| Twentieth edition - December 2002
 The festive season is upon us once more, a time
when many shops and garden centres are packed with items such as prepared hyacinths,
Amaryllis and arrangements of gorgeous house plants, all prettied up to tempt us into
parting with our money. It works every time for me - I just cannot resist a pretty face...
I am glad we are done with November as it is my least favourite month,
dank, foggy, gloomy and depressing. This year November certainly gave us all of the above
and how I wished at times that I was a hibernating tortoise! The saving grace has been the
lack of harsh frost which enabled many plants to continue flowering until quite late. In
the third week of November I was still dodging the rain to pull out perfect nasturtiums in
full flower, and cutting down the odd delphinium which bravely decided to put on a late
show. A host of other winter flowering shrubs are now coming into their own making my
garden look every bit as colourful as it did in the summer..
 We have bought ourselves a new "garden
vac" to enable us to collect all the fallen leaves - which go on the compost heap,
and have ensured that our garden shed is more secure than last year, as the old
"garden vac" was stolen from it, just before Christmas, no doubt for someone`s
present .. Whilst in the garden machine centre I asked if I could have my
tractor mower serviced over winter as it is three years old now and in need of some
attention. "Certainly" the proprietor said, "I`ll come and collect it for
you." Now I must admit to not giving the logistics of the operation much
thought.. I suppose I could`ve driven the thing along the road, not without some odd
looks I imagine, but I still think it is an amazing service. Thinking of readers, I asked
him how housebound and elderly gardeners could get their garden equipment serviced, and he
suggested that people look in the gardening column of their local paper for an appropriate
advertisement, or ask their local DIY shop to recommend somewhere or someone. If you can`t
do your own regular garden machinery maintenance, get someone else to do it for you - do
not neglect it..
Don`t forget to keep the bird food topped up over the winter months as
they do come to rely on us humans. And if your pond freezes over make sure you keep a hole
in the ice so the fish can get oxygen.
Well I`m off to do some Christmas shopping now, and on my list I see there
are gardening books for one or two people, which I suppose I could purchase on-line from www.amazon.co.uk but on this occasion I feel in the
need of some garden centre retail therapy!
Some gift ideas for gardening friends
below:
| Terracotta pots |
|
A gardening book from
www.amazon.co.uk |
| Japanese wind chimes |
|
A years subscription to a gardening magazine |
| Gardening gloves |
|
House plant watering can |
| Garden ornaments |
|
Secateurs or other garden hand tools |
| Amaryllis |
|
Gardening Calender or diary |
| Early prepared Hyacinths |
|
Gift voucher for a garden centre |
| An azalea or cyclamen |
|
A packet of their favourite seeds |
| Decorative plant labels |
|
Decorative house name or number |
| Bonsai tree kit |
|
Heated propagator |
| Bird feeder |
|
Garden thermometer |
A happy Christmas and good wishes for next year....
Keep the e-mails with
your gardening problems coming
Some websites of interest to gardeners:-
www.alantitchmarsh.com
Alan Titchmarsh MBE, TV gardener, writer, broadcaster and thoroughly nice person.
Just a few choice words to describe the peoples` favourite TV gardener. See his
website....
 Thompson and Morgan:
A growing
resource for gardeners worldwide. The site includes the international online seed
catalogues, the young plants catalogue (UK only), the wholesale seeds catalogue, together
with the award winning Germination Times and a host of other useful information.
www.carryongardening.co.uk
 Gardening is an important part of many people's lives. You don't have to
give up gardening because of accident or illness, the onset of disability or the problems
associated with growing older. The information on their website is designed to provide you
with the information to Carry on Gardening.
Carry on
Gardening was initiated by the horticultural charity Thrive
and is funded by the National Lottery Charities Board. It brings together information on easy ways of gardening gathered over 23
years by Thrive and research carried out since the early 1970s by Mary Marlborough Centre,
Oxford, on tools and equipment for disabled and older people.
www.edenproject.com 
The
living theatre of plants and people
The Eden Project is a gateway into the world of plants and people. A meeting place for
all to discover how we depend on plants and how we can help to manage and conserve them
for our mutual survival.
Good reading:-
"The Yellow Book" contains information of
all Gardens of England and Wales open for charity, and can be bought priced £5 from
National Gardens Scheme www.ngs.org.uk
National Trust Gardens Handbook is £6.99 and
the new edition is out in May Telephone 01394 389 950 or see their website www.nationaltrust.org.uk
RHS Garden Finder is £12.99 from Dorling
Kindersley www.dk.com
Have a look at previous
editions of Gardener`s Diary
|
