What’s new for your garden in 2011? There’s plenty that’s what, as seen at my first ever garden press event at the RHS Halls in London last Thursday. This is one of the key events the G arden Media Guild organises and is the first opportunity of the year for all kinds of companies offering gardening and sundry products to show off what’s new. It’s also the place for a good chinwag* and to spot a few gardening celebrities like Charlie Dimmock, Helen Yemm**, Peter Seabrook and Pippa Greenwood. Alan Titchmarsh was also present, but only in the form of a cardboard cutout on the Plant Heritage stand. However, he was very much the subject of the day’s gossip as his move to ITV to present a new gardening programme had just been announced. I was able to catch up with a couple of VP’s VIPs [yet to be published - Ed] in the shape of HabitatAid ‘s Nick Mann – who was launching his rather splendid Meadow Anywhere product on the Hillier’s stand – and The Fat Gardener who was his usual shy and retiring self I met up with fellow 2011 Malvern Meeters Philippa Pearson , Catherine Horwood and Nigel Colborn , plus it’s always good to bump into Martyn Cox and The Constant Gardener A lot of the gardening press have predicted the demise of GYO*** this year. However, I’ve seen no evidence of that locally (our allotment waiting list still grows apace) or from what I’ve seen elsewhere.
{product_snapshot:id=247,showname=n,showprice=n,showdesc=n,showaddtocart=n,displayeach=h,displaylist=v,width=10%,border=0,style=color:#000000;,align=left,showimage=y,showfullimage=n}Many of the exhibitors are in agreement with me: the continued economic downturn is still converting into a strong public interest in all things GYO. Within the GYO arena I saw two clear trends for this year: ‘nostalgia’ and vertical gardening. As you know I’ve been reading a number of books on the WWII Dig for Victory campaign which is echoed by Kings seeds joint venture with The Mirror to reintroduce Mr Digwell to us. A welcome modern development with this campaign is the introduction of a detachable recipe plus nutritional information on the seed packet. Thompson and Morgan are introducing a heritage vegetable seed collection: these are some of the varieties dropped from their catalogue when the new EU registration rules came in which have been reinstated now these have been relaxed. I need to investigate further what is meant by the term heritage seed – does a variety from the 1970s count for instance? There were at least 4 different vertical growing systems on display from a couple of very functional plastic versions through to a more stylish looking wall hanging, and a most robust stand alone offering. I’ve yet to be convinced that a solution on how best to keep these watered has been developed yet, but the latter offering was the best thought out I’ve seen so far. You’d need quite a few of any of them to get a decent crop, so I expect their main use will be for growing herbs, salads, tomatoes or strawberries, even though the top of one of the systems was sporting some broad beans. Back down to earth there were all kind of gizmos available for watering (including hydroponics); pop up cloches and even a pop up greenhouse; screening for unsightly growbags or for edging borders; and creating all kinds of shapes and sizes of raised bed using nothing more than much taller plastic lawn edging. Collapsible bucket anyone? This is where I fail as a reporter because I haven’t made a note of the companies involved. Just rest assured a large selection of what’s on offer will probably be hitting a magazine or supplier near you very soon Not to mention a bewildering array of tools to help you get the job done: I was amazed to find Fiskars were demonstrating their ‘new’ Weed Puller as I’ve already got one at home (you’ll see mine on the right’s labelled Wilkinson Sword which was consumed by the Fiskars group a few years back). It turns out there was a ‘limited product launch’ around 10 years ago which is when I got mine (limited might mean it was a Wilkinson Sword product originally which Fiskars are now seeking to revive?). Expect to see this gadget being heavily promoted on a TV screen near you soon. I was really pleased with my goody bag from Vitax as it contained a nifty ‘spout’ to convert a plastic drinks bottle into a wasp trap. This will come in handy if I have the same kind of wasp woes as I did last year. I’m also making use of their sticky fly traps right now as we’ve been invaded by compost flies in the kitchen. Back at Thompson and Morgan’s, I had an interesting chat about their new Verbascum ‘Blue Lagoon’ . Some of you know about my scepticism about the need to introduce ‘unnatural’ colours not normally seen in a particular plant, but apparently there’s been a lot of interest from both the garden press and plant sellers on this one. It’s mainly due to the plant being truly blue (a very rare colour in the plant world apparently) and similar in hue to a Meconopsis . It’s the product of Thompson and Morgan’s own breeding programme and I was told it’s the result of the breeder’s attempts to create a red flowered plant! Talk of Chelsea was very much in the air. Hillier’s theme for this year is Feel Good About Gardening (and they confirmed they will be blogging in the run up to Chelsea), Crocus are busy growing the plants for three of the major show gardens (though I spent more time casting envious eyes at their lovely rhubarb forcers and old fashioned cloches) and Bulldog Tools will have a nostalgia exhibit based around the local blacksmith forging his own gardening tools for a self-sufficient lifestyle. Further reports of the day can be found on The Garden Network , Garden Forum , The Fat Gardener and The Constant Gardener . * = so much chinwagging ensued that I didn’t get round all of the 70 odd stands!
