Loved stuff: My garden

neil crump — Sat, 30 May 2009 09:14:00 +0000

I really love being in our garden here is the wilds of Cricklewood, London. The garden was actually the main draw when we bought the flat.

Previously I had lived in a much smarter part of town, in a much bigger flat. The problem was that it was top floor with no outside space. I lived there for six years and kidded myself that no garden = no problem. Anyway thankfully I wised up and when Chad and I moved in together and got the new place, getting a garden was top of the list.

As the weather was great last weekend and summer has arrived in London we did a big tidy up in the garden: pressure washing the decking, putting in new plants, moving unhealthy looking plants to spots where they might do better etc.

The weather is glorious again this morning, so here are a few snaps that I took this morning…

Gorgeous allium in bloom:

Shiny disco balls:
The garden shed that cost way too much:

Crumptales: I feel sorry for houseplants

neil crump — Sun, 10 May 2009 20:05:00 +0000

…I really do. They have such terrible lives of neglect and suffering. Nearly all my friends, family and work buddies are hopeless at looking after them. Now I am no Alan Titchmarch, but I am able to keep a plant alive and it is really simple. Here are my (insightful!) top tips:

Plants need light (some want direct light and some don’t). So that means (Hena) that a plant is not going to thrive in a room where the curtains are permanently closed
Plants need water. Not loads of water (or tea dregs – you know who you are!) where they end up having their poor roots suffocate. Plants roots (other than aquatic plants) need air in the soil so that can actually draw up water
Plants need food. Not all the time but every so often. Baby Bio is my plant food of choice

My favourite houseplant is the Peace Lilly (Spathiphyllum wallisii). Here is my pride and joy (I’ve had it for more than 10 years):

It is ace and easy to look after and blesses you every so often with lovely white flowers. The great thing about this plant is that it is really hard to kill. So when you get back to work, after two weeks of annual leave, and your Peace Lilly hasn’t been watered (by people that promised they would) and the leaves are actually lying on the desk – you simply give it a water and hey presto a day later the leaves are all perky and healthy looking.

It’s a fighter – it needs to be ‘cause it’s a tough world out there.

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Loved stuff: My garden

Crumptales: I feel sorry for houseplants