About me

Love gardening? I do.

Gardening and writing have been passions since childhood. I crafted my first article – a football match report – for the launch of my primary school newspaper and I began growing things by helping my mother plant Mesembryanthemum, or Livingstone daisies. Now there’s a plant that’s fallen out of fashion.

Photo by Stephen Studd

I’ve been lucky enough to combine the two interests for the past 25 years as a Cotswold-based gardening journalist for newspapers and magazines, writing on everything from glorious open gardens to how to grow leeks. I was named Gardening Journalist of the Year in the 2018 Property Press Awards and this blog was a finalist in the Blog or Vlog of the Year at the 2022 Garden Media Guild Awards.

Whenever I get a chance, I’m in my garden, waging war on the slugs, snails, horsetail, bindweed and other foes, picking the fruit and veg I love to grow, spotting the first bloom on a favourite plant or simply enjoying being outside.

Read my articles on open gardens, interviews with passionate growers giving tips, reviews of the best books on gardening and using your produce. I also hunt out those special nurseries, take a look at the top flower shows and tell you what’s happening in Gloucestershire and the Cotswolds.

For snippets, observations and asides, follow me on X (Twitter), Facebook, Threads or Mastodon and for more pictures see my Instagram account.

Do join the conversation and leave me a comment on my blog posts. I love to hear about your gardens and gardening tips.

Mandy

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