In the Deep Mid-Winter

The 1st of January has passed quickly, just as it does every year. The rain fell heavily all day and is still falling now, a day later. But on the plus side, this makes it the perfect time to sit down indoors, where it is warm and cosy, open SeeHow and start playing with some new planting ideas that will guarantee winter and spring colours in your garden

The natural world is being pushed to the margins in the UK. These places are often difficult to reach but they are worth the effort - full of wonderful wildflowers, as described in SeeHow’s latest blog.

Huge amounts of plastics end up in the sea, where they cause untold harm to sea-life. Microplastics have found their way into the guts of creatures from the Arctic to the Antarctic. They are consumed by micro-organisms and small marine creatures which are, in turn, consumed by larger fish and eventually by us - a sort-of unvirtuous circle. Gaia’s revenge, perhaps!

Autumn is one of the most colourful times of the year. SeeHow’s latest blog looks at the contribution colourful autumn canopies can make to our parks and gardens and to our sense of well-being.

The rise in naturalistic planting schemes and the creation of modern meadows is benefiting biodiversity. There are millions of gardens and gardeners. If we all make small changes to help local biodiversity, this can have a big effect. This is change from the bottom up.

It is hard to believe that SeeHow is approaching its third birthday and that this text is SeeHow’s 40th Blog – two great milestones! I’m proud to say that during those first 3 years we have had buyers from as far afield as Japan and South Korea, the USA and many EU countries too, particularly Italy and Germany. However, the bulk of sales have been within the UK – we are a nation of gardener lovers after all.

Passive Gardening - from simple walled gardens that alter microclimates improving local growing conditions, to the development of glass technology leading to the evolution of greenhouses, palm houses and the biomes of the Eden Project.

I’ve been distracted this summer by our new vegetable garden – our first! Our small back garden had been lawn for as long as anyone can remember so the challenge, back in February, was how to turn it into a productive veg patch. We didn’t have grand plans – just growing what we could for the fun of it – the idea being some fresh healthy food from plot-to-plate in just a few minutes.

Don’t forget to Look up when you are out-and-about just now. There is something meditative and transformative about wandering slowly beneath blossom-covered cherry trees, stopping occasionally to soak up the beauty. For a few moments, nothing else matters. As a Katsumoto once said, a life devoted to searching for the perfect blossom would not be a wasted life.

Hedges are perhaps the most versatile of all garden art forms - practical windbreaks in seaside gardens; living walls creating garden rooms; weird and wonderful shapes straight from Alice in Wonderland - hedges offer it all.

Bright yellow dandelion flowers are everywhere - a sure sign that spring has finally sprung. If you find a perfect seedhead, take a big breath, close your eyes and blow … and while you do, make a wish. It is sure to come true!

A garden never stands still. In some ways it is a bit like a very slow-motion movie. In this movie plants come and go entirely at different times of the year and the scenes dramatically change. There are so many plants to choose from, each offering their own dialogue to the garden ‘movie’. For us gardeners, as the screen-play writers and directors, the exciting challenge is to choose the right plant actors first time around … but how to do this when there are thousands of plants out there?