Shamelessly pinching the idea from Patient Gardener Helen, I am going to do this months eomv as a walk around our small patch of Cornwall. I've put a map at the bottom of the page showing where you are for each photo. (1) If you came through our side gate this would be your first…
Author: Jim Stephens
Gardener, no-dig allotmenteer, camellia enthusiast.
I love colour, it cheers me up.
Retired nurseryman.
Allotment – taking stock
It being September, almost the end of the growing season, it seems natural to take stock of how that growing season has gone. This has been my first year of not digging and my results have been sufficiently good to attract the attention of my neighbouring plotholders. My crops have on average been at least…
Wordless Wednesday 31-08-2016
End of month view – August 2016
The lack of change between this view now and a month ago belies a definite change in the feel of things. A month ago the floral trajectory was up, now it is unmistakeably down. Around mid August it peaked, timing it badly for the end of month meme. It's now the season of taking stock…
Pruning the apple tree
Well it's done now, for better or worse. There's no going back. I have to admit to a degree of trepidation each year when the third week of August comes around and it is time to prune my Suntan apple. It has to be done; in a garden the size of mine there is no…
Wordless Wednesday
End of month view-July 2016
Another month, another transition, or so it seems to me. July seems to have been the month when the pinks, reds, blues and mauves of early summer yield to the yellows, oranges and scarlets of late summer. I've gone overboard on Dahlias this year. I bought 20 new varieties from Varfell and while a few didn't…
Allotment update
It is the nature of allotments that both inputs and outputs are almost always little and often rather than big, one off events. Ideal for blogging if you're into all the minutiae, not so much if you're not. My Kestrel potatoes now have blight and I will take the tops off in preparation for lifting…
Hydrangeas
Hydrangeas are to an extent the victims of their own success. There are very few plants to rival the mophead macrophylla hydrangeas for providing the maximum flower display for the minimum of effort. As a result they are absolutely everywhere and familiarity rapidly breeds contempt. The good news is that they are also a rare…
garden ruminations 