At just before 7am this morning the latest copy of the RHS monthly magazine made a resounding thump as it hit hallway floor. There is always a level of excitement when a new journal arrives, whether that be Trout & Salmon or the Porsche Club UK, Porsche Post. Most other monthly journals I subscribe to online. What I have observed is that some publishers are still using flow wrappers which although they say can be recycled can only be done at larger stores. I have to say the RHS wrapper featured above uses 100% sustainably sourced paper and just feels more environmentally friendly.

I’m looking to completely overhaul my garden this year, making it cleaner and simple in design. The garden is only about 7.5m x 10m and faces northwest with the sun in winter only getting to it after midday. One side is always in the shade and the other in full sun. I have a small garden shed which I aim to move or should I say remove in order to build a more functional shed to work in. There is a large olive tree on the sunny side and a mix of terracotta and galvanised containers making up the majority of the planting as the two small beds that run either side are more trouble than they are worth, although planted up with roses, clematis, ferns and hosta they haven’t really done that well so the idea is to keep the roses and fig then cover the beds with gravel or larger pebbles allowing drainage, then constructing a trestle table from some reclaimed wooden legs and a rescued Dutch barge hatch cover which is around 8ft x 3ft in order to place the pots and containers on a raised platform, hopefully this will give me the addition and less cluttered space I’m looking to achieve. On the side which gets more sun I will continue to grow a pear which is planted in a large terracotta pot and all other plants I will remove leaving only a handful of pots with sun loving plant in. All other space will be cleared and only relevant garden furniture to remain.

I’m looking forward to restoring the shed to a place where I can work and use as a pitting shed to prepare plants for the allotment. Currently the shed is crammed with stuff that for some reason I thought would come in handy one day, I realise that’s a very typical male thing to do. As I said in my post of yesterday this year will be a year of getting rid of the clutter and only having things that have a direct use. It is the same notion I have about the allotment this year. My aim is to curate my allotment by growing and planting plants that will have a use in the creation of a botanical garden for creating a vermouth.

Other plant and vegetable with be planted up in order to store and ferment to be used in cooking. Having said that I will grow broad beans, garlic, onions and a range of root crop vegetables, I love beetroot and last year I manage to grow to good crop of heritage beats.

Over past few months little has changed with the back garden so I aim to complete the makeover by the end of March, as with the allotment the only jobs completed have been to prepare to raised beds then plant the garlic and broad bean. The large vine has been pruned in order to give a good crop of grapes and the apple trees pruned along with other soft fruit such as gooseberry. The remaining fruit trees will be pruned in the summer.

The other job I will commence is the restoration of the riverbank which forms part of my allotment plot. There is a good head of Chubb in the river so at some stage I hope to sit in the dappled sunlight to fish later in the year.

I will aim to document the developments month by month.