1st Birthday of English Country Gardener (ECG)

I can hardly believe it has been a whole year since I began the English Country Gardener website and blog. My circumstances last year were very different, firstly I was writing my blog from a flat at the heart of Birmingham City Centre with no plants other than the ones I had living inside, desperate to have a garden of my own. And now i’m writting from the spare room/office of our small country cottage looking out of a small window at our big cottage garden filled with all sorts of wonderful plants. A far cry from a previous life. I now see garden and fields rather than concrete and cars. Spring is nearly here and I can see the bulbs coming up, birds flying around chirping and life again is good.

I started English Country Gardener to help me escape the city and start me on my path to help others learn and love gardening with my on the job experiences, knowledge and colourful photos mostly taken by me, others by my fiance and my brother (unfortunately the better looking ones are theirs). Through the year I have posted about lots of interesting topics, hopefully not just to myself, such as my favourite and best winter plants, favourite houseplants, my favourite post Plants that Will Kill, Maim, Intoxicate and Definitely Offend and not the worst but The Best Garden Pests, I’ve talked about gardening for children, therapeutic gardening, growing vegetables, gardening jobs through the month, green manure and Allergy friendly plants just to name a few. In this year my social network pages facebook and twitter are now timelines of pictures I’ve taken and articles from around the world on horticultural topics. It will be really interesting to see what this year has in store for English Country Gardener and the country cottage garden we are now proud owners of.

My first post was “Spring is Coming and We Already Feel Better For It”  a much needed reminder to me that spring and greenery was coming back to the concrete jungle. This February my main post is about wildlife gardening. How to make your garden wildlife friendly, including choosing plants, what fertilisers are wildlife friendly, conserving water and green gardening tips!

Thank you to all my followers and readers I hope that you enjoy reading these posts as much as I enjoy writing them. If you have any suggestions for topics you wish me to write about please get in touch with me!