For a place that is largely unfenced and merges seamlessly with the surrounding landscape, the Dumfriesshire Garden has been mercifully free of serious damage by rabbits and deer. Certainly the former have been scarce in numbers in recent years, but the latter are seen regularly in the nearby woods and fields and do occasionally visitContinue reading “An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Uninvited guests”
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An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Topiary and clipped evergreens
Topiary is putting it rather strongly. There are no elaborate geometric forms, leaping dolphins or stags at bay in the Dumfriesshire Garden. But over the lifetime of the garden I have come to appreciate more and more the evergreens (and the beech hedging) that we have been able to clip into pleasing shapes. In truthContinue reading “An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Topiary and clipped evergreens”
An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Salads, herbs, fruit and vegetables
It’s one of the great pleasures of gardening to grow some crops for the family to eat. However modest the quantities, something grown at home, freshly harvested or carefully stored over time adds to our diet and the pleasures of eating. To this end, the greenhouse and the raised beds work in conjunction to extendContinue reading “An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Salads, herbs, fruit and vegetables”
An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Quercus Ilex
It was a fine February day in 2019 and I was on a pleasant visit to St Andrews. Sitting in the sheltered sunshine of the courtyard beside the University’s School of Divinity, I was struck by the massive tree, with it huge girth, that dominated the space. The tree was in the perfect shape ofContinue reading “An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Quercus Ilex”
An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Pots
Most gardens have some pots of some kind: for that special plant, some early bulbs or perhaps for summer annuals. I’m pretty much the same, though in recent years I’ve got more interested in having them dotted around the place in small groups and have invested in a few more upmarket specimens, from a favouriteContinue reading “An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Pots”
An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Keeping on top of things
The Dumfriesshire Garden in south west Scotland started as a modest border at the back of a farm building that was under renovation as a home. Paradoxically, it began in the poorest piece of ground imaginable, where a thin layer of soil sat on top of bedrock. Gradually the scope of the garden extended, containedContinue reading “An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Keeping on top of things”
An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Jack in the Pulpit
When I first acquired my greenhouse a few years ago, I was soon drawn into the pleasure of growing what I considered to be more exotic plants, under glass. The first of these was Arisaema Candidissimum, with which I had considerable success, as can be seen here in the top image. I came across aContinue reading “An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Jack in the Pulpit”
An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Irises
‘Beware of gardeners bearing plants!’ I was once told. Yet that experience more or less accounts for the largest group of irises in the Dumfriesshire Garden, and none the worse for that in my view. The source of the Iris Siberica seen here was the contents of a couple of carrier bags, plants just pastContinue reading “An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Irises”
An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Early arrivals
Once things begin to move in the early season garden, every day can bring the pleasure of a new arrival. After a chilly spell, or perhaps at the end of days of false hopes, suddenly something is poking up through the leaf mould in the borders, with a clear message: Spring is round the corner.Continue reading “An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Early arrivals”
An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Cammasias and Cosmos
These two favourites in the Dumfriesshire Garden couldn’t be more contrasting. One perennial, one annual. One lover of the semi-damp of the arboretum. The other more at home in a sunny, drier border. One first planted as bulbs that gradually bulk up. The other beginning life each year in a seed tray, before potting onContinue reading “An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Cammasias and Cosmos”
Quotidian 