Heat, Hostas and a Hacking Cough
So, at last, the sun has begun to shine and the pallid sheen we've all enjoyed courtesy of the winter weather has now been replaced by the crimson hues of too much sun, too soon. Last week was the perfect week for the Malvern Spring Flower Show - hot weather and the bustle of happy visitors. Even the sauna environment of the editing suites we were working in at the Three Counties Showground was not enough to dampen enthusiasm.
The highlight of my Malvern was meeting Una Dunnit from the Hosta and Hemerocallis Society whose slug deterring recipe has changed my life. I'd tried everything - from nematodes and shells to garlic powder and organic barriers. All to no avail. But Una's recipe really seems to be working - two garlic bulbs boiled up and strained into an evil smelling mixture that could really lose you friends. But do I care? Not if it means I don't have to dig up all my badly chewed hostas after all. Thank you Una! You can get the recipe here
I had inkling from the message boards that Joe's allotment had divided opinion but being with him at Malvern brought home how controversial his triangles are. Diamond Geezer - that's his new nickname. And if the triangle and diamond beds aren't bad enough, then there's the controversial Goji berries. Two weeks after filming them going into the ground, we're filming them coming right out again after Joe had a message on his blog telling him that DEFRA were advising all imported bushes to be destroyed as they may be susceptible to certain quarantine pests. You can see that in our programme on May 30th.......
In that programme we are linking up with Springwatch and that meant whilst most of us were at Malvern, Alys was hosting a wildlife gardening day with Springwatch's very own Simon King. Do read Alys' blog to find out more.
Malvern brought the sun and a chest infection. So this week has been spent annoying our director Oliver by ruining all his filming of Carol in the nectar border with a loud, irritating cough. So if there is background music over the final piece - that will be why - to cover the very unattractive hacking just off camera.
Still I'm off to Chelsea on Monday to see Rachel's courtyard garden. I've always loved her planting schemes so I'm keeping fingers crossed that she'll have a top medal in sight.
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