15th April 2021 Featured, Spring

A difficult spring so far, with a lack of warmth and frosts down to -4.5 C here, nine frosts in the last 12 nights. However it has been dry! And although that means watering new transplants, it also m

29th March 2021 Featured, Spring

Transplanting times are here, but watch out for cold weather too. Plants ready now are frost hardy, such as lettuce, peas, onions and broccoli. I advise to wait until mid April before sowing frost ten

13th March 2021 Featured, Spring

It has been a different kind of winter here, somehow cold and damp in a more damaging way than 2018, when we had bitter winds in March but with less damage to plants. See the broad bean photos below.

28th February 2021 Featured, Spring

This is a full on time for a propagation, although also there is no rush to sow tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes, sweetcorn et cetera. Spring is also good for making new beds, which you can actually do

12th February 2021 Winter

Cold weather has been gripping much of the northern hemisphere this February so far, but days are lengthening! Some sowings can happen now, but there is no rush and see my comments below, where also I

30th January 2021 Featured, Winter

February looks to be cold.  And we have not done much garden work in January… oh wait, I bought an acre of new land, the pasture to south east of Homeacres, which used to have horses. I find it

29th December 2020 Winter

Winter has finally arrived here with frost most nights. and days noticeably colder, as low as 2 C 36 F maximum. This is okay! Much better to have cold now than in the spring, and all being well you ha

28th November 2020 Featured, Winter

Autumn has continued very nicely here, as in my new video. November has been almost as mild as October, and less wet with a close-to-average 76mm/3in rain. However winter is now arriving in the north

31st October 2020 Autumn, Featured

Prepare for winter with a clear mind. Beware the seasonal misunderstandings which take root from misleading information. They waste your time and cost you money. My quotes below are to give you an ide

14th October 2020 Autumn, Featured

The transition from summer to winter vegetables is almost complete. It’s both sad and exciting: we just ate the first celeriac, yet still have tomatoes ripening in boxes. There have been cool ni

29th September 2020 Autumn, Featured

It’s a stark difference between the remains of summer in late September, and an entry to winter by 31st. I notice while picking salads every week, how leaves from the same plants become thinner, pal

14th September 2020 Autumn, Featured

We should continue to see strong growth for another month, until daylight levels fall off a cliff in late October. If you are still sowing seeds, every day now counts for a lot, so don’t delay (see

30th August 2020 Autumn, Featured

Growth this summer has been strong and abundant, with few weeds thanks to no dig. The garden is full, but we are still finding just enough gaps to set out new plants, and making new sowings in trays,

15th August 2020 Summer

Early August has been unusually warm here, night minimum temperatures averaging16C/61F and day maxima averaging 27C/81F. Growth is fast as long as one waters – we use a hose, which takes time w

25th July 2020 Featured, Summer

It’s a rainstorm as I write and I am grateful for it. Before today, July’s total rainfall was 29mm/1.2in and after this storm it’s 46mm/1.8in. Still below average. We have been water

12th July 2020 Featured, Summer

It’s speeding up now, but growth has been slowed by the weather here. A cool two weeks until 10th July saw daytime maxima always under 20C 68F and averaging 18.5C 65F, with just 4.5 hours sunshi

27th June 2020 Featured, Summer

June has been warm and with mixed weather, including decent rainfall! of 107mm so far. Rain in June is the best of any month, after the surge of growth in spring. At Homeacres it has rescued my peas,

13th June 2020 Featured, Summer

The weather is cooler and damper than May, but only 28mm/1.1in rain here so far. The soil under growing plants is still dusty – but some of you have had big rain, even too much. “A drippin

30th May 2020 Featured, Summer

May was the driest ever month here, in 47 years of my records. 1990 came close with 4mm rain compared to 3.2mm (0.13in) in May 2020. In the last 20 years, the previous driest May was 2010 with 34mm, s

11th May 2020 Featured, Spring

We just had a week of summer weather, now winter returns briefly. Old weather lore refers to the ice nights of 11th-13th May! I hope you can cover potatoes enough to protect them, and any other frost

29th April 2020 Featured, Spring

April in the UK has been kind to gardeners, unusually warm and sunny, and now there is rain. I hope it’s springlike elsewhere, or nicely autumnal in the southern hemisphere. Gardening is at leas