from the forum: can i compost weeds?

An inseparable part of British summer time, the Wimbledon Championship is on between 29.06 – 17.07. With more than 450,000 spectators attending each year, and 19 grass courts, it is a massive event, yet it still retains its Victorian atmosphere and image.

Colder, darker winter nights and piles of fallen leaves often add up to some seriously slippery decking in your garden.

Are you dreaming of an exotic garden full of flowers with hard to pronounce names that will awe your guests? An understandable dream. But most tropical green life are not meant to grow in the weather conditions that the UK offers.

Some time ago in the pre-Trump era the west lawn at the British Museum  showed plants from North Americas landscape. The plants were provided in partnership with Kew but the photographs were mine taken in September. I now wish I had also visited to see and take pictures of earlier spring and summer flowers fro N America.

After a wet early spring 2018 the UK had a very dry summer. You are never to old to learn and I picked up some new tips and reinforced some old watering tips.

I have been reading the Penguin Encyclopedia of Gardening which aims to provide ‘….an explanation of words used in a technical sense in a horticultural context in the UK and USA.’ Set out as an A to Z this resulting post, missing a thousand definitions, is unlikely to rank highly with search engines.

Britain is known for introducing us the best of the best — think Princess Diana, Harry Potter and fish and chips. Now we can thank the UK for bringing us a fantastic sun safety idea: the 3-hour-gardening rule.

Lemon posset is nothing new, but a fresh interpretation on how to serve the classic British dessert is putting it back on the map. Made of lemon zest and juice, heavy cream, sugar, salt, and sometimes limoncello or vanilla, lemon posset uses almost every part of the lemon—and TikTokers have taken it to the next level. In the cutest possible presentation of posset, creators everywhere are serving the dish right where it came from: the lemon peel.

One UK study found out that green offices can improve the productivity and work capacity of staff up to 15%. Indoor plants also enhanced work satisfaction, concentration, and air quality over the long term. If you too want to see this happening in your office–Start with the desk, taking help from these ideas.

No other plant native to South Carolina has such fragrant and beautiful spring blooms and stunning fall color as the witch-alders. Fothergilla was named after Dr. John Fothergill, an English physician and gardener who funded the travels of John Bartram through the Carolinas in the 1700’s. These beautiful shrubs have been planted in both American and English gardens for over 200 years, including gardens of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, is a popular celebration in the United States, due to the number of Americans, 10.5%, with Irish heritage. One million Irish emigrated to North America, Australia, or other parts of Great Britain in the mid-1800s because of the potato disease now known as late blight. Late blight, caused by the water mold, Phytophthora infestans, destroyed the Irish potato crops in 1845 through 1849 and caused the Irish Potato Famine. Another one million people died from hunger or disease.

No, I have still not met Andre, though we’ve been in contact for more than a year. But we grow a little closer every week when the latest stash of doodles-in-progress arrives, and I get glimmers into the thought process that is behind them, just like I did when I read his memoir, “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now.” (There is no better book to give your shrink; it should be on the curriculum of psychoanalytic institutes and departments of psychiatry in teaching hospitals and schools of social work, I swear. Insurance companies should mail it out to all patients using mental-health coverage, so they know they are not alone.) Some week