It looks like a fantastic year for blossoming trees and shrubs. Apple and cherry trees have rarely looked better. Lilacs of every shade, from pure white to deep purple, are filling the air with their captivating fragrance. Hedges of Berberis thunbergii with yellow flowers that perfectly combine with the deep burgundy-coloured foliage. And I can’t remember seeing so many Magnolia trees in full flower – mostly the purple flowering type. This is such a short but fabulous moment in the lives of Magnolias, it is worth going for a walk just to see them. There are bright yellow Forsythias, white spirea and plenty of others too. Warsaw is becoming a city of flowers!

This is a fantastic time of year. The risk of night frosts has all-but disappeared and for many veggie growers it is ‘sowing and planting time’. Each day, I wander around my garden with Happy, my pygmy hippo. We can be seen crouching down by the veg beds, peering across the soil surface, looking for those faint lines of tiny green leaves that tell us that in 6 to 8 weeks we could be harvesting our first crops. Exciting!

Do you have a favourite garden season or time of year? It seems many people favour spring. Probably, this is partly because of the simultaneous emergence of so many plants and grasses. Out in the fields farmers crops are poking their shoots through the brown soil creating a green film across the landscape. I liken all this activity to an incoming ‘green tide’. Combined with warming weather, these changes help to dispel our winter fatigue.

Many factors can affect both the global and local food supply chains, which are much more precarious than we are led to believe. It is therefore a bit of a no-brainer for us to become more self-reliant, adjusting our eating habits to incorporate home-grown seasonal produce (Shop SeeHow – Veg for more ideas www.seehow.co.uk ). Here a few that give more ‘bang for the buck’ in the kitchen.

Photo Credit by Jason Leung on Unsplash

Our food supply chains are under increasing threat from global political instability and the effects of climate change. We may have to become more self-reliant, eating more home-grown seasonal produce. So, here are a few veg that can we grow ‘at home’ to keep us fed, full, healthy and happy throughout the year – especially the colder months when other veg may be in short supply … but you need to start planning for them now! (Shop SeeHow – Veg for more ideas www.seehow.co.uk )

Rewilding is much in the news these days. Is it time to apply this thinking to our own gardens, at least in part? Support biodiversity. Create resilience.

Why not give the gift of a real rose this Valentines Day and watch your love grow, year-on-year.

There has been a lot of debate recently about using bird feeders in our gardens, particularly at this time of year to help birds survive through the cold weather. It seems the consensus amongst the experts is that on balance, it may be better not use bird feeders – a contentious argument for many. What are the alternatives.

Who knows what creatures will appear in your garden if you create the right conditions. A pigmy hippo … not a chance!

Enjoy the quiet winter months exploring veggie planting-and-harvesting ideas. It is great to grow what you like eating but it is also fun to explore more unusual vegetable options. SeeHow - Veg is a great planning tool that can help with this. SeeHow’s illustrations show how and when each veg grows – so no experience necessary to achieve great results!

It really is so exciting each year to see the fantastic veg exhibited at local village and town shows. The superb displays have got me thinking – how best to prepare the veggie beds for my own bumper crops next year. It is also time to think about which veg to plant now, for a tasty early harvest next year.

SeeHow’s new interactive vegetable gardening book, SeeHow – Veg, is full of ideas!

Let us know if you are thinking about growing any veg to exhibit - we’d love to know more! 😊🥜🫛🍄‍🟫🥕

https//www.seehow.co.uk

This year, most areas of the UK have been affected by the drought. This has left quite a few plants with crisped leaf edges and given biodiversity a very hard time too. Many trees have suffered early leaf loss. This should give us pause-for-thought regarding our garden flower choices – combining resilient plants which also support biodiversity.

https//www.seehow.co.uk