5th December 2019 Featured, Winter

December 2019 The new gardening year is already underway, with winter’s simple and quick bed preparation of my no dig method. 1 Clear any plant residues and weeds – or if a lot of weeds la

16th November 2019 Autumn, Featured

A principle which always works well (for me since 1982) is to mulch the soil and feed soil life, after clearing last harvests in the autumn. Any decomposed organic matter is good to use, enough that t

26th October 2019 Autumn, Featured

October was wet and November could be cold. I hope that frost won’t hurt some late harvests of fennel, which I want to cover with fleece. Most other autumn veg can stand light freezing, includin

13th October 2019 Autumn, Featured

Autumn has brought 160mm/6.4in rain in three weeks, but thanks to no dig the water is draining away, and without leaching nutrients. Almost all beds at Homeacres have had no compost since last year, a

25th September 2019 Autumn, Featured

We pass from late summer to early winter in a short space of time, and since the weather is already making that shift, here are my tips on being ready for the cooler and darker months. My recent inter

28th August 2019 Autumn, Featured

Often the weather flips in late August from summer to autumn, and this year is no exception. The last 7 days here had an average maximum temperature of 25C/77F, then next week’s forecast gives 19C/6

11th August 2019 Featured, Summer

Writing this in a thunderstorm, our first substantial rain for two months of lovely warmth, over 40mm so far and 46mm in the end (1.9in) in four hours. All soaked in, watering finished for 2019 except

28th July 2019 Featured, Summer

Be ready with seeds of this month’s top sowings; spinach, salad rocket, mustards, pak choi, land cress, spring onions and spring cabbage. August can be a second spring in the garden, when it rains.

1st July 2019 Featured, Summer

Be prepared for everything: picking planting sowing weeding watering pests heat. Give as much time as you can now, for best results later. June here was much less hot than across the Channel. Our aver

15th June 2019 Featured, Summer

Is cool and damp better than hot and dry? Last year we were short of moisture, this year we are deprived of warmth and light. I preferred last year! Mostly you can add water, but can’t add warmth. T

31st May 2019 Featured, Summer, Uncategorized

Summer begins now, but don’t bank on too much fine weather this summer is my hunch. The soil is dry here at the moment and plants look well except for rusty garlic outside: garlic and leek rust is e

15th May 2019 Featured

Summer is coming and it can be a mad rush, now that we can finally plant out frost tender plants. It may also be a question of finding space for them all! Of earlier plantings, my greatest success thi

30th April 2019 Featured, Spring

At last it’s May, a wonderful month. Just go steady though with plantings of any frost sensitive plants, be aware of your last frost date. For example it is almost freezing as I write this, and we a

18th April 2019 Featured, Spring

A season change is happening and most of us can make new sowings undercover of vegetables that need summer warmth to germinate and grow. The frequency of cold nights is reducing but you need to know y

28th March 2019 Featured, Spring

Early spring can be deceptive, with the temporary warmth of strong sunshine, yet with cold winds. Stick to your known best times for sowing, and don’t be tempted to sow earlier. For example I have n

12th March 2019 Featured, Spring

12th March and the weather has been wild, the famous March lion, so I look forward to quieter conditions soon – a full moon on the equinox may initiate a shift! We had a gust of 63mph on 10th an

23rd February 2019 Featured, Winter

It feels like an early spring here, yet it’s still winter, just! Choosing what to sow and plant becomes confused when the seasons go out of order, and generally it’s best to stick with the dates y

9th February 2019 Winter

Be careful of sowing too early, there is no rush in spring because later sowings often catch up as it warms and lightens. For example I plan to sow tomatoes on 18th March this year. In the next two we

18th January 2019 Featured, Winter

Charles' update of seasonal garden jobs which is mainly mulching at this time of year, some winter harvests too, and no sowing yet!

13th December 2018 Featured, Winter

14th December, my last blog/update of the year, and until late January. Plenty to read and digest here, and I shall send another newsletter in early January. I hope you enjoy the new website. We have

10th December 2018 Site News

Welcome to my site and I hope you enjoy navigating around. There is a lot of information here. In fact, the amount of advice and data I offer has made it a big job to reorganise for the new site. For