So, the sun is shining and the sound of garden centre tills is ringing in the air, it's time to get gardening! I've already made a start on some of my veggies – first and second early potatoes are in as well as red onions and a couple of rows of spring onions and leeks. This weekend I added the first row of salad leaves and also bought a couple of flowering plants to help attract bees and butterflies into the garden (and give them somewhere to feed). Following advice from the lovely chaps at Buckland Nurseries in Surrey, I went for Verbena and Veronica which will hopefully produce blue and pink flowers in a couple of months' time.
But enough about me, I want to take this opportunity to pass on some of the people, websites and books that I find hugely helpful in my growing attempts.
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growveg.com is a v clever website that lets you draw your plot, plan your crops (it automatically works out how much space you need for each), work out crop rotation and saves your plan so you can adjust and add to it over time. You can trial it for 30 days for free but then there is a fee of £15 for a year. Give it a go for the free period and see how useful you find it.
www.bbc.co.uk/gardening Whatever you need information on in life, the BBC can usually help and gardening is no exception. Whether it's veg growing or flowers or shrubs or anything soil related, this site is bound to provide you with some guidance.
Soil Association If you're interested in growing and eating organic food, then the Soil Association is the organisation for you. They are the sort of governing body of organic produce, not just food, and have a lot of info on eating healthily for yourself and the planet.
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The Alternative Kitchen Garden I found Emma as @akgpodcast on twitter and she's always been very patient giving me advice on my amateur gardening questions. Check out her podcasts on her site or look for a copy of her book.
Alys Flower is a newish presenter on Gardeners' World and, although she's not been a hit with some of the diehard fans, I think she's fab. She has a new show that started last week called The Edible Garden where she tries to grow as much of the food she eats as possible in her garden. Do take a look if you get a mo.
James Wong has also had a series on the BBC (I'm not on commission, honest, the Beeb just makes some really good programmes!), which I love, called Grow Your Own Drugs. It's not quite as debauched as it may sound, James tells viewers all about how to use plants to ease medical complaints. Even if you don't end up getting off the couch to make any of the potions, it's great telly and James' beaming enthusiasm is refreshingly cheering.
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Grow Organic is a Dorling Kindersley book, if you're familiar with this publishing house you'll know that every book they ever make is beautifully pictured and designed and has failsafe information. I find this book hugely useful as a relative novice and I'm sure the more experienced could make use of it too.
The New Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency is the bible of growing your own and going it alone. John Seymour was the founder of the self-sufficient lifestyle and from growing basic veg to having a smallholding, John is your man to help you.
Complete Guide to Gardening Season by Season This isn't a book for veg growers but for everything else growing in your outside space it's brilliant. By dividing up advice season by season it makes it easier to check what your garden needs to help bring out its beauty.
So, those are just a few of the people and places that I find advice and inspiration in the gardening world. I hope they prove useful to you too. If you have any particular gardening gurus, I'd love to hear about them.
So, my dad phoned last night and said 'please tell me you're not watching The Edible Gardener'. He then proceeded to tell me how my grandfathers (both keen gardeners, one of them award-winningly so) would have wet themselves laughing at her girly hopelessness. How mean?! Were he not so useful in the gardening department himself, he'd be close to going on The List...
Personally, I think Alys Fowler is great - much as I like Gardener's World, it's really good to see someone who (a) doesn't have an enormous garden, and (b) mostly seems to be doing it for the purpose of feeding herself + partner. It feels like that is far more relevant to the reasons people like us are gardening.
Also, as much as I don't like Alan Titchmarsh, his chunky gardening book is our outdoor bible. Steve very regularly refers back to The Titch (tragic? I think so) when he needs to fix a gardening problem.
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Posted by: Kirsty | Thursday, 22 April 2010 at 09:10
Ha ha, your cheeky dad! Ah, I love Alys Fowler and James Wong, they're definitely my favourite TV people at the mo.
And yes, I also have an Alan Titchmarsh book, I could have easily listed several BBC books (Carol thinygmebob from Gardener's World who lives at Glebe Cottage – I can remember her house name but not her surname – is another favourite) but I thought it'd look like an ad for BBC books…
Posted by: the green gal | Monday, 03 May 2010 at 22:50