ruminate vb. to chew (the cud)
A week can be a long time in gardening. A week ago everything seemed in remarkably good shape considering how late in the year it was; now the weather has at least caught up with itself, if not running slightly ahead. We've had frost and snow and are forecast gales and lots of rain. Suddenly…
Every time I look at the weather forecast for the coming week the lowest temperatures seem to have gone down a degree. A couple of days ago it looked like we might escape a frost but that is no longer the case. I need to set up heaters and check thermostats and get more things…
The weather has been in limbo for a while now, a benign limbo, which is extending autumn and holding winter at bay. I haven't cut much down, there aren't a lot of leaves to rake up, plants are neither growing nor dying, active gardening is on hold. Most flowering things are winding down but so…
There are people with large gardens who never water anything and there are people with small gardens stuffed with water hungry plants in pots stood in full sun, who never seem to do anything but watering. On a sunny summer's day we're in the second camp, or at least feel like we are. It would…
November now and there's a sense that 2024 is winding down. However, the weather is benign and everything looks much as it did a week ago. Finding six things wasn't a challenge. Followers will know that the six to which I refer is Six on Saturday and to be honest, non- followers might have worked…
I put this in a Six on Saturday post in July 2024. Here is the entry: Saccharum officinarum ‘Rubra’ is the name I was given this under but no such name is on the RHS website so I’m unsure. It may well be ‘Pele’s Smoke’, which Tony featured a while back, or S. officinarum violaceum. It roots absurdly…
Look out the window and it's blue sky dotted with white fluffy clouds. Step out and it's cold, blustery and periodically threatens rain. I'm doing my gardening in short bursts interspersed with long tea and coffee breaks. Tomorrow (I'm writing this on Friday) I shall be at Rosemoor for the AGM of the RCM. That's…
I don't know how many Begonias I now have, I have a list of them but haven't updated it in a while. I will admit to more than a slight tendency to being obsessive but I really try very hard to restrict new purchases to things that are distinctly different from anything I have already…
We had a 24 hour holiday midweek, joining one of my sisters in a holiday rental place in Porthleven, a place I'd never been to. Tuesday afternoon and evening we saw the sights, imbibed the beer and consumed the local fare, not to mention getting a good measure of the local weather. Wednesday we headed…
Three weeks on from my last allotment post and I'm quite surprised at how much has changed, given that we're approaching mid October. I'd cleared space between my new tunnel and the end of the plot. On the 24th I planted strawberries that I took from my abandoned plot 3. The foliage was pretty skanky…
garden ruminations 