RHS Chelsea Flower Show - lovely show

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show IS the world's greatest flower show - of that there can be no doubt.

I've just got back and I thoroughly enjoyed this year's show. I've been going to Chelsea to work since 1989, when I first went to work on the Gardening Which? stand, then 11 years working for Practical Gardening, Garden Answers and Garden News, then 10 years as the RHS Online Editor. This year, I was there as a freelance writer which was weird. After all the years of running around like a loon, trying to cover every aspect of the show for RHS Online, this year was so relaxed. I even managed to get to some of the champagne receptions and launches.

I do feel very privileged to be able to see Chelsea as a member of the press, before it's open to RHS members and the public and with the freedom of being able to go everywhere - quickly, without having to play sardines with tens of thousands of 'punters' and queuing up to crane my neck for a glimpse of a garden.

I have to admit that I thought the last two years Chelsea had lost its way, but this year it's back with a vengeance. The show gardens were generally up in quality and values. It's a shame there are so few smaller gardens - I always loved the town and chic gardens of previous years. I thought the artisan gardens didn't really work this year.

Obviously, we all disagree with the judges. I didn't think The Daily Telegraph garden was best in show. I was aghast that Bunny Guinness and the M&G Garden didn't get Gold (or even best in show). I was bowled over by Diarmuid Gavin's Fáilte Ireland garden - you know that Diarmuid is always going to be good value for money - his gardens may not be great, but you know he is going to do something to wind up the RHS, which is always great. But this year, he has wound up the RHS and produced a staggeringly beautiful garden.

But it's not only the great and the good who produce gardens at Chelsea with £250K of money to build something overwhelming. This year, schoolchildren across the country have grown plants for the Miracle-Grow'ers Learning Journey gardens. Yes, schoolchildren - as young as 7 & 8 years old. Having grown plants for an RHS show garden (many years ago now when I managed a garden centre - but the thought of it still haunts me!), I know how hard and complicated it is to get plants up to show standard, so well done to all the schools and children that took part. And yes, they won RHS Silver-Gilt Medals - which are only bettered by Gold.

View the online coverage of Chelsea on the RHS website

Elvis Costello once said:
"Oh no, it does not move me
Even though I've seen the movie
I don't want to check your pulse
I don't want nobody else
I don't want to go to Chelsea"

Well, that's his loss...

So much is happening

I've just got back from my annual fishing trip on the Norfolk Broads with some of my old university friends, and so much has happened while I've been away.

The main story is that Inga Grimsey, Director General of the RHS, has resigned. There was an EGM at the beginning of the week and she resigned after this - the story even made the BBC Radio 4 six o'clock news bulletin. Having spoken to a few RHS staff, it seems the furore over the redundancies continues to rumble on.

Following my blog on July 25 about Japanese knotweed control, Defra and the Welsh Assembly Government are seeking views on the possible release of the psyllid, Aphalara itadori. This joint consultation is aimed at all those with an interest in the impact of Japanese knotweed on the natural and built environment, including the horticulture industry, landscape managers and contractors and people interested in the control of invasive species. If approved the release of this insect would be the first use of a non-native insect species to control a plant species in the UK and Europe. Find out more.

And now some good news. There’s further scientific proof that broccoli is good for you. Research carried out at Imperial College, London, funded by the British Heart Foundation shows that eating broccoli could help prevent heart attacks and strokes. The vegetable is rich in sulforaphane, which boosts the natural defence system that protects arteries from disease. Other brassicas also contain sulforaphane, but broccoli appears to have the highest concentration. Scientists believe eating these vegetables may slow the progression of existing disease as well as helping prevent it. Research also shows that there is a chemical in broccoli that could help to stop cells becoming cancerous. So now it's even more important to eat your greens.

The end of an era

Friday was my last day with the RHS and this weekend is the first to put the new life plan into operation.
Sadly, I think it's all gone to pot already.
First, I wanted to enjoy watching The Ashes: well, the England team have ruined that by not turning up and by playing total rubbish.
Second, I wanted some time off working to enjoy working/playing in the garden and on the allotment: well, I've been asked to judge the Garden News Gardener of the Year competition (I did that for six years while I was the Gardening Editor of the title and loved it) later this month and to write a book on allotment gardening by - yes, you've guessed, the RHS!
Anyone else out there want to help ruin my summer by piling on the work?!?

And now the end is near...

So much for promises and resolutions. I said this year I was going to make a major effort at blogging and what happens? I'm so busy I don't even have time to do half the things I want to.

Anyhoo, all that is about to change - no honestly!

After eight and a half years of managing/editing RHS Online, the RHS website I'm about to be made redundant! So, more than likely I'll have more time on my hands than I know what to do with.

The RHS has been tasked with making a 10% cut in its wage bill - making between 80 and 100 people redundant - and I'm going to be one of them. I suppose it could be worse - it could have happened in the winter. So now I can enjoy the summer in the garden and on the allotment and watch the Ashes on Sky and drink some beer. Every cloud...

Garden Monkey - RIP

It's the end of an era - a sad day for the gardening community. The Garden Monkey has decided to stop blogging - well, at least for the short-term anyway. He/she wants to spend more time on work that makes money! We'll all miss him/her and their delightful look at the gardening world.
But everything has a silver lining - perhaps now we'll be able to work out GM's identity - by checking on who is producing more paid-for work.

On the other hand, the directors of the RHS are embracing new technology. They're going to take part in a live online forum on January 20 from 9.30am to 12.30pm. If you're interested and want to take part, go to http://mygarden.rhs.org.uk/forums/310.aspx
It should be interesting and hopefully revealing.

It's Chelsea time

Oh no it does not move me. I don't want to go to Chelsea! At least that's what Elvis Costello thought about it. I, on the other hand, love going to Chelsea - the Chelsea Flower Show, that is. And that's where I was today and will be for the next three days - so don't expect any replies to your e-mail enquiries until I get back.

I've been going to, and working at, this show every year since 1988. Being a gardening journalist it's one of THE places to find out what's going on in the world of horticulture, check out the latest trends and see what's new. For the last seven years I've been there to produce the live, virtual flower show for the RHS. This involves long days, early mornings and late nights and a lot of running around with camera and notebook in hand. But I love it!

I'll let you know how I get on over the next few days. In the meantime, to view the full coverage visit RHS Online, the RHS website.

This weekend’s forecast for yet another mixed bag of weather meant that I needed to get cracking early – just in case, just in case things turned really nasty and put the kybosh on my plans. As a result I was out in the garden by 8 o’clock on both days.
The weather wasn’t as bad as expected – although Sunday started out dull, damp, dingy and wet, but by 11.15am (having gone back indoors for American pancakes and The Archers) it had stopped raining and the rest of the day was fabulous.
The plants from the front garden from Beth Chatto had arrived mid-week, so Clare had the delightful job of getting those planted and announcing the front garden complete. Hurrah! Apart from putting back the gravel mulch. Boo! About an hour and a tonne of gravel later, this was also complete. We think it looks great and certainly a vast improvement on what had been there before. And, as it's all planting and gravel we’re doing our bit to prevent localised flooding from hard-standing run-off!
The finishing touch was to yank out a moth-eared clematis that hadn’t been doing well for the past three years and replace it with something a bit more exotic and in keeping with the new look front garden – we chose Campsis radicans ‘Flamenco’.
I felt that this weekend was a good time to start feeding everything in pots. I’m a firm believer in controlled-release fertilisers – they feed just the right amount when the plants need it for anything up to six months. I get mine from Greenacres Horticultural Supplies who do a wide range of feeds and the results are always excellent. I also went around treating those plants in pots that need an acid soil (our water is very hard/alkaline) with Sulphur Soil – also from Greenacres; this included rhodos, Japanese maples and blueberries.
Every day this week I’ve been patrolling the lilies for the red menace – I found one on Saturday, but that has been the first since last weekend’s six; but this is no time for relaxing – vigilance is still needed.
By Saturday evening the lawn was dry and ready for a cut, and on Sunday I decided to rake and oversow some of the thinner patches. I’m not sure if many people realise that up to 25% of the grass in a lawn can die each year and the best and easiest way to replace this is to oversow with grass seed.
Of course, this weekend also involved some activities in the veg garden. You can read all about these on my RHS veg blog.
Enjoy your week.