Tips for Composting Leaves

Kathy and Stuart Pickering created their rustic cottage garden in a stretch of field.

We’ll soon be trading in lazy summer days for long nights of studying. So, it’s important to make sure you have a space to ease you into back-to-school season. There are lots to consider when setting up the perfect study area: you want a space that’s organized, helps you focus, and feels comfortable (and stylish) enough to sit around for hours.

Homegrown  vegetables are definitely worth the time and effort and organics are even better. Growing vegetables will reward you with a fresh and tasty supply of your favourite vegetables. You can also have the reassurance of knowing how they were grown without the unnecessary spraying of countless chemicals.

Lovely climbing rose on the front of this house

Slugs and Snails

I took this photo in Autumn last year, outside Merton College, Oxford near to Christchurch Meadow. The natural sunlight highlights the colours of the changing leaves. The sugars in the old leaves can create wonderful colours ni autumn

Mother’s day in the UK is fast approaching. If you have a habit of forgetting until the last minute, you can always rely on a bunch of flowers to save the day. But, rather than just a standard bunch of daffodils from the petrol station, what else would make your mother really happy and inspired to bake you more cakes?

Waterperry is a small village eight miles east of Oxford. It lies on the River Thame (not to be confused with River Thames), though the Thame does end up feeding into the Thames. The extensive gardens and river-side setting offer a combination of formal gardens, flowing herbaceous borders and wildlife meadows by the river. Helenium

This is one of the many books in my collection but the only one to focus on growing big, bigger and biggest vegetables. If you want to grow giant vegetable for exhibition or to get large crops then there are many pointers in ‘How to Grow Giant Vegetables’ by Bernard Lavery and below.

A simple single colour Petunia gives a good effect.

This picture was taken in late March at the University Botanic Gardens Oxford. I’m not sure of the variety, but, they remind me of tete a tete.

Some of the other varieties good for growing with kids include: