Claire Sutton bounds around her beautiful garden with customary enthusiasm.

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All the plants on the plot went on strike this month to protest against the poor growing conditions. Until the weather improved they just refused to make any growth. Seedlings that had popped their heads through on the plot just refused to come out of the ground any further. Those plants that attempted to defy [...]

Things are really springing into life on the plot. The few days of lovely weather was the trigger the plants were waiting for. It also spurred us into action. Grass paths have been mowed for the first time this year and the permanently planted fruit beds have been tidied. Lavender has been moved to form [...]

Although we’ve been held back by the weather, there are some jobs which just had to be completed this month. We applied a second spraying of winter wash, which will hopefully keep some of the fruit tree pests at bay. Winter washes are based on plant oils and are suitable for organic gardening. Before we [...]

The snow and freezing cold weather has restricted our visits to the allotment to gathering winter vegetables. This lack of activity gave us the ideal opportunity to plan for the coming season and finalise seed orders. Now we have everything that we need to start the new season…except favourable growing and soil conditions. It is [...]

December announced its arrival with the first real frost of the year. The onset of the cold weather meant it was essential that all necessary frost protection was in place. Outside the bay tree – at the moment more of a small bush – has been draped with a couple of layers of fleece and [...]

A new month and it seems like an entirely different country. Autumn now seems to be heading inexorably towards winter as posts in our weather blog show. We made just a flying visit to the plot to harvest a few vegetables and make sure plants in the greenhouse had sufficient water. We didn’t even stop [...]

On the plot and in the garden we have continued the big tidy-up. Weeds continue to grow and so dealing with them is still a major chore. Whitefly are everywhere and are constantly being disturbed by our activities. This year they have arrived fairly late but seem to have reached plague proportions. Clouds of them [...]

Last week we dug the last of our potatoes and this week we have been browsing seed potato suppliers trying to decide which varieties to plant next year. There always seems to be so much to take into consideration. Suppliers are obviously going to present the seed potatoes that they sell in the best light [...]

At this time of year weather conditions and the slackening of pressure to keep on top of things means visits to the plot are by no means as regular. It is also a time when changes and improvements are planned for both the plot and the garden. As usual we are full of plans, but [...]

October was heralded by fierce winds that has either stripped most leaves from bushes and fruit trees or reduced them to tatters. The large felty leaves of the kiwi are now brown and shrivelled and the banana plants in the garden are completely tattered and sorry looking. ——————————————————————————————————————————- Fennel & Fern readers can get 10% [...]