Had a great chat with a customer yesterday about our mutual love of plants with foliage. It spurred me on to do some bed time reading so I pulled out a book I have not looked at for some time. It is entitled ‘Foliage-dramatic and subtle leaves for the garden’ by David Joyce It has …
Gardens… should be like lovely, well-shaped girls: all curves, secret corners, unexpected deviations, seductive surprises and then still more curves. ~H.E. Bates, A Love of Flowers
Just beginning five weeks of parental leave from my other job. Where I see an image of relaxation, as do my envious colleagues as they wish me a lovely holiday, little do they know I have five weeks of hard graft ahead, Sarah already has a list of Brian jobs to be completed. Will do …
Sadly our best selling compost is this bulk peat based product, hardly surprising it sells so well as it is by far the cheapest per litre. Many would say that moss peat is wonderful stuff: it’s cheap, sterile, lightweight and pleasant to handle, provided you ignore the environmental cost to bogs. Given the environmental impact …
So with a little bit of digging, the bones of a car park which can now hold loads of motors, unless that little old lady in the red car parks across the gate as she does. A new wider gate will be up soon so no more prangs and the tree has remained much to …
“”We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”” — Abraham Lincoln
We are always warning people of the issue of the spanish bluebells (Hyacinthoides hispanica, syn. Endymion hispanicus or Scilla hispanica). The Spanish bluebell is the worst enemy of the native bluebell because it will hybridise with it; when it does, because its genes are dominant, the traits of the British bluebell disappear within a very …
Here at The Secret Garden we do not feel that we want us all in bright coloured polo shirts so that we look like mature ball boys/girls. Very corporate and just not us. Instead we have opted for a subtle apron and even better they are made from hemp and have less impact on the …
It has been fantastic to see the increase in the number of people who are now planting native hedging rather than the likes of leylandii or griselinia. And from this picture of Blackthorn can you blame them. With choices of blackthorn, hawthorn, sessile oak, mountain ash, goat willow,viburnun opulus, fuschia, alder, birch, elder, holly, wild …
30th April 2009: And true to his word Patrick returned, albeit at the ungodly hour of 7am. Not sure who was more surprised, me to see Patrick or Patrick to see me in my attire that only dogs, chickens and ducks see and they don’t seem to mind the wellies, boxers and a jumper look. …
29th April 2009: At long last Patrick Browne and his trusty diggers have arrived on site to start the process of our new development, unless he is using as a storage yard. Watch this space for updates as our new building and facilities develop.
29th April 2009: Already having hens and ducks the introduction of a cockerel was made easier and Sarah being a soft touch allowed for Chanticleer to join our merry brood. He was meant to have been a hen and his owners already had a cockerel so he needed a new home. Even I with my …
28th April 2009: When the conversation starts with I have a proposal for you and I get that look ( it has been over 13 years) I know that means Sarah wants her own way. We already have strong values on the environment. But after having bees added on site to the garden centre and …
