30 Days of Giving begins today! If you remember, I give a gift a day to make the run up to the Solstice. You can read more about it here https://borderinggrey.com/2023/11/21/30-days-of-giving/ Despite my love of giving, I am not good at receiving gifts. When faced with gifts (and that language says it all), when faced…
The world feels scary right now, the threat of social division simmering, barely contained on our streets. With everything going on, I retreat to the calm of the garden to take stock. The early sweetcorn, tidied away now, was lush. The courgettes and beans were plentiful, the raspberries and tomatoes have been endless. With all…
Can you guess what I'm saying? Ooh, I have news! Top secret news! I’m not allowed to share it with anyone, but you, dear reader, are not just anyone, so I will tell you anyway. But first, in other news, I was temporarily banned from Facebook. Do you want the long or the short version?…
What are you reading my lovelies? Continuing to share books and writers I love, let me introduce the wonderful Vik Bennett and her memoir. I loved this book so much, an exploration of grief and motherhood and the making of something wild and magical to heal and grow. More than a book about gardening, this…
I am sitting writing this in the garden. Later in the evening, in the winter I’d be thinking of bed, but as we stroll towards midsummer the air is still and bright. The sky, fading to the palest blue at the very edges, is still swimming-pool-blue above me. I curse not grabbing my cardi though,…
Spring is here, despite the inclement weather. With it comes the endless dance – do I need a coat or sunblock or a balaclava? Is it too hot/ too cold to put the delicate seedling out in the garden, a sigh of relief as the dining table-come-potting bench is free of clutter if only for…
I started too early. I always do. Despite appearances I am not a patient person, (what do you mean no kidding?) I strive to keep all my impulsiveness in but with gardening, each year, I fail. Gardening is not a sport for the impulsive. Gardening is slow. Gardening is measured, gardening is seeing today what…
The one where I forget to write a blog.
It is time to put the garden to bed. The tomatoes are in. The kitchen drawers are full of them, glistening green with a banana sat on top, to ripen in the darkness. I’ll make more tomato sauce for the freezer, as soon as they are done. I used to make green tomato chutney, the…
I often think about death. Well not often, but I do think about it. Not so much my impending mortality, the brevity of our short lives, nothing quite so highbrow. More along the lines of embarrassing deaths and how to avoid them. Is that weird? There are the obvious ones – dying on the toilet,…
Consider this your tomato update. I planted too many. I know right, who knew? But I tried this time, I really did. The three I planted in the raised bed by the back door were perfectly spaced when they were little. But then they grew. Do you know how to grow tomatoes? You pinch off…
Well, the tomatoes are out! Phew, I hear you gasp – I know you’ve been worried about their progress. Covid is still lingering like a teenager hoping to cadge a tenner when they already owe you twenty. We cannot seem to shift it. The tomatoes slipped way down the list of things to do. Barely…
Seed sowing and tomato obsessions.
There is a silent but deadly war occurring in my garden. Provisions have been procured, barricades have been built and blockades are at the ready. What is this new global terror I hear you ask? What is the unending conflict? I am at war with the neighbourhood cats. I should point out here that I…
Bordering Grey 