David Marsden

LATEST ARTICLES ( 334 )

• Slowly, Slowly …

  

  … as we head into June, May is arriving.  What should have been a show-stopping leap centre-stage, has been a slow, very late and frankly embarrassing shuffle i... Read more

  Posted on 22 May 2012 GARDENING, HOME

• Rhodohypoxis Fervour

  

  I have a silly number of rhodohypoxis but, in my defence, I was smitten when I first saw them.  I was working at an alpine nursery and watched entranced as... Read more

  Posted on 17 May 2012 GARDENING, HOME

• Rain Stops Play

  

  The tulips started off valiantly enough; poor, naive, unsuspecting innocents.  They couldn’t have imagined their cruel, bitter fate.  (How could they?  They’re... Read more

  Posted on 11 May 2012 GARDENING, HOME

• An Arum By Any Other Name

  

  Were you to visit The Priory at this time of year, and were I to gently push your nose under bushes and hedges and into shady, damp corners you would certainly... Read more

  Posted on 05 May 2012 GARDENING, HOME

• Where’s Spring?

  

  Early April was so hot and so sunny that I screened the south-side of the greenhouse with netting.The nine automatic wall and roof vents cool it a little but... Read more

  Posted on 30 April 2012 GARDENING, HOME

• Tending Trees Part 2

  

  I don’t know exactly how many trees I’ve planted during the past four years.  Not counting a hundred and seventy beech-hedge saplings or five yew-hedge ‘trees’... Read more

  Posted on 23 April 2012 GARDENING, HOME

• Tending Trees Part 1

  

  When I took the job at the Priory, I (naively) didn’t appreciate how much time and care the trees would require.Each year, I arrange for any sickly, dangerous o... Read more

  Posted on 18 April 2012 GARDENING, HOME

• Wild Places, Wild Flowers

  

  April is a busy month for gardeners and the sheer amount of flower can be a little distracting.  Plants are elbowing through to the fore, hurling themselves int... Read more

  Posted on 12 April 2012 GARDENING, HOME

• Planning for the Tropical Border

  

  In between mowing and planting and fretting, I’ve been cracking on with the tropical border and the two completely new beds (see – ‘Busy, Busy, Busy’). Read more

  Posted on 06 April 2012 GARDENING, HOME

• Beauty … and Disappointment

  

  On my way to the Priory, I sometimes drive through the handsome downland village of Glynde.  And at this time of year, I often stop to admire a walled... Read more

  Posted on 03 April 2012 GARDENING, HOME

• Cloud Walking In The Lake District

  

  I hadn’t intended to post yet more holiday snaps.  Honestly, I hadn’t.  Afterall, it was only  recently that I walked, and posted about, the Dales Way and a... Read more

  Posted on 29 March 2012 GARDENING, HOME

• Priory Picture Post # 20

  

  I know that I have posted photos of a grass snake before (see –  ‘Grass Snake‘) but when I noticed one today (twice the size of the one I saw last September),... Read more

  Posted on 28 March 2012 GARDENING, HOME

• Spring Lambs

  

  I went up to see Margaret the other day.  (In case you don’t know, Margaret farms the land on three sides of the Priory estate). Read more

  Posted on 26 March 2012 GARDENING, HOME

• Busy, Busy, Busy

  

  When not gallivanting around the north of England, I’ve been gardening frenetically these past few weeks.  Why, I’ve barely had time to file my nails and flick... Read more

  Posted on 23 March 2012 GARDENING, HOME

• An Auricula Interlude

  

  I had hoped to write a post about all of the gardening that I’ve been doing these past couple of weeks …A personal favourite. Auriculas now flowering in the... Read more

  Posted on 08 March 2012 GARDENING, HOME

• Snow Over The Priory

  

  I like to post about things as they happen (being a man-of-the-moment kind of guy), so here’s one about the snow we had back in early February.We didn’t get a... Read more

  Posted on 07 March 2012 GARDENING, HOME

• Do Not Tempt Fate …

  

  … and definitely don’t reach out and tweak her nose.Yesterday, on the Anxious Gardener Facebook page, I posted a photo of some deer in one of Margaret’s fields... Read more

  Posted on 05 March 2012 GARDENING, HOME

• Not Quite Thirteen Ways Of Looking At Crocuses

  

  One day I will leave the Priory for ever.  My fingers will be prised one-by-one from the greenhouse door frame and I will be dragged, yowling and shrieking, to ... Read more

  Posted on 04 March 2012 GARDENING, HOME

• The Dales Way

  

  Mr K over at Gardening at the Edge thought me quite mad to go walking at this time of year. Harsh, I thought but I see his point. Read more

  Posted on 02 March 2012 GARDENING, HOME

• Beaky and the Nest Boxes

  

  I’m back home safe and sound from my winter walking adventure in Yorkshire and Cumbria.  It’ll take a few days more to sort through all the photos and come up... Read more

  Posted on 28 February 2012 GARDENING, HOME