From the Compost Heap header. A pencil style illustration of a compost heap with flowers and plants growing around it. A bee buzzes by and a white rabbit hops by.
  • My zine making area with Spectrum and Chaos Gardening zines, paper cutter, and watercolor wash circles.

    Restocking the zine shop!

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  • Nettle Liquid Feed

    Crush nettles to bruise and rip.
    Mix with equal weight of brown sugar.

    Cram in sterile jar to ferment.

    Cover with sugar.

    Weigh with stone. Leave air gap.

    Cover with breathable cover like sourdough.

    Leave cool and dark 5-7 days.

    Strain off liquid and that’s your plant food.

    Dilute 1 in 500 or for delicate plants 1 in 1000.

    She says it doesn’t smell bad like some liquid feeds!

    via Francis Tophill at Damson Farm

    BBC Gardeners World 2025: 14

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  • Note to self: Try this.

    “A polyculture is one of the easiest and most productive way of growing your own food. It is the opposite of a mono culture (which is one crop per growing space) and this diversity of plants increases biodiversity, soil health and yields, as well as reducing pest pressure and you don’t need a lot of space. 👍🌱

    To sow a polyculture simply prepare any bed or growing container by top dressing it with a layer of organic compost and then around mid-to-late April (here in zone 9a) I just broadcast (or scatter) a diverse array of seed within it at the some time that produce at different points throughout the season.

    I’m sowing: Rocket, which will produce first,
    Mixed lettuce, which will be harvested second,
    then Rainbow chard, spring onion, beetroot, parsley and carrots, and later in the season the Chicory (Radicchio) and parsnips will be ready to harvest. 🥕🧅🥬”

    via nettlesandpetals on Instagram

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  • Grass overrunning a garden bed. A small white flowering gaura is surrounded by 3 square paving stones.

    Real life chaos gardening for you. The back of the bed is overrun with grass so trying to defend this beauty with some spare stepping stones.

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  • Fireflies

    We’ve let the grass grow tall and planted wildflowers in 1/3 of our backyard… and it turns out the fireflies have moved in.

    I walked out of the studio and this lovely flew all around me to say hello. We’ve been watching them every night.

    Here’s a clip from the wildflower patch they are living in.

    There’s a metaphor here about creating the right environment to invite magic. 💫

    Read more: Fireflies
  • Gazebo of green pipes with brown mulch inside and a few bachelor buttons and tall grass outside

    Added cardboard and mulch to the Wendy House.

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  • A little scrappy gardening vlog.

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  • Wildflowers growing in our backyard with fence and tree beyond. Most are royal blue bachelor buttons. Little tufts with the sky beyond. White Love-in-a-Mist are shorter. They are ethereal flowers with delicate leaves and spiraling center that transforms into a seed pod. These flowers evoke fairyland to me.
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  • Chaos Gardening: Tips from a Chronically Ill & Neurodivergent Gardener

    Chaos Gardening black and white zine among blooming daisies in my garden. The title is cut out magazine letters and peony leaf rubbings are overlaid. The subtitle readers: tips from a chronically ill and neurodivergent gardener.

    I think I’m finding my groove with zine making. I had a lot of fun going analogue this month and in addition to my typewriter I also incorporated collage and nature rubbings.

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    The back of the zine. You can read some text typed on my typewriter and see peony leaf rubbings. The text reads: VI. No dig• A few strategies I use to minimize pain are: No dig garden beds (areas with soil piled on cardboard). Cardboard lined raised beds. A low gardeningstool (B to avoid back pain & dizziness). Suppressing weeds (minimizing weeding) with cardboard or spare paving stones. Anything that will block sunlight & not blow away will do. A Kindle Curiosity Zine. May 2025.

    Read more: Chaos Gardening: Tips from a Chronically Ill & Neurodivergent Gardener

  • Therapeutic weeding. The front bed is overrun with witch grass because I wasn’t well enough to garden last year, but reclaiming it one patch at a time. Excited about our first sea holly – it’s a variety called Hobbit.

    Runner grass surrounding plants in the garden bed. My rainboot, a narrow widger, and a sea holly are also visible.
    Mulch surrounding sea holly, sage, and russian sage with tall grass growing beyond.
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