the blackberry garden

A blog about my garden, my inspiration to garden and things about gardening that make me happy. UK No: 1 Garden Blog 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017 (Vuelio). Garden Media Guild Blog of the Year 2019

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Book Review: The National Trust Gardener's Almanac 2026 by Greg Loades

September 14, 2025

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Alison Levey: I have been writing about my garden on ‘The BlackberryGarden’ blog since 2011. I am an amateur and somewhat obsessed gardener and I am based in Leicester. I write about my own garden and what inspires me to garden: gardens I have visited, plant fairs and garden shows. I also review garden related books and products. The Blackberry Garden is not a ‘how to’ blog, the aim is to talk more about the enjoyment of gardening and it is read by people who garden and people who do not, all readers and followers are very welcome.

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Vuelio 2020

Product Review: Gtech Cordless Lawnmower

I was recently asked whether I would like to trial Gtech's new cordless lawnmower . When I bought my current lawnmower (an electric flymo) just over a year ago, at that time I looked at cordless ones but to be frank I did not know anyone who had one and I did not want to risk that amount of money on something that might not cope with my garden. Regular readers will know that I do have a fair amount of lawn so it was with genuine interest that I agreed to trial the mower. The mower arrived in a big box and the first job is to charge the battery. Did I say battery? Sorry, I mean flux capacitor. Oh come on, it is a flux capacitor, I don't care what you say! The machine itself is not too heavy and has rather jazzy bright green bits. It's a lawn mower, it's never going to look that sexy but for a lawnmower I can say I thought it looked very lawnmowery. I did like the jazzy green bits. I liked the green safety key a lot. This is a very good safety featur...

Product Review: the Hydria all in one battery powered fountain

Yes, this fountain is battery powered and when the nice people from Hydria emailed me and asked if I would like one to review I could not say yes fast enough, I was intrigued. I have not paid for this product nor have I been paid to write this review. My words and opinions are entirely my own. Regular readers will know that I am not keen having electric wires trailing around the garden and that I am a big fan of solar lights etc. So this fountain which is battery powered was very interesting to me. The fountain arrived in a rather smart looking box. I quickly opened it up. This fountain kit is designed to sit in any pot of 30cm diameter and around 20 cm deep. The pot you use can of course be larger than this. You will just need to add more bedding materials to keep it at the level you want and to keep it stable/level. If you have not got a pot already they have a n ice offer that when you buy one you get a 20% voucher to buy a pot from a B...

The perennial sunflower

I am not sure where I was when I first encountered a perennial sunflower, but the very thought of it seemed magical to me. I have grown annual sunflowers for years, some years more successfully than others, but the notion that there could be one that would reliably return every year was a plant I just had to have. I was aware however that they could be a 'vigorous' grower. Now we all know that 'vigorous grower' is often code for 'this will spread, grow it only if you think you can control it and if you think you can control it you are probably wrong'. Which is absolutely true in the case of this sunflower, it is thuggy mcthugface. It is also fantastic late colour and wonderful for pollinators and birds. I originally planted three Helianthus 'Maximiliani' into the Pond Border and yes they soon spread. It got to the point where I did not think I could grow anything else in that border. So I dug two of the clumps out, which did take quite a while as i...

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©Alison Levey and Blackberry Garden, 2 February 2011 to 31 December 2025. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Alison Levey and Blackberry Garden with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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