The Autumnal Garden: Jobs (not) to do September 26, 2017 14:37

On bright, sunny autumn afternoons like today, you can really feel the magic betwixt and between the seasons. The orange, yellow and red tones of autumn are emerging in and around the garden. There is still some heat left in the daytime sunshine, but by the evening, there is a hint of woodsmoke in the air, as neighbours light their stoves and fires. It's a time when the garden is neither one thing or another. The brakes are on, but we're still moving. The inevitable is in sight, but not in reach.

The result is that my poor old garden is, unsurprisingly, in a bit of a tizz. The runner beans are still producing flowers, but they are working against the clock. The tomatoes, which were fairly laissez faire in their arrival this year, are trying to make up for it with a late surge. I feel their days are numbered. Meanwhile, all that lovely sunshine we enjoyed at the start of spring has led to a bumper (and early) crop of apples. These were whipped off the trees & cordons last week, just in the nick of time.

There is always a lot of advice at around this time of year to start tidying up and cutting back. "Get stuck in!" they scream, start planning for Spring. Well, can I offer an alternative? Just don't. Don't be in a rush to go headlong into a new season or start tidying up from the last. Instead, have yourself a moment. Take it all in. Enjoy the sunshine because it will get colder and darker. Let the leaves fall. If you are in any doubt, just take a look up - there is plenty more to come down yet. And, when you are ready, rather than clear them away, sweep them onto your flower beds. They will provide a natural protection to your flowers, a winter home for bugs and beasties and a fresh workload for the worms. Your efforts, other than to guide the leaves onto the your borders, away from lawns and ponds, are surplus to requirement. Nature is slowing down, encouraging you to enjoy the descent, so be a dear and follow suit.

Instead, get the BBQ lit. Enjoy a little fire pit blaze, wrapped up in an extra jumper on a clear night. Take stock of the garden, what you've loved this year, areas that could do with a little update or swap around. As plants prepare to go into their dormant phase, now is a great time to start thinking about what you can move around once they are all snoozing away, blissfully unaware of what is occurring above ground. Embrace a little decay - seedheads that look a little lacklustre now will create beautiful shapes and statues as soon as the first frosts arrive.

Aside from taking the pressure off you, there are plenty of plants that will actually thank you for being a little less gun ho at this time of year. I have found peonies produce MASSES more flowers if you let the stems and stalks remain over the winter months, rather than cut them back. Once you have plenty of new growth next spring, you can cut the old back, but until then, I let them stay as they are. It is the same for roses. They will get a minor haircut in the next few weeks, as they have all summer, but I give them a real good scalping in early spring. And it is seems to work. I have far less disease for doing this than I used to have. Other shrubs and hedges get a 'short back and sides' job but other than that, it's all quiet for the next few weeks until we're a little further into the season. For now, it's all about enjoying those late blooms, rich, autumnal tones and exquisite details in and around your outdoor space.

A weekend away at Forde Abbey September 22, 2017 15:04

Last Friday, we packed up D&F HQ and sauntered (well, crawled) down the A303 all the way to the Dorset / Somerset border to take part in Toby Buckland's Harvest Garden Festival, held at Forde Abbey.

I've been itching to get to Forde Abbey for a while now, quietly following their account on Twitter. It is without doubt, the garden of the moment. While recently writing about the garden in an article for the Sunday Times, Rachel De Thame commented: “Even the green-fingered are not immune to fads: as with Dahlia ‘Cafe au Lait’ or ‘Labyrinth,’ suddenly it seems everyone is talking about a particular thing. And this year it’s a garden – Forde Abbey.”

So, having read so much about the place, I was thrilled that we got to give our summer season one last hurrah at Toby's first festival to take place in this truly lovely garden. Neither the Festival or Forde Abbey disappointed.

A brilliantly curated celebration of all things late summer & harvest, the Festival combined stalls brimming with seasonal food, plants, homeware and gifts with cooking demonstrations, talks, workshops and tours. Meanwhile, Forde Abbey provided the perfect backdrop. Sweeping lawns, borders full of colourful dahlias, asters and grasses, a swirl of wild flowers, still very much in bloom, and, my absolute favourite thing - a walled kitchen garden; there is a lot to love about Forde Abbey.

Despite it's obvious long history, the garden feels like a space that is very much moving forward - it's thirty acres absorbing new ideas, planting combinations and experiments with the same youthful thirst as it had no doubt offered to it's earliest inhabitants. As such, Forde Abbey was the perfect place to host a brand new garden festival taking place on the cusp of a new season. And the weather held!!

Creating a garden for butterflies: Notes & ideas September 11, 2017 20:21

I'm going to say this in hushed tones. Literally, a whisper. Because, I'm feeling a touch heretical.

Let me explain.

Over the weekend, I settled myself down to enjoy the oracle that is the Gardener's World magazine. I read Nick Bailey's article about the decline in butterflies and found myself in a strange position. Only last week, I was in the front garden, our neighbour in theirs, and together we exchanged glowing remarks across the boundary about the abundance of butterflies this year. And yet, clearly, in the wider world, there is a problem.

Ooh, hello I thought. This is spooky timing. What's more, we're bucking a trend over here. And, in a good way!

Our garden has been awash with butterflies all summer. The nasturtiums have provided the main canteen for the caterpillars. The south facing window panes have proved to be useful incubators for chrysalis. Flowers and foliage have delivered some much needed R&R and 'grown up time' for the fully formed butterflies. From the outside, it's all looked rather efficient!

But what do I know? I tend to think of my garden as a glorified B&B or small hotel. The guests are in charge. I am merely the gardening equivalent of 'Manuel'. Feathery and furry visitors come and go, using the facilities like their own. Some are welcome. Others, well, quite frankly, you're pleased to see the back of them. But for the lovely ones, butterflies included, I find myself wondering how we tap into a little repeat business. What do we need to keep doing to get them, and all their new offspring, back next Spring?

Purely from personal observation and gut feeling, I'd say there are several things that make quite a difference. Firstly, it is pretty obvious to say that butterflies love flowers. But from what I've seen, they are a picky bunch. They each have their favourites. The white butterflies (both small and large) love the nasturtiums. The blue butterflies MUNCH solomon seal to within an inch of it's life. However, this normally happens after its flowered, so I don't mind their decadence. They are the insect equivalent of Oasis - smashing up hotel rooms like no tomorrow. Rock on boys, that's what I say.

The Comma's, Red Admirals and the Tortoiseshells love a club classic - Buddleia. Large Whites, Brimstones and Orange-tips have been swaying on the verbena with wilful abandon and in recent weeks, the Painted Ladies have put in a fashionably late appearance. Caterpillars are all about the place, making the most of the nasturtiums (again!) along with the leaves of an old twisted hazel and a small, silver birch. So, varied planting seems to be popular; creating a rich, diverse menu for these discerning guests to enjoy.

Secondly, I'd like to think that clean living is having an effect. We've been developing our little cottage garden for around eight years now, without the use of weedkillers or pesticides. Relying on companion planting, pulling out weeds as and when, and trying to create a garden that literally looks after itself, has been the focus. It feels as if, finally, we're starting to really get a sense of balance in the garden. The frogs keep on top of the slugs. The bats munch the mozzies. The herbs keep the crops in good shape. Instead of being in a rush to have the perfect, manicured garden, it feels as if we've lucked out - slow and steady (not to mention regular disasters and failures) was the only option, and yet, as it turns out, it's been the right course for us. It has also given us a host of regular visitors we might not have otherwise attracted.

Lastly, diversity, not just in terms of flowers as already mentioned, but environment, seems to be important. Having shady, damp areas; brambly, dare I say wild, areas as well as flower beds and borders that are producing the goods from early Spring through to the first frosts, seems to help create the right environment for butterflies, as well as many other moths and insects, to flourish. The bonus of all this is that it also delivers an diverting, enjoyable garden escape for us humans, too. Brilliant.

Have a top tip to share? We'd love to hear it. Simply drop us a note in the comments below!

Create your own sunshine: Discover our new range of vibrant, colourful homewares September 09, 2017 18:19

I'll be honest, I'm still hanging out for an Indian summer. Yes, I know, the signs are not altogether positive. But imagine a good dose of early autumn sunshine towards the back end of September and beginning of October....Ooh, that will do nicely. Because, as much as I really enjoy getting cosy in a woolly jumper, I'm not ready to be confined to barracks, just yet.

In fact, bonfires, rosy cheeks, winter walks, steaming hot cups of tea on a crisp, blue skied morning... I love it all. But I'm a summer baby. A love of 'the rays' is in my blood and I don't really cope very well with the other side of winter... you know, the one that's all rain, more rain interspersed by grey, dreary days. Sigh.

The antidote? Aside from a five star holiday experience in an exotic, far flung land, (not happening any time soon) I'm thinking it's time to dig deep and create our own sunshine. Which leads me nicely to our new range of homewares... :)

Combining small batch, British based manufacturing, along with traditional, hand made craft, our new collection provides something unique, joyful and practical for the home. Each item within the homewares range complements another - with mix and match styles, designs and colour ways used throughout to help create a contemporary, connected look for sitting rooms, kitchen / diners, and which, on warmer days, can extend out to the garden. Oooh lovely!

So, if you haven't already taken a look, dive in! Our vibrant cushions provide a real zing to this season's love of dark, moody interiors and yet are equally at home in lighter, more airy settings. The serving trays double up as stylish, colourful drip trays for houseplants and those outdoor types that just enjoy a slightly warmer home over the winter months. And our colour popping lampshades will add light and atmosphere to your home. The collection is growing almost daily as our months of preparation finally come to an end, and we start to add more items onto the website. We'll keep updating Facebook and Insta as we go - so come on over to keep in touch!

Enjoy!

Styling the Seasons: How to create your own wild berry & bramble flower ball September 04, 2017 18:02

When we were little, Mum, a florist, used to make the most beautiful flower balls to hang from the lynchgate of our local church. They were a gorgeous welcome for wedding guests. So, what better way to welcome a new season and visitors to your home than with your very own? Given a modern twist, thanks to our our macrame plant holders, these DIY floral arrangements look great over a table for dinner parties, brilliant in a porch or hanging in an entrance hall.

What you'll need:

• A pair of secateurs for cutting brambles, blooms and foliage
• chicken wire - enough to make a ball of wire (for ours, we cut out a rectangle of wire, around 75cm wide and doubled it over)
• Macrame plant holder - I opted for the burgundy tones of our plum coloured plant holder (visit our homewares section for these!) to complement the autumnal berries and foliage.

Selecting your foliage

I love a good autumnal hedgerow! And luckily, I've got a load of brambles and all sorts lurking at the bottom of the garden in an overgrown 'wilderness' area. When deciding on what to use, my advice is to start with a restricted colour palette. You can always add to it, but I find the results are much better and more effective if you go for up to three main colours only. So for me, I limited my colour choices red tones of the berries & hips; greens in terms of foliage, ivy not quite in bloom and green acorns; and the browns of teasels, corn ears and bits of long grass. When cutting your stems, try and get a good length, more than you need, so you have plenty to play with. Try and collect your 'showstopper' stems, the ones that aren't just for covering the wire mesh but are your really gorgeous gems, in odd numbers. Pop anything that is fresh into a bucket of water. Strip the stems by removing any low leaves that would otherwise end up in the water. Keep any dry material, for example seed heads, to one side.

Setting up your plant hanger

If you have a hook in a nearby ceiling - wonderful, hook up your plant hanger and you are ready for action. If not, a hanging basket bracket works really well outside, or hang from a branch. Ideally, you want to be able to work around the entire plant hanger while it is suspended, so you get a good, round shape.

Creating your wire ball

Really easy, just take your chicken wire and mould into a wire mesh ball. Ideally, you want to make it so that it is roughly round, with a couple of layers of wire, one on top of the other. Hook any exposed ends round so they don't snag your plant hanger or stab you while you work! Place the wire ball gently into the plant hanger and then tease it out, loosening the wire a little to fill the space.

Arranging your flower and foliage

Now the fun part. Getting stuck in. Start by selecting one of your foliage pieces as the initial covering for your wire mesh. We opted for the ivy buds. Then, build up from there. The beauty of the wire mesh is that if you don't like something, just take it out. As you add more and more to your plant hanger, remember to take time to stand back, enjoy the process and move around. Either twirl your plant holder to look at all the angles, or work around it yourself.

As autumn gets underway, you'll have more and more to use from the garden, including lots of dried seed heads. Gorgeous. When one part fades, simply replace with new pickings. And can I just say, how awesome are these for Christmas?! Think mistletoe, holly, small cuttings of fir trees and pine cones against our dark grey plant hangers. Ooh! I can't wait! If you get making, please send us a pic! We'd love to see any of your creations. Simply tag us (@DenysandFielding) on Instagram or post to our Facebook page.

September: New month, new term and new beginnings in the home & garden September 03, 2017 20:12

For me, September in the garden offers the best of both worlds. It is such a transitionary month - often coming hand in hand with lovely warm days (gawd, that's jinxed it!) and crispier, chillier evenings. Add a woolly jumper, swap the flip-flops for wellies and an altogether cosier feeling begins to descend.

A new school term means a return to some sense of structure. I'm all for a little spontaneity, but for the sake of sanity and maintaining friendly relations, this house needs to get back into a routine.

It is a similar feeling in the garden. The beds and borders are looking weary, a little shell shocked by the prolific partying & growth they've experienced in recent weeks. "Put us to bed, we've overindulged!" they scream. Haven't we all?! Cornettos by day, wine by night. That's been my summer holiday survival kit and as a result, there's a lot more of me swinging about the place too.

So, when it comes to both myself and the garden, there is a distinct sense of 'cutting back' this month. Let's all just ease down a little and show a bit of restraint.

It is a gentle readjustment rather than full on austerity measures. There is still plenty of colour in the garden. Hydrangeas are still in flower (just); the roses continue to put on a show and quite a few other perennials are back for yet another encore. But the pace has relaxed, the pressure is off, and it's time to look to the winter months ahead.

Age old autumnal rituals are slowly getting underway. This weekend, I've been painting some of the woodwork outside, trying to give it a little extra life and protection for the upcoming weather months. Meanwhile, Papa Bear has been some of the chopping wood that has been drying out all summer. And, for both our business and our home, our love of colour and my love of plants is slowly migrating from the garden to the house. At home, the houseplants are increasingly becoming the centre of attention. The larger of these have been quite happy outside on the patio over the summer months, but they soon have to make their way back into the house. I'm wondering how I approach the inevitable negotiations about their space allocation versus ours...

Meanwhile, our garden chairs & growing homewares collection are now transitioning into the home - the balcony chair is perfect for looking out into the garden; soft, luxuriously thick plant hangers keep the houseplants in order and our scatter cushions & floor cushions, perfect for lounging, add a shot of colour indoors. Keep an eye out for our latest tableware, which will also be heading to the website soon.

For anyone reading this, dreading the winter months, take heart in forget-me-knots. Mine have already created new colonies in and around the garden, ready to put on a big, blue haze of a show next Spring. I'm planning on sowing kale this week and cabbage, which will also produce the goods next year. But for now, the first few leaves of trees overhead are starting to gently unhinge themselves, one or two breaking loose already. Rose hips are forming in gorgeous red & plummy tones. Flower and seed heads are drying out around the garden. The inevitability of it all, working as clockwork, is nothing if not reassuring. Whatever obstacles and struggles are happening, known or otherwise, taking place now or that lie ahead, the garden keeps moving forward. And there is something rather lovely about the month of September that reminds you of all that.

How to protect your outdoor fabrics: Three fabric protectors August 31, 2017 17:08

Having beautiful furniture and fabrics ruined by the weather is no fun. One of the great things about our range of deck chairs is that they fold down for easy storage - perhaps the most simplest and straight forward way to keep your furniture in good condition.

But if your furniture is too bulky for easy storage, there are other ways to extend the life of your garden furniture & furnishings. I recently donned the marigolds and tried out three leading fabric protectors - Scotchgard, 303 Fabric Guard and Liquiproof. Here is what I found...

About the Fabric Protectors

Scotchgard™

When it comes to stains and spills, Scotchgard™ is probably one of the most well known brands. Its formula was accidentally discovered by two scientists in the early 1950's and very quickly grew in popularity. I used the outdoor fabric protector and found the aerosol spray easy to administer. It left no residue or marks. To me, the fabric felt ever so slightly more 'crispy', but not at all sticky or unpleasant. It did a good job in ensuring that rain and water simply beaded and ran off the fabric. The only downside was the heavy solvent smell - it was extremely strong and as the packaging advises, should only be applied in a well ventilated space.

303® Fabric Guard™

Recommended by outdoor fabric aficionados Sunbrella, 303® Fabric Guard™ is a fabric treatment that is often used for the rooftops of convertible cars but can also be used on garden furniture, umbrellas and a host of other surfaces. It is a pump action spray, goes on wet and then dries to leave a coating, which for me, made the fabric feel physically tougher. In fact, to me, it literally gave the fabric 'muscle'. Again, this one worked well in terms of repelling water, but similar to Scotchgard, it did come with a very strong pong during application! However, neither fabric protector smelt noticeably different after application and drying time.

Liquiproof

Unlike the first two fabric protectors tested, Liquiproof is a relatively new British brand, appearing on Dragon's Den (spoiler alert - they successfully secured financial support - no mean feat).

Liquiproof is a different beast form other fabric protectors that were tested. When it arrived, the branded brush and little sprays look like they had turned up for an occasion rather than a chore. This is a product that wants you to celebrate and protect what you love. A bit like polishing the silver, as opposed to scrubbing the floor. Does it work? Absolutely. In fact, if you don't believe me, watch the film! The water beads up and rolls off. But more than that, it contained nothing of the odour and heavy solvent smell that I had come to expect. It carries no allergic warnings. In fact, it boasts strong eco credentials. For that reason, it is my personal favourite.

Further tips for protecting your outdoor fabrics and furnishings:

• When using a fabric protector, always test a small, inconspicuous part of the fabric first.
• Always check that you are using the right protector for your type of fabric. Not all fabric protectors are suitable for every type of material.
• If you are a keen crafter, consider making a cover for your garden chairs or purchase covers that are easy to adapt to the size and shape of your furniture.
• If you can, always put your furniture away after use in a dry, clean area. Make sure your fabric is dry and clean before you store away, otherwise you might return to find mould and mildew!

Climate Control: Five tips to help improve & enjoy your garden's climate August 28, 2017 10:35

Nothing provides a better reminder of 'climate' than a trip to Wales. Camping trip, I hasten to add, which we undertook last week. West Wales - gorgeous. Camping.. well, for me, less so. But, in the immortal words of Robbie and Kylie, I was very much 'doing this for the kids'. They loved it. Enough said.

Amid the mizzle, we found sunshine and the enchanting, self sufficient estate of Llanerchaeron. Mix Georgian villa, woodlands, a lake, farm, walled gardens and meadow land and you have yourself the heady cocktail that is Llanerchaeron. It is such a magical place, but for me, my favourite part was the walled garden.

As soon as you walked through into the garden, you felt the temperature lift and your shoulders relax. Such warmth, created by those lovely old walls which were adorned with a glass house; either standing proud, or slightly tiddly, with a 'one sleeve sliding down the shoulder' look about the way it was slumped against the parameter. I love that. In the same way I love the slight sense of faded glamour in seaside towns. Beauty enhanced by age. Long live that mantra.

Beds, neatly separated by box hedging, were filled with herbs, fruit, veg and flowers in both formal formation as well as overflowing more naturalistic planting. Again, here I was reminded of the fragility of our climate - even within the cosy confines of the walled garden, many of its fruit, flowers and veg were a good two to three weeks behind my now ripe, or lets face it, leggy crops at home, a mere 280 miles away.

While most of us can only dream of a beautiful, enclosed walled garden, it is possible to learn a lesson or two from their success and charm. Climate is often such an overlooked consideration in a garden. And there is often a sense of resignation about it. However, there are lots of little tricks you can perform to help maximise your space, nudge the temperature up a little and create the perfect oasis for you and your plants.

Hard Landscaping

Our patio is at the entrance to our north facing back door. From May until late September, most of the patio receives some sun. One part in particular is sunny pretty much all day during these months, so this is the ideal spot for our garden chairs, nestled amid cannas, fragrant jasmine and our more tropical plants. The benefit of the patio is that its stones stay warm, if not hot, for most of the day and evening, which makes me, and my jungly, tropical friends, very happy.

Water

Water has a cooling, calming effect for us as well as plants. It takes longer to heat up, but is also longer in terms of cooling down. Create a shady area around a pond or stream, and you'll have the perfect conditions for so many shade loving plants, as well as a gorgeous contrast to your hotspots around the garden. Not to mention the wildlife you will attract.

Windbreaks

Nothing removes heat, or water quicker than a good strong breeze. Use planting, or hard landscaping around your seating area, or an area of the garden where you want to increase the temperature. Going back to our patio as an example... when we put a small extension up a few years ago, we kept the old bricks back from the wall that was knocked out. These then helped to form a retaining wall around the patio which is around 2 foot high. The result was a 'sunken' seating area. I love the feeling of being surrounded, and at times dwarfed by the garden. It also helps retain the heat and provides a natural windbreak for us in our most used part of the garden.

Keeping an eye on soil temperature

I've read a few sniffy articles about raised beds - suggesting that they don't really make a difference to soil temperature. I've found the opposite. I'm a big fan of raising soil levels up a bit for fruit and veggies for a few reasons. Firstly, my raised vegetable beds get a good dose of farm manure, leaf mould and garden compost spread over them. 'Steaming muck' is not a phrase for nothing! This decomposed / decomposing matter is, in my mind, essentially 'cooking' and therefore adding nutrients and also a little heat to proceedings. Secondly, if you have raised beds for the specific purpose of growing veg, or say, cut flowers, they really easy and manageable to cover. Putting the beds to sleep over the winter period, under a nice, thick piece of polythene will keep the temperature higher by a degree or two, which makes a big difference when sowing early spring veggies. Lastly, my raised beds are positioned within the confines of old, wooden scaffold boards, that have had a coat of paint. In our small, south facing front garden, the scaffold boards get warm, so it stands to reason that the soil inside them is enjoying some of that transferred heat. Depending on your position, flat beds might not be right for you. If you want to maximise the sun rays, consider sloping the beds, like you would a deckchair or sun lounger! Alternatively, add a cloche or make a cold frame to warm things up.

Microclimates

Remember that even in a teeny, weeny garden or outdoor space, you can have lot going on in terms of temperature and microclimates. Different microclimates are not a bad thing - they provide diversity for your planting, wildlife and your enjoyment. Just don't get caught out by them. For example, just because the entire garden has enjoyed a really good drop of rain, it doesn't mean that the whole garden is now sufficiently watered. Natural slopes or areas sheltered by walls may have received very little, despite the downpour. My two dwarf apple trees provide another good example of these gentle differences. They are just a few metres a part, but one receives about 1 - 2 hours extra morning light per day. The tree sat in the sunnier spot has noticeably more fruit, which is also ever so slightly more mature than it's neighbour. More sun, more growing time, more blossom, more pollination, more fruit. Simple really. Nature has it all sussed. Sometimes in our haste and busy lives, we miss the obvious stuff that you only really see when you slow down a little. Places like the walled gardens of Llanerchaeron offer that perspective and remind you that nature knows what its doing. All we have to do is learn the signs.

Notes & resources:

• All the photos above were taken at Llanerchaeron, which is run by the National Trust. For more information about visiting hours and a potted history of the estate click here
• Find out more about how we help to create gorgeous garden rooms
• Read more on how to style your outdoor space

A Tale of Trees - A book that will make you want to plant a tree, or five, immediately. August 15, 2017 12:15

Confession time. Late last year, I bought my Dad a copy of A Tale of Trees by Derek Neimann for his birthday, safe in the knowledge that I would be shortly 'borrowing' that book back to enjoy myself. Shameless, but true.

Generous to a fault, I did let him read it first, only to snatch it out of his mitts the moment it became available. And I have to tell you about it, because along with The Garden Awakening by Mary Reynolds, this book has left a lasting impression.

A Tale of Trees charts the demise and near destruction of Britain's ancient woods. Candid and with good humour, the author draws you deeper and deeper into the plot; involving a hungry, postwar Britain, a farming community under pressure to feed the nation and a small, disparate band of government departments, charities, community groups and conservationists, all working with the best of intention, but often under false pretences.

Don't be fooled by the unassuming size of this book - it packs a punch. Like all good dramas, it is full action and the story is told at a pace. Within one paragraph you can be transported from Kent's coppiced woodland to the firs and pines of the Scottish highlands. At times, I wanted to grab a map, just to see where I was. And I'll be honest, I felt a little like Martin Freeman's Watson when Sherlock Holmes was trying to explain the findings of his 'mind palace' - mouth open and slightly stupid, in dire need of a few pictures.

Towards the end of the book, just when you think that the woodland is safe, it's plight finally understood; the delicate balance that is needed for it to prosper; the absolute need for man and wood to work together, to create the right conditions for so many of our native woodland flowers, birds & butterflies, at just that moment, a cruel twist, carried on the winds of the Far East, casts an even darker shadow.

At this point, I wanted to run outside, dig up the garden and start sowing acorns. This book gets you by the guts and your response is equally visceral. You want the hero, the ancient woodland, to survive and I for one, feel moved to do something about it, no matter how small.

A Tale of Trees is an enlightening read about one of our most precious, treasured habitats. It is a call to action. It is a generous gift; patiently imparting a deeper understanding of our woodland and countryside. And it is an ultimately hopeful tale, told with a good dose of humour and compassion for every party involved.

Resources & Further Info

• The Woodland Trust: the UK's largest woodland conservation charity
• Forest School Association: the Professional body representing Forest Schools across the UK
• The Forestry Commission: the government department responsible for protecting, expanding and promoting the sustainable management of woodlands.

Death of the Deckchair? August 11, 2017 18:21 2 Comments

Nope, we're not branching out into some weird, horror movie involving scary, carnivorous deckchairs. But, it was a question I was asked this week on BBC Radio Kent. Ooh, get me!

The interview was prompted by a recent report that appeared in the Telegraph, highlighting the decline in deckchair rentals across UK beaches. 'Phased out' is the expression they used (boo) as councils opt for the continental sun lounger over the traditional British deckchair.

Ah, I can't help it, this news makes me sad! For one thing, how can you possibly eat your chips, drink a glass of wine (out of a plaster beaker, obvs) and keep the travel rug over your knees in a force five gale while lying on a sun lounger?! Those continental things are wonderful when the sun is high, the temperatures are in their thirties, and quite frankly, the most sensible thing to do is to lie down. But Margate isn't the Med, is it?! The last fortnight has been downpour after downpour. In August!! You can't throw your eyes to the air, transport your sun lounger to the shed or summerhouse and crack open the malbec. But you can with a deckchair. And therein lies their magic. They are portable party lovers, great for a gathering whenever the opportunity arises.

One of my strongest memories from my childhood is my grumpy old grandad sat in a deckchair on Dymchurch beach. Fully kitted out in a tweed suit and flat cap (like you do), absolutely steaming on one hot summer's day, back in the eighties. That's the special sauce that they hold. Deckchairs just make you smile. They hold memories of times with family and friends. Memories that may not even be yours, but sat in an old family album somewhere, of summer's spent at the coast.

Most of us have a habit of valuing what is no longer readily on tap. And, as councils opt for loungers over deckchairs, you may find yourself pining for that touch of nostalgia and comfort that comes with a good old deckchair. So, remember, this summer, when the sunshine does finally come out, go to the beach and rent a deckchair. Otherwise, there will come a time when this is no longer possible. And, if you are organising your own celebration, you can hire a deckchair from us :)

Wildfowl & weddings at Elmley Nature Reserve August 07, 2017 19:30

Isn't it amazing how you can live with someone for YEARS and still find out something new? When I mentioned that I needed to disappear for an hour to collect deckchairs from the wedding of a really lovely couple that had taken place at Elmley Nature Reserve this weekend, up piped the husband, 'Oh I love Elmley, I studied bird migration there for my final dissertation at uni'.

Er, love Elmley? Not once has that man uttered a syllable about this place before. And as for bird migration - since when did that become a specialist subject?! Honestly. 'Do you fancy coming with me?' I said nonchalantly, hoping that he'd come along to do the donkey work. 'Yep, that would be great'. Get in.

So, off we went. What a place to get married. Driving to Elmley across from our little part of Kent is a reminder of what a beautiful, diverse county we live in. Rolling countryside and the sprawl of nearby towns morphs effortlessly into wild marshland, rich with native and visiting birds. Large fresh water habitats sit alongside the vast expanses of salt marsh and mudflats of the Swale. The result is fiesta time for waders and wildfowl, who literally come in their droves for a little R&R of their own. Cattle gently mooch across the marshes; their grazing helping to keep grasses at an optimum level for visiting birds. It's pretty magical stuff.

This sense of balance extends to the wedding venue itself - the barn is set in the middle of the wilderness, offering breathtaking views across the marshes. Head out from the barn and you'll find yourself in a grassed walled garden; the perfect place for a party, and later, as the evening progresses, a fire pit or two, to keep you warm and toasty.

Nature trails and hides offer a great way to enjoy this very special place, which is open throughout the summer months. We're planning to head back with our own little wildlings very soon.

For more information or to plan your trip, please visit: www.elmleynaturereserve.co.uk

A guide to keeping your houseplants happy - 10 growing tips and tricks July 30, 2017 10:07

Houseplants have never been more fashionable or in demand. They look wonderful in cool, clean scandi styled homes and yet are equally at home against lush, bold hues. Some can literally help clean up the environment; removing formaldehyde and other toxins from the air, while others are just an irresistibly handsome housemate and earn their place in your home and heart for their looks alone.

Given their popularity and appeal, how is it that so many of us have such a hard time looking after these little plants? Well, I think the term houseplants sets us up for failure. There is no such thing as a plant that prefers a house to live in. They want to be outside, living wild and free. Instead, they begrudgingly take up digs in our homes, throwing the odd strop here and there about the living conditions, which, quite frankly, are a bit below par. Can you imagine living it up in some far flung, tropical hotspot, only to find yourself carted off, stuffed into a concrete pot, and placed on a north facing window sill - with a cold draught blowing in your face morning, noon and night?

Enough said. Your job is to play the long suffering landlord/lady and pander to their every whim. So, here are ten ways to keep your houseplants happy, enjoying the lifestyle they are accustomed to...

1. Know what you grow. It may sound obvious, but make sure you know what it is you are growing. If you don't want to keep the label on the plant, make a note of it in a journal. Unless you are a bit of a botanical whizz kid, you will find yourself forgetting the some or all of the name of your house plant, which then makes it tricky if you need to google a quick reminder on what to do when the leaves turn brown...!?@!

2. Art imitates life. Or in this case, home imitates jungle / desert / native environment. Whatever plant you have, it has a heritage far beyond a semi in Stockton or a flat in Forest Hill. Find out about the background and natural environment of your plant and then replicate as best you can - for example, opting for free draining composts and soils for a desert dwelling plant such as cacti or succulents. Choosing indirect sunlight for low growing, forest plants.

3. Keep clean. Washing the dust off of houseplants helps them to function more effectively. Similar to our skin, leaves can get clogged up if they are not kept clean so a quick dust with a damp cloth is normally all that is needed to help them looking and performing at their best.

4. Let water drain away. Because of their natural environment (see point two,) lots of houseplants can't stand sitting in water for too long. Ideally, water with rain water, particularly for succulents and cacti, and allow the water to drain away. Catch any additional drips with a tray.

5. Invest in a sprayer / mister. We love a Haws mister. Perfect for creating a little more humidity for plants that dislike our dry, centrally heated homes, such as a Calathea.

6. Don't be afraid to put houseplants outside, even in the UK! I've a really lovely calamondin orange tree that I've had since it was a wee small thing. As it has grown bigger and bigger, I have had less and less options in terms of where to put it, not just because of the space it takes up, but also because of it's weight. It is not an easy one to move around! So, in the winter, it takes up residence by the back door, a little starved of light, but the best I can do. Once the temperatures go up, we man handle it outside onto our patio to enjoy the full effects of the British summertime...! Even if the temperatures are a little pathetic, it does love the extra light it receives, producing an abundance of flowers and fruit (weirdly at the same time!) as soon as it steps outside.

7. When it comes to watering, follow the rule of thumb. Avoid feast or famine. Stick your thumb into the soil, down to the crease of your thumb knuckle / joint. If it's dry as dust, give it a water.

8. Don't assume the bugs and beasties are all on the outside. Pests and diseases can also afflict indoor plants so keep an eye out for signs of suffering - brown or curling leaves, visible eggs or pests hovering around the plant. Which leads us nicely onto...

9. The more the merrier. Companion planting doesn't have to be just for outside. Plants can support the healthy development of each other inside too. Many herbs are quite happy to sit inside in a sunny spot, and will help deter any pests, just as they do when out in the garden. Basil, Rosemary, Chives and Bay all do a great job at supporting their neighbouring plants whether inside or out.

10. Indirect sunlight is a pretty safe assumption. Lots of houseplants really do not like a lot of sun. Finding a spot that enjoys plenty of light, but not enough sun to scorch, is a safe bet for most.

Resources:

• Shop for houseplants at Simply Garden.
• Check out our range of trays, ideal for plant pots and window sills
• Shop our stylish plant hangers!

Further reading:

• If your new to houseplants, we recommend 'How to Grow Stuff' by Alice Vincent. Simple, straight forward advice to add a tinge of green to your fingers. Check out our review of this lovely, helpful book, published earlier this year.

End of July - Notes from the potager garden July 28, 2017 18:00

After months of wall to wall sunshine, last week, the kids broke up from school and, inevitably rain descended. Boo. However, at least it's meant a little less time spent watering, and a little more time sampling the fruits of our labour.

The runner beans are in full swing, and this week I've been out picking them for dinner. I can't lie, there is a definite sense of pride / smugness to the occasion. Alongside the beans, the rhubarb is back for a second harvest while the gooseberries and blackcurrants are a dim and distant memory, having been picked and safely deposited in the freezer, the next stage of their transformation is the exciting part... wine. We're just waiting for a good crop of blackberries to blend with the currants, to create a rich, warming red wine. Oooh lovely, salivating as I type.

My onions have had a slightly tougher time. The nasturtiums have taken over the beds, reducing the light that the onions really need to mature and build up in size. But to be honest, I'm happy with onions the size of gobstoppers. They look and taste great, bobbing about whole in a stew. Importantly, they still have that enormous kick and flavour that you get with homegrown veg. Meanwhile the nasturtiums are providing so much for the bugs and beasties around the garden, it feels mean to reduce them down too much. Caterpillars steadily munch their way through the leaves; frogs are enjoying the damp, darker confines the foliage creates and the bees merrily pootle from flower to flower, drinking up the nectar. A few smallish onions seems a small price to pay for the goodness and general sense of cheerfulness they create in the veggie patch.

Having harvested the red cabbage, I've gained a little slither of bed back, and reused the space to sow beetroot seed. With the veggie patch so close to the house, once the beetroot gets to a useful size, I'll just pop out and pull up what I need on an as and when basis. This is my alternative to 'thinning out' - My selection of beetroot should free up room for the remaining crop to grow. So, biggies first please, form an orderly queue, allowing others to grow, producing a continuous crop over the next few weeks. Perfect for salads and sarnies. Any remaining crop will get pickled, to enjoy over the autumn and winter months.

Living a hybrid life, between indoors and outside, is part and parcel of what Denys & Fielding is all about. But it goes beyond trying to make beautiful home and garden wares that you can enjoy indoors or outside.

Blurring the boundary between house and garden has definitely helped efforts to grow our own veg. It literally feels like I'm walking into another room - a living larder, where I can just go and help myself. Dare I say it, it's also extended our cooking repertoire. We're guilty for dishing out the same old tried and tested dishes, safe in the knowledge that the kids will eat it and it's easy to do. But growing your own makes you experiment a little more. After all, there is only so much rhubarb crumble any human can take. It forces you to think creatively about how to use the rest of your crop - making jams and preserves for cheese, looking up recipes for home brew concoctions or just meeting up with the neighbours and sharing your spoils.

On a deeper level, removing the boundaries between home and garden has also helped me to enjoy it more at all times of day and night, in all seasons. Mary Reynolds talks about the importance and value of sitting in a garden at night in her book 'Dare to be wild' and for me, she's spot on about the sense of connection and feeling more centred, grounded somehow. Mixing it up and making a conscious effort to ignore the threshold (and, in fact, skip right over it) also has helped me switch off a little. You find yourself noticing the small things; new growth, insects you've never come across before, the quietening that happens just before a good bout of rain. It's addictive, intoxicating stuff. It'll have you padding out in your slippers with a cup of tea, before anyone else in the house is up. Come evening, it will have you soaking up the last of the day's sunlight and enjoying the whole new lease of life that comes out at night.

So, go on. Grow something green. It doesn't matter if it's a pot of your favourite herbs, or acres of flowers and veg. For me, the result is the same. Life affirming.

From Hygge to Lagom: New trends & ideas July 20, 2017 00:00

Move over Hygge. There is a new kid in town. Lagom, the Swedish ethos of living life in a balanced, moderate way, is currently hitting headlines as well as bookshelves with a host of new books due for publication in the coming weeks and months.

And for me, it's an interesting one. Lagom has been a long held cultural mainstay of Swedish values of moderation, balance; not too much, not too little. It promotes simplicity, but doesn't forbid the odd indulgence. Critics (mainly Swedes, who understand the far reaching nuances of the term far more than I do) argue that Lagom favours uniformity and the middle ground over individuality and creativity. But for me, as a gardener and nature lover, (and probably thanks to a more 'loose' interpretation) it has a real appeal. And, rather than push Hygge aside, I reckon the two combined in the garden are the perfect mix.

I have lots of friends that find gardening a huge chore. The idea of having a flower beds and borders is simply unappealing to them. And yet, to my mind, that is because the balance is off kilter. A well thought out garden gives as much receives. It takes time but get the mix right, and nature will look after it for you. You'll find yourself happily demoted from chief groundsman, workhorse and dogs body, to simple custodian... who just happens to be nifty with a pair of secateurs when the need arises.

So, what does a balanced garden look like? And how does it take out the work? For me, there are a couple of aspects. Firstly, you have to change your view of your garden or outdoor space and stop thinking about it in 2D. Gardens differ from any other living space you inhabit. They move, change and develop constantly. Your job is to firstly slow down and take this all in. Where would you like to have that first cup of tea in the morning? Where does the sun fall in the garden throughout the day? How does this change with the seasons? Where are the damp, shady areas? What's happening at eye level, or further up? What would you like to remove from your gaze with a nice shrub or tree? What's looking a little worse for wear - either in the wrong soil or space? These kind of questions give you the lay of the land. It also tells you a bit about what the garden needs from you in terms of attention and care e.g. - that area needs sun loving plants, that bit needs something with a bit of height to draw the eye. Over there is tough enough to cope with the kids and a football etc...

Now, time to get indulgent. What would you LOVE your space to look like? What kind of colours, plants, veggies, flowers etc... When you imagine your garden, how does it change with the seasons? When are the first flowers in bloom? What's still going until the first frost?

Ok, now time to reign it in, get that balance back in check and think about what all of this needs to be self supporting, allowing nature to do the heavy lifting. For example, if Hostas are on your wishlist, slugs will be your nemesis. Which is fine, because you are forewarned. So, rather than put all those horrible blue pellets around, which to me is the total opposite of balance and moderation, either put your Hostas in pots, opt for the bigger varieties, that tend to be a bit tougher at dealing with slugs, or plant a few Sedums around your Hostas (this works for me! The rubbery texture seems to put them off.) Failing that, introduce some chickens. They'll make mincemeat of those slugs in no time.

Alternatively, if you fancy growing your own, go for it, but introduce companion plants such as marigolds, rosemary, chives and nasturtiums around your crops. Not only will your veggie plot look like a pastoral paradise, you'll also save yourself time and angst fighting pests. You get to take crops from the earth while putting back in terms of bee and pollinator friendly blooms. Without ever having reached for the spray gun. Balance. Not too much, not too little.

While all of this might take time, trial and error and a little sweat as you plant your plot, long term, you're reducing the workload significantly. Working with nature and your environment rather than fighting it will have it looking and producing abundantly in no time.

Lastly, back to Hygge. If you accept the interpretation that Lagom in a garden is about the balance between nature and nurture, Hygge is the reward. A chance to sit back and take in all that the garden has to offer. While the garden works, you rest, wrapped in a blanket, fire pit after dark, candles alight. Wonderful stuff. And, less focused on a short lived, much shouted about trend. Instead, a slower paced pursuit of a sustainable, enriching way of life. Just the way nature intended.

Experimental projects in the garden: Raised wildflower beds July 16, 2017 18:44 2 Comments

My garden is a continuous work in progress. In true 'pioneering / let's give it a whirl' spirit, I’ve recently been cracking on with another experiment in recent months. And it's now time for the big reveal. But first, the backstory...

I have two small dwarf apple trees and a few cordon apples running along the fence between myself and my neighbour. When I planted these, I had visions of bountiful harvests of apples.

Ha.

No such luck.

Despite fairly good growth since the apple trees were planted around seven years ago, pollination has been abysmal. The bugs and beasties seem totally disinterested and zoom straight past. As a result, I get just a handful of measly looking apples each year. Undeterred by my lack of success, and enthused by a magnificent meadows talk I'd heard, I originally wanted to create an area of wild flowers directly under the fruit trees to help encourage pollinators. However, on sharing ideas and swapping notes with family and friends, it turns out that you need to leave a little space under fruit trees to ensure that pests and diseases don’t start to impact the trees. Or, at very least opt, for herbs and flowers that will provide good companion plants to the trees.

Plant B was the creation of raised beds from old apple bins. By having flowers at a higher level I thought we might benefit from a little more height, interest and privacy in our garden. It would also limit the amount of damage that could be done by footballs and little feet whirling around. And, if I'm honest, there was a touch of whimsy about the whole project too. In my native Kent countryside, apple orchards are a precious sight around the county and I love seeing old apple bins piled up on the side of orchards, ready to be filled up. It reminds me of my childhood spent on an apple farm, making camps with my sister while my Mum and her friends picked the fruit.

Full of enthusiasm and nostalgia, I zipped along to my nearby friendly farmer to acquire a couple of bins which cost me just £10 each. Can you imagine buying a planter of that size for anywhere near that price!? Bargain. While apple bins are large, I can confirm that you can load them up into a grubby old estate with absolutely no problem at all!

Having got them home, I put them in position (they are surprisingly light but their size means this is a two man job really) and then started to get them ready for planting. These steps included:

1. Lining the inside of the apple bin with plastic sheeting. I used a thick black polythene which I secured to the apple bin with the help of a craft staple gun.
2. Cutting holes in the base of the plastic. This is to help with drainage. I was careful to only make holes between the slats of the apple bin underneath. This is to make sure that water can run straight to the ground, rather than directly onto the wooden base of the bin - hopefully extending its lifetime for as long as poss.
3. Adding plenty of old bricks, broken pieces of terracotta pots and stones, again to improve drainage but also to ensure I didn’t end up having to find too much soil. These bins are big and I knew they would take a lot of filling up. Talking of which....
4. Filling up with leaves from around the garden: This would save on having to find or buy lots of top soil. It also gave me something useful to do with all the leaves that have been piling up in and around the garden. For a bit of added oomph I slung in a good few barrows of horse manure.
5. Leaving everything to ‘settle’ - I left the leaves for a few weeks to decay a little more and drop in level thinking 'that will level out soon'. Er, no. Throughout the winter, I piled on more and more leaves, debris and general tut from around the garden. Without fail, within a week, or so, the level had rotted down and I had to repeat the process. This went on until the end of April. Seriously. Worried that I wouldn't have enough time to plant up or sow seeds, I nabbed a load of top soil which was going spare from a friend. This is the experimental bit really. I had no idea if this concoction will prove too rich for seeds or if it will have them doing cartwheels...
6. Now the fun bit - adding seeds and plants. I bought a mix of wild flowers from Paul at Meadow in my Garden. Paul was brilliant at allaying my 'rich soil' fears. I had heard that wildflowers tend to like a tough life - not too many nutrients in the soil etc… so I wasn't entirely sure if my cocktail of leaves, manure and soil will be too rich. Paul recommended the perfect seed mix, but I still was worried. I thought my efforts at soil making may somehow manage to kill these seeds before they really got going. To guarantee some colour and enjoy some immediate results from all the shovelling that had gone on for months, I added a geum in each apple bin along with an achillea and verbena.

The whole project has cost no more a very thrifty £35.00. But the result is worth tenfold. I needn't have worried about the wildflowers. Paul's recommendation was spot on. Within a week of sowing, seedlings were up and visible. In fact, the wildflower growth has been prolific. It's been fascinating to watch these gorgeous blooms spring into action. Every time I have had to work away for a couple of days, I've enjoyed coming back and seeing how much things have moved on. The icing on the cake has been the sight of all of the butterflies, bugs or bees in our garden. Absolutely incredible. And, thanks to a dry, warm Spring, and perhaps the late introduction of a few more pollinators, we also have more fruit than ever on our apple trees.

But more than that, I've a real, deep affection for these raised beds. The verbena sways around with butterflies clinging on, unperturbed by the movement. The cornflowers with their electric blue tones, keep coming and coming. The achillea is a huge hit with the bees and hover flies. There is absolutely no maintenance, with the exception of watering. Don't even think about weeding. What's a weed in amongst this lot? I've no idea. The lines are so blurred, you just live and let live. Free and easy gardening and thanks to the weather, lots of long, sunny evenings to just sit back, take stock and enjoy.

*Article originally part of a series written for the Girl in a Hard Hat blog.

A weekend away - notes from Deal, Kent July 03, 2017 17:17 6 Comments

I feel torn writing this post. I almost don't want to share. But as long as it's just between you, me and the gatepost, we're good.

Because I need to tell you about the wonderful seaside town of Deal. Cat & I packed our beach gear and headed there for the weekend (a very special, generous treat for me from my lovely sister, to help me come to terms, er, I mean, celebrate, turning 40). And now, it is firmly placed in my top three coastal towns.

Why?

Well, its as if this town has read all the headlines, doom and gloom and general despair in world and said 'Um, not for us, thank you!' and decided to do it's own thing. It isn't just the beautiful, winding streets and lanes. Nor the gorgeous architecture inherited from a long military and fishing history. It isn't just the sea views. It is the way in which people here choose to live and celebrate their beautiful town now.

The buildings are covered in window boxes and baskets full of smiley geraniums and begonias. Deal has a high street brimming with independent shops, as well as a small but well supported local market. We spotted not one but TWO independent greengrocers - hooray! And, rather than being tucked away in some backstreet, a community centre and town garden enjoy prime position, smack bang along that lovely high street, with people sat in the garden chatting, or enjoying a drink from a well placed bar in the grounds. This town has just got it right.

As luck would have it, our weekend away coincided with the Deal Festival, a fortnight long celebration of music and arts, which is now in it's 35th year. The town was in full swing, with concerts, talks and events taking place; artists flinging open their doors as part of an open house / art trail and music playing on the high street throughout the day.

In the evening, Deal's cafes, restaurants and bars filled up. Everything from fish and chips to michelin star delights were on offer to suit all tastes and budgets. Over on the promenade, kids playing on bikes were pulling wheelies and comparing speeds, courteously shouting 'Oops, sorry' when they had the odd near miss with passersby. Cheerful, upbeat & unpretentious pretty much summed up the buzz of the town.

Despite staying just a stone's throw away from the high street, night time was extremely quiet and restful. Even the seagulls took the hint and simmered down. Important stuff when your (almost) forty and (definitely) frazzled.

Perhaps Deal owes some of its appeal to the location. Getting to Deal is a little out of the way, even for us Kentish maids. You basically head down to Dover and just before you get your toes wet, turn left. Deal sits far beyond the Kent commuter belt. It has escaped the commercial demands made upon neighbouring Dover. And, to me, it is all the better for it. Instead of whizzing past a turning on some motorway, you visit Deal with a specific purpose - to rest, shop, enjoy the beach or meet up with friends. This might be why the traffic felt easier and strangers chatted, passing the time with each other. Very fitting of the town's motto - "Adjuvate Advenas" - Befriend the stranger. It well and truly won us over.

So, although it pains me to say it, visit Deal. It is a vibrant little seaside town that offers the perfect escape away from it all. Just don't tell everyone...

Introducing our new tray collection! June 22, 2017 20:30

The idea behind introducing a range of trays to our collection began with an accident. With a growing collection of indoor plants, balanced precariously along a very narrow window sill in the bathroom, the inevitable happened. Saucers went flying, soil was spilled and I was one very unhappy bunny.

After a search online to find the perfect size drip tray proved fruitless, we decided to make our own. It's perhaps not the most in-depth, rational approach to product design, but for us, it works. If we have trouble finding something that fits the bill, we talk to customers, friends and family to find out if they've experienced similar. We try and find something we'd really, really love in our homes, and if after all this, we are still left wanting, we look for ways to make something ourselves.

So, what's different about our trays? Well, for starters, they are available in our four, gorgeous fruity, feathery and floral designs - namely cherry, leaf, feather & patsy. They are slim, elegant trays - perfect for your average size window sill and even cope with my extremely narrow version (see pic!). They are made from recycled materials and won't warp if they get a thorough soaking while plants are watered.

Another really important factor for us is that the trays are made in the UK. It's not that we think British products are better, or more superior. We are just passionate about keeping our carbon footprint as small as possible and truly believe that the simple act of making something keeps people, communities and societies happy. So, making our garden and homewares in the UK is our way of waving the flag for the home side.

We hope that the result of all this is a range of trays that are useful drip tray for houseplants and indoor gardening activities, as well as perfect serving trays for mealtimes and get togethers. To keep things simple, we've included post and packaging in the price. We hope you love them - please let us know either way. We always appreciate the feedback :) Here is a link to shop the tray range... Enjoy!

Evenings amid the veg: A summer solstice update June 21, 2017 19:08

What a wonderful few sunny week's we've had. While mother nature had added the sunshine each day, every evening, I've been bringing out the watering can. New life, in all its richness and abundance, has been our reward.

When I last wrote about our veg patch, which we created in January 2016, I was worried about planting too early, in case frost caused a problem (what was I thinking?!@); thrilled at the sight of nasturtiums that had seeded and reappeared from the year before; and just a teensy, weansy but excited about promise of the gooseberries, which had survived a move from another part of the garden.

Well, it is incredible what a few week's can bring. The nasturtiums that were so tentative and shy in their reemergence? Now dominating the beds and little shingle pathways all around. I love their free spirited growth and wild abandon. Just brilliant. They are also fantastic at keeping bugs and beasties off the crops. Beautiful and useful in equal measure.

The beans that I fretted over are now zooming up the bean poles and look set to create a few flowers, and therefore beans, in the next few weeks. The onions will be ready in around four weeks. But the showstoppers, the absolute divas of the veg patch, have to be the red cabbages. These girls have survived 'over wintering', when they looked extremely dicey at times, and are now in full glory, ready to harvest. I'm not sure if veg should look joyful, but these do. They are beautiful and they know it. I love them.

The gooseberries will soon be picked and then head off to demi johns to make what I hope will be the most delicious, crisp, dry white wine. Exactly the kind my Dad used to make for myself and my housemates when we were at uni. Other students would be dutifully dropped off with a baking tray of lasagne or a bag of shopping for the week. Me? Two sacks of homegrown potatoes and a box (a BOX!) of home-brewed, white wine. Result. Trust me, these kind of rations could keep you going an entire term. Well, at the very least, the potatoes lasted a good few weeks :)

At a time when we are incredibly grateful to be as busy as we are with Denys & Fielding, our newly established little veg patch offers a wonderful retreat and a reminder of what started this business - a love of life outdoors.

Stylish Garden Furniture & Accessories: Our top pick of UK Makers and Designers June 04, 2017 17:21

When it comes to stylish garden furniture & accessories, finding something a little different isn't always easy. It was this very problem that prompted us to start Denys & Fielding. However, we think the tide is turning.

Leading the charge is a mix of established and emerging UK makers and companies offering something a little different. Here are our top picks to help you style your outdoor space this summer...

Bee Palace

Later this month, we'll be with the lovely folk from Bee Palace at the upcoming Rare Brand Summer Market at Goodwood. Their glazed earthenwares make perfect homes for solitary bees and are available in a range of beautiful colours.

Benchmark

Clearly, when it comes to stylish garden furniture, we like to think that you can do no better than a folding wooden deck chair for the garden... :) But if tables and benches are on the shopping list, we love Benchmark. Set up by Sean Sutcliffe and Terence Conran in 1984, Benchmark produce beautifully crafted wooden furniture for both commercial buyers and individual customers. If you are after a bench with a sense of wit and style, look no further than the Blooming Bench from Benchmark. Just add good company, your favourite flowers and you'll be stylishly seated in no time.

De La Torre Ceramics

Hanging baskets. I'll be honest here, I am not a fan. I know. This is not a popular statement. Nor am I am wild about those similar style baskets / troughs that you attach to walls. Mark De La Torre offers a beautiful, pared down alternative. Wall planters that are just perfect for one variety of trailing flowers, herbs or succulents. Simple. Stylish. Sorted.

Garden Oven Company

Nothing beats eating outside. A fellow member of 'Made in Britain', the Garden Oven Company design and manufacture beautiful wood fired ovens. Perfect for pizzas, you can also grill, smoke and roast to your heart's content.

[image: The Garden Oven Company]

Griffin Glasshouses

I've been hankering after a greenhouse from these guys since Cat & I spotted them at Hampton Court Flower Show back in 2015. That is two WHOLE YEARS of drooling! The design and manufacture all takes place in Hampshire and for me it's those lovely lean to glasshouses that are just beautiful. All I need now is for someone to build me a wall to accommodate one... I'm serious. I'm, er, going build a wall... a friendly, inclusive, fruit growing, veggie loving type of wall.

Haws

Haws watering cans are built to last and ridiculously handsome to boot. We also love their small sprayers which are perfect for house plants and glasshouses (just seen in image above).

Nutscene

This Scottish based company produces brilliantly strong, quality garden twine in a tin. We love it. In fact, so much so, we stock it. Shop your garden twine essentials here.

On location: tropical garden style and inspiration May 29, 2017 10:53

Last week, we were really lucky to find ourselves in the most beautiful contemporary garden. Lush, tropical planting combined effortlessly with gorgeous mediterranean style terracotta pots filled with Cordylines and Olives. Add in sunshine and a beautiful, warm swimming pool and quite frankly, we were looking to move in.

Aside from being the perfect place to photograph our deckchairs, cushions and a NEW SECRET SQUIRREL but hugely exciting new product line (EEEK!) it also provided plenty of planting inspiration. With a notebook full of ideas, here are my top five easy steals from this beautiful garden:

Underplanting. Sounds vaguely risqué but anyway, underplanting is a tropical garden essential. Tropical gardens are all about the foliage at different levels. Many plants absolutely thrive in full shade or semi shady spots because they herald from lush, jungly locations in which shade is a given. I spotted Acanthus mollis (bear's breeches) looking very happy and handsome in the darker confines of the garden. Gorgeous clumps of ferns (ostrich ferns, I think) were growing together in a large groups, rather than dotted around and the result was instant impact. The limey green foliage looked beautiful against the dark, plum coloured leaves of Heuchera as well as Hostas and bright, yellow Lilies half submerged in a shallow pond.

Water: Talking of ponds, let me just mention the water in this garden. From the gentle rippling of the pond, nestled in and surrounded by lush, damp loving plants, through to the palm springs style swimming pool in a bright, sun filled hotspot; water was abundant and celebrated in this beautiful garden. All too often I moan about my garden being too wet or damp. Instead, this owner had made water a feature and celebrated it in style, in two very different ways. Absolutely gorgeous.

Tough Love: Up until last week, I thought my Cordyline looked pretty happy in my garden. But it looks SO different to the ones spotted in this tropical garden. So much so, I didn't recognise them as Cordylines at first. To start with, they were in flower. Mine has never flowered in eight years! I had no idea they had such delicate, pretty wafts of flowers amid their spiky foliage. The other huge difference was the planting. My Cordyline has been planted straight in the ground whereas these were planted in huge terracotta pots dotted around the patio. The result is hot, hot, hot for their roots with few nutrients in the soil. But, a little tough love was doing wonders, as they looked stunning. I now look at my solitary Cordyline and feel it is all bit pathetic & mollycoddled. Poor thing.

Gangsta's Paradise: Now, let's talk gangsters. Not real ones, obvs, but the garden variety. Trachycarpus fortunei. These wonderful, prehistoric looking plants that carry on with a swagger, irrespective of what the weather throws at them. I asked about any special care these required or feeds and the owner said they just do their thing with very little care. No wrapping up in the winter. No feeds. In fact, the owner described them as 'thugs', muscling their way through, come what may. For me, they looked magnificent, adding to the sense of glamour and style in the garden.

Thinking Vertically: As much as I loved the swimming pool area and seating in and around the garden, it was the clever, imaginative way in which the back of the garden had been terraced that for me, was just brilliant. Two staircases either side of a centre bed add drama to the garden. It actually reminded me of that big old staircase in 'Gone with the wind'. Or the one in Sex in the City when Carrie spots Big at the theatre and legs it. It works brilliantly as a frame for the planting in the centre and for the entire garden, drawing your eye up and around this beautiful space. I love the feeling of sitting 'in' a garden, literally immersed in it. The extra height this terracing provides really gives you a sense of that. It offers a retreat and an escape from the world. A tropical hiding place, not a long haul flight away, but in deepest, darkest Kent. Perfect.

Notes from the Garden: First fruits May 17, 2017 00:00

The garden in Spring always reminds me of that Zorba the Greek dance. It starts off slowly, a kick here, a nod there and all of a sudden... IT IS OFF! Right now, the garden is at full speed and I love it. The wilful, devil may care whirlwind of colour & frenetic energy is just brilliant.

But, while the riot of colourful flowers are out front, high kicking all the away, it is the quieter emergence of fruit that for me, is the most exciting thing happening out there.

The last few years have been hit and miss in terms of fruit production in my garden. Wet, bedraggled winters have resulted in a lack of pollination for our young cordons. Gooseberries and blackcurrants had sat in the wrong part of the garden for years, suffering from a good deal of neglect and all that the weather had to throw at them.

Recently, we've tried to rectify all that we can. The front garden is now the veggie garden, close enough to a tap to get watered a bit more regularly and receive a little more attention. I've a row of young apple trees, growing as cordons along one fence. Having read up a bit on apple pollination groups, I now have a happy little gang, each helping the other out to produce more fruit.

And all of a sudden, it is starting to pay off.

For the first time in EIGHT years, the pear cordons have pollinated. Honestly, I can't tell you how excited I am about this. I am literally the human version of that flamenco dancing emoji, shimmying about the place.

Moreover, the apples are showing more fruit than ever. The gooseberries and blackcurrants survived the undignified way in which they were uprooted and moved to the new veg patch last autumn and are producing the goods.

So, now all that we need is rain overnight and sunshine by day for the next few weeks and we'll be gorging ourselves on berries and blooms from the garden. Ah. The weather. Ok, well, let's see...

I'm expecting the apples to start to follow the time old tradition of the 'June Drop' in the next few weeks - nothing serious, just nature's way of thinning out the crop to produce the best fruit with minimum damage to the tree. If nature needs a hand, I have my Dad's old fruit farm diaries from the late seventies as a reference, where he recorded how and when they thinned fruit. More on that, if needed, next month.

In the meantime, if all this talk of food has got you thinking about growing your own, here are five easy ways to get started this week...

1. Tomato plants: Cheap, easy and ready to buy now, tomato plants are perfect for a warm, sunny windowsill. All they need is feeding regularly once in flower, pinching out side shoots (to keep them on the straight and narrow, so to speak, in terms of fruit production) and a bit of space and support as they grow. If you decide to position them outside, just keep an eye out for late frosts and bring in if colder weather is due.

2. Runner beans. Talking of weather, I'm going to go for it and sow some beans this weekend. Frost and cold days, begone! Sow seeds in close proximity to a pole, bamboo cane or broomstick and with fingers firmly crossed for warm weather, you'll have the sprouts of newly germinated bean seed in no time.

3. Space savers: If space is a problem, there are plenty of edibles to grow in pots. Herbs do brilliantly in all sorts of spaces, but you can also grow carrots, lettuce, rocket and chard really easily in pots dotted around the place. Just choose a tall pot for carrots as they need plenty of growing room underground. Strawberries also do well in planters as well as in hanging baskets. Ooh, and I've just remembered about my friend who grows lettuce in a length of guttering positioned half way up her fence. No back breaking needed!

4. Grow together: You often find you have more seed than you need in an average packet of seed. So go to the garden nursery with a friend, buy a selection between you and split the bounty as and when it appears. Most garden nurseries around here also offer a mean cuppa and cake (photo from King John's Nursery in Ticehurst, Kent. Literally, a slice of heaven can be found up there!). Rude not to!

5. Unplug and plant: Just like tomato plants, there are all sorts of veggies that have been grown from seed and are sat in the garden nursery, awaiting your arrival. If seeds aren't your thing, make life easy. Simply, purchase, unplug and plant. No one will ever know...

Our first internship at Denys & Fielding May 15, 2017 11:42 2 Comments

I had just read and reviewed In the Company of Women, when a friend asked if I would be interested in having an intern join Denys & Fielding for a week or two. I hesitated. A million little questions, doubts and concerns zipped through my mind at lightening speed. Mainly focused on whether I could offer an enriching experience for Andree, a talented, mature student undertaking a masters in Fashion and Interiors at the University of Creative Arts, with a background in furniture design. Gulp.

How would she feel about working in such a small company? What would she make of the 'hands on' nature of assembling the garden chairs for dispatch, packing up cushions and garden apron orders? The daily 'stop / start' nature of running a business interjected school runs and homework (theirs not mine. Although to be fair, it's a thin line...) The LONG hours that such a staccato timetable creates?

Then I got a hold of myself. How could I possibly turn down the opportunity to welcome a creative woman into this little company, having only just evangelised about the importance and the life affirming value of supporting and cheering the success of complete strangers? So, in the spirit of sharing, here is how we made it work...

Setting Goals

I've never been an intern, but I have experienced that nullifying effect of having to 'shadow' someone in the first few weeks in a new job. Honestly. What a waste of time. I was determined that the experience I would offer would be far more rewarding for both parties. So, a few week's in advance, Andree & I met up and scoped out some ideas about how we would spend our time together.

It sounds obvious, but our initial first step was to discuss what we both wanted in terms of ideal outcomes. We started off quite broad; each taking turns to discuss the bigger picture of our respective work, and then, starting to focus down on the gaps. We looked for areas where those gaps overlapped - providing an opportunity for both of us. Together, we came up with an overview of the two weeks - which included attending and selling at a garden show, packing up orders for stockists and customers; a review of the business, prototyping and producing a canvas storage bag for our stowaway chairs - (providing an ideal, protective cover for easy storage in the boot of a car or shed) and finally, developing a new print for our collection.

Quite a ten days. But by meeting in advance, and spending a couple of ideas sharing our experiences and our ideal next steps, we were really able to get in 'sync', understanding each others' priorities.

Step out of that comfort zone!

Throughout the two weeks, there were moments when both of us felt out of our depth. For Andree, it was my insistence about the business review. Here was a great opportunity for someone to provide me with some feedback, with a unique perspective from both from outside and within the business. Hooray! And yet for Andree, the thought of undertaking this task in such a small business where the people and the company are synonymous, was uncomfortable.

For me, I worried that my 'self taught' approach to running Denys & Fielding might start to unravel. And I really worried about the sheer volume of packing and dispatching that needed to take place. As a result, we ring fenced time that would be dedicated to design and development, versus time for 'domestics'.

Reflect and Review

Last Thursday night, after a few days away from each other to reflect, we met for a celebratory drink and to review our combined experiences. For me, our review was a really special evening. A milestone if you like, not just of a two week internship stint, but of the fact that our little company is strong enough to absorb and add value to an additional person. I came away with my business review - beautifully presented of course, but packed with constructive, honest feedback. I've already implemented at least three ideas.

Thankfully, the task of the business review also provided value and insight for Andree, replacing the initial feelings of doubt and discomfort. Meanwhile, back in her comfort zone, Andree somehow managed to create two stunning new prints which blend traditional elements with an edgy, contemporary twist. To me, these new designs are two cousins to our existing collection - different but connected. I felt quite moved by Andree's interpretation of our style and her development of it. For Andree, she felt she gained a really practical insight into the running of a small business - the good, the bad and the ugly! And together, we achieved an awful lot.

Would I recommend internships for small companies? Absolutely. It won't implode your business. It will make you more organised, not less. And it will give you a rich, new perspective that money cannot buy.

Notes from the Garden: Repotting & top dressing pots and planters May 05, 2017 02:30

In and around the house, I've got a number of plants that have been experiencing the horticultural equivalent of tight trousers. Deeply unpleasant. So, over the bank holiday weekend, I snatched a couple of hours to remedy the situation.

Two of my outdoor pots are home to beautiful hydrangeas. Because they demand ericaceous soil to keep their blooms blue, I home them in pots instead of the open ground. With their growth now in full swing, they need all the goodness and nourishment they can get. In the largest pot, much of the existing soil had compacted down and reduced over the last 12 months. It is extremely heavy and difficult to move, so I just gently scrapped off the top inch or two of soil and then added a really generous layer of new ericaceous soil. For the smaller hydrangea, a similar thing had occurred, with the soil level dropping considerably, but because she was lighter, I simply eased the whole plant and root system out, removed a lot of the old soil at the root base and in the bottom of the pot, and then added new compost - bringing the level up from the bottom. Removing old and dead leaves and dressing the top soil was the last thing to do before giving both a really good water. At some point, these plants will need repotting, but by top dressing the largest, and doing a hybrid 'top dress and repot' of the smaller, I think I've bought myself another year or two.

It is a different story for my house plants. A few of the succulents are romping away and this has meant repotting them into larger pots. The result is pretty much overnight growth - the plants receive a new source of nutrients and space, which in turn leads to a new lease of life. Finding beautiful, large planters for indoors is a challenge so I've been collecting ideas on a special, planter board on Pinterest. Many of these are pure black and white, which off set the bright vibrant tones of our scatter cushions, plants and foliage that are dotted around our home.

While many guides will advise you to repot and top dress plants in mid spring, I'm never sure whether that means earlier on (you know, in that 20 degree heat we had) or now (when it is absolutely blinking baltic!) Instead, I tend to take my lead from the plants - if they are pot bound with roots showing at the bottom, definitely, absolutely move on ASAP. With perennials or shrubs in outdoor planters, I tend to wait until new leaves are established, but before the flowers or buds emerge. For me, it is a pattern and a ritual that works and luckily, I've never lost one yet.

***What are your tips and tricks? Please add your knowledge and experience in the comments below!***

Wild about Gardens 2017 May 02, 2017 18:21

Prepare yourselves. Or rather, prepare your gardens. Kent Wildlife Trust has sounded the horn and the 2017 Wild About Gardens Awards are now underway! Last Thursday, I was lucky enough to be invited to hear more about this year's awards, which includes several new categories such as best garden for wild birds and best garden for hedgehogs. There are also awards for best urban garden, best small / balcony or container garden and cool school for nature. So, no excuses, you can go it alone or look to enter a school garden or local community project!

The timing for the awards is pretty much perfect. Over the next few months, gardens experience their annual growth spurt, with an abundance of flowers and foliage galloping away. This in turn means 'dinnertime' for bugs and beasties, so it is extremely important that wildlife get an invite for tea in your garden.

A sobering statistic from last Thursday's talk is still playing on my mind. In the last 70 years, 98% of meadows have disappeared. To me, this is pretty desperate, not just for our wildlife, but for our own wellbeing. However, gardens offer a ray of hope. There are acres and acres (around 667,000 acres to be exact) of private gardens, large and small, that can create safe havens, corridors, restaurants and homes for our furry and feathery friends. And let's be honest, a silent garden is not normal. A buzz here and a flap of wings there, offering a constant humming background to your pottering, is all part of the immersive, therapeutic effects of life outside.

If your garden is more wildlife 'library' than party central, read our recent post about five easy ways to make your garden more wildlife friendly. Meanwhile, if you are on the cusp of entering and not sure whether to take the plunge, let us allay your fears with a round up of our experience of the Kent Wild About Gardens Awards last year. We'll be entering again this year as we found it to be a wonderful opportunity to receive a little feedback on the garden and swap ideas. Wish us luck and good luck to you!