Practical guides
Step-by-step work for a mountain garden: sowing, soil, plant health, pruning and protection. These are guidelines to revisit year after year and adapt to the weather, not the notes of one particular season.
If you want to get to know the place, start with My garden. For the stories from each season, visit the Journal.
Sowing and seedlings
How I start plants from seed: potting mix, sowing, pricking out, hardening off and moving seedlings into the garden.
Planting and care calendar
What I sow, plant and tend, month by month: a general guide for every year, adjusted to the weather and the plants.
Feeding and soil care
How I work with organic matter, compost and mulch, step by step, with cautions about manure, eggshells and coffee grounds.
A description of the plot, its drainage and water is in My garden → Soil and water.
Pests and diseases
How I watch for recurring problems, from slugs to rose diseases, and how I decide what to do first.
Pruning by plant type
Pruning by plant type — guide with diagrams and a table →
When and how I prune roses, fruit trees, shrubs, hydrangeas and clematis: the diagrams and guidelines are gathered in the dedicated guide.
Winter protection
How I get plants ready for the cold: hilling up, sheltering containers and using the right protection.
Wind shelter
How I reduce wind exposure and create more sheltered spots for plants, in every season.
Other care tasks
Guides for seasonal tasks, from planting to lawn care.
Planting bulbs in the mountains
When and how I plant bulbs, at the pace of fall in Bran, Romania.
Herbs in the mountains
The perennial herbs and the ones I start again every year.