The Gardener's Journal - July
July is the point in the gardening year where everything becomes a little excessive in the most wonderful way possible. The borders are enormous. The grass grows with reckless confidence. Roses are throwing themselves about dramatically and every plant seems convinced it deserves centre stage. And honestly, fair enough.
The Gardener's Journal - June
June is the month when the garden stops pretending to be under your control and takes over the reins. Up until now you have had a reasonable sense of involvement. You planted things. You tidied things. You made plans and occasionally even followed them. June listens to all of that, nods politely, and then gets on with doing whatever it was going to do anyway.
The Gardener's Journal - May
May is my favourite month in the garden, which is slightly inconvenient because it never lasts long enough. If I had any say in the matter, I would happily press pause on the entire thing and keep it exactly as it is for a few extra weeks.
The Gardener's Journal - April
April is the month when the garden stops asking politely and starts making demands. One minute it was quietly waking up. The next it has burst into full conversation, talking over itself and expecting you to keep up. Growth arrives with enthusiasm and very little warning. Leaves unfurl almost audibly. Shoots stretch with ambition. Weeds appear overnight as if delivered by courier. The change is intoxicating and slightly alarming.
The Gardener's Journal - March
March is when the year actually starts, not January. January is a con. A month sold to us by calendars, fitness apps and overly enthusiastic planners. It arrives with fireworks and resolutions and the promise of reinvention, yet delivers darkness, cold fingers and a deep mistrust of the outside world. January tells you to change your life while standing knee deep in sleet.
Tools that time forgot - and why we shouldn't
Walk into any garden centre and you'll be bamboozled by a wall of the latest new-release tools promising to revolutionise your gardening life. 'Forget about your old tools, they say, 'these ones are shiny, better, titanium-infused, space age marvels with ergonomic grips and all! And yet, a curious thing sometimes happens when you actually start digging in earnest: the spade bends, the handle creaks ominously, and you begin to wonder whether the pre-power tool gardeners, who m
The Merlin: A British Carving Axe with Talons
Some tools are helpful. Others are transformative. The Merlin carving axe by Thorn Wood Forge belongs emphatically to the latter, the sort of tool that makes you stand a little straighter and marvel at what your hands are doing. I’ve had the chance to test the Merlin properly: first alone in my workshop, and then in a teaching setting with students from St Cuthbert’s Society, Durham University, introducing them to carving axes and the making of spoon blanks. That combination,
