Trying to keep up with the work

Joff, our gardener, has been on holiday for the last three weeks so everything is behind and the rest of the team have been struggling to fit in some gardening alongside running Genus and keeping up with the orders.

The last few days of wind and rain have left the borders in the flower garden in a pretty sorry state with tall perennials such as the dahlias and helenium, and annuals such as cosmos, now scraping the ground rather than standing up tall as they are supposed to do.

Top priority is watering the fifty odd tomato plants in the greenhouses.  The pans in the kitchen are on standby, waiting for the tomatoes to turn red, at which point we will all be busy making huge quantities of soups, passata, and pasta sauces to store frozen for the coming winter.


Modern heroes of horticulture - Advolly Richmond

Advolly Richmond is a familiar face to viewers of Gardeners World.  A garden historian, her slots on the popular BBC show cover subjects ranging from lawns, to Japanese gardens, famous...
Read More

Gardeners' notes - what to do in September

Sow hardy annuals directly for spring colour Early autumn presents an ideal opportunity for gardeners to sow a wide range of hardy annuals directly into the garden soil.  This approach...
Read More

The plants around us - teak

Tectona grandis, commonly known as teak, is a prized tropical hardwood tree belonging to the Lamiaceae, the family that surprisingly also contains, mint, thyme, and dead-nettles.  Growing up to 40...
Read More