After a long day in the garden, what I really need is a good night’s sleep. Here’s my routine. I get up at 6am and let the chickens out before eating breakfast on a bench in the vegetable patch. Then I walk around and survey the garden and write a list of jobs, some for today, and others for the long-term, such as fences that are looking a bit wobbly, or plants that are going to need more supports. Then at 7.30am I start to water the plants, if they need it. I always give them a really good soaking, and unless the weather is ridiculously hot, I alternate between the plants so that they don’t get watered every day.

Then I spend the next three hours weeding. I break for elevenses for 45 minutes and then I start making the plant feeds or doing other chores for an hour and a half before lunch. In the afternoon I either continue weeding or sow seeds, then I harvest the vegetables, then around 4pm I plant out plugs. The evening is taken up with cooking the produce. And then at 8pm, we eat it. By 9, I’m aching and exhausted and I really need a long rest. So I run a bath with some soothing herbs such as rosemary and lavender in it before getting into my bed. I love my bed. I spent hours looking at wooden beds before buying the one I loved the most because I knew that it would be such a welcome and deserved sight after a day in the garden.

I have a lavender pillow that I stuffed last year: each summer I stuff a new one to keep me sleeping well and happy in bed. Then I cover myself with a quilt that has been made with fabrics dyed entirely using plants. And the colours are surprisingly rich and bright. People often underestimate how strong plant dyes can be if you manage them properly. In the winter months woollen knitted bedspreads come out too, and I snuggle into the sheets feeling clean and rested and exercised. What a busy, satisfying, outdoor life I lead.

Article in association with Carpet Right.

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