This is the month when the garden is at its deepest dormancy, and the exuberance of summer feels more distant than ever. As gardeners, out in all weathers, we learn to focus on the good days – when the beauty of winter sees us gratefully breathe in a lungful of icy air and reach for the camera. The soggier, less picturesque moments, when thoughts of " what was so bad about a desk job anyway ?" creep in, are best forgotten... While the garden may be deep in slumber, we are not

Christmas has arrived here at Gasper Cottage! Bella recently spent a very happy morning creating festive garlands and table decorations for the house, using foliage and flowers taken from the garden, hedgerows and local woods. We hope you enjoy them, and have a very merry Christmas wherever you are. The magic you can achieve with a liberal spraying of gold paint...! This is cedar taken from the nearby forest and gives off the most wonderful aroma. The trusty little red apple

The weather forecast is rarely far from a gardener's mind, especially at this time of year. Opening the BBC weather app on his phone (as he does at least once a day, often more!), Head Gardener Jack now checks not just for any rain or wind that may shape his work schedule, but keeps a close eye on night time temperatures too. In this particular corner of the UK, we can expect the first frost anytime from late October onwards. In a garden with its share of tender and half-hard

Step into the garden at Gasper Cottage in October and you will be greeted by dahlias, cosmos, sunflowers, and asters, still fresh, flawless, and bursting with life and colour. These late-season troopers continue to flower their socks off well into autumn, wilfully refusing to take their cue from the many other plants now firmly in 'wind down' mode. With such season-defying vigour on offer, the value of succession planting has never been more apparent. By this, we mean plantin