The UK is officially Mediterranean

It's true! I can now officially announce that the UK is Mediterranean. No, it has nothing to do with climate change/global warning. That's another kettle of sunshine and raindrops all together.

It's all thanks to Garden Bargains and Ideal World. For the last year, these two giants in garden retailing have sold tens of thousands of oleanders, Canary Island palms (Phoenix canariensis) and other palms. Is there now a household anywhere in the land that doesn't sport at least one of these beauties? They've sold so many oleanders, that I doubt there are any plants left in mainland Europe for sale.

Luckily, we're going to have a blindingly hot summer this year for all these plants to thrive. You heard it here first. I have decreed that summer 2010 will be a blinder, full of al fresco dining, barbecues and everyone emulating England's stunning World Cup success on their own lawns. So make sure you're ready - get the barbie fired up and treat the grass with any concoction you can lay your hands on to beef it up for the summer onslaught.

If it does pour down all summer and it's yet another wash out, then don't blame me. Blame my holly, my weather stick and lump of seaweed. Eat your heart out Met Office!

Talking of global warming, I've been giving lots of talks recently on Gardening in the Global Greenhouse and it's interesting to see just how many of the audience believe in global warming - hardly any. Like me, most think it's just one of those cyclical weather patterns. Don't blame me if I'm wrong on this one either.

Grow - damn you

Two posts in one day - a new (and probably never to be repeated) record. But I'm desperate for inspiration. How can I make grass grow faster?

After a slight delay, due to 'warehousing problems', Hodge's Gardening Emporium now has its full complement of eight small electric mowers for testing for Garden News. Neil Hepworth, the photographer, has been around today to take all the pictures of them. All I need now - is some grass to cut. Even though I've fed the lawn (twice!) and watered it (the evening before we had a torrential downpour) it's still not lush and green and looking like it's anywhere near needing a cut.

So, any ideas anyone?

I love peat-based compost

Having gardened for more years than I want to admit to, there's one thing I love using in my garden - peat-based composts. Not peat per se as a soil improver or mulch - in fact, peat is rubbish for both jobs and I prefer to use composted bark or home-made compost. I've tried compost alternatives - and although they've improved in recent years - I just can't get used to them.

Now, sadly, it looks like the end is nigh for my first love in the compost arena.

On March 8, Environment Secretary Hilary Benn called for the phase-out of peat-based composts by 2020. The phase out would mean that garden centres and DIY stores would cease to sell peat-based composts for the amateur gardening market and we'd all be forced to switch to peat-free alternatives instead. Why is it that gardeners are always the ones made to suffer?
In Ireland, 97% of Irish peat is burnt as a fuel.
Some experts reckon that in certain parts of the world (especially Scandinavia/Russia) peat is regenerating faster than it is being used up.

So what do we use to replace it, bearing in mind that between 50-55 million bags of compost are sold in the UK alone each year? This equates to roughly 400 million litres of replacement material is needed.
Coir: not enough is produced, it has to be boated across the world.
Composted bark/bark waste and wood shavings: again not enough is produced, we'd have to cut down trees at a huge rate of knots to produce it. The building trade isn't buoyant and wood shavings are a bi-product of the building trade.
Green waste: again not enough is produced, it is of variable quality and it varies from month to month - high in grass clippings in summer, high in wood prunings in winter. This makes producing a compost that produces consistent results difficult for the producers.

All these products are more expensive than peat, so compost costs are bound to rocket skywards too.

So, who can tell me what we've got that is readily available in the quantities needed and has a consistent make-up and gives consistent results. I'm sure the compost producers would love to know too. Believe you me, if there was something out there that was anywhere near as good as peat, the compost producers would have latched on to it and used it.

Am I angry? You bet!

So, is this spring- at last?

Finally, a day of good weather has coincided with a short break in the mountain of work, so I've spent the day in the garden. And in some parts of the Hodge plot there is winter devastation everywhere. It looks like I might rue my normal relaxed approach to winter protection! The banana (Musa basjoo) is not looking great - so fingers crossed it'll come through. A thick mulch may have saved the ginger lilies (hedychiums), only time will tell. Anyhoo, I've given most beds a good spring clean and filled the brown Council bin with all manner of dead material. I usually compost all garden waste, but all three of my compost bins are full and the material removed today has been mostly dry and woody.

I've also fed the lawn, which is looking decidedly yellow and mossy - typical of most lawns across the country following the onslaught of the wet and cold winter weather. As well as trying to get it looking good, I also had to feed it to get some good growth, so I can carry out the Garden News Tried & Tested feature on small elecrtric mowers.

Talking of ginger lilies, we've been selling some massive hedychium rhizomes on Garden Bargains on Ideal World Extra (the new channel dedicated to homes & gardens). I couldn't believe the size of them and covered in buds that will produce great, bushy plants.

Earlier this week I finished writing the RHS Allotment Journal and provided all the copy to Helen at Mitchell Beazley. All I have to do now is wait for the proofs to start arriving so I can edit any copy that needs cutting down or filling out. Good news about the RHS Allotment Handbook - it has sold out! The publishers are hurriedly getting another print run together and I'm sure big retailers (like Amazon, I hope) have bought plenty of stock to fulfil orders. If you can't find it in the shops, you can buy a copy online from my Amazon bookshop.

Hope the weather has been kind to you this weekend and you've managed a few hours getting some colour back into your cheeks after the long, drawn-out, miserable, cold, depressing winter. But spring's here (?) and I've predicted a scorcher of a summer. Yes, I will take the rap if it's rubbish again.

Thanks for all the rain - and snow

I'm so pleased that February has been cold, wet and windy. If it had been nicer, I would have been feeling guilty about not going out onto the allotment. But with sticky, clay soil, any work done there would just cause problems with soil structure.

Instead, I've been up to my neck with work. Writing and editing the RHS Allotment Journal has meant I've been burning the midnight oil, but it's more or less finished - just writing December's copy left to do.

I've also been continuing my Garden News tests and my garage has now been turned into Hodge's Gardening Emporium - 37 pairs of secateurs, the National Collection of Horticultural Fleece, boxes of just about every kind of granular fertiliser on the market and now six or seven small electric lawnmowers. My next request will be for bags of potting composts. I just hope I never need to actually get anything else out of the garage or I'll cause a product avalanche!

From March 3, I'm going to be presenting Garden Bargains on Ideal World three days a week. IW is launching a new channel, and Garden Bargains will be on from 1-6pm every day of the week. So, if you love doing your garden shopping from the comfort of your sofa, tune in and start buying!

Yesterday, I was down in Essex on Ken Crowther's gardening show on BBC Essex. As usual, an interesting mix of questions - although there was an emphasis on houseplants (I wonder why!) with amaryllis and orchids taking top popularity position. A lot of people wanted to know what to do with amaryllis after flowering. The easy answer is keep them growing for as long as possible to help feed the bulb for next year's flowering. Keep the compost moist, feed every 10-14 days and only remove the foliage once it starts to die down naturally.

Another popular question was what to do with shrubs and other plants damaged by frost and snow. Again, the answer is simple - leave well alone and wait until growth starts in spring. Once you know which branches are alive and growing, you can prune out and remove anything that's dead. If nothing regrows (but be patient and wait until the end of April or even May) - then the plant is dead and it's time to dig it up and put something new in its place; maybe from Garden Bargains!

Enjoy your garden - if you can get out in it, that is!

Veg & allotment plotting - and other writing

Wow, what a busy week. Can't complain though - it keeps me off the streets, and off my soaking wet allotment. The life of a freelancer is fraught with job juggling, being pulled in all directions and trying to remember exactly who you spoke to and about what.

Following the successful writing for the RHS Allotment Handbook (which looks like it's either going to be available at the end of February/early March), the publisher, Mitchell Beazley, has now commissioned me to write the RHS Allotment Journal. They only want 40,000 words and they only want the copy in four weeks' time! Typer's cramp here I come - pass me the Red Bull and Pro-Plus. The book is meant to be ready for sale in October, hence the short lead/writing time.

Talking of veg plotting, the lovely Veg Plotting is organising a get-together for all gardening bloggers at Malvern Flower Show in May. Great idea, but sadly I'm going to be 'performing' at Grand Designs Live at London Excel so probably won't be able to make it.

I've finished testing the electric propagators for Garden News - you'll have to buy a copy of the February 16 issue to find out which one I thought was the best. Now I've got secateurs and fleeces turning up by the dozen and coming out of my ears for the next two articles. The curtains in my street are twitching regularly as yet another delivery van turns up with yet another parcel.

And now Garden Bargains want me to write articles for their online magazine, which is available from the website every fortnight.

It's just a good thing that it's so cold and miserable outside - or I might start going stir crazy. But if it's this mad in spring...

Now, pass me another keyboard.

Grafting for supper

I guess I have to put my hand up and admit to being one of those sad buggers who likes looking through seed and plant catalogues and placing orders. I especially like looking at what's new and novel.

I mentioned a couple of days ago about the new flower sprout from T&M, which I'm definitely growing this year. There are other 'newbies' that I've ordered and am having a go with this year, but possibly the one that I'm looking foerward to the most is the new range of grafted vegetables from Suttons. I mentioned these when I went to their Press Day last year, but now I've actually got some coming to grow at home.

I've ordered the pepper 'Sweet Chelsea', aubergine 'Scorpio', chilli pepper 'Medina', melon 'Sweetheart' and the double grafted tomato for something really unusual. If you're interested and want to have a go, visit the Suttons website.