It’s not that I have no news, it’s just that there is so little to illustrate it with – and I write better with pictures. November is an essentially drab month and we seem to be on a perpetual clean up campaign in the nursery and garden. Posting a photo of a pruned shrub is not exciting. Neither is it particularly interesting to show you trays full of compost, even if under the surface lie the root cuttings of several hundred potential plants. Roll on the day after the shortest day when it all starts again.

Away from the nursery, a few exciting things are happening. I have my first speaking engagement on Monday night at a gardening club – the first of about a dozen bookings for the next 12 months. The fluttering in my stomach will start some time on Sunday….

But the project that is taking up my mental energy at the moment is a garden redesign project in Knutsford. We’re at the hard landscaping stag, and though it isn’t big, it’s a very funny shape (a long rectangle with no right angles, no similar corner angles either and two odd-shaped chunks cut out of it). Working out how to get the lines right for the hard landscaping is proving something of a challenge. Fortunately I have a lovely client with an appetite for change and who (so far) seems to trust my judgement…

Anyway, England are losing, but Beckham is on so I’ll go and watch the second half. If he can wave his magic right boot England have a smidgeon of a chance against Croatia. It’s Heroes after that, so I’ll not be back. And I’ve found one picture I’m fairly happy with. Out of interest, is it my imagination, or have we had more early frosts this year than usual? I’m very glad I run a hardy plant business.

November 21, 2007