Britains's Gardens Swoon in Mini Heatwave!

These beautiful hot sunny days are absolute bliss aren't they? If only England could have a summer that was reliable like this five months a year. Still,  summers very decidedly here, so let's enjoy while we can.

But whilst our spirits soar and our level of optimism improves when the sun warms our cheeks, your garden plants don't feel the same way.  They get hot, dry and wilt.  Many of you will have wished that you knew how to help your garden cope with these hot spells as you dash about with the hose morn till night to quench the inexhaustible demands for water.

First off you could buy my book, 'Drought Tolerant Plants which goes all the way in detailing how you can sit back with a glass of wine on a summer's evening instead of running about like a trainee fireman to satisfy your plants' demands for water.

Available on Amazon  

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Drought-tolerant-Plants-Greenfingers-Guides-Summers/dp/0755317599

However, if you don't have it yet, damage limitation is the key.

1. Water early in the morning and late at night when the soil will hold on to water more effectively.

2. Add some swell gel to extra compost and top dress your pots with it; better that you mix the compost and granules together to fill the pot at the start of the year, but we are where we are, so a top-dressing is better than none. This will reduce your watering time to a couple of times a week instead of every day.

3.Replace some of your traditional plants with some gorgeous drought tolerant plants that can withstand arid conditions. Or aim for a drought proof border entirely, so at least that is one bed you won't have to fret about. 



 

Wild Primroses

I am reminded today ( by an enquiry from a gentleman in Norfolk) of the sweet simplicity of our native Wild Primroses.

I know I have written them up in my book 'Fragrant Plant's (now in book shops March 2011) and the low-maintenance, easy-going nature of this semi-evergreen perennial with clusters of sweetly scented pale yellow faces make this an endearing and enduring favourite.

Wild primrose (Primula vulgaris)

Another fond favourite is 'ye olde' cowslip, (Primula vernis) which as a child I remember growing alongside cowpats along the riverbanks in Sussex.

Primula vernis

Both are easy to grow from seed too; though you can buy many wild flower plantlets online or at specialist nurseries. Plant in sun or partial shade in rich, moist soil.They are excellent  beneath trees, shrubs or hedges or littering grassy banks with their sunny disposition. Divide every three years after flowering. Deadhead regularly to prolong flowering. 

Spring has Sprung at last. Hurrah!

Lucy x

Garlic

I want to talk to you about garlic. 

It's all very well growing herbs and veg, which as a gardener I am supposed to do with consummate ease.  But as well as being a gardener, I love to cook. If the produce I use is rubbish, then the end result is likely to be pretty poor too. (Move over Gordon - I know the process minutely from seed to gob and I can tell you what works and what doesn't.)

There is no doubt that the fat, succulent elephant and French garlic is a far superior animal than say, the small rounded hard garlic heads we are flogged by British supermarkets. The reason they flog us this nonsense is that it stores longer than larger cloved garlic so is economically more viable.

Elephant garlic has huge cloves, the size of a wrestler's knuckle and is milder, sweeter, more flavoursome (and in my not-so- humble opinion) far superior herb than the 'hard-necked' stuff.

You are going to have to go further than Sainsbury's, 'Tesco metro' or 'Happy Shopper' to find it. The local deli, farmer's markets etc will provide  sublime hedonism where the large food 'sheds' stumble; you will pay more, but boy is it worth it.

One of our favourite dishes we cook in our family is whole roasted chicken liberally studded with  garlic.  Use the hard-necked English varieties you will find the flavour is sharp, peppery and a bit astringent. Use large cloved garlic and OH WHAT BLISS. Sticky, caramel, soft sweet cloves that slip gently from the skin.

Take my word for it.

And whilst I'm on a rant, is anybody else fed up with supermarket fruit and veg that is tasteless, under-ripe and hard as bullets?  I bought three avocados that took at least a week to ripen even though I prodded them overnight to test their ripeness. EVERY night they remained a hard as marble. Suddenly I woke up one morning and the buggers were soft enough to use. Yippee. EXCEPT. When I cut them open the flesh was brown. Right up there with pears. There is only a nano-second in a pear's life when it is honeyed perfection.

INSIST when you next go to the supermarket that you will not put up with this cold-stored, tasteless, invariably overpriced garbage. You vote with your pennies. Old haddocky though it may be, even the busiest of us can report inferior merchanise to a store manager. Five minutes complaint from one in thirty of us and we shall see the quality of our fresh produce elevated to something approaching edible.  

There. I'm done.

BORDER FLOWERS SHORTLISTED FOR REFERENCE BOOK OF THE YEAR

I was thrilled to learn that my latest book BORDER FLOWERS waas shortlisted for reference book of the year 2010.

All that hard work recognised at last .....

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Border-Flowers-Greenfingers-Guides-Summers/dp/0755317602/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1294315829&sr=1-7

Sowing sweetpeas

Hi and Happy New Year to all budding gardeners.

I just wanted to let you know I have some new gardening tips for you on Youtube. 

Check them out: they're to the point, jargon-free and by watching them (they are only short so it won't take you much time) you'll exactly how to get the job done quickly and easily.  There are tips on sowing sweet peas, pruning wisteria, clipping box, cuttings and division etc. I'll add more as the year goes on.

Stock Photo: Robin and Snow

Stock Photo: Robin and Snow

LET IT SNOW! LET IT SNOW! LET IT SNOW!

Oh mercy me. It seems only months ago we hung up our snow shovels, yet here we are again entombed in the chilly white stuff. But since we've got no place to go, let it snow ....

The box balls look like outsized Christmas puddings and everywhere is overlaid with a crisp thick layer of royal icing. Very seasonal. Plump, chatty robins, ever the opportunists seem to be almost pleading for me to step out with a few vittels and as I write this, one has just perched rather atmospherically atop a box ball. Excuse me whilst I dash a quick pic off on my phone..... Xmas card material ... Bugger. He made off before I got there.




Now you are probably a tad nervous about the outcome once the snow melts. If your garden if packed with hardy plants, you really don't even have to furrow your brow. Your plants will come through. A bit chilled and browning in spots, but come spring they will surprise you with their endurance and be as good as ever. But what about the less hardy plants you've been growing? 

If you didn't manage to protect vulnerable plants with either thick layers of fleece or bought them inside to a frost-free zone, the chances are they may well have turned their toes up. 

Nothing you can do now.If they are goners so be it. 

Wait for the thaw and inspect the damage. If the tops of the plants are soggy, mushy and brown, just remove the slimy growth. Now pack the crown of the plant with bracken, straw or fleece. I am not saying they will survive, but if the rootstock has remained unharmed you are in with a slim chance (roughly translates as wafer-thin) that they may revive come warmer weather. Otherwise you are just going to have to grin and bear the fact, you did too little too late and the garden is going to have to be re-stocked to compensate for those fatalities. Never mind, we learn through experience.

However, all is not doom and gloom. As one plant dies, another is born and to this end, don't forget it is Tulip planting time. I am the worst offender for planting tulip bulbs late, as I normally manage it around Christmas Eve. But this year the snow has served as a timely reminder; as I searched around for the snow shovel, I came across the stache of tulip bulbs I bought in Amsterdam earlier in the year. So now they are all lined up in a kitchen cupboard, waiting for the big thaw and I shall for once be on time with my bulb planting. Hurrah! Don't plant straight away. Let the snow and water run off for a few days (and pray there isn't any more white stuff on the way) before you go a-digging.

I was also reminded of how magical snow was when we were young. Forget our 'bah-humbug' adult view of snow. Remember the fun we had speeding down hill on old tea trays and soaking wet socks steaming on the radiators when we finally made it home, cheeks as red as Rudolph's nose and eyes shining with excitement? Instead of seeing it as a grave inconvenience,  embrace it in childlike manner. When was the last time you made a snowman? Well, snowman- making tops today's To-Do' list. Maybe even a castle igloo or perhaps I shall be a snow angel for a few minutes.
(No snickering those who know me well and will immediately refute the word 'Angel' and 'Lucy' would ever be found in the same sentence.


I've just passed the sweetest little boy reclining on dad's sledge, his head propped up on a bag of groceries, cocooned in a blanket, his little eye round with wonder. That's the way to travel.

Oh and most importantly of all:

HAPPY YULETIDE