Tools editor
Eloise Vinter
Eloise Vinter writes about garden tools and the small machinery of growing. She has reviewed every spade on the British market.
Beats
Published in Wintergreen Quarterly
The Perennial Trial Beds at Bressingham
In a working corner of the Bressingham Gardens in Norfolk, the family that ran Britain's most influential perennial nursery for half a century still trials new cultivars, quietly.
Wood Ash from the Stove into the Garden
Eloise Vinter weighs the case for and against putting wood-stove ash on a Norwich kitchen garden, and arrives at a careful, smaller answer than most gardeners want.
Carrot Fly and the Meter-High Fence
A simple barrier and the careful timing of sowing turn a long-running carrot fly problem into a non-issue on a quarter-acre garden in Norfolk.
Seed Drying on a Screen Porch
Why the post-harvest week matters as much as the growing season, and how one grower in upstate New York lost a year of pepper seed to a closed pantry door.
The Dobby Stove in the Walled Garden
Eloise Vinter visits a 1924 cast-iron paraffin heater still in use at a Norfolk walled garden and considers what the old fuels can still do.
Sage After the Flowering: When to Prune, When to Leave
A neglected woody perennial, six years of mismanagement, and the small annual cut that would have prevented all of it.
A North-Facing Shade Border in a Yorkshire Stone Garden
Eloise Vinter visits a forty-foot dry-shade border behind a Pennine stone cottage and reports on the plants that earned their keep.
The Wooden Handle, and Why It Still Wins
On ash, hickory, beech, and the small case for wood over fibreglass and steel in the hand-tools that the home gardener actually uses every week.
A Wheelbarrow Tested Over a Decade
A single Chillington Plantation wheelbarrow, bought new in 2016, weighed annually, and finally retired in March 2026 after carrying an estimated 318 tonnes of soil, compost, and grit.
Leaf Mold as a Slow Fertilizer
Eloise Vinter has been making leaf mold in Norwich since 2009. She keeps three bays, turns nothing, and waits two years for each batch.
A Clean Spade, and Why It Matters
On the small ritual of scraping, oiling, and sharpening a digging spade between uses, and what a clean tool teaches the gardener who carries it.
A Cold Frame in February in Zone 5
Eloise Vinter spends six weeks at a sash-window cold frame on the north edge of Massachusetts, tracking interior temperatures, what germinates, and what waits.
The Hori-Hori Knife as a Year-Round Companion
A single Japanese soil knife, carried in a leather sheath from March to December, replaces a small drawer of implements and earns its keep in ways its owner did not expect.