Mr Fox’s Garden In this issue Mr Fox decides to reprieve some mice he finds living in his greenhouse, gets to grips with homemade compost and muses over the unfortunate reputation of the lovely dandelion.
I
t’s that time of year again, tidy up time in the greenhouse, time to give the windows a good scrub with hot soapy water and get rid of all the algae. Our greenhouse becomes a dumping zone through the winter months, storing anything I need to keep dry and all the succulents too. I popped by to assess the job; it was one of those really cold mornings at the start of March. I detected a distinct smell in there. Mice, I thought to myself - poor little souls, they must be freezing out in this weather. I closed the door and walked away thinking they’ll have to go, but not today. I found some clothes pegs I ordered on the internet last summer; they’d come direct from China, by air mail. One year later and they’ve already become brittle, cracked and broken. One thing’s for sure; the archaeologists of the future won’t be delicately brushing away the earth to reveal traces of us, there’ll be junk every where. We are in the ‘plastic age’. This year I’m really going to make an effort in the greenhouse; I doubt I’ll grow Torbay’s biggest marrow but I’m going to try. I heard about ‘Just Eat’ the other day, the idea being you’re sitting there and you pick up your phone and order some food. Then someone drives it over to you and you ‘just eat’. Sounds good but everyone knows that the best meals are home cooked and home grown. I’m planning on going one better this year; I’m doing home grown in my own homemade compost. I’ve bought myself a fancy new compost bin, called a Hotbin. It was Product of the Year at the 2019 Chelsea
Flower Show and I’ve wanted one ever since. £180 for a compost bin is a bit steep but I justified it by working out what I can save on buying compost from the shops. Wow it’s fantastic; all the garden waste and food waste goes in and before long it’s not waste any more. The Hotbin is literally eating it and it will soon be giving us back fine rich compost (in 50 days). I’ll let you know what it’s like when I get the final product but even before it’s produced anything, the Hotbin is definitely the highlight of my year and my new favourite member of the family. So maybe preparing a good meal should begin a year in advance when you’re mixing the compost in which you’ll be planting your food. If anyone in Torquay manages to grow any giant veg please send me a picture, I’d love to see it. My email is James.a.fox@outlook.com A few years ago when saving bees was becoming popular. I was declaiming ‘Save the Dandelions!’ Dandelions are just as good a pollinator as any flower but what kind of gardener can make a living whilst not wanting to pull out dandelions out? I still claim dandelions are lovely little plants; if they were difficult to grow everyone would want them... Enjoy Spring!
Mr Fox
We are James and Catherine (Mr Fox’s Garden). We provide a garden maintenance and landscaping service around the Bay but the main part of our business is making plant supports, garden art and sculptures - and it’s all made right here on the English Riviera. After our display garden won the People’s Choice Award at the 2019 Tavistock Garden Show, we can now happily say we are ‘award winning gardeners’. We’re also proud to say that this year we have pieces on permanent display at RHS Rosemoor and Buckfast Abbey.
mrfoxsgarden.com 48 | April/May 2021
Mr Fox
To promote promote your your business business to to our our readers readers email email sales@englishrivieramagazine.co.uk sales@englishrivieramagazine.co.uk To
