Cosmos is a versatile and easy-to-grow flower that can add colour and vibrancy to any garden and has become one of my favourite flowers to grow from seed. Its bright and colourful flowers bring much-needed interest to the garden during autumn. This post provides advice on sowing, growing and caring for Cosmos.
Category: Growing Guides
Guides for growing plants in your garden.
Buying and Chitting Seed Potatoes
Gardening success, especially abundant growing, is built on a degree of preparation. You can still have a good crop or a beautiful garden without it, but it may cost more or not achieve its full potential. After several years of learning, I now try to make sure I plan out tasks and do my best…
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!
Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, I hope you have a wonderful weekend and a fruitful New Year.
Siberian air
The prevailing wind shifted over the last week, and we now have wind bringing cold air from the east, which takes a short trip north to bring down Artic air. This means it is cold, with temperatures reaching -6 degrees Celsius or 42 degrees Fahrenheit on the night I write this blog post. After a…
Decoy Planting to Protect Vegetables
Over the past few months, I have invested time, energy and money into growing plants to produce food. Finding missing seedlings or leaves stripped bare by slugs and other pests can be very demotivating. In previous years I would have put slug pellets down around my plants to protect them. This year I wanted to…
Subsidised compost bin
Buying compost is one of the highest costs in my garden. I use new compost each year to grow potatoes in grow bags, sow seeds and mulch the veg patch and flower beds. I moved to peat-free compost, which is better for the environment, but it does cost more. The Miracle Grow Peat Free Compost…
Progress – Vegetable Garden
In my last few blog posts, I have talked about getting behind on this year’s growth (The first sowing of 2022, Better Late than Never & Transplanting from greenhouse to veg patch). In part, this was due to the fantastic weather we had in April and May, which felt more like summer than spring, but…
Transplanting from greenhouse to veg patch
The months are passing quickly, and I feel I am running behind, but today I have been able to get outside and transplant some plants from my greenhouse to the vegetable patch. I’ve spent a fair amount of time preparing the vegetable patch, which has delayed transplanting by a few weeks. Last year we put…
The first sowing of 2022
The last frost has passed, and the days are warming up. The mornings are still cool and crisp but soon warm up as the sun goes into the sky. The last month has been ideal sowing weather, and I have finally started to sow some seeds. This year I wanted to be patient and wait…
It finally got me!
For the last two years, covid-19 has spread worldwide and continues to spread in the form of new variants. In England, restrictions have been removed after multiple lockdowns and legal implications for breaching rules. Luckily, the vaccination programme is protecting most people from severe illness and hospitalisation, and the NHS is mainly impacted by staff…
My Gardening Journey 