A lot of rot?

I was reading an interesting article about the properties of urine in the process of decomposition.

Apparently, gardeners at Wimpole Estate in Cambridgeshire are urging people to try 'peeing' on their green waste because it is good for the environment. The proprties in urine are meant to stimulate the rotting process and it saves water too (i.e. you don't need to flush the WC).

As a child, emptying one's bladder on the compost heap was part and parcel of growing up. Nowadays, however, you would probably be summonsed on charges of indecent exposure or anti-social behaviour...

More autumn colour

It was nice to see the Telegraph picked up on my autumn trees stuff, putting their best 20 trees for a small garden.

The acer palmatum 'Sango-kaku', which goes a vivid yellow at this time of year, was particularly striking while the "berry appeal" of the Sorbus vilmorinii (Maountain Ash) brings an additional point of interest as they turn from red to pink to white.

From the birch family, Betula medwediewii Gold Bark is especially lovely with foliage that appears to be bright gold.

Autumn colour

It is this time of year that many trees really do come into their own.

One of my favourite is the humble sumac tree, which has some of the brightest scarlet red leaves you could possibly find in the natural world. The ornamental cherry is another tree that shimmers with an autumnal glow while some of the acer family show off their colours before becoming a bundle of bare bits of twig.

I'd be interested to know your favourites...

Harvest time for the Obamas

It's great to see the First Lady take on the concept of "Grow Your Own". Check out these pics from the White House garden.

Some 55 varieties of herbs, fruit and vegetables are grown and there is even a couple of beehives. And, the best of the produce makes its way into the White House kitchen.

Perhaps the Browns should have a go at this - or are they trying to grow money in their garden - just like the advert!

Fence find

I spent the glorious Sunday afternoon putting in new fence panels and gravel boards and almost got sunburnt in the process (didn't think it possible for end of September).

I must commend the supplier of my lap panels and concrete gravel boards, AVS Fencing, for their fabulous service. I ordered the stuff on the 19th and it had arrived on the 21st, despite the website saying allow up to 7-10 days for delivery.

Rain - at last

I find late August and early September pretty depressing in the garden since most of the flowers have gone over and the shrubs are looking decidedly shaggy.

But this has been heightened by the sheer lack of water which has turned parts of the garden into mini dust bowls.

Thank goodness for the downpour this morning. Keep it coming...

Witney allotment protest

We in the gardening fraternity are generally a mild-mannered and easy-going lot. So it is rather refreshing to see a bit of social action by welly-wearing protestors.

Some of the residents of Witney, in Oxforshire, set up a temporary garden (consisting of pots and plants) outside the Town Hall, in Market Square, to raise awareness for their campaign for more allotments in the local area.

The protest was aimed at the council, which has £400,000 allocated to buy land for new allotments but has failed to purchase anywhere despite three years of searching. There is currently a two-year waiting list for an allotment.

Come on Witney Town Council - get with the Grow your Own programme!

Kingship of cabbages

The battle for my cabbages is in full swing. The foes are slugs, which I am doing fairly well at combatting with the use of organic slug pellets (safe to birds, children and animals, not necessarily in that order), and cabbage white butterflies. As you can see in the picture, I am using a reasonably fine mesh - but to my horror, the butterflies are managing to squeeze through.

The picture sadly belies the size of the cabbage - it is the generous size of an average football - further testament to the use of chicken poo scattered throughout the bed during planting. I'll just have to harvest them - had the first one this Sunday for lunch with some sprinkled bacon bits and it was lovely.

Name that dahlia...

I have a couple of dahlias that have become perennial plants in my garden.

One is a vivid mauve cactus dahlia but what its name is escapes me. The second is a really unusual pompom variety, because it comes out red and white in mixed proportions. In fact, some flowers are entirely red and some entirely white, while yet others are both colours in varying degrees.

Does anyone know what these varieties might be?

Top rose at Hampton Court

My favourite rose at Hampton Court this year was a new introduction called Dorothy House, from Fryer's Roses, which has a strong and heady fragrance. The contrasts of this variety are remarkable with dark green foilage accentuating the pale, pearl flowers that have a shimmer of pink. This rose is named after Doreen Constance Dorothy Elsie House of Bath, who died in March 2008, and proceeds will go to support the hospice in Winsley, Wiltshire.

Pictures from Hampton Court

See many of my pictures from this year's event at Times Online's Hampton Court Palace Flower Show page

Fellow bloggers

Other bloggers here at Hampton Court are James Alexander Sinclair and Mark Diacomo and The Constant Gardener, so check them out...

Hampton Court Palace Flower Show coverage

I am busy working away at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, which takes place July 7-12. If you want to follow my exploits there then follow this link

Phew! What a scorcher

I pity the designers and contractors getting their show gardens ready for Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, which kicks off next Tuesday. It is absolutely sweltering! I tried to do just a bit of clearing up in the garden yesterday and had to retreat for a cold shower after coming out in a heat rash. Mind you, my courgettes are loving this weather...

Situations Vacant: Hermit

An interesting request from the organisers of the Tatton Park Flower Show, Cheshire, which takes place from July 22-26. Head gardener, Sam Youd, is appealing for a modern-day hermit to take residence in his ‘Hermit’s Grotto’ garden.

The successful candidate must have an unkempt natural appearance, take a vow of silence for the duration of their occupancy, be prepared to live in a grotesque cave and have an interest in human skulls. Applicants can be male or female and must be over 18.

Interested? Email hermit@trustfido.co.uk or call the hermit hotline on 0161 274 3311. An interview may be required...

The battle rumbles on

Have to extend the Olbas oil / teabag coverage as some wretched animal has now decided that my potato patch is a good place to deficate. If this doesn't work then I'm going to have to invest in something more lethal - of the lock and load variety...

Unwelcome visitors

Certain visitors in one's garden are just not welcome. The usual suspects are slugs and snails and the occasional cat who thinks it owns the place. However, this year I have had repeated incursions from dogs, foxes and squirrels, whose antics border on sheer vandalism. I initially put bark down to discourage them from going on the borders, then upped the ante with rose cuttings - all to no avail. Finally, a friend of mine has given me a good tip for keeping them off - teabags soaked in Olbas oil. So far, it appears to have worked...

Berry good...

I love raspberries and at the moment am finding myself in a glut situation. The strawberries, on the other hand, have been completely eaten - chief suspect is the local squirrel population. For anyone wanting more advice on growing soft fruits, the RHS are putting on several open days around the country. There are strawberry fairs at Harlow Carr, Yorkshire (on July 5), Hyde Hall, Essex (July 4) and Rosemoor, Devon (also July 4). RHS Wisley, Surrey, is then having a 'berry weekend' on July 18-19, where you can learn how to grow and cook your own fruit, attend tastings and see displays and cookery demonstrations. Expert advice will be available from the Wisley Fruit and Trials team.

Grow your own pizzas

Chef André Garrett served up two of Matthew Wilson’s 'grow your own' pizzas at Galvin at Windows, The Hilton, Park Lane. 'The Titchmarsh', made from artichokes, tumbling tomatoes, olives, red onion, basil, garlic, capers and mozzarella, was not really to my taste. However, the 'de Thame' which consisted of red, green and orange peppers, chillies, pepperoni, vine tomatoes, olives and mozzarella, was much more to my liking. Both will be served (along with four other pizzas) at the Grow Your Own feature at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, which opens to the public on July 7.

Performing rose

Roses are now starting to come into their own - spurred on by the sunny spells and the sudden downpours we have been experiencing of late. 'Evelyn', a modern English rose developed by David Austin Roses, has had its best year in my garden and is loving the unsettled conditions. In previous years I had a bit of black spot but a good prune in the Spring has really helped it. The pink and apricot double blooms are really attractive. It can be used as a medium shrub or short climber and has an old rose fragrance mixed with fresh peaches.

Frying tonight...

I picked the first courgettes of the year today. I am growing two varities in large pots so that I can control the soil conditions (and reduce attack from slugs). The larger of the two is Ambassador, which is a rich dark green, while the other, Romanesco, has produced twice as many 'mini marrows' (they have thin ridges top to tail). I'll let you know how they tasted in the stir fry...

Another blogger

Always good to hear from a fellow blogger. I bumped into Julia at the Future Gardens who told me the title of her blog was "We're going to need a bigger pot". Check it out...

Daft for lupins...

For me, lupins are an inexpensive way to create impact in your borders with their tall, stately, candy-coloured plumes. I have a lovely carmine variety that is going great guns this year, lupinus The Pages (see pic). Many of the new hybrids that are coming on the market may offer more variety of colour and form, but I love the old fashioned varieties (especially The Governor and The Chatelaine). Lupins are tolerant of most soils but prefer slightly acid - they do need good drainage so don't give them too much organic matter and never cover the crown or they will rot (a bit of grit in the bottom of the planting hole will help drainage). Dead head the flowering spike (when it is on the wane) down to the next joint and you will prolong the flowering season. They are great attracter of bees to your garden. But watch out for the grey weevils that eat the young flower heads - they can be sorted out by direct spraying with an insectidal soap (ie. salts combined with fatty acids). That way you don't kill off the bees as well...

Urban memories

Another garden I felt an affinity with at the Future Gardens centre in Chiswell Green, St Albans, was Andy Sturgeon's Urban Greening (above), "a response to the loss of green spaces in our cities". For me, it brought back memories of places I used to play as a youth, particularly around the disused gasworks. Like this garden, nature was in the process of reclaiming the landscape and the rusting manmade structures stood as tombstones to the lost industry.

Designer gardens

One of the primary features at Future Gardens are 12 ground-breaking show gardens created by some well-known gardening names such as Andy Sturgeon, Tony Heywood and Fiona Heron, as well as some lesser known, up-and-coming designers. Pictured here is my favourite, entitled "Release Garden", by Michelle Wake and Chloe Leaper. The garden is inspired by the music of Wagner where visitors enter through an area of tension (above) made up of tightly woven tree structures before spilling out into a tranquil space with reflective pool.
Not sure I saw it that way - because I walked in the other entrance. I flet it was more like our own gardens, where we have the bits that we tend lovingly and that one patch down at the bottom where nature does its own thing...

The future is strange...

The Future Gardens visitor centre opened its doors today for us media folks and assorted dignataries and celebs. Phase 1 of this pioneering conservation project at the £27m, 27-acre site at Chiswell Green, St Albans, is open to the public from June to October. It has been laid out in the shape of a giant butterfly, the various attractions making up the parts of the insect. Ivan Hicks, the chief landscaper, has very much stamped his mark on the overall design, among the features a giant flowerpot garden (see above) and beehive-shaped restrooms (below). It kinda reminded me of the Flowerpot Men - that's a good memory...

Red hot...

Late May, early June is the time of year when the humble Kniphofia, also known as the Red Hot Poker or Torch Lily, really comes into its own. They are add a colourful statement to any odd corner of the garden that you can't decide what to do with and they will keep the vast majority of weeds out (beware bindweed though which will wrap itself around the tall spires). The ones pictured here are a fairly common variety but are some of the largest I have ever grown - nearly five feet tall. You can get allsorts these days including some very lovely yellow varieties. One drawback, however, is that they are a wonderful hiding place for snails - so don't plant any near your vegetable patch...

Golden glow...

Acer shirasawanum 'Aureum', also known as the Golden Leaf Full Moon Japanese Maple, is an absolute star throughout the growing season. It kicks off with clusters of small, red-purple spring flowers which develop into stunning lime-green leaves. Then, these leaves gently transform to vivid yellow in the bright sunlight of summer (see above) before turning to rusty orange and red in autumn.

Rooster booster

My family think it's pretty bad to be prattling on about the benefits of chicken poo - but there you have it. When you find something that really does make a difference to the growth rate of your plants then it is in a gardener's nature to shout about it. I was slightly late in putting in my spuds this year but with a healthy layer of chicken pellets just above the surface of the soil - so that the stalks hit it just as they are coming up for air - really does spur them on. And if you have plenty of greenery on top then that is fuelling the potatoes underneath the ground. The nitrogen in the poo (which is available from good garden centres) is kinda like putting rocket fuel in a car and also provides a welcome boost for the cabbages, calabrese, wild rocket, cauliflower et al that I have planted up in the vegetable patch. They'll be outgrowing their cloches soon...

Hot and muggy

Very sticky to be in the garden today. My courgettes plants love it and are going from strength to strength in their pots. Peppers and tomato plants aren't enjoying the changeable weather though, especially the cooler temperatures

Wet, wet, wet

Not so nice for those on holiday - but my garden is beathing a sigh of relief from the rain showers. Only trouble is, the weeds are also benefitting from the change in the weather. Does anyone have any tried and trusted methods for eradicating bindweed, dandelions and a nasty form of buttercup that sends out runners?

Summer arrivals

I always feel that summer is well on the way when I am planting out my Cosmos - what a riot of colour. Another summer arrival is that great sun worshipping succulent mesembryanthemum 'Magic Carpet Mix' (pictured right) - they were really showing off their dayglo colours on Saturday and Sunday. I'm also hoping for great things from two other annuals in my hanging basket - Felicia amelloides Variegata, with its lovely speedwell blue flowers and the creamy argyranthemum Monro Lemon Anemone. Sadly, my brachyscome Strawberry Mousse is suffering so had to give it some harsh love and cut it back so it can recover.