About

Originally having trained in parks and commercial horticulture, as well as time spent in arable farming, I have been gardening, sometimes professionally, but mainly as an amateur for over 60 years. Most of my time has been spent in North West England but have now moved to Derbyshire which is best described as the East Midlands. The main difference with my new garden is that it is very small, but I am still going to try to fill it with as many plants as possible. The change in elevation is not too significant, and although there are quite a few limestone chippings present in the back garden, courtesy of the last owners, the soil is still acidic as we are in the Dark Peak on Millstone Grit, and as such is identical to my last garden.

I have had various sites over a long period of time all dedicated to gardening, now I am retired completely I had intended to vary my posts to include other activities. The advent of the great lockdown curtailed my original intentions, so instead, I have decided to attempt a retrospective of the plants I photographed in my old garden accompanied by various ramblings based on personal experience.