Garden Articles 2001

In 2001 the topics I'm writing articles about are more floriferous. I'm no longer worried about what the gardening books might suggest - I am almost a fully independent gardener! I still have rather too much I want to say, though...

Digital Garden CameraDigital Garden Camera...
The first weekend I had my new digital camera was a gardening write-off. I clicked and zoomed, composed and cropped, as the weeds grew. I discovered hidden treasures sprouting in unlikely places, colours I'd never seen before, and many new plants.
Stripes and SpotsStripes and Spots...
Yesterday, cleaning up a hybrid flax which had reappeared after the autumn cut-back, I discovered the true symbolism of stripes and spots in the foliage garden.
Lawn MowingLawn Mowing...
The Moosey Garden loves lush green grass lawns - they are so easy on the eyes. The problem with grass is that to keep it green it needs to be watered. Then when it's watered it grows. Funny, that...
Garden SalesGarden Sales...
Whether we gardeners use common sense or calculator formulas, we all know the basic facts about garden centre and nursery sales. We can forget what we learnt about cost price and selling price in mathematics lessons.
Colour in the GardenColour in the Garden...
Colour in the real garden is a tricky topic. Garden colour is never the same as gardening book colour. This isn't to say that the specialised books on colour are hopeless - on the contrary, they can be amazing, and inspirational...
Gardening GuiltGardening Guilt...
I remember the morning I went to remove the Cistus. I was fully armed - sharp shovel, nippers, gumboots gleaming. My intentions were already documented in the early morning diary entry.
DaffodilsDaffodils...
There were small pockets of daffodils already on the property when we first came to live at Mooseys. Since then I've deliberately kept my relationship with daffodils as simple as possible. But I love buying in and planting new bulbs.
Ordering SeedsOrdering Seeds...
Winter is supposed to be a good time for sitting inside, warm in front of the log burner, eating hot bread and reading seed catalogues. Winter gardeners' imaginations are as fertile as the seeds they drool over...
DahliasDahlias...
From mid-summer on the dahlias in the Moosey garden start flowering. I don't have many named varieties, certainly no ornamental multicolored ones. My favourites are the large plants with simple flowers. They are my dahlia inheritance - all were growing here when I first arrived.
RepetitionRepetition...
I was reading back over my diary the other day, nodding and clucking as I relived all those lost but faintly repetitive weekends. There were a few meaningful moments...