Classic Gardening Magazine | Gardening as it ought to be

WHAT'S NEW ON CLASSIC GARDENING

Would you be an apple pilgrim?

Why is it that, while walking the increasingly popular pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostella is hugely exotic and enjoyable, there is only one historic fruit tree that attracts even a passing interest?

Great garden, great pub...and maybe a garden centre too

John o’Groats is an impostor. Its claim to fame is that it is the most northerly point on the British mainland – but it ain’t.

That distinction rightly belongs to Dunnet Head, a rather lovely spot crowned with a Robert Louis Stevenson-built lighthouse, a few miles west and over two miles further north.

But there can be no doubt that the most northern mainland garden is at The Castle of Mey

And if you can't be bothered to read about it, just watch the video

Go easy on the garlic, Johnnie Foreigner!

There is a smelly foreign invader lurking on p133 of Dr D G Hessayon’s The Vegetable and Herb Expert, and it’s called ... garlic.

Lawnmowers of the rich and famous

You think we mock? Not a bit of it. In the bracing English seaside town of Southport is the British Lawnmower Museum. And they have quite a collection of mowers with notable owners.

What you see here is Paul O'Grady's mower - a handsome machine finished in fluffy shocking pink and leopard skin print. Look closely, though, and you see that it has been well used.

The first of the artichokes

Can you hear that plaintive cry? It's an artichoke begging for mercy.