The season of clear skies and chilly mornings
Monday 15 November
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Every week, I talk to you about how I still have sweet peas. And I promise, every time I tell you, I think it is going to be the last. And yet, every time, it isn’t.
Tuesday 16 November
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One of the many things I love about Gather is that it gives me the opportunity (excuse?) to talk to the most wonderful people in our community. A most lovely half an hour with Éva Németh talking about what it feels like to be behind a camera, the bravery it takes to make the jump from being creative for pleasure to being a pro, and how you find a career where you can have your working day finished by 7am.
If you would like to read Éva Németh’s top tips for beautiful photography, including how she edits her pictures from raw to published, or watch my interview with her, feel free to come and join us in Gather here.
Photo below by Éva. I really do love quinces.
Wednesday 17 November
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Dahlias. Still glorious, gorgeous dahlias. I had already cut some Labyrinth for the background of filming my interview with Éva but today, I find the curliest, twirliest of all the last dinnerplates. They have been sat on my kitchen table for most of the day before I realise I have also brought a slug indoors.
Thursday 18 November
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The first real chill in the morning. I go to Hemyock and drive back along the same top road, lined with beeches, that I filmed last week. Over seven days, every single leaf has transformed from dazzling gold to a deep, rich copper. I sense that the next time I see them they will have shed their glorious colours entirely.
The first fire in the evening.
Friday 19 November
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The clear nights this week have made for the most amazing stars. Our village is a dark one with all the houses hugging the unlit road. We don’t have to walk far to be in darkness and tonight we watch the full moon rise over Netherclay.
Saturday 20 November
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The most glorious warm, glowing sunshine. The sky is wide and blue and the woods are bathed in gold. The world is the colour of bracken. My house is full of ribbons and boxes and seeds. Christmas has begun.
Sunday 21 November
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My year is made. I may take the rest of 2021 off because I am not sure anything could beat this. Grow and Gather gets its very own review in The Observer.
In celebration, I have put the books back in the general shop on my website. Although the reprint is much earlier than expected, they won’t be delivered until the latest of all last minutes before Christmas and so they are unlikely to get through your letterbox until after Boxing Day.
A bit of me thinks that that is exactly when you are going to want it anyway…
Grow and Gather: A Gardener’s Guide to a Year of Cut Flowers by Grace Alexander Review by Nell Card in The Observer
"Grace Alexander is a trained consultant clinical psychologist and a cut flower seed merchant. For Alexander, gardening is a means of escapism, and that is precisely what her gentle, atmospheric first book, Grow and Gather, offers the reader. From sowing in spring round to seed-collecting in autumn, the author encourages you to nurture your own patch of beauty, guiding you through the seasons with manageable job lists and practical advice. Lyrical journal entries and rich photography of Alexander’s former sheep field emphasise her loose, forgiving approach to gardening and eye for colour, texture and shape."
The picture of socks below is the one I always intended to be the very last in the book. To me, it represents the stillness of the time between Christmas and New Year. After a brisk walk maybe, or after a brief foray to sow some sweet peas. There really is nothing to be done but put your feet up. If you fancy putting your feet up with a signed copy of Grow and Gather, you can get yours here.
Photo from Grow and Gather of The Natural Dyeworks socks (one of which I have now very sadly shrunk in the wash) by Dean Hearne.
