Summer

In summer the shade of the trees creates a wonderful contrast here to the heat of the sun. As our summers get very hot, we are making certain to have lots of shaded areas in our garden. We also practise shutter shutting to keep cool air in the house.

learning how to water my garden at PumpjackPiddlewick

Becoming a good gardener has always been a dream. My grandparents had this amazing allotment on the outskirts of Amsterdam. My mother is forever creating beautiful spaces wherever she goes. And me, for most of my life, I have had a brown thumb. Why? Well, foremost, learning how to waterRead More →

summer heat is here at PumpjackPiddlewick

The summer heat has just arrived. After a prolonged spring, of which our garden is profoundly grateful, we have seemingly overnight transitioned from cool nights and warm days to just warm. Well, hot. It’s impact is felt not only in temperatures, okay mainly in temperatures, but in what we doRead More →

Harvesting champagne currants at PumpjackPiddlewick

Recently I wrote about cherries. We are still awash with cherries, as the tree of our neighbour on the other side of us is almost buried under them. So I am still carrying on making cherry things. But in the background. As currently it is all about currants, and specificallyRead More →

How to build garden raised beds out of pallets at PumpjackPiddlewick

Recently we have had a lot of rain. Rain, rain, rain. Plu, plu, plu. (Don’t you just love the French word for rain? It sounds just like a drop of rain hitting a surface.) It’s a good excuse to build some new raised beds. This time out of pallets. GettingRead More →