Dig It

In this episode Bill and Peter chat about Hanging Baskets and Containers and the benefits of using Kindergarden's Pop Ins. We love the fact they are so simple and easy to plant and within a few weeks give you a great display which can last the whole summer. As one of our fastest moving products and only available for a short window you need to get your timing right to be able to buy them. All they need is a 40cm container or hanging basket, some compost to bring them up to the correct level, pop them in, water and feed them when needed and you can sit back, relax and have a great colourful display for months on end. Bill also gives us some pointers on how to create a good hanging basket with some suggestions on numbers and types of plants. We also discuss a Cornish commercial bedding supplier who can create you stunning floral displays featuring clock faces, names, logos or other images you might want.

In this Episode Peter Talks with Chris Hepburn, Senior Sales Manager of Hozelock.Chris has been with Hozelock for many years and worked his way up through the company and gained a fantastic knowledge of the Horticultural Watering Marketplace. We chat about where the company first started and why, and where the first ideas for the first products came from. Hozelock has a great reputation as a British manufacturer and we learn how this has happened and their drive to always be an attainable, reliable and ecological product in the garden watering sector. Without them we would still be putting our thumbs over the end of our hosepipe, some of our range can be found online or for the full range, come and visit the Garden CentreHozelock has brought to England some Market leading products and some ideas from further afield, we learn about how across the world the Male to Female ½ inch hose connector has become a standardised fitting, and also a brief history of hoses, their makeup and their fittings. We also get an insight into the amount of product testing and large number of different materials that go into their products.We also hear about how Hozelock is evolving as a manufacturer to keep pace with the changing marketplace and how it is growing and diversifying its range to stay abreast of new ideas and additions to the watering range and also how its range now encompasses products that don’t just fit on a hose and spray water, like its range of composters.Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for providing the music.

Chelsea Gold medals decided. We like the new Hosta red ninja, the beautiful Red Greenhouse by Malvern Garden Buildings and various phallic houseplants on the sex toy manufacturer’s sponsored garden. The ‘Lady Garden’ was designed with fantastic sculptures, manicured bushes and beautiful coloured planting and will hopefully start conversations focused on female genitalia cancers and open up discussions on the subject. Peter liked the Contain the Rain Garden as it highlights the fact that water is a limited resource and we should do more to make our gardens more ecologically friendly. It’s that time of year to get planting hanging baskets and shortly we will have Kindergarden Pop Ins back in stock. We like their great selection of styles and colours and the simplicity of using them to create fantastic hanging baskets or planted containers, the only trouble we ever have with them is we can’t get enough and they sell out too fast!Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for creating the music.

Peter and Bill chat about some news items. Chelsea is sold out and opened to the general public Tuesday 19th May. Our friends at Malvern Garden Buildings have a stand and are exhibiting again. It may be a controversial year as one of the designers is getting criticised for using an AI app to design gardens. Peter has found a new range of pencils from Sprout World that have seeds in the end so you can grow things from your old pencil. Bill suggests writing labels from the top down and put a date on it so you know when you started them. It is also very important to protect your young seedlings from late frosts. Young plants still need protection.If you fancy visiting a Garden, Aspley Guise has many houses with open gardens on 24th May. Ramsden near Witney Oxfordshire also has 15 gardens open on the 24th. On the 30th gardens are open in Moggerhanger Bedfordshire and Carterton in Oxfordshire. If these aren’t local to you have a look at the NGS website, Pumpkins Beth’s website or the Open Gardens website.Sir David Attenborough has had his 100th birthday.Taylors bulbs have won a Gold medal at the RHS Malvern show, next for them is the Chelsea Show, could it be another Gold Medal?Peter learns the fact that his Tomatoes are too cold as the undersides of the leaves are going purple and the fact that he might be overwatering his Courgettes. If you have lost seedlings in the recent cold spells, you still have time to replant seeds or pop in to your local Garden Centre and buy some young seedlings.Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for providing the music.

In this episode Bill and Peter discuss the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Bill has had personal experience of displaying hanging baskets at the show and shares his thoughts and memories of how much effort and work goes into putting the show together. In this show we discuss some of the gardens that caught our eyes from Tech Mahindra’s Hedgerow in the Sky balcony exhibit that takes inspiration from British hedgerows and shows what can be done with a small space. We also both liked the Tokonoma Garden - a Japanese courtyard garden - full of beautiful plants, a water feature and pathway. It creates a peaceful space with beautiful colours where families can gather and spend time together.The Children’s Society Garden is another garden that Bill likes. It is a restorative garden where hopefully todays children can find a positive space to contemplate in. Its planting is full of yellows and purples and greens which will help children feel safe, seen and supported.

In this episode Peter chats with Bill about his recent Sweetcorn planting and why he failed and yet Bill had a totally different result.For places to visit locally, we have 80 West Hill Aspley Guise 31st May and Latimer Park Farm, Chesham, 30th May. If you fancy something different then have a look at Pumpkin Beths What’s on page or The National Gardens Scheme.Bill gives us some great tips on early season lawn care and there is still time to plant a few bedding plants like night scented stocks, impatiens and cosmos. It’s also time to start succession planting your vegetables and you can put your runner beans and broad beans in.