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3 years of Terra Legra!

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As I write, I’m at the dining table on a gloomy March afternoon, drinking a cup of tea (made by my housemate’s 13yr old, result) after a VERY wet and wild day out in the rain. Gardening, of course! Because that’s my literal job! MY JOB! My full time job. I actually can’t believe I’ve been doing this for three whole years.  I’m a pandemic career-change cliche you see. Cut adrift on furlough (remember that?) I had nothing to do during lockdown. I had an amazing tan (the weather was exceptional), and sure the zoom quizzes were fun, but like many people in the pandemic, I really struggled mentally. I was forced to take stock of my life because I had no distractions - no work, no social life, no extra curricular activities (and I LOVED those). It wasn’t unusual back then for me to be out 4 nights a week, also working Monday to Friday in a corporate job, and generally racing about.  But it all stopped, and I was suddenly having an existential crisis of “What am I doing? Do I want th...
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Embracing January

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Hello and Happy New Year! Here we are in January, and as I type it's raining heavily on a very dark early evening.  I’m not a fan of the term “January blues” - but it is easy to feel flat this month, when the skies are leaden, the air is cold, and the warm festivities of Christmas seem like a lifetime away now. Children are going back to school, the decorations are down, and spring feels unreachable.  Today, 4 January, was my first day back at work after an extended break from 22 December. I had such a lovely restorative break full of good people, good food, good wine… you know the drill. I rested my body and read books, watched films, drank a LOT of tea, and generally tried to do very little before my physically demanding, outdoor job resumed.  Even though I love my job, and I’m very grateful for doing what I do, I’ll be honest - I didn’t want to go back to work today. I woke up with that back-to-school feeling and had to drag myself out of bed and into my workwear. Yes ...
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Autumn days

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AUTUMN IS finally making an appearance. We had a blissful heatwave to send off the summer, and while it’s still warm out there in the fullness of the day, there’s a noticeable snap in the air in the mornings.  Spider webs are decorated with dew, the grass is damp underfoot first thing, and the night draws in around 7pm now - a shock to the system after those endlessly warm, golden evenings of summer.  In your gardens, there’s plenty to do. It’s almost like you need to do a kind of review or audit of the garden at this time of year - what’s finished? What needs to come out, and what is still rocking but needs a bit of tidying or staking? I talk about it all the time but deadheading is a surefire way of making blooms such as roses or annuals like cosmos keep on trucking into these more tempered months. If the flower finishes, the plant puts all its energy into making seedheads or hips. But by removing the flower head, the plant redirects that energy into producing more flowers. ...
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June garden update - feat. gnats, tans, and extreme gratitude

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Hi! It's been a minute since I last blogged (er... over 4 months), and I realise how much I've missed talking about the process of gardening. Since I wrote last in February, I've done jobs in 187 gardens. Bloody hell. It feels it too 😂 This past week, as I write, in early June, it's finally starting to heat up. Only 2 weeks ago I was still in my fleece-lined waterproof jacket to keep out the cold wind! I know, I know, talking about the weather... it's very unoriginal.  But my life as a gardener now means I am entirely governed by weather. Is the earth going to be dry from the heat and wind? Do I need to pack a waterproof? Have I remembered my water bottle? Should I pack SPF30 or 50? (Always 50 tbf). WHERE IS MY INSECT REPELLENT?  Today I looked down while I was removing rogue aster seedlings from a border (which I ended up taking home, lol) and FIVE gnats were on the back of my leg, feasting on me. FIVE. That's hostile. I slapped them away and scratched all the...
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It's coming... 🌿🌷🌼⛅

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It's coming - can you feel it? When the sun comes out, it's actually warm. The daffodils are nodding in the breeze. Yes, it's still nippy when the sun's in, and the trees still look awfully wintery, but spring is around the corner.  It's the last day of February and it's suitably grey and blustery. But hope is emerging.  The bulbs I planted last autumn are peeping up - clumps of tulips, muscari, crocuses, daffs... I love seeing them peep their heads above ground as a reminder of my hard work last year. I planted almost 1,000 of the buggers.  I'm extremely busy at the moment - which as any self employed person knows, is a great relief - but it's also an immensely enjoyable time to be out there. Buds are ripening, promising all sorts of wonders. New shoots are nascent, and temptingly green.  Since becoming a full time gardener, I have such a heightened awareness of the seasons, and nature, and the weather. I can be in a garden on a cloudy day and see the w...
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A gardening year

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As I write, it's December, I'm drinking tea and have just cracked open my Tiptree Christmas jam to put on my croissants that are in the oven. It's a weekend morning and I'm living out my cottagecore dreams, looking out on the garden that is peppered with jewel-bright cyclamen among the fallen leaves.  It's been a wonderful year for gardening. I have almost completed my first year of doing it full-time. I've seen the hottest, sweatiest summer and am going into a very chilly winter. I've cut down huge shrubs, built raised beds, planted in whole gardens, put in over 700 bulbs (and counting), laid bark, laid stones, pruned, weeded, tidied front gardens and driveways, done container arrangements, and made a LOT of hanging baskets.  I reckon at the latest count, I've worked for almost 100 different clients. Some I've done one project for and that was a standalone thing, others I see for three hours every single week. I've been made millions of cups of ...
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Last days of summer...

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It's been a while since I've posted on here, and it's not because I'm short of things to say - far from it.  Luckily, it's been because I've been incredibly busy. This is my second summer gardening for a living, and boy has it been a full-on one! My diary has been jam packed. I've packed out borders, shifted weeds, built raised beds, prepped gardens for parties, done container displays for people selling their homes, got to know whole families, created bonds with clients, shared laughs and Wordle scores with clients, drunk a LOT of water. When the UK heatwave hit, I took 2 days off because as much as I love my job, gardening in 40 degree heat is not wise. I worked my jobs around the high tides where I live in coastal Essex so I could cool off in the sea. I've taken my time over jobs some days, and whipped round in a flash on others depending on the heat and the humidity.  My own garden has had successes and failures: sweet peas, alstromerias and leucanth...
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