Author Archives: Helen

About Helen

I have always been interesting in living a more environmentally friendly lifestyle and used to do what I could. Now, I have come to realise that we have reached such a point in terms of environmental degradation that it is more important - perhaps - to focus on building resilience. I therefore do as much as I can to reuse, grow my own and encourage a supportive community, for example. I also keep reading and learning all the time.

Blame it on the Red Campion

Posted on October 19, 2020

Silene dioica, more commonly known as Red Campion, has been gradually taking over the front garden since I threw a packet of seeds down, not expected them to come to much. Seeds sown directly into my soil rarely do for … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening, Good for the environment, soil management | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

“Betty Botter bought a bit of butter“

Posted on October 16, 2020

Red Lodge Farm has started selling cream from their raw milk. Or maybe they have always sold it but there was never any on the counter when I arrived until recently. After my last failed attempt to churn a pat … Continue reading →

Posted in In the kitchen | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

Making room for Rheum

Posted on October 13, 2020

When is rhubarb not rhubarb? When it’s a plant in the Rheum family but not edible and has the name of ‘Ace of Hearts’. It might still have medicinal properties, which is why I decided to plant the one I … Continue reading →

Posted in forest garden, Pond and bog garden | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

A scream in the garden

Posted on October 11, 2020

Friday was an unexpectedly sunny day but cool enough for some heavy-duty work in the back garden. In view of the recent rat activity in the dakek compost bin I was keen to eliminate the issue. Having made the holes … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening, soil management, Wildlife | Tagged , , | 19 Comments

Steam

Posted on October 8, 2020

What makes you happy? Regular readers may be familiar with one of my passions: making compost, especially when the process is going right. So, I was very pleased the other day when I went to turn the contents of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening, soil management | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Summerfield Nursery

Posted on October 6, 2020

I can’t remember why I was attracted to follow Summerfield Nursery on Twitter but perhaps it had something to do with the fact that it sells hardy perennials. In any case, on Sunday they tweeted that they were open and … Continue reading →

Posted in Days out, Gardening, perennials | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Making holes

Posted on October 5, 2020

Since putting newspaper, manure and cardboard down to create better soil near the back door, I’ve been mulling over how to proceed. First of all, I wondered how easy it would be to plant through the cardboard layer, at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening, soil management | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

A rowan tree

Posted on October 3, 2020

Until Thursday, I had prevaricated over whether to keep the self-seeded rowan growing by the bay tree. Then the decision was made to chop it down. It was too close the house and seeing how big some of the rowans … Continue reading →

Posted in climate change, Gardening, soil management | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Unexpected raspberries

Posted on September 30, 2020

The other day, I was disappointed. Whilst picking raspberries, I managed to pull not only the one I wanted off the plant but in doing so, off came the branch with two which were not as yet ripe. Thinking that … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening, In the kitchen | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Black cumin

Posted on September 28, 2020

Well, I picked one of the smallest crops I’ve ever had today but it was an experiment of sorts. A few years ago, I attempted to grow cumin but as is often the way, it didn’t get watered enough. I’m … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening, herbs | Tagged , , | 2 Comments