An afternoon spent investigating funeral costs after the unexpected death of my mother in law on Thursday night. It's not a cheap thing death, £3k to £6k between cremation and burial options.

An afternoon spent investigating funeral costs after the unexpected death of my mother in law on Thursday night. It's not a cheap thing death, £3k to £6k between cremation and burial options.

A surprise GW of 2025 reflections. #GardenersWorld

They most certainly do and we won't go near horse manure anymore. No just earth worms either Matt, there's a lot of microbial life that can get affected/wiped out..

Spot of reading about horse worming medicines today. Always known that aminopyralid weedkiller can go through a horse into manure and harm allotment crops but never thought of the worming meds doing harm to earthworms... and they do 😬

I watched Zero Dark Thirty last night, the story of the capture and killing of Bin Laden. That involved an illegal special forces raid into Pakistan to get the world's most infamous terrorist. That feels very different to jumping over a border to kidnap a foreign head of state.

Whatever you might think of Maduro, the seizure and kidnapping of a head of state takes us to a very dark place. Vast, arbitrary, extra-legal power, which could be exercised almost anywhere, regardless of the character of the target government.

podcasts

£2 peonies at T&M today. If you buy yourself 6 like me and pay £6 delivery they come in at £3 each. www.thompson-morgan.com/newsletter-s...

For the best chance of success, try planting "in-the-green" snowdrops. These have leaves, (and occasionally old flowers), and are still active when you plant them. If you plant them as soon as you get them, they are more likely to succeed than dormant bulbs, which often dry out/die in store.

Nothing says Merry Christmas like a meter reading reminder SMS from British Gas.

Went for a very short walk. Spotted a snowdrop in the front garden. I've been putting a few in the ground every year for 3 years but to no avail. The year I don't bother, some old bulb decides to wake up 😂

You can't beat waking up to Christmas Eve in your own bed after 20 days in hospital. My new bald head was a bit cold but I'm sure I'll get used to that. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas 🎅

Getting some steps in at hospital - ten times up and down the ward corridor, 1000 steps. The universe, not without a sense of humour, offers up 'Step into Christmas' on the ward nurses' radio in support.

This'll probably sound nuts, but one of the main things to get me through chemotherapy each week in 2024, and again in 2025, has been Saturday night Strictly. It's so uplifting and really nice to see the cast support each other. A real tonic for the soul. #StrictlyComeDancing

I'd love to see Hard Knock Life reperformed today with those kids as they are now. #totp

Feeling much better today (day +9). My stem cells have started to engraft and my white blood cells and neutrophils (immune system) have picked up. BMT Consultant says he'll probably kick me out on Monday or Tuesday. So it's much more likely now that I will be home for Christmas 🥳

Something quite creative in this accidental bin lorry art.

Daily walk at Royal Marsden (Sutton) as I undergo conditioning chemo for my stem cell transplant on Wednesday. Came across the Marsden fox, I've seen him from my room window in the darkness, nice to get closer by day. #FoxOfTheDay

Last of the 2025 gardening... and probably until March (post recovery). Top terrace bed weeded and final tulips and daffodils in. Lavender moved and magnolia standards potted on. Dwarf fig potted on. Last year's Amaryllis bulbs repotted and popped into the garden cabin.

Green light for the stem cell transplant admission next Thurs. 5 days of chemo then the stem cells get defrosted & popped back in to rebuild my bone marrow. My heart isn't in tip top shape but strong enough to cope. Christmas Day will be spent at Royal Marsden. Might be home to see the New Year in.

Sandy soil here. Dahlias mulched and covered. #GardenersWorld

Spot the Head Gardener #GardenersWorld #Waterperry

Done a few big pots. #GardenersWorld

I haven't come across many children with cancer on my treatment journey but when I do it really breaks my heart. God bless Alan Carr. #traitors

Stem cell collection was a success yesterday, 400 million cells collected. No need to repeat a day today. Here's a weird thought, over 5 hours yesterday, all the blood in my body was taken out and put back in again. Twice.

I've always found tulips under grass to be a massive failure. But daffodils and crocuses seem to do well. #GardenersWorld

I don't remember #totp of the 80s being so repetitive each week. Did we run so low on acts and new music in the late 90s that the charts got stuck?

Lovely to see a border giving colour at the end of October. Nicely planned at Upton House gardens.

Weekend in cottage at Upton House near Edgehill in Warwickshire. Celebrating a gap between finishing salvage chemo and stem cell collection on 5th. Eldest popped down from Birmingham University for a night of charades and NT lunch today.

Rescuing #dahlias before the rain hits.

My mum has won the 2025 Bridport poetry award and £5000 in prize money for her poem Bird Child. So pleased for her and super proud. She's in Bridport today with MrsGrow to collect her award. bridportprize.org.uk/results

Monty growing mushrooms on #GardenersWorld - it's been a few years, possibly pre-covid.

I'm shuffling plants around this weekend. The sandy hillside back garden is proving to be too hot in summer even for many of my perennials and grasses. Going to relocate to partial shade at the front, roses too. Go with long lavender hedges in the back instead. #GardenersWorld

I was only just looking at my forget-me-not seedlings yesterday. Always good to pop them on top of spring bulbs, works in pots too. #GardenersWorld

Autumn windowsill.

In the Daily Express today dressed as Gandalf (with my 2022 pumpkin 'Gollum'). Article available online at www.express.co.uk/news/uk/2121...

Gardening by the moon is about as likely to be beneficial as gardening by my balls. Cold and compact? Sow your seeds. Hot and sweaty? Water the plants. There that's two chapters already.

Excited to have 4 weeks of 'normal' life to fit in between end of chemo cycle on 21st Oct and start of stem cell conditioning chemo on 19th Nov. Just a couple of days for stem cell collection to fit in. Got to get on top of all my spring gardening bed and mulching very early without overdoing it.

Can we just merge Thompson & Morgan, Suttons and the Organic Catalogue into one brand now? It'd save three lots of websites and three duplicated marketing emails being sent and received.

It is almost impossible to put together a bad #totp show in the 80s and early 90s. Each one is like a wedding disco. Says a lot about the state of music by the end of the century.

Very proud of my sister who features in Digital Camera Magazine today following her recent prize-winning photography trip to Estonia. She's such a fabulous photographer. I have suggested she goes back to our secondary school to give a talk.

Started on my spring bulbs. Early for me but planning ahead as I have December in hospital. Some Apricot Beauty tulips and Jetfire Daffs. Also repotted some big pots of generic daffodils using old tomato bag compost mixed and topped with stable manure. #gardening

Delighted to say that Tulleys Farm donated £1000 to my hospital's chemotherapy suite in exchange for my big pumpkin. My growlikegrandad site was hacked while I was ill last year, I managed to rebuild it today and put up a related post. www.growlikegrandad.co.uk/allotment/li...

New world record giant pumpkin from the Paton boys. 2818.9lbs. Crazy! 🇬🇧🇬🇧

Garlic sowing time for me is usually Boxing Day or near our shortest day. Sow on the shortest, harvest on the longest. Autumn can get very wet, so not worth risking the cloves in extra wet conditions. You still get the frosts in Jan and Feb for the much needed cold spell. #GardenersWorld

Now this is a family garden with a story behind it. A heart wrenching but ultimately joyful story. #GardenersWorld

Cancer sucks. Cancer in children is particularly cruel. As I approach a stem cell transplant in a few months, I find the way children get through the treatment to be so inspiring. 💪 What a brave lad. #GardenersWorld

Don't be so fuzzy about soaking tomato seed jelly away before storing seeds. In my experience, you can simply dry the seeds, jelly and all, on a kitchen towel. I've done this for years, and sometimes sow them with a piece of the kitchen towel. Not a problem at all. #GardenersWorld 🌱

Reusing the same seeds each year might help them learn to thrive in your environment, but is offset by the inbreeding over time. Good to bring in new pollen sources to cross breed and create hybrid vigour - new traits that you might be glad to acquire. #GardenersWorld