Spring has sprung on BBC Essex

I've just got back from my latest guest appearance on Gardening Plus on BBC Essex with Ken Crowther. And although it's a one-and-a-half hour drive down to the studios in Chelmsford today it was a great journey. Sun shining - shades on - lovely and warm - reaching 12.5C on the car thermometer - and lots of plants bursting into new growth. All in all, a bit of a change from the miserable weather of the last few weeks. Don't get me wrong - I love the snow and the cold of winter - but it's just great to see spring is on it's way - hopefully.

And maybe it was the spring-like weather that ensured we were inundated with phone calls, e-mails and text messages. In fact, I'm feeling mentally drained it was so busy. An interesting selection of questions too, not just the run-of-the-mill when do I do this. Some of the questions - and answers - sparked further questions and replies - always a good sign of a healthy show.

One of the great things about gardening is that there aren't always exact answers to everything - sometimes if you do something that isn't the 'set book' answer and it works, who cares?

Ken and I had a couple of disagreements today, which has resulted in the listeners going off and running some experiments for us. At least, they say they will and I hope they do and come back to us with the results.

The first related to cutting back newly-planted raspberry canes to ground level to take away the old growth. The idea being that it encourages more new growth from ground level. I said I would, Ken said he wouldn't; so the listener has agreed to do both to her row of plants.

The second was about pruning some really old roses - around 45-50 years' old - that have been neglected and not pruned for several years. Ken said he would just cut them all back hard right down to around 23-30cm (9-12in). I said I would tidy them up, removing all the dead, weak and crowded growth, then cut them back by about half, cutting back harder next year if necessary. As the listener has around 25 bushes she agreed to do half and half and come back to us.

Some people think I'm mad - and it is a question for debate. When I told someone last night that I was leaving at 7.15am (on a Saturday!), would be driving in total for three hours and doing a three-hour live programme they said I must be paid well to do it. When I told them I wasn't paid anything but did it because I enjoyed it, eyebrows were raised and the loony comments were made. But I do enjoy it, although some good British sterling in the pocket would make it even more enjoyable!

Snow blindness, snow panic

At this time of year gardeners panic about one thing - snow and what it'll do to their plants. Well panic not - it'll do very little damage per se. It's the cold and frost you need to worry about!

Even hardy plants can suffer from extensive periods of cold, freezing weather, especially if they're growing in containers (even the hardiest of plants can be killed if their rootballs freeze solid for weeks on end) and even more especially if the cold is combined with strong winds.

In fact, snow on the ground provides some insulation against cold, freezing weather and is a blessing in disguise. Until it melts that is, and the garden becomes waterlogged!

I guess there is one thing to worry about snow - snow loading. That is the weight of snow on branches and the foliage of evergreens bending them down to ground level or even causing them to snap.

I've had one casualty in the garden so far. An old tree stump covered in ivy became so snow loaded that all the ivy has bent away from the stump and flopped all over my lean-to greenhouse. It needed a prune anyway and this has given me the incentive to go out and do it - maybe this weekend if I don't freeze to death when I go out there. Being a gardening journo I spend most of my time sitting on my bum in a nice warm office.

The only thing that will panic over the stump/ivy situation is the robin who has nested in there for the last three years. But with some 'judicious' pruning I should be able to save its nest site for years to come.

Keeping Pest at Bay 2

Following my blog on November 5 about the future of garden chemicals, the future is now looking bleak following legislation passed by the European parliament.

MEPs voted overwhelmingly for the proposals for a Regulation on the Placing on the Market of Plant Protection Products. At the same time, they also voted in favour for the Sustainable Use of Pesticides Directive. Basically what this means is that under these new Europe-wide rules, substances that are potentially dangerous will be taken off the market. No bad thing? Well, the definition of 'potentially dangerous' is being disputed by a number of organisations and professional bodies.

It looks like, although again no-one seems completely clear on this yet, the regulations will come into force towards the end of 2010.

Chemicals on the list that are used by gardeners include bifenthrin (widely used in pesticide sprays), mancozeb (a broad-spectrum fungicide), systemic weedkiller glyphosate and metaldehyde, used in slug pellets.

The list of possible losses includes:
Weedkillers: 2,4 D, amitrole, dichlorprop-p, glufosinate, glyphosate, mecoprop-p.
Pesticides: bifenthrin, deltamethin, pyrethroid insecticides, methiocarb and metaldehyde.
Fungicides: mancozeb.

Even so, some of the bigger companies supplying pesticides to gardeners, especially Bayer Garden, are fighting back by producing new pesticides for gardeners. The company is introducing a couple of new products this year. Probably the most notable is Lawn Disease Control. Us gardeners haven't had a fungicide for lawn problems for several years now - and I've certainly noticed an increase in red thread disease in my lawn, so hopefully this new product will help keep this under control.

I'll keep you posted on anything new that happens.

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 Christ-massssssssssss!

Praise the lord it’s Christmas – well, that’s what you’re supposed to do at this time of year, isn’t it?!
I need a break before I simply wither away like a rotten courgette slung on the compost heap or, worse still, my head explodes.
The autumn/early winter is one of my busiest times of the year. Apart from trying to hold together all the threads that make up my normal working days, I also put together the Garden Media Guild Yearbook and produce the trade catalogue for Greenacres Horticultural Supplies. A bit of extra work and a lot of extra strain making sure they’re sent to the printers on time during the normal Christmas rush and festive shutdown.
This year it has been compounded by the ‘day job’ – editing the RHS website, RHS Online. We’re having a complete overhaul of the site – redesigning, restructuring, re-editing and any other re- word you can think of. This has meant talking to all the various RHS departments about their needs for the new look, having redesign team meetings and visiting Vincent Square and the four RHS gardens to tell them what we’re up to. All in all, a lot of zooming around the country and a lot of time taken up with meetings – time when I should be trying to put into operation the action points that arise from all the meetings. So, basically, I’m knackered!
Anyhoo, the Yearbook and catalogue stuff is mostly finished, the RHS Online redesign is simmering away nicely in the background and so I’m off to enjoy at least several days of eating, drinking and general merry making. With a bit of luck I may even be able to stagger to the allotment.
Wishing everyone as merry a Christmas as you can possibly have, a fantastically prosperous (credit crunch, what credit crunch!) and happy New Year and I hope you don’t get too many rubbish Christmas presents; or if you do, remember that’s why they invented ebay.

Keeping pests at bay - or not

I don't have a philosophy over many things (too much else to do to sit and contemplate my navel), but I kind of have a philosophy towards gardening. That is - I enjoy it, I enjoy my garden and I enjoy the plants in it. And if they're not happy I'm not happy.

My attitude towards pests is - get in quick and stop them before they take over. So, I like to 'walk the garden' - often after work to rewind and more often than not with a glass of wine/beer/gin in one hand (gardening is meant to be enjoyable, you know). I'll look closely at plants that are known to be subject to pest & disease attacks, looking under leaves, at growing tips, flower buds and the rest. I'm now so good at this that I can spot a pest problem at 500 paces. By doing this as often as possible, pest and disease problems rarely get out of hand and if I see a problem I can use my organic pest control - my forefinger and thumb - either to squash a pest or to remove a problem leaf.

But, if I do miss something and a problem has got out of hand then I'll want something to zap it to knock it on the head as soon as possible. I try to be organic, but not to the detriment of my plants - if I need to use a zapper then I will.

So imagine my disgust, fear and hatred when I heard that due to EU legislation nearly all garden (and professional chemicals) are probably going to be removed from the market. This includes just about every chemical we have in our arsenal - including the tried & tested weedkiller glyphosate. Basically, it means that the only thing you'll be able to use as a pest control in the garden is a couple of house bricks to squash them with!

The gardening industry has been lobbying local MPs and MEPs to ask the powers that be to rethink their draconian attitude to this. It's not only your garden that will suffer - you're going to be so worse off; without some chemical controls the cost of producing plants by nurseries (and your supermarket fruit & veg) will rocket and, with the possible recession/credit crunch, this is going to dramatically reduce the amount of free cash in your wallet/purse for spending on your garden.

A number of peers are debating the issue in the House of Lords on November 11 - so let's hope they ensure everyone comes to their senses on this one. Well, that's my philosophy.

Bitch fest

I’ve been part of the gardening trade/horticultural industry for about 25 years – yes, really, that long! And I’ve always been impressed about how friendly an industry it is. When you go to trade or flower shows or press days you usually bump into the same people – many are now old friends (others you try to avoid!) – and you have a good catch up, find out what they’re up to and generally have a good gossip about things - and try to find out about the latest rumours, or even start some. All in all, it’s good clean fun and even the bitching and gossiping is done in good spirits.

But now, all that seems to have changed. Or maybe there’s something in the air – or the water, or maybe it has all been a sham and the masks and gloves have finally come off.

I’ve been checking out numerous blogs and forums recently and on just about every one someone is saying something nasty about someone else, or the company they work for or just having a general moan about life/people/the industry in general. Maybe it’s the pressure of having to blog or put up posts regularly that’s to blame; what/who can I write about/take the mick out of today!

In no way am I in favour of the internet/blog police coming along with their big plodding feet and truncheons and putting a stop to all this – generally it brings a smile to my face (even when the work I do is the subject of some abuse), sometimes it can be very interesting and gives you an insight into people’s characters. And as Oscar Wilde once said: “The only thing worse than being talked about – is not being talked about”!

Some are just down right funny and are essential reading. Undoubtedly, the best of the bunch is Garden Monkey. No-one that I know of knows who he/she is as they blog anonymously – which adds to the fun. But I do know that the Garden Monkey police are on his tail and are digging around to try and find out who she/he really is; slowly, slowly catchee Monkey! Lots of names have been put forward – including mine; how I wish…! And, of course, there are lots of people trying to copy the Monkey, but none so far have come anywhere close.

If you’ve not looked at the blog then I can thoroughly recommend you go now. Now hopefully that will keep the doubters off my back and promote me to a friend of the Monkey so he doesn’t ‘talk’ about me. One thought: there is an English idiom “Speak to the organ grinder not the monkey”, so who pulls the Garden Monkey’s strings?