Author Archives: Tend&Grow

In my context (southern UK) winter work is so important if you want to stay on the front foot with your garden or allotment plot. This is the time when nature’s pace slows, I won’t say when nature sleeps as is the popular imagination for there is always movement, and so time for the gardenerContinue reading “Allotment garden – February”

So, an ominous start to the year. January 1st brought a wind chill of -2 degrees c, rain and total cloud cover, very much conditions that are prohibitive to getting outside and tending to the garden as the first indulgence of 2025. In learnt positivity and because expectation is the mother of all disappointment, IContinue reading “Allotment garden – January”

Mixed mild weather at the beginning of the month, some bright days, but always short and getting shorter until the Winter solstice three weeks in and the first day of winter. Grabbed the opportunity to spread fresh woodchip early in the month. The woodchip, which is sporadically delivered to the allotment site, is a byproductContinue reading “Allotment garden – December”

Mild weather continued for the first half of the month, the dahlias in particular looking really good until the temperature dropped out of their comfort zone. On the subject of dahlias there is some debate to be had on whether or not to grow them at all. The first part of the year in myContinue reading “Allotment garden – November”

I never intentionally brought in nasturtiums (Tropaeolum majus), arriving on their own somehow, but now each year they successfully swallow the plant bench here and attempt the same on the greenhouse. I thin them quite hard during the summer as they germinate, but by September their vigour is such that I just leave them alone.Continue reading “Allotment garden – October”

A robust native (UK) with a biennial habit that’s a good example of a plant that has a life after death, its skeleton and seed heads remain standing over winter, a source of food for seed eating birds. Seen here with good sculptural quality in early summer as the thistle like flower heads form. SpectacularContinue reading “Dipsacus fullonum/Teasel”

A desirable self seeder, can take a while to seed about and make itself at home, but once happy will become very independent and reliably present. White daisy flowers open and fade to pink almost continuously from spring into the autumn. Will colonise the most unappealing areas, any crevice or crack, given enough time, andContinue reading “Erigeron karvinskianus/Mexican fleabane”

One of the most spectacular of the hardy exotic plants that are comfortable in the UK climate, and it is hardy, bouncing back with vigour if cut to the ground by frost. Certainly capable of making a woody stem but may behave more like a herbaceous perennial depending on winter conditions. Truly huge leaves thatContinue reading “Tetrapanax papyrifer ‘Rex’/Chinese rice paper plant”

Mostly overlooked and frequently weeded out, Hypericum androsaemum is a good example of a plant that for most of the year is a bit drab, unremarkable even, but it has its moment in June with fresh stalkless leaf growth and the appearance of flowers branched in cymes. Native and widespread. Harmful if eaten. Good forContinue reading “Hypericum androsaemum/Tutsan”

Of South American origin this evergreen forest tree has distinctive fleshy red ‘lantern’ flowers now at the end of May and into June. It’s said to avoid C. hookerianum in wildlife friendly gardens as the flower morphology renders them inaccessible to indigenous insect life. In its native range it is pollinated by hummingbirds, hence theContinue reading “Crinodendron hookerianum/Chilian Lantern tree”