Slugs – a cunning plan….

Last spring, slugs got the better of me and entire rows of seedlings vanished, repeatedly. I’m 99% organic, so I don’t want to go for the nuclear slug pellet option. (I did it once a few years back in a fit of frustration and it’s really not for me.) I didn’t know last year that […]

Composting joy (and a few tips I’ve picked up along the way)

A post about how I manage composting in my small London garden (and how much I love it!)

Spring in sight

The snow cleared this week, the weather is a little less cold, it’s February tomorrow and out of nowhere it’s suddenly light until 5pm. The end of winter is in sight, at last. The bulbs are coming up. The earliest ones have started into flower this week, including a few lovely tiny snowdrops. I absolutely […]

Time to confess: I’m anxious again

My brain is frazzled. I’m down. I know this because I’ve been unable to water my houseplants for the last 2 weeks. This might sound like a trivial thing, and completely absurd given that during those 2 weeks I’ve also been working full-time in a pretty demanding job, exercising regularly, interacting confidently on social media […]

The importance of going outside, even if I don’t feel like it at all…

I woke today with a headache for the second day running, after a long and tiring week. Most weeks feel a little long and tiring at the moment, just because of the general background noise of crisis and awfulness. I’m not complaining – I count myself very fortunate indeed for having a job I can […]

A cold, bright January day

It was perfect winter day today; cold air, a bright blue sky and a low, low sun. I love days like these. We walked to the allotment with the sun weakly warming our backs, stopping in the park to let it shine on our faces for a minute. I love walking to the allotment on […]

May: promise and plenty

May is known as the hungry gap among those who grow fruit and vegetables, because the spring veg are all spent and the summer ones are yet to come. Well, it may be true that there’s precious little to eat at this time of year, but I absolutely love May in the garden and on […]

A little potter

Felt flat and shattered at the end of work today having failed to make progress on the things I wanted to make progress on. I felt like I spent the whole day in meetings going around in circles. There will be days like this, I know it’s inevitable. Progress is rarely linear, especially not in […]

Seedlings, social distancing and staying sane

Covid-19 Covid-19 has changed everything beyond all recognition, on a scale I can hardly begin to get my head around. We are not allowed outside other than to get food or medicine, for 1 hour of daily exercise in the local area, or to go to work if it’s not possible to work from home […]