At this time of year I'm putting a lot of plants into pots. This will include sowing seeds, pricking off seedlings, potting up young plants from the propagator, potting on plants into bigger pots and potting up plants that have been dug from the ground. As an ex nurseryman, I know that professional growers do…
Author: Jim Stephens
Gardener, no-dig allotmenteer, camellia enthusiast.
I love colour, it cheers me up.
Retired nurseryman.
Six on Saturday – 5/5/2018
It's one day shy of a year since I did my first SoS post. My first item then is my first item now, with the next two items also having featured before. The next three are new. It's inevitable as the season starts round again that repetition will occur and it will be interesting to…
The tools for the job.
Fight your way into my garden shed, or my allotment shed and you will find a set of tools common to most other similar sheds. I have a couple of spades and forks, three different rakes, edging shears and hedge cutting shears, a strimmer and a pressure washer and a shredder. What I also have,…
Six on Saturday – 28/4/2018
Ah the joys of retirement. I've enjoyed a full week of gardening this week, a bit like being at work. I had three fairly major things I wanted to get done. First was to lift some Camellias from my allotment and pot them before it was too late to do it. Done, 13 in all.…
Six on Saturday – 21/4/2018
Not sure how it happened, but this is my 50th Six on Saturday post. 300 "things", most of them plants. This weeks six is not the one where I shoot off in a different direction, not when we have some decent weather and flowers and shoots bursting out all over. I love a bit of warm sunny…
Six on Saturday – 14/4/2018
Back after a week out. Last week I was "up country", sampling the delights of the M25 and M3. I was judging camellias at the RHS show at Savill Garden; now that is a lovely garden, and I managed to spend all of Friday at Wisley, a garden that seems a little less to do…
Allotment update – 11/4/2018
I read allotment blogs out of curiosity about what other people are up to rather than to learn how to do things. Now and then an idea will come up that I will try out but on the whole I have found ways that work for me and am reluctant to depart from them. This…
Six on Saturday 31/3/2018
A week ago it seemed like the garden was poised for action, just waiting for the moment when winter shifted to spring. But someone hit the pause button and it all looks much the same. I found half a dozen things to mention, worthy or not. One. Camellia of the week is one I raised from seed…
Allotment update – 28/3/2018
I’m into my fifth year of recording seed sowing dates for both veg and flowers. It gets a bit more patchy at the pricking off stage and worse still for planting out. I thought it would tell me how far behind I am this year, but it actually tells me very little. It feels like…
Six on Saturday – 24/3/2018
Has to be said that when I opened the cupboard of horticultural delights for this SoS it was looking pretty bare. It's a good thing that hopes, dreams and disasters are admissible because that's what's on offer from me this week. I'm counting on everybody else's contributions, linked from The Propagator, for an uplift. One. Cuttings;…
garden ruminations 