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An unsophisticated gardener whose motto is 'The gain should be greater than the labour' (any garden where the work put in outweighs the pleasure gained is wrongly designed!), which may just be a convenient excuse for avoiding hard work.

I favour plants that look after themselves and don't need mollycoddling. Having noted from an early age that wild plants survive without someone watering them, spraying them with chemicals, feeding them, pruning them, staking them, protecting them, etc, I long ago decided to bypass all the species that frequently appear on problem pages, and just go with what grows. Plants that shrug off or cope with insect attacks, drought, storms.

I have one bottle of systemic herbicide for the occasional unwanted intruder that can't be pulled (such as a bramble growing through something else or from under paving) but apart from that I've never found it necessary to buy or use insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, slug controls, and all those chemicals that growers of fussier plants seem to need.

I like crevice plants, succulents, alpines, hardy shrubs, native ferns, perrenials. Bats, birds and hedgehogs seem to keep pests at bay. Though I think slugs would still find hostas if I grew them. Apart from incidental self-seeded little strawberries, and a few hedgerow berries, I don't grow edible produce.

I live in: United Kingdom

My zone is: SA18,Wales,UK

First registered on August 13,2005.