Overwhelm

It’s been a tough couple of years. I feel I can say that for pretty much everyone in the UK, top 1% excepted. My garden design business* has taken a hit in the past six months, I think because people are battening down the hatches and focussing on essentials like eating and keeping warm, not “luxuries” like gardens. (A whole other discussion, are gardens essential for well-being?) This means we’re having to downsize, which is a bit dispiriting, as we’ve invested so much in our dream house and gardens*. Hey ho, at least we have a house to sell. Enough moroseness, on with the pretty pictures and information!

* warning, advertising links

Pretty pictures

I have very much been getting in to the #Mosstodon hashtag over on Mastodon. Exploring the Ceri valley is good for the soul and kind-of-a-break from gardening, whilst learning about your local environment is great for knowing what plants will do well in your garden.

Quick links

• The perennially brilliant Backyard Larder for perennial veg, run by Alison Tindale

• The book Sarn Helen by Tom Bullough, recommended by Helen

• Endangered insects photographed in unprecedented detail, New Scientist article via Chris

• Insects are vanishing worldwide via doomster Jake

• Eatweeds podcast by Robin Harford, again (I think) because there is so much good stuff in there

• International Forest Garden Symposium — currently running this week. Some really good talks, all recorded and stored for 6 months, worth catching up if you can afford it. Wish I had more time to participate in the Q&As. The slides for my talk are here Intersectional Gardening.

Apologies for the pause in newsletters. I’m going to ask my forest garden friends for their photos to jolly things along for future editions.