My garden is small, just a raised bed 10-feet by 20-feet, but it produces many vegetables in a few short, intense growing months. I don’t have enough time to devote to it to get the very most out of it, but still it produces mountains of beans, carrots, parsley, rosemary, cilantro, mint, chives, tomatoes, zucchini, blackberries and apples.

It is set in a beautiful, wild landscape carved from the Canadian wilderness. Where once there were forests, there are now open fields that descend towards a magnificent river that flows for 240 miles, offering spots for swimming, boating and fishing.

However, the gardens at my childhood home in England are another thing entirely. They offer infinite inspiration for anyone with a green thumb and lots of time. There’s no wilderness here!

Pashley Manor is one hour by train from London in the South East of England. It’s a quintessential English garden surrounding a pretty manor house. The garden offers a sumptuous blend of romantic landscaping and fine, old trees, fountains, springs and large ponds. From late March wild daffodils and narcissi herald the beginning of spring. Through April to May the various fruit trees blossom, bluebells carpet the woodland, the magnificent wisteria cascades down the rear of the manor house and there are thousands of tulips throughout the gardens. As the tulips fade, new plantings of pastel hued azaleas bloom. June is fragrant with roses and lavender while in July the scent of sweet peas and the heady fragrance of lilies begin to perfume the air.

The Kitchen Garden provides for the house and café throughout the season and is at its most bountiful in mid-summer. Roses, lilies and a variety of summer bedding plants continue through into August, then in late August and September the hot borders come into their own with dahlias, cannas and asters amongst the many late flowering herbaceous perennials.

Gardening tips

For growing vegetables successfully. Coming soon.