There's something wonderfully comforting about a long spell of sunshine. Morning coffee in the garden, bees busy amongst the flowers, tomatoes soaking up the warmth in the greenhouse – it's everything we dream of after a long winter. But as lovely as these hot, dry days are, they do bring their own challenges. Like many gardeners across Dorset, I've found myself looking at the skies each evening, hoping for a proper soaking of rain. When it doesn't come, every drop of water s

There is something wonderfully satisfying about watching a new garden begin to settle into itself. When I first started creating this small cottage garden, I could only imagine how it might look once the plants had filled out, the colours had blended together and the borders had softened. Now, little by little, that vision is starting to become a reality. Of course, no garden journey is ever completely straightforward. The local snails clearly thought my newly planted area wa

Radishes There is always something wonderfully encouraging about the first crops to appear on the allotment. Long before the tomatoes begin blushing red or the beans start climbing in earnest, the radishes quietly get on with the job, pushing their ruby shoulders through the soil almost before you have finished sowing them. They are one of those vegetables that reward impatient gardeners. Within just a few short weeks, neat rows of bright pink globes are ready to harvest, oft