Extreme Gardening

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  • Fantastic Fungi

    It has been a very strange autumn in the garden. In the last few weeks bumble bees, hoverflies and even the odd butterfly have made the occasional appearance on sunny days. The holly offers plenty of food but some of my catmint plants have started to flower again and are equally popular. Even the Eleagnus […]

    November 5, 2022
  • Halloween is on the Way

    The garden is now thirteen years old. The view in the background gives you an idea of the landscape in which it was developed – an open rocky hillside with small patches of flat deep, acidic soil. Many of the plants have been much more successful than I could have imagined, so a major overhaul […]

    October 24, 2022
  • Birds and Other Creatures

    The pheasants have made their presence known again as they join the foxes in their noisy calls. Now all we need are for the crows to return and the raucous section of the winter orchestra will be complete. The long dry summer has distorted the foliage in the garden and some of the trees changed […]

    October 8, 2022
  • A Benign But Dry September

    The nights are drawing in, but it is the changes in the wildlife that to me are the signal that winter is on the way. The goldfinches have started to return to the garden and I do hope that I have as large a flock as last year. The slugs are less evident although by […]

    September 24, 2022
  • The End of a Long Hot Summer

    7 September 2022 You can tell that autumn is here as my dogs have recovered from their summer lethargy and are frantically tying to destroy my garden in search of mice and voles. Dry stone walls like the one above, large trees and favourite shrubs are all fair game and the three dogs have the […]

    September 11, 2022
  • Summer’s End

    I have never really been able to replicate the pleasure that I got as a child from growing my own vegetables in my own plot in the garden. Years later, in the North East of Scotland, it seemed relatively easy to grow vegetables despite the long harsh winter and frozen ground. In the short window […]

    August 28, 2022
  • New Beginnings

    I have a love-hate relationship with the Inula Hookeri which dominates whatever part of the garden it inhabits. Its flower is interesting from the moment it appears, but it spreads rapidly and will quickly push out anything growing near it. Each winter I have the arduous task of containing it, muttering under my breath as […]

    August 15, 2022
  • Nature’s Way

    22 July At this time of the year the air around these two willow trees is humming with the sound of thousands of swarming wasps. They are attracted to a translucent sticky substance called honeydew which also drops onto the leaves of the hydrangea and hawthorn trees. This honeydew is created by large willow bark […]

    July 31, 2022
  • A Long Hot Summer

    For a number of reasons I am unlikely to pose a threat to the local organic vegetable growers. I have been happily having a medley of young vegetables for my evening meal only to discover that my ’baby spinach’ is actually pak choi. Even worse I have no idea where the spinach has gone. I […]

    July 17, 2022
  • Midsummer

    Having decided to take a rest from new projects I have immediately started another one! This area is under some pine trees and I have not had much success in growing anything so close to them. However, the space is now almost totally protected from the winds by a maturing hedgerow and shrubs, so I […]

    July 2, 2022
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Extreme Gardening

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