This blog began with a plan to leave the big city. I’d hoped to leave the world of website optimisation behind, and find a life with more time to garden.

Ten years later, I’m back at the computer, optimising websites for local public services, but no longer in the big city working to maximise profit. ‘Life is what happens while you’re making other plans’, as John Lennon didn’t quite say, and this blog is about savouring life and the joys of gardening. It’s about and how me and my lovely husband hope to make a space that’s wildlife friendly, relaxing, sociable and colourful.

I don’t use AI in writing or photos for this blog. I do write about doing the compost, making a raised wildlife pond, planning and planting a garden in Somerset, UK. I also might meander into whimsy, wildlife and history sometimes, and share films about forests, occasionally rant about AI, and appreciate insects.

Thanks for visiting!

Since adjusting the settings of this blog late in 2025, and setting up Google Analytics tracking, I’ve been surprised to find so many visitors from outside the UK.

This blog is a personal journal about an ordinary garden, so I’m surprised it’s of interest to anyone really!

Hello and welcome.

Huān yíng

Selamat datang

Bem-vindo

Xin chao

Hello Mum!

Almost all of these visits were brief, with most of those thousands of hits probably from bots.

But I’d like to say a very special hello to my 54 repeat visitors, it’s lovely to have you back and I hope to see you again soon. Hello Mum, Mandy, Uncle Tom, Beth at PlantPosting, Tony Tomeo, Jim and all the Six on Saturday and ‘In A Vase On Monday’ blogging collectives.

Over the past nearly ten years I’ve shared garden snapshots and plans and plants with you and I’ve really enjoyed your company and comments.

It’s fun to share the garden with you!

Drop a line to say hi in the comments 🙂

J x