Though winters are becoming milder and wetter with climate change, many gardeners will be looking forward to a proper cold spell to kill off pests. But is that just an old wives’ tale?

It’s beginning to feel as though winter is closing in on us. The clocks have changed, the nights are longer and there’s an indefinable sadness in the air, but every season has its own beauty, so…

October is, for me, the beginning of autumn proper. Colder nights, dewy dawns and the chance of frost. I love it!

We’re not quite into autumn yet, but there are definite changes afoot, and I’m looking forward to them. This is a time of fruitfulness, with ripening apples, wild fruits aplenty and the year…

By August, summer is beginning to get a little tired. The different shades of green are lost and our woodlands are looking rather monotone. Most of the breeding birds have raised their broods and…

July is really a month for insects – butterflies and moths, dragonflies and damselflies. I’m thrilled to have seen a large skipper butterfly in my garden for the first time, and a meadow…

June is the beginning of proper Summer for me. The rush of Spring, with all the new arrivals and changes, is over and the season is settling into full, burgeoning life.

May is a month of blooming. The early signs of spring are past, gone for another year, but May brings a fullness of new growth, with everything seeming to be hurrying along towards summer.

April’s here, and spring is ‘bustin’ out all over’. Trees are coming into leaf with a lovely haze of freshest green on the birches and willows, cherry trees are in blossom and the sun is bringing…

Spring is usually in the air by March and now is the time for migrant birds to start appearing back in the UK. But this year, spring has so far been particularly wet! Despite the weather, there is…