Dig It

In this edition of Dig It Chris Day chats with the editor of Garden Trade News (GTN) Trevor Pfeiffer. Trevor examines how the massive garden trade, suppliers of both products and plants help spread news and information as well as analysing the sales across the trade in the Best Sellers Charts. Trevor gives us some of his personal insights into the garden centre trade from sustainability and global warming to the massive ongoing peat-free compost debate! Trevor’s mantra is that growing plants gives you an optimistic point of view on life and we couldn’t agree more!

Big breaking news stories The Wyevale sell off and the passing of Peter Seabrook

Garden Heroes Guy Topping, MD of Barton Garden Centre located between Preston and Garstang. The garden centre set up includes a marina and an entertainment complex The Flower Bowl, which includes a cinema amongst other activities! Mike Burks, The Gardens Group of Garden Centres in Dorset and Somerset. Great ethos of getting garden centre teams motivated as well as plenty of communication through their proper tea breaks complete with a huge tea pot at 10am and 4pm every day! Floral Thursday world record for Greenfingers charity. The idea was fostered by Neil Grant, Managing Director of Ferndale Garden Centre in Sheffield to wear something flowery and it’s become popular as well as fun for fundraising opportunities.

Awards New products at GLEE, a trade show held annually in Birmingham and the GTN Greatest Awards, teams are nominated for specific categories such as Best Christmas merchandising and Best Grotto.

Garden magazines mentioned Garden News, Garden Answers, Gardeners’ World and Practical Gardening (no longer produced) and RHS The Garden magazine. 

HTA global warming news.

Plants mentioned Apples, Poinsettias, Petunias, Pelargoniums (Geraniums), Taylors Autumn planted for Christmas potatoes and Trevor’s favourite,  Squash Mashed Potato and Squash ‘Baked Potato’.

Favourite garden centre Poppies Garden Centre, Saulmore Shore, By Oban in Argyll.

Desert island luxury Trench digging shovel. Go for one with a metal shaft and handle which makes it extra strong, great for getting underneath roots when having to move plants!

Products mentioned Garden lighting, both solar and low voltage. Westland Boost All-Purpose Plant food . Fito Orchid drip feeders .

Discover more about Garden Trade News website

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for providing the music.

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Peter Brown and Chris Day start preparing for winter as well as providing us with a roundup of the latest news and views from the world of gardening.

What’s on

Saturday 1st – Sunday 2nd October: Buckingham Garden Centre’s Apple Weekend with Gerry Edwards, The Mid Shires Orchard Group, CPRE The Countryside Charity, BBOWT, Chrissie’s Owls (Saturday), plus Junior Gardening Club’s children’s best dressed apple competition. The North Buckinghamshire Beekeepers Association Honey Show is on the Sunday.

Saturday 8th – Sunday 9th October: Waterperry Gardens Apple Weekend.

Saturday 15th October, 10am-5pm: Autumn Fair at Harcourt Arboretum, Oxfordshire.

Thursday, 20 October, 13:00 - 14:15: Garden Tour at Garden Organic, Ryton Gardens, COVENTRY, Warks, CV8 3LG.

In the news

Plants named after the late The Queen Elizabeth II, include Clematis montana var. rubens 'Elizabeth' was bred by Jackmans in the 1950s.

The list includes Rosa 'Queen Elizabeth' bred by Lammerts Rosa 'The Queen's Jubilee' was launched to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 2012.

Rosa 'Queen Elizabeth II' was bred by Harkness Roses

Our Dig It top five apple maiden varieties

1 ‘Discovery’

2 ‘James Grieve’

3 ‘Cox’s Self-Fertile’

4 ‘Arthur Turner’

4 ‘Egremont Russet’

In the news

Ball Colegrave announce the top varieties voted by visitors to their trade event back in the summer.

Last year was the Year of the Courgette and Fleuroselect in conjunction with Royal Horticultural Society grew some 70 different varieties at two of their gardens at Bridgewater and Rosemoor. The plants were judged by the RHS technical committee and these new varieties were awarded the top Award of Garden Merit (AGM) Cucurbita ‘Color’, ‘Lorea’ and ‘Brice’.

RHS Hyde Hall reveals people’s choice Viola winner

Updated - Plants and their toxicity the HTA Guide to Potentially Harmful Plants and now includes pets. You can access it at this link

Product mentions

Homebase Peat Free, Aldi Peat Free, Westland New Horizon Peat Free (best of the bunch so far) and Miracle Gro Peat Free.

Vine weevil Control– opt for Bug Clear Ultra Vine Weevil Killer as a soil drench or look at natural nematotode control.

Plant mentions

Spring bulbs including Alliums, Crocus, Daffodils, Snowdrops and Hyacinths for planting now. Tulips often benefit from being planted a little later into the autumn and early winter. Don’t delay get your ‘prepared’ hyacinths and Narcissi ‘Paperwhite’ established if you are looking for Christmas colour. Available in store. Heuchera and Heucherella plants with their decorative foliage work well with bulbs in borders and in containers.

As the soil becomes more workable, think about getting your autumn onions and garlic established before the weather turns cold.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for providing the music.

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For the past 33 years Kathy and her husband Simon have created a simply amazing Manor House Garden in Stevington, just north of Bedford. It’s a garden full of inspiration, buoyed by Kathy’s keen use of colour and structure as well as plenty of great plants. In this episode of Dig it, Peter Brown and Chris Day discover more about how the garden evolved, advice on growing plants in containers using recipe-style plantings, the crocking debate, tales of a donkey, opening a garden to the public and using edible flowers in baking.

Plants mentioned: Beech hedging, Eucalyptus, Pine trees, avenues of Betula jacquemontii, Metasequoia glyptostroboides and Ginkgo biloba. Wisteria, Weeping Cedrus, xeriscape plants such as succulents. Perennials Agapanthus, Alliums, Japanese anemones, Gladiolus callianthus 'Murielae' (Abyssinian gladiolus, RHS AGM), Sedum, Hellebore Gold Collection (outward facing blooms perfect in pots) Helleborus ‘Frosty’ is a good one, Verbena bonariensis, ornamental grasses including Calamagrostis ‘Overdam’, Echinaceas. Hyacinths, Dwarf and species Tulips, Tulip clusiana 'Lady Jane' and Dwarf Narcissi like ‘January Gold’ (early) and ‘Pipit’ (later flowering). Good flavours to use with cake bakes include scented rose petals as these provide the most flavour as well as lavender.

Kathy’s desert island plant: English lavender – wonderfully versatile, you can cook with it and use it in a wide variety of ways as well as producing a wonderful tea to enjoy.

Products mentioned: White Himalayan birch plantings at Anglesey Abbey. National Garden Scheme (NGS). Solardome ® greenhouse. Beth Chatto’s dry garden – a converted car park to a gravel garden. Piet Oudolf, a Dutch garden designer, plant nursery man and author who practices a more naturalistic approach to gardening. Composts: Dalefoot Wool Compost and Jack’s Magic All Purpose Improved Compost (reduced peat) and New Horizon Peat-Free Compost. Broadleaf p4, using John Innes Compost as an additive. Kathy likes to use Evergreen Compost , who offer peat-free, peat-reduced and a traditional compost containing sphagnum moss peat. Water retaining granules such as Broadleaf P4 and Swelgel, which can be added to compost and soil to help retain moisture around the plant’s roots. Garden photographer Clive Nichols and the early morning photo shoot.

Kathy Brown’s Books The Edible Flower Garden, Container Gardening, Kathy Brown's Recipes For Easy Container Gardening and A Bulb for all Seasons

To find out more about Kathy’s Garden, opening details, Kathy’s lectures and how to book a visit click here

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for providing the music.

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After a challenging hot and dry summer in the garden we enter the month of September and a change in season. Dig It’s Peter Brown and Chris Day tackle some essential tasks for the month, plus they look at the latest garden news and events coming up at the Garden Centre.

Wednesday 21st September: Orchid Day 11am-3pm at the Garden Centre. We will be joined by Manos Kanellos, top orchid guru and a previous Dig It podcast guest and he will be talking at 11am and 2pm as well as providing MOTs for orchids in need of a re-pot.

23rd – 25th September RHS Malvern Autumn Show.

Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd October, 10am-4pm both days. Our Apple Weekend featuring RHS fruit expert Gerry Edwards, who will be helping to identify apple fruits for our customers and the Mid Shire Orchard Group making delicious apple juice and offering apple growing advice, plus BBOWT and much more. On Sunday we host the North Bucks Beekeepers' Association's Honey Show.

Our Dig It top 5 perennials (in 1-litre pots)

In joint fifth position Lupinus ‘Gallery Blue’ and Dianthus ‘Tickled Pink’, 4th spot Rudbeckia ‘Goldstrum’, 3rd position Penstemon ‘Pensham Laura’, in 2nd Verbena bonariensis and at number 1 Coreopsis ‘Early Sunrise’.

Plant mentions

Vegetable plug plants and sowing vegetable seeds including winter brassicas, chicory, endive, Chinese cabbage. Crocosmia, spring bulbs, Lavender, Teasle seeds and Caladiums. Bare-root apple varieties

Product mentions Compost bins, Bokashi kitchen composters. Orchid products from Growth Technology Clip Gloves are available in store.

News links

Chatsworth historic gardens revealed by heatwave and Chatsworth’s new alpine garden reimagined by top garden designer Tom Stuart Smith.

Futuristic ‘flower design’ greenhouse at National Trust Woolbeding Gardens

The new RHS Wisley Clear Lake and ways to save water in the garden.

Rosebourne Weyhill opened by horticulturalist and TV presenter David Domoney and the young 14-year-old entrepreneur with his dog pampering range

Palladian Bridge reopens after 8 years at Prior Park Landscape Gardens and is very similar to the one at Stowe Landscape Gardens.

Historic wall gardens at Blenheim Palace Gardens goes no-dig and organic.

Dr Amir Khan is the new patron of the British Hedgehog Preservation Society.

A retirement home for gnomes at Amelia Trust Care Farm in Glamorgan.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for providing the music.

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In this edition of Dig It, Chris Day chats with Pauline Brown, Partner at Buckingham Garden Centre and Nurseries, to discover more about the history and evolution of the business looking at the changes in the way we garden, the development of the site over five decades and how trends have impacted on the business from sustainability to new plants. We also chat to Pauline about her own passion for plants and gardening for wildlife, growing food for the kitchen, the art of composting and the importance of gardening for the future.

To see how Buckingham Garden Centre has developed over 50 years check out this photo gallery

Core gardening is key – garden tools, fertilisers, compost bins, water butts, solar lights with timers, and seeds. Over recent years Buckingham Garden Centre has become a destination garden centre together with hugely popular The Gardeners’ Retreat Restaurant.

Plant mentions: Apples (including the variety ‘Ashmead’s Kernel’), Amelanchier, Cordylines, Hedging, Helianthemums, Phormium, Potatoes, Ornamental trees, Sedum, Lettuce, Chard, Pea ‘Alderman’. Look for disease resistance in the new varieties if you can.

Sustainability on the site water conservation (reservoir), solar panels, recycling (include taupe plant pots and trays), FSC certified timber, peat-free composts and in the restaurant waste coffee grounds are collected, sent for recycling to be turned into coffee logs.

Seeds from Garden Organic’s Seed Heritage Library

The RHS Plant Finder Book 2022 and online

The RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM).

RHS Plants For Pollinators logo on labels.

Helping wildlife: Products such as hedgehog houses, bird feeders and bug hotels.

Learning about gardening by talking to family and friends, visit your local library, tap into staff knowledge when visiting the Garden Centre and books such as the RHS Dictionary of Gardening provide invaluable reference information.

The Mid Shires Orchard Group Promoting older regional apple varieties and establishing community orchards

Find out more about Medical Detection Dogs

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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Make sure you’re ready for August in the garden with Dig It’s round-up of garden news, events as well as a look at those essential tasks to be getting on with top advice from Buckingham Garden Centre’s Peter Brown and Chris Day.

What’s on

3rd-7th August RHS Hyde Hall Flower Show, Chelmsford, Essex

4th August Summer Cycle at the Royal Botanic Kew Gardens, Richmond, 5.30-8.30pm

Wednesday 17th at 4pm and repeated Saturday 20th August at 3pm at Buckingham Garden Centre FREE Masterclass talk: Growing Your Favourite Hobby plants

12th and 13th August Shrewsbury Flower Show, Quarry Park, Shrewsbury

19th - 21st August RHS Garden Rosemoor Flower Show, Torrington, Devon

In the news

Cost and availability of allotments

Ball Colegrave Open day (garden trade only) highlighting the new double flowered impatiens walleriana 'Glimmer Appleblossom', recently recognised as Best in Show at the HTA’s New Plant Award. The latest trend of using perennials to mix with seasonal bedding plants in displays, including containers.

Peter Seabrook’s Sweet Pea

Kew’s giant waterlily news story in full

Spalding Flower parade set to return in 2023

Anti-plastic lobby get turfed out. Plastic grass stays!

Terry Walton’s story on the safe use, storage and disposal of pesticides from PestSmart

This month’s Dig It Top Five pest controls: At no5 Provanto Ultimate Fruit and Vegetable Killer, no4 Toprose Bug Killer, at no3 Bugclear Ultra Vine Weevil Killer, in 2nd place Provanto Ultimate Bug Killer and in top slot goes to Bugclear Ultra Gun! for edibles. Available at the Garden Centre.

Plant mentioned: Maize (Zea mays), Taylors Summer Planting Seed Potatoes for Christmas new potatoes, seeds of Japanese onion ‘Senshyu Semi-Globe Yellow’, spring cabbage, carrots – round varieties such as ‘Paris Market 5’, Chinese cabbage, corn salad, winter lettuce and radish seeds can be sown this month. Summer-fruiting and autumn raspberry plants.

Products mentioned: Bio-Bean, who manufacture Coffee logs, a popular product at the Garden Centre has been named a Best for the World ™ B Corp ™ . Miracle-Gro for higher nitrogen feeding and for encouraging improved flowering use Phostrogen or Tomato feed.

Liquid lawn weedkillers such as Weedol Lawn Weedkiller

Composts Westland New Horizon, Miracle Gro Peat Free,and Dalefoot Wool Compost for Potting. . Homebase Peat free Multi-Purpose Compost has fared well in our trials so far this season.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for providing the music

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July is traditionally the start of the cherry season so in this edition of Dig It, Peter Brown and Chris Day chat with Vikki Grainge from Horwood Cherries, to discover more about growing these delicious fruits famed for their wonderful flavour despite the short of season of cropping.

Plants mentioned: Flowering ornamental cherries including ‘Amanogawa’ and ‘Kanzan’, Prunus avium (wild cherry, bird cherry) and Prunus cerasifera (the myrobalan or cherry plum).

The cherry varieties ‘Morello’, ‘Stella’, ‘Summer Sun’ and ‘Sunburst’ are available as bare-root trees from November onwards from the Garden Centre or through Mail Order.

The cherries are grown on the trellis system using the Upright Fruiting Offshoots (or UFO) method of growing cherry training by Dr Greg Lang, a very intensive method which could be adapted by the home gardener. There are five cherry varieties grown at Horwood Cherries spanning the whole season providing around five weeks of cropping. The varieties are ‘Merchant’ (early), ‘Bellise’ ® (early), ‘Kordia’ (mid to late season, RHS AGM), ‘Regina’ (Late) and ‘Lapins’ (late and self-fertile).

Products mentioned: Clearweave Cherry Cover, Cherry colour chart , Dosatron, a liquid feeding system we use at the Garden Centre. Annual top dressing of potassium, phosphates and nitrogen are applied to help cherry growth.

Spotted wing drosophila (fruit flies). Yellow traps for monitoring all year round. Traps and lures are available from Agralan and some other suppliers or similar traps can be made at home. Consider insect proof mesh to keep the flies out.

Aphids can be troublesome; botrytis and mildew are avoided by good pruning to keep the trees open.

Never prune cherries when it is wet – it needs to be dry for at least three days and disinfect secateurs between trees. March-May is the best time to prune.

Useful links

Find out more about Horwood Cherries website

Cooking with cherries? Cherries in brandy, Cherry Crumble, Cherry Ice Cream and can be roasted with lamb. Some good cherry recipes here

Japan’s famous cherry parks

Vikki’s desert island plant is the sunflower, especially the variety 'Mongolian Giant'. Seeds available from Chiltern Seeds

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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Make sure you’re ready for July in the garden with Dig It’s round-up of garden news, events as well as a look at those essential tasks to be getting on with, with top advice from Peter Brown and Chris Day.

What’s On

4th - 9th July RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. The world’s largest flower show.

Wednesday 6th July at 4pm at Buckingham Garden Centre - FREE talk Tom Gadsby’s Garden Design Masterclass.

16th - 17th July The Belvoir Castle Flower and Garden Show

20th – 24th July RHS Tatton Park Flower Show

In the News

A national scheme to encourage homeowners to rent out their spare land is being organised by www.allotme.co.uk

Going abroad this summer? Learn about plant health and helping protect our biosecurity, including a great activity download for children at www.planthealthaction.org

Eden Project’s Pollinator Pathmaker design website

Nigel Dunnett’s Tower of London ‘Superbloom’ project.

The Chelsea Flower Show 2022 Plant of the Year is Semponium 'Destiny' from Surreal Succulents

Rosarian and top rose breeder Colin Dickson is awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee honours.

This month’s Dig It Top Five: Our best-selling plant liquid fertilisers from Doff. Best seller is Liquid Seaweed, 2nd place Rose fertiliser; 3rd slot Tomato feed, 4th Ericaceous and Container and Basket Feed in 5th place. Available at the Garden Centre.

On the traditional boxed / straight fertilisers top spot belongs to Blood, Fish & Bone, followed by Vitax Organic Rose feed, Vitax Q4, Bonemeal and Sulphate of Potash. Available at the Garden Centre and online

Plants mentioned: Citrus plants, sow seeds of French and Runner beans, Peas, Brussels Sprouts ‘Evesham Special’ (open pollinated) or the F1 hybrid variety ‘Green Marble’ and winter brassicas. Lavender ‘Hidcote’ and ‘Munstead’.

Laurels showing symptoms of bacterial shothole and aphids attacking the growing tips.

Take leaf cuttings from houseplants including Begonia rex, Streptocarpus and African Violets. Stem cuttings from Penstemon, Dianthus, Star Pelargoniums, Scented pelargoniums cola, lemon, 'Attar of Roses' and orange varieties. Hardwood cuttings of Salix (Willow).

Products mentioned: Pizza oven, The Kindling Cracker, a clever wood kindling splitter device designed by a 13-year-old school girl from New Zealand.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for providing the music

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The Queen of Herbs – Jekka McVicar

Jekka McVicar talks with Dig It’s Peter Brown and Chris Day about the popularity in growing herbs, tips on growing them, plus a fascinating insight into her RHS show work Jekka shares her passion for growing and propagating herbs, organic growing, meeting the Queen and Jekka spills the beans on her exciting new herb garden project which opens next year.

Plant mentions: Numerous Basils including Basil ‘Red Rubin’ for infusing to create pink gin, Coriander, Convallaria (Lily of the Valley), Cress, Digitalis (Foxglove, medicinal herb), Dill, French Tarragon, Lemon Balm, Lemon Verbena, Laurus nobilis (bay leaves), Mints including Peppermint and Spearmint, Murraya koenigii (Curry tree), Nasturtium, Oregano, Red Amaranth, Rosemary, Salvia lavandulifolia (lavender-leaved sage), Szechuan (Sichuan) Pepper, Turmeric, Thymes, including Jekka’s Purple Haze, Tomatoes, Wild Rocket and Winter savory.

A range of herb plants are available at the Garden Centre and online

Kew Gardens research into herbs

Product mentions: Jekka’s Mr Fothergill’s herb seeds, Maxicrop Seaweed Extract, available at the Garden Centre (feed on Friday).

Medicinal herbs resources: Medical herbalist Anne McIntyre and herbal practitioner Simon Mills.

Borage the gnome news story

Jekka’s Books see website, plus available at the Garden Centre, A Little Book of Herbs. An A-Z.

Peat-free compost, Jekka has her own formula based on coir. If potting herbs always use a Peat-free ‘Potting’ compost rather than a multi-purpose mix.

2009 RHS Lawrence Award, for best floral display. The Medal was special as it was the first for herbs and a first for organics.

Notable luminaries: Garden designer and writer Noel Kingsbury, RHS show organiser Mavis Sweetingham, horticultural legend Beth Chatto, national treasure Delia Smith, top TV chef Jamie Oliver, top fish chef Nathan Outlaw.

Jekka’s Desert Island plant: The entire Lamiaceae family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint or deadnettle or sage family and includes culinary herbs like Basil, Mint, Rosemary, Sage, Savory, Marjoram, Oregano, Hyssop, Thyme, Lavender, and Perilla.

To find out more about Jekka’s story, the specialist herb farm containing over 400 culinary and medicinal herbs from all around the world and online shop.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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As we garden into June, so the priorities of tasks change with maintenance, planting and sowing still important along with tasks to keep our gardens moving onwards and upwards, including wildlife ponds, pondwater coverage tips, tomato growing and some essential pruning. After a busy May, Dig It hosts Peter Brown and Chris Day look at some of the topical news stories, happenings at the garden centre and around the UK.

What’s on this month

Wednesday 1st June – 31st August The Bugs Matter Survey.

Wednesday 8th June at 4pm FREE Masterclass talk A Guide to Growing Roses.

Thursday 16th - Sunday 19th June BBC Gardeners’ World Live at the NEC in Birmingham. 

Sunday 19th June Father’s Day.

Thursday 23rd - 26th Sunday June: RHS Garden Harlow Carr Flower Show in Harrogate, Yorkshire.

Friday 24th - Sunday 26th June: Blenheim Palace Flower show at Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire.

To locate the ancient trees and woodland site visit The Queen’s Green Canopy

Dig It Top Five: Our best-selling packet flower seeds so far this year, starting at the top slot is Sunflower ‘Single Giant’, Sweet Pea ‘Incense Mixed’ in 2nd place; another Sunflower ‘Titan’ in 3rd, Sweet Pea ‘Old Spice’ Sweet Pea ‘Galaxy’ taking 4th and 5th places respectively.

Products and plants mentioned

Roses, including ‘Platinum Jubilee’ (limited availability at the Garden Centre) and ‘Dame Deborah James’ (Harkness Roses) in aid of BowelBabe, launched at Chelsea.

All about the Chelsea Gardens and Malvern Garden Buildings Planet Studio wins Gold. The Peter Seabrook garden featured plants from his garden together with a new Sweet Pea named after him.

Wolf Garten Tools celebrate 100 years this year! We love their practical multichange tool range, innovative and space saving in our sheds. Dutch and Draw hoes.

Sowing flowering biennial flowers for next year including Canterbury bells, Polyanthus, Primroses, Sweet William and Wallflowers. Vegetables to sow include Cabbage, French beans, Radish, Spring Onions, Lettuce, Cabbages and Kales for later in the season.

Fibre pots, if you are wanting to ditch the plastic, The Drop-in Pop In instant planters are available at the Garden Centre but they sell out fast!

Pygmy and dwarf growing water lilies are preferred where space is limited.

Time to relax and enjoy our gardens – Weber BBQ, Pizza ovens, Chiminea and Fire Bowls, solar lighting and chill on some comfy garden furniture.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for providing the music.

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