinated which offers some reassurance, though it is sad it came too late for some.
I try to remind myself that all the greenery of spring that we start to see gives us hope now. The days are getting longer and warmer and all these changes seem to spur on the growth of plants and trees. I’ve just had a little look in the garden to see what is appearing and the bulbs are really starting to show now and should be in bloom very shortly. We planted dozens of tulips in rich dark colours, that I hope to use for flower arranging. Tree blossom is starting to appear which in our garden starts with the ribes with it’s fuschia bell-type flowers, then it’s the turn of the amelanchier, with it’s white frothy buds and finishes with the big cherry tree with its candyfloss blooms. We have a lot of jobs to do in the garden this spring. We need to get the borders fully planted up, add fencing and plant up the shady bank at the end of the garden with ferns and shade loving perennials. We discovered that some of the garden is very soggy from all the winter wet we’ve been getting and so decided to plant bog type plants (or plants that love moisture) in these areas, such as Japanese primroses and purple loosestrife. We did lose some of the less hardy plants from the snow and harsh frosts we’ve had this winter, we’re ok with that, as we’ll replace them with hardier varieties of plants that should be more robust next time. Easter is early this year on April 4th. Depending on the restrictions on where you are, it may well mean time away from family again, which is hard, but am sure we’ll all be virtually connected. I always seem to think of pastel blue, pink, green, yellow and purple as being the colours of this time of the year. Talking of colours, I mentioned in my winter post, that I had my eye on some Cable and Cotton lights recommended to me by my friend Juliet and we ordered them and they’ve just arrived! We need command hooks for them to attach them to the bookcases, but we’re really pleased with how fun they look and they’ll be sure to brighten up the lounge! Is it just me, or is anyone else affected by colour? I find that if I’m in a drab space for too long then I start to feel down but that bright colours (and of course lots of teal) cheer me up! I’m sure I read something about this in the past that colour can have a huge affect on mood and wellbeing. I had booked a few virtual events for the local literature festival but now will only be attending one, as I’m having an operation on 19th March so it’s likely that I will have to rest up at least for the rest of the month. I’ve joined a new book club and really enjoyed our first book, ‘All the Stars and Teeth,’ by Adalyn Grace. I set a Goodreads target of 50 books this year and am up to 18 so far but don’t think I’ll top my 100 books read last year. Gardener’s World has been showing a few Winter specials we’ve been watching and is starting a new series on the date of my op! Cannot wait to see that again, a bit of much needed horticultural therapy for us all! That’s my seasonal update. I expect that there will be some challenges over the coming Spring, but perhaps a little bit of hope will see us through. Links www.waterstones.com/book/all-the-stars-and-teeth/adalyn-grace/9781789094060 cableandcotton.com/  I started to write a skincare routine blog and then realised that it was getting a bit too convoluted so I decided to strip it back to the products* that personally help my skin. Apparently people have really focused more on their skincare routine over the past year. Perhaps it’s due to spending more time at home, but I do find that a good skincare routine is an essential part of self care for me and I have managed to discover one that is quick and easy too.
I have combination skin prone to breakouts, so I have oily skin on my chin and nose area, but normal to dry skin on my forehead and cheeks. Even though in places, it’s more on the oily side, my skin can at times be dehydrated. Apparently more and more women in their 30’s and above are experiencing breakouts usually the culprits are hormones, stress and pollution. I certainly find that I have more trouble with my skin now than I did as a teenager. However, I have found products that really help improve my skin despite its increased irritability. Skincare is such a personal thing and there will be people with similar skin to mine who find that these products don’t work as well for them and if your skin type is dry, then there may be only a couple of items on here that are relevant, but hopefully this will help people think about their routines and they may find something useful. Bee Good - Cream Cleanser Although my skin can be oily in places, I find that using a cream cleanser such as this one more often, helps to reduce breakouts. If I use a foaming face wash everyday my skin tends to produce more oil in response. I also find it is essential to double or even triple cleanse at night if I’ve been wearing makeup, as the tiniest spot of foundation left could and has caused me to breakout the next day. So good cleansing is essential. The Body Shop Drops of Light - Pure Resurfacing Liquid Peel The word peel can be off-putting and scary to some but I’ve definitely noticed a difference in the texture of my skin through using this product. Unlike manual exfoliators that have walnut shells or other physical exfoliants in that cause micro tears in the skin, chemical exfoliants very gently take off the dead skin and it’s actually a very satisfying process! I first came across this product a few years ago when I was in The Body Shop in Leeds and a shop assistant demoed some on the back of my hand. I admit at first I was a bit sceptical as the product goes on like a gel but then as it is rubbed in, lots of tiny bits of skin are taken off which I thought at first were the product. I didn’t buy it straight away but for the rest of the afternoon, I couldn’t believe how smooth the back of my left hand was as opposed to my right, so I went back to the shop and purchased some. I had some vouchers on my Body Shop card so it was a great deal too! They do a few different peels at The Body Shop to choose from and also more brands seem to be bringing out these chemical exfoliants so you’ll probably see many around to choose from. La Roche-Posay - Effaclar Duo I discovered through reading and following the excellent Sali Hughes Beauty column in The Guardian. This is one of the most effective anti-spot devices in my skincare arsenal. It can be a touch drying, so I use this in the areas of my face that experience breakouts to stop them forming and if one does appear (usually when I’ve forgotten to put this on) it makes it so much less severe than it could have been. It’s even saved me from a bout of cystic acne before. This product is often on deals and on offer and a tube lasts a while if you use it only on certain areas of your face. Hada Labo Tokyo - Lotion Anti Ageing Super Hydrator This was again another buy that I found through Sali Hughes. To help my dehydrated skin, I find that one or two pumps of this hyaluronic acid lotion really helps, especially in the morning when my skin can be more dehydrated. It also makes my moisturiser go a bit further. It doesn't break me out and unlike other hyaluronic acid serums that I’ve tried, it doesn’t pill on the skin if you add sunscreen or foundation. A definite must buy for me and luckily it’s often on offer. Of course, drinking water also really helps and I’m going to be starting my lemon water routine again soon as I do feel better for drinking it. Origins Original Skin - Matte Moisturiser with Willowherb I try different moisturisers throughout the year but avoid ones that have pore blocking ingredients like coconut oil and shea butter as I will break out from them. At the moment I use this Origins one which is gel-like in texture and seems to hydrate my skin pretty well without overloading it. Again, Origins can often be found on offer, this moisturiser was part of a set I got in a Black Friday deal. Face Masks If my skin is really playing up then a face mask can really help it to settle down. Origins Out of Trouble is great as are the Caudalie clay masks and any mask really that is suited to oily combination skin. These are just a few things that I find are my skincare saviours but I am always on the hunt for anything that can help. What do you find helps your skin the most? Let me know on Insta, or in the comments below. Links beegood.co.uk/products/honey-propolis-cream-cleanser www.thebodyshop.com/en-gb/face/exfoliators-peels/drops-of-light-pure-resurfacing-liquid-peel/p/p002286 www.boots.com/la-roche-posay-effaclar-duo-40ml-10169551 www.superdrug.com/Skin/Face-Skin-Care/Anti-Ageing-Face-Cream/Hada-Labo-Tokyo-Anti-Ageing-Super-Hydrator-150ml/p/795470 www.boots.com/origins-original-skin-matte-moisturizer-with-willowherb-10245209 www.boots.com/origins-out-of-trouble-mask-10259772 *I’m not affiliated of any of these brands, or on any commission, these are just my personal choices that I find help my skin.  First off, Happy 2021! It’s been a crazy year hasn’t it? With the vaccine being rolled out now there is hope on the horizon and ‘hope’ is my word of this year. Hope is something that we all want and need at this time in all of our lives. It is with this word in mind that I had an idea to further explore the moment now that we find ourselves in and to try to accept, embrace and work with it instead of fighting or avoiding it. Pre Covid, when Winter hit, it was often a time where people could think of going away on holiday to escape the grey gloom of the UK and to explore warmer climes abroad. As we find ourselves in another lockdown, this isn’t possible, as travel is out of the question. Therefore, we have no choice but to live with Winter in this country or wherever we happen to be at this time and that doesn't have to be a bad thing. I’ve always thought that Autumn is my favourite season and think it always will be, but I’m trying to appreciate more what’s happening in the moment with the outside world. For gardeners, Winter can seem like a bleak time as lots of plants go into a kind of hibernation and we can worry when snow and frosts hit our more tender plants. However, we’ve decided to use this fallow time as a planning time, you can really see the shape of the borders in Winter and also as plants have died back you can see the space around them more and plan accordingly. We’ve also decided to order and incorporate plants such as dogwood, spindleberry and callicarpa that hold Winter interest, to extend the seasons and so that the garden is as exciting in Winter as it is in Summer. If we lose a few plants this time as may be the case then we've found the best thing to do is just to pull them up and start again with something a bit hardier. I think more and more we've learnt that gardening is always a bit of an experiment and sometimes things go well and sometimes they don't, but the things that don't work out provide an opportunity to try something else that might do better next time. Winter is also a great time to get cosy and use lighting in your house effectively to help to brighten the area and bring a bit of cheer. My friend Juliet has got some gorgeous lights recently for her lovely cabin from Cable & Cotton see: cableandcotton.com/product-category/cotton-ball-lights/fairy-light-sets/. I have my eye on a teal set for the future to hang across the bookcases in the lounge. Something that’s been helping me in the colder months and indeed all through this time is wearing a scent everyday. In the past, I only used to wear perfume or EDT when I went out to a lunch, to visit friends or on holiday, but now as we’re all going out less, I thought why not wear it anyway and it’s really helped my mood and just to feel a bit more cheerful. I flit between different scents such as testers from Floral Street, Roger & Gallet and some M&S ones. I’ve also been using body butters as the skin on my arms particularly can get quite dry. I’ve already written about the importance of scent in another post but I do find that in the colder months that I prefer the warmer, more nourishing scents such as shea, almond butter or my all time favourite Vanilla Pumpkin body butter from The Body Shop. Nourishment is also so important in the Winter. We recently purged our collection of cookbooks as we’d been given some vegan ones for Christmas and we’ve found an excellent dahl recipe in one that we use and adapt by Katy Berskow called Easy Vegan Bible. It’s already become a new favourite and is so comforting on a cold day and lovely with some added carrot and spinach. We’re vegetarian but plan to incorporate more vegan recipes and food into our diet this year for both health reasons and to help the planet. Social connection is currently harder in the Winter months as we prefer to spend more time indoors as the weather is often pretty bad here. Virtual connections are the safest way to spend time at the moment and are increasingly important. I belong to a writing class that meets once a week on Zoom and it’s great to get your writing brain in gear and catch up with friends too. Exercise might need to be changed, unless you're a seasoned walker with all weather gear, it can be tricky to get outdoors everyday in Winter. We’re lucky to have a good sized garden, so if it looks fairly bleak and like it might pour soon, I try to have a few minutes outdoors. The good thing is we’ve got an exercise bike we can exercise indoors and also do yoga or pilates safely without having to come in completely cold and drenched. Something I’ve also noticed is the importance of different colours throughout the seasons. In Winter we see the white or newly fallen snow coating silhouettes of black stemmed trees, the pale greys of slushed ice. Christmas and christmas party outfits bring brighter colours such as rich reds, greens and deep blues and purples and plums and metallics. Also red and gold is seen frequently due to its association with the Chinese Lunar New Year. This year it’s the year of the Ox. As it’s cold outside and we’re spending more time indoors we may end up watching and reading more. I managed to smash my Goodreads target last year of 75 books by reading 100. I’ve set a rather more modest target of 50 this time. My favourite reads of last year were: The Glass Hotel by Emily St John Mandel, The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante, The Dry by Jane Harper, Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Annapurna and Nothing Can Hurt you by Nicola Maye Goldberg. These were all books that I ended up thinking about long after I’d finished reading them and have stayed with me. As for television, The Serpent TV adaptation was really good, though if you’ve not read the book before you watch it you might find it a bit confusing as the timelines do jump around a lot. I also recently watched Bling Empire on Netflix which is a reality show looking at the lives of a group of very rich Asian friends living in Los Angeles and the character Kevin is a real hoot in it! He’s very funny! I've also finished Season Three of Cobra Kai, also on Netflix and can’t wait for Season Four, though expect there’ll be a long delay due to Covid. These are my seasonal Winter reflections. If you have anything that's particularly helping you during this season then get in touch on social media and let me know.  It's now been just past the eighteen month mark of us living here now and it's pretty amazing to see just how much the garden has grown up in that time. For instance, the borders in this picture did either not exist till about nine months ago (in the case of the one on the right) or were full of weeds (the one on the left). The main thing though, is that we've learnt an awful lot about how to create a garden for relatively little cost, so I thought I'd pass on the tips that we've learnt along the way.
1) Firstly, assess your space, see what existing elements of the garden you'd like to keep and what you'd like composted or put in a brown bin (acquiring a brown and a compost bin is a good step too). Get to know your soil as this will save you a lot of grief later on. We've also inherited quite a bit of stone and plant pots too we've repurposed and up-cycled for free. 2) This relates to the point above, but do your research. It will save you a lot of grief and money, if you learn about a plant's soil and sun or shade preferences. When we're all allowed to visit gardens, then do so if you can, but in the meantime, look online, follow garden accounts on Instagram, read magazines and books, think about join the RHS but at least use their website, watch Gardener's World etc. All of this info will filter into your brain and you'll absorb it more than you think. 3) Sow from seed as much as possible. Not every plant will grow well from seed, but for those that do, you will save lots of money for instance, mature foxgloves in flower are regularly £10 or more from garden centres, but will die after flowering as they are biennials. However, a packet of foxglove seeds is tons cheaper and you get so many more plants from the seed packet (hundreds if not thousands) and they grow very easily from seed. Of course, seed sowing requires more time and patience but is worth the extra effort. 4) If there is a perennial plant that you really like the look of, then forget the 'buy and plant in threes or fives rule,' buy just one of them, then when they grow, you can very often either propagate from them from cuttings or divide them in the following Autumn or Spring. We have stuck by this rule and saved lots of cash by doing so. 5) This point relates to above in that use your existing plants to create more for free. Collect seed from plants like poppies, foxgloves and calendulas. Take cuttings from rosemary, lavender and curry plants, these latter plants are more important than ever to take cuttings from, because imports from Europe of these plants are to cease due to the xylella virus, so we could see a shortage in the UK in the future. Also, as mentioned before divide perennials like hardy geraniums, astrantia, bearded irises, grasses etc. All of these steps will ensure that you can fill your garden borders for no cost, aside from the initial outlay. 6) Always be on the look out for deals. Nurseries and garden centres often have sales online or in the actual venues themselves if you can get there. We have in the past picked up some real bargains from the off season sale table where the plants themselves look dead or dying but if they're perennial then they will re-flower and come back strong next year. Subscribe to e-newsletters from nurseries as they will often give you early access to sales and deals and money off vouchers. 7) When they come back post Covid, plant fairs, fetes, markets and flower show stalls are places where you can often find something rarer and at some of these events you can get great deals too. If you see a perennial you love but buying several of them would be too expensive, then just get one (see point 3). Also, buy the smallest type of plant, tree or shrub available (e.g. bare root versions) as they will soon grow up and this will also give them time to develop good strong roots. 8) Again, this may apply more to a post-Covid world, but in the future when it's safe, try to share and swap plants and seeds with friends and family. This way you are sharing the joy of gardening for free! 9) Get to know rough prices for plants, seeds and bulbs and then compare different websites for the best deals. I've just spent a Saturday afternoon doing this for our Autumn bulb order. With bulbs too, bear in mind which ones will naturalise (naturally multiply by themselves), as you can buy these in smaller amounts because they'll do the work for you! Also, if you get to know roughly how much plants should cost, then you can spot bargains and deals more easily. We recently bought a rose that was £12 cheaper than it would have been elsewhere! 10) Most of all be patient! Gardening on a budget does take longer and is a bit more effort than buying the biggest most mature plants (instant gardening) but that costs so much more, so budget gardening is more satisfying. These are the tips that I have found most useful but am sure there are lots more! If you have any suggestions or advice then would love to hear them, so please leave a comment or contact me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. |