Convincing myself summer has not finished yet
There was a moment last week when it felt as if summer might be trying to slip away early, and I was not ready for it at all.
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School holidays, snapdragon sulks and plenty of dahlias
August always has a slightly different rhythm once the school holidays arrive. The house is busier, the living room is never tidy for long and the gardening has to fit around everything else.
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Coming home from holiday to a garden in full bloom
I think every gardener gets that slight sense of dread when coming home from a holiday in summer. You imagine disaster, drought, things flopping everywhere or the best flowers opening and finishing while you are away.
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Taking the wall down and making space for the dahlias
Mid-July has brought with it one of those jobs that feels far bigger than it sounds. We finally took the wall down in the garden and instantly the space felt different, with more room and more possibility.
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One minute picking sweet peas, the next at Hampton Court
This is one of those weeks that has held a bit of everything I love: sweet peas at home, summer borders looking fuller by the day and a trip to Hampton Court with flower friends.
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Cold spring or not, mid-June is making up for it
For so much of this spring I have felt as if I was waiting for the garden to catch up, but mid-June is finally making up for it.
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June is starting to feel like my kind of month
June has such a pull for me every year, and even after a cold grey spring I can feel the garden beginning to find its stride now.
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First sweet peas and that mid-May feeling
Mid-May is such a lovely point in the gardening year because all the firsts start happening at once. The first sweet peas, the first cornflowers, the first proper armfuls that make you think yes, here we go.
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Mud, dahlias and finally getting the furniture out
Early May has arrived with all the promise of the season and quite a lot of mud. We had a proper thunderstorm here and the ground was so claggy I did question my timing on planting out dahlias, but in they went.
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April jobs everywhere and still somehow more planting
April always seems to be the month when the garden decides it wants everything from you at once. There are seedlings to plant out, supports to sort, weeds to tackle, roses to get in and a general sense that you need to be everywhere at the same time.
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