About Us 

Down-to-earth muddy stuff - A week-by-week, hands-on and sometimes unconventional look at gardening, gardens and sustainability and other related topics

Introducing Jean Vernon

I’ve been hooked on gardening and plants since the age of about five when my great uncle gave me a terracotta pot filled with sedums. I called them my ‘flowers in the dirt’ and was fascinated by them and by anything that grew. I was captivated and my interest blossomed. As a child and a teenager I willingly helped my parents with the garden and allotment, where we grew fruit (mostly raspberries) and vegetables to feed the family and fill the freezer.

As an adult, I’ve been lucky enough to combine my love of gardening with my career by working for several gardening magazines and ultimately choosing a freelance path as a garden writer.

I am a regular contributor to many garden magazines such as RHS Journal, The Garden and also the Daily Telegraph’s Gardening section, occasionally I may share these features with you from this blog.

I have a large greenhouse where I try to grow as many seeds and cuttings as possible to fill my garden with colour, salads and vegetables. Where possible I garden organically and in tune with the environment, harnessing the power of nature to deal with problems.

Down-to-earth muddy stuff is a hands-on, realistic look at gardening from someone who sometimes (due to deadlines and workload) spends more time writing about plants, gardens and gardening than getting out in the garden to do it.

I’ll be sharing the highs and lows of rural gardening with hens, wildlife and a motley collection of other creatures, some of them welcome and others that simply gatecrash my patch. Drop in and share my sometimes unconventional style of gardening, gardens and plants and my ups and downs of natural, sustainable gardening.