Pigs roaming free on A Small Holding

Their journey as smallholders in South Yorkshire is told with plenty of enthusiasm and good humour, despite the usual trials and tribulations. The chickens and pigs take pride of place as is demonstrated by their own dedicated pages on the blog. There’s a plentiful supply of fresh veg and herb posts to tickle your tastebuds. When combined “A Small Holding” is a wonderful tale and fabulous resource for those wanting or trying to do the same.

A Small Holding is a treasure chest of knowledge for goodies you can grow and eat. For pigs there’s articles on everything from building your own pig ark to DIY butchery. Chicken knowledge nuggets include ways to choose, keep and care for your feathered friends. A wide range of vegetable wisdom is shared from artichokes to tomatoes, as well as a fragrant selection of herb help. There’s also the odd illuminating idea for the garden, for example: did you know that Crown Imperials pong like foxes, so they will keep away pesky moles and rodents?

On the theme of traditional knowledge, A Small Holding seasonally celebrates the rural traditions and history of Britain. From May Day hanging of Rowan on the front door, to the eating of dried peas on Carling Sunday (the 5th Sunday in Lent apparently!), A Small Holding is sure to remind us. To help us all remember and rejoice, a calendar page with a growing number of high days and Holy Days is a permanent feature on the blog.

A Small Holding has been chosen for review partly because it shares the heartwarming enthusiasm for ‘the good life’ with plenty of engaging humour. But the main reason is Mo and Steve have created a valuable library of posts that will inspire small holders for many years to come. As a result, the blog is a popular resource for small holders and bloggers who can often be seen contributing in the comments.

We haven’t chosen a Dobbies blog of the week for a while, but the unique content and quality of A Small Holding was impossible to pass without comment.

Tigerella toms - fruits of Jo's allotment labours

Having dabbled with gardening for several years Jo discovered the delights of growing edibles. After filling every available container and corner with fruit and vegetable plants, Jo quickly outgrew her humble abode. An allotment was the natural progression and after a long time on the waiting list Jo finally received the keys to her first allotment. Then on April Fools Day 2009 ‘The Good Life’ blog was born, but her allotment adventures are no joke.

With her honest, detailed and helpful posts Jo has amassed a large and loyal following. Her allotment started as an overgrown plot, with a wheelbarrow, two compost bins and four water butts. Since then Jo has given us regular updates sharing her labours and rewards with friendly and informative posts. This is a great blog for comparing notes on how your vegetables are growing and sharing allotment tips.

From Tigerella tomatos to Cucino cucumbers Jo’s plot has produced an impressive array of fruit and vegetables. With the fruits of her labour Jo has cooked family favourites such as fresh blueberry muffins and created the odd genius invention such as borage ice-cubes. This blog boasts the sun-filled successes and mourns the frost-bitten failures, providing a heart felt and genuine account of Jo’s allotment labours.

For Jo’s wonderful account of allotment life and her frequent honest updates we make ‘The Good Life’ our Gardening Blog of the Week.

A Greensparrow Friday artwork

Greensparrow Gardens contains all the ingredients of a great blog; it’s informative, interesting, colourful and fun.

Greensparrow Gardens was created by Joseph, a PhD student who is a self confessed plant addict. He started the blog back in February 2009 and is obsessed with horticulture, plant breeding and genetics.

His garden is situated in zone 5, Michigan and is full of cross breeds and rarities he has grown from seed. He enjoys growing and tending just about anything, except for plants with magenta flowers!

Greensparrow Garden is mixture of lighthearted observations and scholarly debates, with a generous scattering of interesting photos. Regular updates ensure that you never miss a thought or observation from Joseph’s wonderfully addictive view of the horticultural world.

The recent addition of Friday artworks are particularly entertaining. The most recent sketch, ‘Gardeners vs Normal People’ illustrates the unavoidable nursery detours when travelling anywhere with an enthusiastic gardener. Joseph is also prone to plant induced diversions, as he once drove 4 hours for a Strobilanthes gossypinus!

The post ‘Why hummingbirds like red flowers (hint: actually, they don’t.)’ is a great example of why Greensparrow Garden is unique and interesting. In the post Joseph demonstrates his ability to translate academic studies in to interesting articles and add humour!

Joseph’s unique ability to mix academic enquiry with observational humour make Greensparrow Gardens our Gardening Blog of the Week.

One of Catherine's mystery roses

Like many of us, Catherine inherited her love and knowledge of gardening from her mother. She currently tends a stunning roof garden overlooking Primrose Hill, full of hardy, aromatic plants, and also has a country garden in Suffolk.
A Gardening Woman is a treasure chest of garden knowledge. The posts Do slug rings really work followed by Slug Rings – another idea, suggests a seemingly miraculous defence against slug invasions.

Catherine is currently requesting advice on her beautiful mystery roses, so why not pop over and offer some suggestions.

This is a well informed, well rounded and thoroughly enjoyable blog to peruse which is why here at Dobbies we congratulate Catherine on A Gardening Woman, our Gardening Blog of the Week.

Gardening Women is another blog by Catherine. As well as updates on significant women in horticulture, it also has links to articles Catherine has written on the importance of gardening as therapy, particularly after bereavement.

Midnight Brambling - a genuine love and amazement of gardening

She has written several books, including The Half-hour Allotment and Conservatory and Greenhouse Gardening, and studied horticulture at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh. Lia has an 80-ft garden off the rear of her house in Bristol, an allotment and is on the residents’ committee of her local park.

Lia started the blog in January of this year, and even though there haven’t been that many posts up to now, this is undoubtedly a measure of quality and not of quantity. She confesses that the ‘pontificating habit dies hard’, but there will always be time in between the weeding for a scribble or two.

Being a journalist Lia really knows how to write and get the best out of a tale, wrapping philosophy and memories around her hazel trees. There are some lovely moments; her post of working in the outback is a real pleasure to read.

The ups and downs of her perennial gardening are sometimes lathered in suds of self doubt, but she strikes back with bucket loads of courage and a genuine love and amazement of gardening. Lia clearly knows what she’s talking about, especially when it comes to soil carbon sequestration! The blog is a definite success in being both interesting and intimate.

For Lia’s knowledge and quality we are making Midnight Brambling our Gardening Blog of the Week.

Down the Allotment - an intimate account of a passionate veggie grower.

Matron was born just 20 yards from her allotment and took inspiration from her parents who “dug for victory” and never stopped. Having grown up on the allotment, growing vegetables has become a way of life. This is evident in her recent blog posts about planting brussel sprouts for Christmas day and growing lettuce.

Down on the Allotment goes beyond the musings of a vegetable lover. Matron shares her highs, lows and experience with her readers by documenting various projects in step by step guides with useful photos. The instructions are in a fun and easy style, so even an allotment amateur can follow in her footsteps. There are plenty of top tips along the way, here’s an example for leeks:

“Give the top green leaves a bit of a hair cut with a pair of scissors to reduce the stress on a newly planted seedling, but generally speaking, leek seedlings are ‘as hard as old boots.‘”

“The more of the leek that is underground, the more blanch/white you will get. I am just starting to collect cardboard toilet rolls to go round them as they get a bit bigger.”

If you’re not a vegetable fan then perhaps Down the Allotment can change your mind with “Matron’s flower show”, the exclusive alternative to Chelsea. This colourful post presents the blossoming world of vegetable flowers, from broad bean to horseradish flowers, all wrapped up in a beautiful photo collection.

The talents of Matron continue off the allotment with a passion for dog psychology. Currently training to be a dog behaviourist, Matron hopes to start her own business soon. In true Matron style she has set up a dogblog to discuss training, behaviour and anything doggy! Perhaps Matron can suggest a way of stopping my Labrador from burying bones in my flowerpots.

Intimacy and passion were not two words I associated with vegetables until I read Matron’s blog and for that reason “Down on the Allotment” is Dobbies Gardening Blog of the Week.

Kate Gardner is The Manic Gardener, and her amazing blog is dedicated to the art of organic horticulture. As the name of the site suggests, subjects covered are a little manic, but the blog is a joy to explore.

Organic gardening galore at The Manic Gardener

In fact, variety is The Manic Gardener’s beauty and attraction. As I write this, the blog’s home page includes posts about gardening books, polygamy in Mali, local fauna, the weather and Kate’s knee surgery.

It’s joyfully mad and contains a lot of useful and varied information on organic gardening. Kate draws from an interesting variety of sources that range from her local organic garden centre guru to the U.S department of agriculture. The Manic Gardener shares an amazing breadth of knowledge and includes posts for all, from the technical benefits of Phytoremediation to the dietary benefits of Dandelions.

If you read nothing else on this blog be sure to browse through the 50 Organic Gardening tips and tricks, as it provides an easy to digest guide to organic gardening. Beware, even the most studious of gardeners will find Kate’s personal blog posts hard to resist. So why not indulge in her reports on Abdoulaye, the Mali science student that lives with Kate and is studying “techniques for detecting and preventing potato diseases”.

The Manic Gardener is as Kate describes “an organic gardening blog with twisted roots”, but they are twisted roots well worth unearthing, which is why it’s Dobbies Gardening Blog of the Week.

Carrots and Kids follows fledgling gardener Deb on her countryside adventure, as she invites us into her world, sharing stories, useful tips and stunning photography along the way.

Deb loves to grow things, whether that be flowers, vegetables or children (hence the name of the blog). She puts her passion for horticulture to great use, both at home and on her allotment, as well as running a school gardening club.

Carrots & Kids - Beautiful pictures and a great read

“My blog is, I guess, about how to fit in gardening with everything else that people, and probably mums in particular, have to do. It’s so easy to come bottom of your list of priorities when you have children but if you nudge yourself a little higher up that list via gardening then everyone benefits.

I really want to emphasise that you don’t need to have done courses or be knowledgeable before you start. I remember thinking that there was such a lot to learn about gardening that it put me off for years. But really, all you have to do is just do it.

People are so frightened of plants dying and some will, but lots won’t. Really I just want to inspire others like me who have limited time, knowledge and money.”

Not only is Deb’s blog a brilliant read, it’s also presented beautifully throughout, with a simple layout juxtaposed with a selection of eye-catching images.

So if you’re looking for a well written, vibrant gardening blog, you won’t find any better than Carrots and Kids, which is exactly why it’s Dobbies Gardening Blog of the Week!

Lucy Summers is an award-winning garden designer and Greenfingers Guides is the name of both her blog and the excellent series of horticultural books she produces.

Learn how to construct your dream garden with Greenfingers Guides

Although the blog is still very much in it’s infancy, it’s certainly worth paying Greenfingers a visit as there’s already some excellent articles to read, such as a mini-guide to Tulips and advice on winter digging.

The blog also represents a chance to connect with Lucy directly and make the most of her undoubted expertise. She says “Gardening is a practical and fun thing to do and by checking out all my useful advice I am going to help you to create your dream garden”.

I expect Lucy’s blog to continue to blossom and become an invaluable resource, jam-packed with information and useful ideas from a respected industry expert.

And for that reason, Greenfingers Guides is our Gardening Blog of the Week.

Matthew Appleby’s Gardening Blog is a thoroughly entertaining read, which always generates great interest amongst the gardening community.

Writing for Horticultural Week, Matthew certainly takes a lighthearted approach to his articles, which he describes as “offering an insider’s view of the world of horticulture”.

Matthew Appleby - Offering insights into the horticultural world

Sometimes controversial, always witty and often painfully honest with his frank opinions, Matthew always gets people talking (or commenting to be more precise).

It seems that nearly every article Matthew writes, he receives a mixture of critical, inquisitive and positive responses, but what’s nice is that he takes the time to respond to all of them and joins in with the ongoing conversation.

I think it’s fair to say that the blog often strays from focusing purely on gardening, but the tangents Matthew takes are funny and entertaining, somehow always managing to find his way back to the world of horticulture.

With such an engaging writing-style it’s hardly surprising that Matthew has now taken his horticultural views to a wider audience, with his regular column in the Telegraph.

And as if that wasn’t enough, Matthew Appleby’s Gardening Blog is now Dobbies Gardening Blog of the Week.