It may seem odd that watering your garden could be a problem in the Manchester climate, after all, are we not the rainy city? But no matter how much of it we have here, water is a finite resource. Water molecules go round and round in a cycle: evaporation, condensation, rain, run-off… repeat. Although … Read More
We are now so used to seeing the world through our digital screens, that it might seem odd to seek out a different kind of two dimensional experience, one which cannot be uploaded in seconds. This feeling of technology overwhelming reality is shared by others and brilliantly captured by the Norwegian writer Karl Ove Knausgaard: … Read More
It’s not often that I get to plagiarise two of my favourite artists in one go.Wendy MacNaugton is an artist who offers sometimes witty and always thoughtful illustrations of day to day life. I am particularly fond of her take on flowcharts and Venn diagrams of modern dilemmas, such as the one about ‘Medical Sources’ … Read More
Over the past few years I have been on something of a spiritual journey. Although I have had a life long interest in plants, I only got ‘seriously’ interested in wild plants after following an online course run by the Botanical Society for Britain and Ireland (BSBI): Identiplant – https://identiplant.bsbi.org/. Of course, I was using … Read More
Garden maintenance is boring. It is often seen as the repetitive, less creative side of gardening, and is often delegated to people who are good at tidying up, but don’t really know what it is that they are tidying up, and nevermind why. This isn’t meant as a put-down of the tidy-uppers, more a general … Read More
Anybody who has been wowed by beautiful garden planting, or felt excited about some creative plant combinations, will want to try and replicate that feeling in their own gardens. There are many plants to choose from and pretty much endless planting combinations. So no wonder I get WhatsApp photos of empty borders and requests … Read More
Tips for a low maintenance garden Let’s face it, nobody has ever asked me to create a high maintenance garden. This post is about steps and attitudes to take if you want to feel that you’re ruling your garden and not the other way round. First of all, a low maintenance garden is a know … Read More
A recent stay in hospital meant that I was cut off from all external sounds for 3 days. My ward had a view over the hospital lobby, but no sound coming through the thick double glazing, and certainly no traffic noise, no wind whistling, no rain battering the windows and no birdsong. I knew that … Read More
This is a guest post from Rae Story. Rae is an artist and Qi-Gong practitioner, who integrates nature in her work. I shared with Rae this idea of ‘inheritance plants’, which are those significant plants we receive or get to know from other people and the ones we would like to pass on and be … Read More
As we become increasingly urbanised, our day to day appreciation of nature and how it presents itself to us is evolving. Over the past 20…
