Author Archives: midlifegardener

About midlifegardener

A new house and a new garden. Having spent the past 5 years mainting my father's garden I am now taking on my own gardening project down the road in a new single store dwelling. The Old Man has passed on but he remains in my thoughts as I develop the new patch

New Life

Posted on April 13, 2024 by midlifegardener

Spring might finally be coming to the Midlife Garden.  Despite the continuing cold, wet, windy weather, there are signs of new life. The seedlings are bursting out of the storage boxes in the greenhouse so I will have to hold … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening Times | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

“My Sniffy Dog will find your biscuit”

Posted on March 6, 2024 by midlifegardener

Billy’s Beetle, by Mick Inkpen, was a favourite bedtime book for our kids when they were young, or perhaps I mean it was a favourite of mine, as reading it out loud was so much fun.  Whether the little ones … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening Times | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Box Fresh

Posted on February 20, 2024 by midlifegardener

February has been so mild; it feels like spring.  Which it almost is, isn’t it?  But we are not fooled in the Midlife Garden, despite the daffodils coming up weeks ago, wallflowers currently adding splashes of gold in the front … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening Times | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Winter Safari

Posted on January 27, 2024 by midlifegardener

I love my cycle commute to school.  It provides a light workout as well as giving me time to de-tox from the rigours of taming teenagers.  And I have more time to observe the world around me. As I cycled … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening Times | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

New Beginnings

Posted on January 18, 2024 by midlifegardener

January offers promise, after the bittersweet New Year when we tend to look back at everything we omitted to do in the previous 12 months.  When looking for promise in the depths of a wet winter, the garden is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening Times | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Autumn / Winter Collection

Posted on December 5, 2023 by midlifegardener

Autumn has turned to winter in the blink of a Long Dog’s eye.  A fortnight ago I was harvesting chillis for jam and last weekend I walked the dogs over crisp frosted fields, under coppered leaves glinting in the sun … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening Times | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

C is for…

Posted on November 5, 2023 by midlifegardener

It has been a week in which reports of the C-bomb have been liberally sprinkled across the news, although the “C” that has affected us most in the Midlife Garden has been C for Ciarán as wind and rain have come … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening Times | Leave a comment

“Oh, build me a home…”

Posted on October 16, 2023 by midlifegardener

Part of the job of the Midlifegardener is to be a “teacher of future generations”, and this week in English Literature we are taking a look at dystopian fiction. We have a sneak preview of a future (dystopian) edition of … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening Times | 2 Comments

I’m a Picket Man

Posted on August 28, 2023 by midlifegardener

In a throwback to the sixties and seventies we have been hearing a lot about pickets recently in the Midlife Garden.  Initially, it was the striking kind, bringing memories of the bad old days of industrial action, when donkey-jacketed men … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening Times | Leave a comment

Taking Back Control

Posted on August 9, 2023 by midlifegardener

Like Post-Brexit Britain, the Midlife Garden tries to be a tolerant, outward-facing place to which we welcome all-comers. Robins, wrens and blackbirds have nested in various parts of the garden this summer and any number of moths and butterflies, dragonflies … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening Times | 1 Comment