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I spent the whole morning defrosting the freezer and exhausted myself. Never again. I’ll either bite the bullet and buy a frost-free freezer or get someone to do the job for me ( Read more... )

The trees are in full, fresh green leaf, candles on the horse chestnuts, cow parsley and hawthorn in the hedgerows and they’re playing cricket up at the Sports and Social club (which everyone calls the cricket club). It must be spring. You’d think I’d lived long enough not to be surprised by spring but I am, every year. It seems that one day, the ( Read more... )

The temperature first thing was -5 and frost is still thick on the ground. Tomorrow may be even colder and guess what? We are having ‘a scheduled power cut for routine maintenance’. How on earth is a cold, old person like me to keep warm? Those of you who live in towns and cities, does this ever happen to you ( Read more... )

I went out to post my Christmas cards this morning. Another murky day and the oaks and beeches are still full of their russet leaves. Beautiful, even in the gloom ( Read more... )

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First frost of the season this morning. Just saying.

Still no rain …
Here follows a totally unscientific survey, based only on how plants have fared in my own garden, which is on clay soil. No photos because it’s too windy.

Revelling in drought. Verbena bonariensis. Erigeron karvinskianus. Gaura lindheimerei. Eryngium self-seeded from a plant which died; not only a beautiful silver but covered in ( Read more... )