The Circle of Life

 

 

Last week, my Client thought that I was “miles away” while weeding the top-fruit bed.

They did not realise that I was actually pondering a deep philosophical truth about gardening...

A fortnight ago, I wrote about how a covering of weeds does not, strictly speaking, count as growing “green manure”.

 And we had a similar situation in this garden: a few weeks ago we shovelled on a generous helping of our home-made compost - and when I say “we” you know that I mean “I” - at the base of a run of espaliered fruit trees: as they are, by their nature, closely planted, we like to add nutrients, and as this Client doesn't like artificial fertilisers, we use our own compost....

 

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Buddleia - formative pruning

 

 Recently, I wrote about deadheading Buddleia through the late summer, and the principle of using the frequent dead-heading to “nibble” your way back to the framework of old wood, while also taking off the top-heavy growth, thus preventing breakage.

I had a question from a Patron (“Hi there!”) about how to create that framework of old wood: that is, what do you do, if your Buddleia is quite a young plant.

Luckily, here's one I am creating now!

This plant is two or three years old, it's still quite skinny, and the Client wants to keep it fairly high, for privacy during the summer, when they are sitting out on their patio.

 Over the summer, it had reached a good 10-12' in height, and I have been dead-heading it regularly, as per the earlier post: if we take a closer look at the top of the right-hand section, you can see the truncated stems...

 

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On-line Seminar – Self-Employed Gardeners: How to Grow and Develop your Business: Sat 24th January, 2026

 

 Once you’ve been a self-employed Gardener for a couple of years or more, it’s easy to get swept up in the seasons, and to lose sight of your initial goals.

This online Workshop aims to help you take a fresh look at your business, to deal with any problems or issues that might have arisen, and to encourage you to look beyond your current situation.

With a style that has been variously described as “chatty and informal” and “appropriately bossy”, Rachel will take you through the commonest problems and pitfalls: wasting time; un-necessary paperwork; increasing your income; targets and how to use them; dissatisfaction with your Clients and how to deal with them. 

After a short break, Rachel covers specialising; how to increase and stabilise your hourly rate, and why you should do so; how to deal with late payers and low payers; when and how to ‘sack’ unsatisfactory Clients, and how to replace them with better ones; then some pointers on Expanding and Looking Forwards; with questions being asked all along the way.

All delegates can submit questions by email beforehand: and all delegates will receive a pdf version of the presentation, with some additional handouts. There will be time for questions and discussion at the end of the Zoom session.

Timings:
Start: 9:30am via Zoom (with breaks)
End: 12.30pm approx.

How to book a place: go the the WFGA (Working For Gardeners Association) website or contact me direct via email,  Inquiries@Rachel-the-gardener.co.uk

NB: I'm only at my desk first thing every morning - usually 6.15-6.45am - and again briefly after work, so don't expect an instant answer... unless it's raining!

Or, if you are still at the "thinking about a change of career, always wanted to be a gardener but not quite sure if I can do it..." stage, then check my book, available from Amazon Kindle:

It's less than a tenner, and if you have Kindle Unlimited, it's FREE!! 

Don't worry if you don't have a Kindle, you can download it to your PC, to your laptop, to your tablet, or to any other kindle-style device.

Do it now! And take the first step into a better life..... *laughs*

Iris unguicularis - too late for Autumn Slaughter!

 

 Well, too late here in Oxfordshire: this Iris, with its ugly unspellable name, is usually known as Algerian Iris, or Winter Iris, for the obvious reason that it flowers from now, mid-late November, right through until early spring, sometimes even as late as March.

 

Last year, I wrote about being just barely in time to give the foliage the late-season chop, in December, but that it was a fiddly job to avoid the flowering shoots, and that I advised the garden owner to cut them right back in October.

This year - in the same garden - I am pleased to report that I did manage to carry out that chop, in late September: ...

 

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