Sabre Wasp
June 25, 2022
Last week I was minding my own business watering the tomatoes in the greenhouse when an extraordinary beast buzzed past me. It must have been nearl...
Verging on the Impossible
June 13, 2022
Just up the lane we have a really nice verge, which is a kind of mini-meadow. We're acknowledging the value of this kind of area for wildflowers na...
Unwilding
May 28, 2022
HUGE congratulations to local garden designers Urquhart and Hunt, who won Best of Show at Chelsea this year - and at their first attempt! What fant...
A Nightingale Sang...
May 3, 2022
Nightingales; a lesson for our times.
The Squeeky Wheel
April 19, 2022
I've found it very difficult to post anything recently. Horticultural topics seem trivial, environmental and political issues depressingly repetiti...
We Are a B Corporation!
March 27, 2022
We are a B Corporation!
The Parable of the Hedgehog
February 23, 2022
How can anyone not love a hedgehog?
They're not just eccentrically endearing but, for many of us of a certain age, they conjure up memories of tim...
Farming in the Brave New World
January 10, 2022
A Revolution in UK Farming?
Sadly the Oxford Farming Conference this year was virtual, which was a great shame. Not least because I was looking for...
The Top Ten Flowers For Bees
January 9, 2022
I used to be guilty of blithely writing top ten lists like this. For many, bees tend to be shorthand for pollinators generally, so you might think ...
Hedge Laying and Culture Wars
December 20, 2021
Regular readers of this nonsense will know I'm a big fan of not just hedges, but also hedge laying. The National Hedgelaying Society is one of the ...
The Sustainable Farming Incentive Scheme
December 3, 2021
I'm not by nature a curmudgeonly old cynic, I promise, but I'm getting pretty provoked.
I was excited in 2018 listening to Michael Gove talking ab...
No Time For Party Politics
November 9, 2021
The Environment Bill is in the very last stages of a long and painful labour. Its final amendments - including on the independence of the new envir...
Use left/right arrows to navigate the slideshow or swipe left/right if using a mobile device