Monthly Archives: July 2011

It has been a long-held ambition of mine to visit the Spitalfields City Farm (www.spitalfieldscityfarm.org), Tower Hamlets in London and meet Lutfun Hussain, the woman who founded and runs the The Coriander Gardening Club. And yesterday I went there and met Lutfun. It was great to meet a fellow gardener who grows such amazing vegetables and herbs in polytunnels at

Heat is needed to warm up my flowers borders. I mean heat in terms of colour, rather than actual temperature. The borders have filled out amazingly since they were first dug out in spring. This is an area that was under scruffy grass and I wanted to make a fairly instant flower garden. Turf was dug and a large and

In my old garden I enjoyed growing orach (Atriplex hortensis) in the vegetable garden and also in the flower borders. Well, it wasn’t so much that I grew it, since once you have it growing in the garden, you have this self-seeding annual forever. But it is good-looking and you can weed the seedlings out easily. There is a green

Hozelock are pleased to announce that we have won the GIMA Best of British Award and Export Achievement Award for our 40m Auto Reel and the Point of Sale Award for the Auto Reel Video Unit. The awards, regarded by suppliers and retailers as the most prestigious in the industry, are judged by a panel of independent and influential judges

Take a break and check out the butterfly population in your garden. From 16-31 July, down tools for a quarter of an hour, when the sun is shining – what’s not to like? – and take a note of the butterflies that are in your garden. Send your butterfly sightings to www.bigbutterflycount.org  Butterflies are under pressure, according to Butterfly Conservation

I am in favour of an extra week in June and July – this is by way of saying that I don’t know where time goes. There is a lot to do now in the garden, but my main concern is watering the mass of vegetable – tomatoes, peppers, courgettes, sweetcorn (yes, even sweetcorn) and salads, that I have planted

Wow – the temperature was high at Hampton Court Flower Show on Monday and there were some great gardens and wonderful plants. I spent much of my time at the RHS Edible Garden and in the Grow Your Own Marquee. For a small space vegetable grower as I now am, it was packed with ideas and inspiration, even though the

I am setting out early today (Monday 4 July) to go to the press day of the Hampton Court Flower Show.  I cannot believe this is the 22nd year of the show… it feels just like yesterday when I went to this show first. This year there is so much to see, I will be hard-pressed to see it all.