THE MODERN MINT BLOG
Unusual Vegetable Garden
Yesterday Modern Mint were sent these photos of an unusual vegetable garden, from a reader of the blog in Oxford. We wanted to share these pictures with you as we think the idea is absolutely wonderful…!
This is what she had to say…
“We harvested the first courgettes last week and the first tomatoes can be seen on the vine! First handful of beans were harvested yesterday! This is so so great – and we got everything for free, scavenging in skips and on the roadside!
Hope your well and keep up the great site and the super blog. Really enjoy reading it!”
Great yes? An unused car parking space in the city becomes a productive garden… it almost has a touch of guerrilla gardening about it…
We hope you are growing vegetables and able to harvest your own produce. We always love to see photos of what you can do so please do contact us if you have any unusual vegetable garden ideas to share!
For seeds you should be growing – visit Real Seeds – they, along with Joy Larkcom (mentioned below) are the best resource for all things ‘vegetable garden’. Each year, every one of our clients gets given seeds from us that we have got from Real Seeds. Why? Because they do the most unusual vegetable garden seeds and are completely open about how they operate.
Last of all, for advice on growing your own look no further than these books by Joy Larkcom, the Queen of Vegetable Growers…
How did she become the Queen of the Vegetable Garden? Her memoir will tell you…
Michael Gibson, New York Topiary Art!
In the New York Times earlier this year was a lovely interview with Michael Gibson, who makes topiary and gardens in New York. The article is here but you may not have access… however, search the internet, find it and have a read. It is great! His philosophy of pruning is especially worth it… Sacred geometry in topiary? Yes please! What a phrase! I think (and speak) of balance, of major and minor, of leaf volume… but sacred geometry might well make it into my topiary teaching lexicon! And the idea of directional trimming? I realise I do this, but …
Topiary Library
I do a lot of teaching topiary. I had the opportunity from my mentor, Charlotte Molesworth, to work on her garden and experiment and test techniques and generally try making shapes without the worry of failure, or being fired, or being sued and run out of business for getting it wrong. This opportunity was essential (along with Charlotte’s insistance that pruning standards had to be high!) in becoming better at topiary. When I look around the world at our cultural vitamins, what we see in the media day in and day out, I see the stupidest and grossest of people …
Clipsham Yew Tree Avenue
With Chris Poole of the European Boxwood and Topiary Society we visited Clipsham Yew Tree Avenue in Rutland. Do you know it? Amazing place! Chris and I were teaching a topiary workshop in order to give local people the skills and technique, and tenacity! to help with the pruning of the avenue and elevate it to something even more special than it already is. Read more about the workshops here. We hope to run a further workshop in September 2026, as well as teach an advanced course too. Check the teaching page through the year as it will be updated …