[An earlier version of this article was originally published on our old-style web site in January 2008]

Looking out of the window from my desk I can see the gravel paths that I laid three years ago to make it easier to move around the raised beds of the vegetable garden. In recent months we’ve had our share of wild weather, driving sleet and rain, but there is not now a single patch of mud or even slippery grass on the way from the kitchen door to the greenhouse.

Paths also provide a surface on which to transport garden materials and tools. It is much easier to run a wheelbarrow or trolley along a firm walkway. Putting in good pathways around a garden adds greatly to the months during which we are able to enjoy the garden, and makes it so much easier to get around. The investment of effort and cost brings considerable returns in terms of both convenience and appearance.

Quite apart from ease of access paths can also enhance the appearance of a garden by adding a border that will set off the plants. If suitably designed they can also provide drainage channels to redirect water away from areas that could become waterlogged, thereby damaging plants that don’t like their roots to be drowned, and towards areas where you want the increased moisture levels.

Personally I like gravel paths. It is, of course, possible to be very sophisticated in constructing these with base layers to give solidity, but most of mine were simply dug out as channels three to four inches deep (incidentally supplying a store of top soil for use elsewhere in the garden) stamped firmly down and leveled, covered in a water-permeable but weed-proof membrane and then filled with small gravel pebbles.

Paving slabs can be used for paths, but unlike pebble paths which are easily leveled by raking them over and therefore don’t need a lot of careful preparation, the substrate for paved paths must be thoroughly prepared or it won’t be long before you have them rocking in all directions and needing to be taken up and re-laid. However, when well done they are a long-lasting solution, and if extended to cover a larger area they cut down the grass cutting so disliked by many people and can provide firm base for garden furniture.

Returning to the subject of drainage, remember that large paved areas need somewhere for the rainwater to go in a downpour. Have you sloped it so that it will direct a flood into the foundations of your house? Not a good idea! To lobby again for my gravel paths, another advantage is that they allow more or less natural drainage access to the earth beneath. Anything more solid needs supplementary drainage channels.

My kitchen garden gravel paths

Many people will go to great expense to ensure that the materials are bright and new. For myself, I prefer things to look a little battered and worn, so apart from gravel I like the weathered appearance of second hand bricks which go well with weathered timber structures.

An important issue is garden safety. Paths can increase safety, but they can also give rise to their own set of risks. If you’re using bricks or paving slabs, make sure there’s nowhere to trip. Check and recheck that they’re level, and don’t wobble. Again, I prefer my gravel. It doesn’t have raised edges.

Tags: garden path, garden paving, garden project, garden safety, gravel path, path, paving slab, pebble path

[Here is an article that was originally placed on our old-style Gardening-Notes web site in 2007. I have left it unedited apart from correcting a couple of grammatical mistakes].

Hostas are often conjured up in people’s minds as rather drab seas of large dull green leaves with no flowers and badly slug-eaten. Well, it is not impossible to create that scenario but it is far from necessary as I hope this page will show. Firstly, the variety of leaf colour and form is considerable. The differences of size among the hosta’s many varieties also give plenty of cope for imaginative plantings. Flower colours vary from white to deep purple while leaves may be almost blue through to golden yellow.

The above photograph shows a part of my Hosta border in July 2007 with smaller varieties to the front. Below is a view of the same section from the opposite direction. I should say that this border was newly dug and planted in 2006. Everything there is new since then apart from the paeony on the right by the gate. I may have planted some of the larger varieties too close. We’ll possibly discover that next year. In the back row, up against the ferns, are Hosta Francee, St. John and Daybreak

The next picture shows two of the plants in greater close-up: the small blue-leaved plant is, I think, Pearl Lake and next to it is what to my mind is one of the most beautiful of Hostas, Golden Tiara. Behind, just showing on the left is the stately upright Patriot with its long leaf stems. St. John is in the centre rear and the golden-leaved Daybreak next to the right of it, with Fire and Ice just poking its leaves into the frame at middle right.

Stiletto is not what most people would expect of an Hosta with its long serrated leaves. This particular plant is in its third year, and was moved this past Spring from a spot which I decided was too sunny for it into this north-facing border protected from the hot Summer sun by the fence (not that we had much “hot Summer sun” this year!). Although some hostas are tolerant of bright sun the majority are more suited to the shade garden or areas of the general garden where they are at least semi-shaded from the strongest sunlight.

Surprised By Joy is a variety that I found at a Spring horticultural show last year, 2006. I think it was Harrogate. Anyway, even if I can’t quite recall where I do remember well the occasion; it was the end of the afternoon; I’d stopped buying plants and was about to leave when my attention was caught by its name - the same as the title of one of C. S. Lewis’s books. As can be seen below in this photo it is very small, and in each of its two years in my garden it has seemed as though it was never going to flower, then right at the end of the Hosta flowering season when others have finished it bursts out. Is that the reason for its name? I don’t know, but that’s my experience with it.

This is just a small sample of the range of Hostas even in my garden, let alone what is available worldwide. Who can say they’re boring when faced with this kind of variety?

Tags: Hosta, Hostas, perenniel, shade garden, shade loving plants

Mother’s Day is on its way! Here in Britain it is on Sunday, March 22nd. The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has the perfect gift to treat your loved ones on this Mother’s Day. Give her more than just flowers, although you can always give her flowers as well, of course! Treat her to a day out at one of the splendid RHS shows: Chelsea, Hampton Court, Tatton and Cardiff.

• Cardiff: 17-19 April
• Chelsea: 19-23 May
• Hampton Court: 7-12 July
• Tatton Park: 22-26 July

Alternatively, with a Gift Membership you could give a whole year of great RHS benefits, including:

• Free garden visits
• Personal gardening advice
• Free monthly magazine
• Discounted flower show tickets

Go on.  Give something special this year.

Tags: Cardiff, Chelsea, Flower Show, Garden Gift, Hampton Court, Mother's Day, RHS, Tatton Park

In the northern hemisphere Spring is coming.  The snowdrops and crocuses have in many places already burst out into flower.  Maybe this has set your mind working, and you’re wondering what to do with that spare plot of earth at the back of your house.  Well how about a vegetable garden?

Vegetable gardening for flavour

I’m not sure whether it really is true, in any scientifically provable way, that my home-grown veggies from the kitchen garden taste better than what my wife buys in the local store, but I know it feels that way.  There’s certainly something special about eating what you’ve grown yourself.  What’s more, you know it’s fresh; you picked it yourself just an hour or so ago.  And if you have children in the household they will know that food does not come from a plastic bag but from God’s good earth.

How was it grown?

Personally I’m not opposed to chemicals.  Why?  Because everything we eat is chemical.  Even the cleanest air we breath is chemical.  The freshest, most unpolluted water we drink is chemical.  The materials of our bodies are chemical. The green leaves of a plant are chemical.  It’s not that chemicals are bad in themselves, otherwise everything around us would be bad, but it’s a question of what kinds of chemicals.  Plants need food, and they often need protection from pests and diseases. When you grow your food yourself you know exactly what has been used to fertilise the soil, what has been used to guard the growing crops from insect damage and plant disease.  The uncertainties are removed.  You know what you’re giving your family to eat.

Good food and good exercise

For many of us our modern lifestyle does not make it easy to keep our bodies in good condition.  Obesity and slack muscles are all too common these days.  Half an hour a day looking after a kitchen garden can make a major difference to a person’s physical fitness.  The variety of movement involved exercises many different muscular groups including legs, arms, back and more.  It won’t be long before you start to feel the difference.

So why not?

Whether you’re looking for more flavourful food, trying to save the planet or aspiring after a better-toned body, a vegetable garden could do you good. Spring is coming. It’s time to be clearing the earth and sowing the seed. You’ll not regret it.

Tags: Kitchen Garden, Spring, vegetable garden