Clematis are everywhere at this time of year, and that’s no bad thing. Spilling over fences, scampering up obelisks and peeking out between other plants: Clematis viticella are marvellous plants. But this month, we’re not looking at the cultivars that you see everyday. We’re wandering around the national collection of Clematis viticella, held by Hawthornes [...]

Weather wise we’ve been quite lucky here with a good dose of sun and rain. When I went into the garden this morning, tentively I may say due to a mouse-shaped furry friend I’d spotted, the way that the overnight raindrops glistened on the plants was beautiful. Not sure the Pot Marigolds they are keeping [...]

Today is a very, very exciting day. Not only does F&F have a gorgeous, shiny new design, but it also has its own community. From today, you can now login as a member of F&F, and upload your photos, share your sage gardening advice and even write your own blog posts. You’ll be part of [...]

Everytime I think about the garden at the moment, this Sting song comes to mind. It’s actually not one of my favourites but it’s so appropriate. It hasn’t rained properly here in weeks. There have been several days where it felt as though it would rain, and one or two with scary clouds, but rarely [...]

In this month’s {Top of the Crops}, Rebsie meets the Pink Fir Apple potato, and discovers that all is not as it seems with this pretty, tasty heritage vegetable. While many heritage vegetables take some effort to seek out, Pink Fir Apple potatoes have been through something of a renaissance. They’re readily available in garden [...]

Thing are going well with our Edible Garden. The sun is producing a plethora of fine green plants along with small hints of vibrant colour. Tonight we tried the Borage for the first time. It’s such a beautiful flower, almost like a simplified Passion Flower; taste wise the flowers it taste like mild cucumber.It is [...]

Taking my inspiration from a posting on the rather excellent My Tiny Plot blog I decided to make use of the redcurrants we picked this morning at our local Pick Your Own farm. The redcurrant bushes were absolutely teeming with these beautiful red jewels and so picking was extremely easy. So the bottle is now off [...]

I never meant to grow onions this year. If I’m honest, I think they’re a bit of a waste of space as they are so very cheap in the shops, and there isn’t a huge difference in taste between home-grown bulbs and shop-bought. But enticed by an offer at my local nursery, I found myself [...]

I have a thing for unusual edible plants. It has developed, over several years, into a fairly all-consuming passion. I can appreciate ornamental plants, but I just don’t have the same love for them. I add them into my garden for their wildlife value, but they have to be pretty special for me to make [...]

  Wondering what to do with your glut of courgettes? Fear not - the Vegalicious team have cooked up a storm of appetisers from this fabulous vegetable. ——————————————————————————————————————————- Fennel & Fern readers can get 10% off on flower, vegetable and fruit seeds and plants at Victoriana Nurseries. Just click here to claim an automatic discount. Subscribe to [...]

This year, the cherry tree in our garden gave us a mythical-sized crop. The fat waddling wood pigeon who normally scoffs every single fruit on the branches has disappeared to some great orchard elsewhere, and so in the evenings after work, I clambered onto chairs and picked huge bowlfuls. The tree is full sized, which [...]

When I was a child, my mother gave me a patch of earth. It wasn’t quite as grand as Mary’s ‘bit of earth’ in The Secret Garden, but it was where I grew my first pumpkin, and my first radishes. The former was a lumpen thing that we carved for Hallowe’en, the latter a roaring [...]