Saturday 27 September 2014

New Amateur gardening features! exciting times ahead

Oh yes indeed my fellow gardeners I am one very happy garden writer as I have been commissioned to write a further two features for the great garden magazine that is Amateur Gardening :) This sort of makes me part of the official team now which is really great.

I can't say much on the features as yet, so you will have to hang on for a bit longer but the first one will be in in November or December so I have to get my writing skates on. One thing I can say is that of the garden centres so far visited all have given me permission to take photos, one manager was a little reluctant as its company policy for NO photos but I talked her round :) So all is going well at the moment.

I do love being able to write about the things I love and the things I know about e.g. gardening and disability!

Thanks AG for all your continuing support over the last three years, I can't believe it has been three years since my first feature!


Anyway nothing more can said right now so here's a few garden shots to keep you going :)






Tuesday 23 September 2014

Garden News article for early September, without the published changes


Here is my Garden News article for last month, however it was changed quite a lot when it was published and it did not make much sense nor did it read well due to the changes made. Here is what I actually wrote.


GN Sept 2014-08-27


Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming, I am so lucky in many ways and one of those is the products that are very kindly sent to me to test and review. The latest product is more of a therapy garden item from www.mobilegarden.co.uk that so far is proving worth its weight in gold for a less able gardener such as me. It really is a self contained garden with everything included to make gardening, say from a wheelchair 100% accessible, it has removable sections from holding a hanging basket whilst planting up to mini allotments and cane section holders. So far I am really impressed and am looking forward to giving it a thorough test.

The garden is still full of colour which is really pleasing as we have put in a lot of hard work and I love it when you get months of flowery rewards for your trouble. The newly planted viola basket is helping to keep the colour going while the absolutely fabulous Campsis Radicans Grandiflora is a blaze with glorious orange trumpets. Fortunately we managed to avert disaster when this huge specimen nearly fell on me in the recent high winds; I would have been gutted to lose it.

I have noticed that the cosmos cranberry double is looking particularly colourful all around the garden and appears to be able to blend in with everything it is near from the vibrant yellows and oranges of the marigolds to the grand height of the verbena bonariensis. Even sitting looking through it from behind is quite a sight. I am definitely going to collect plenty of seeds and sow masses of it again next year.


One of the best places to be at the moment though is tending my favourite raised from underneath the campsis, not only does it afford me plenty of cover when I look up from my hard work, deadheading, weeding and generally messing about it looks so beautiful it is hard to tear myself away. I can honestly say the more I garden the more I love it, I mean who wouldn’t enjoy all this colour and peacefulness?