Ben's Garden Log

Adventures in Silviculture

By bensgarden on May 8, 2013 • ( 3 )

Once, in a life before horticulture, I spent twelve months selling second hand books from a market stall in Bristol. Eight hours a day, six days a week of sitting on a chair drinking tea and reading. It was blissful… Read More ›

Recent Posts

The Day Digested

By bensgarden on February 12, 2013 • ( 8 )

Tuesday the twelth of February 2013 An exciting start to the morning; Atlas the Titan, that famous bearer of celestial spheres, has a namesake in our garden who can’t hold up cold water, half an hour’s snow and our Cedris… Read More ›
In Search of Lost Camellias

By bensgarden on January 31, 2013 • ( 1 )

The peony flowered camellias are opening in our North London garden, and as always they have set me on edge. One becomes emotionally entangled with certain plants, odd species that over the years come to carry strange sentimental heft. Each… Read More ›
The Imperative of the Mundane

By bensgarden on January 6, 2013 • ( 4 )

My greatest horticultural regret of 2012 was that I spent far too much time gardening, nearly thirteen thousand minutes all told, and so never got round to reading Fifty Shades of Grey. Regret yes, but resent? No, because somewhere over… Read More ›
The Unbearable Leafness of Being

By bensgarden on October 18, 2012 • ( 9 )

Just as those who consume large quantities of waxed Californian pornography often grow to be revolted by pubic hair, so those who dwell mainly in sky-scraping penthouses often fear the natural world. It’s only to be expected; for them plants… Read More ›
Her Brother’s Keeper

By bensgarden on August 27, 2012 • ( 9 )

As the memory of this summer’s sporting carnival fades into a pleasant haze of taut thighs and cobblestone abs, it is very important to ignore the BBC and to remind yourself that the world has not fundamentally changed. That despite… Read More ›
Great Gardeners of History #5 – Sargon of Akkad

By bensgarden on August 5, 2012 • ( 10 )

Apparently people have been disrespecting horticulture. I can’t get overly excited about David Cameron’s now infamous litter-picking snub, mainly because as a professional gardener much of my work actually is picking up litter. The RHS on the other hand are… Read More ›