Looking Back in Amazement

And, I suppose, it would be appropriate to continue the title with "and forward in confidence". What has me looking back in amazement is a very little research I did recently on Sir Joseph Paxton (1801 - 1868). This was in connection with the recently restored vinery at Lismore Castle Gardens, now completed after almost …

The Intransigence of those Greek Mathematicians!

Euclid is to blame for the present discomfort of my mind. Granted there were many before him who had studied geometry - Pythagoras with the square on his hypotenuse was well before and there were also several other Greeks as well as Persians and Chinese who predated Euclid - but it was Euclid who brought …

No Days for Old Men!

These days have recently come on me again. They shoudn't come as a surprise; after all I have experienced the seasons many times now and shouldn't be taken unawares but a scary day or two generally catches me out, gives me a little warning and tells me to be careful - wasn't it that American …

Who Gets to Whisk the Mornay Sauce?

It was a day when this and similar questions assumed an inordinate and disproportionate importance in the household. A slight boil-over from a pot on the hob lead to a crush at the kitchen door as the Head Gardener and I dashed to rescue the situation. There was a greater than usual willingness to be …

What to sow, grow and do.

What to sow, grow and do – A seasonal garden guide from Benjamin Pope. Benjamin Pope has worked in horticulture for over twenty years and is presently head gardener in a private estate in West Sussex where he cares for a large walled kitchen garden with extensive herbaceous borders and also manages meadows and woodlands …

The Anxious Wait is Over!

Our local pheasant numbers have been low for the last few years. A few years back we had eight hens and several cocks competing for dominance but for the past two years we have had only two hens and one cock and no surviving chicks from the two which appeared for a very short while …

Under Threat of Rain

Gardeners live much of life in hope of rain or under threat of rain. This past week we have been wishing for rain. Plants had begun to flag, even established plants, and several had to be rescued by a visit with the watering can. Elsewhere, gaps were appearing between the lawn sod and the brick …