The most impressive stand I visited at Hampton Court was the Back to the Future Garden in the Climate Zone, designed and built soley by a unique charity called Send a Cow.

It was one of the busiest with visitors intrigued by a method of growing vegetables in a keyhole garden:

As you can see, this is basically heaps of soil based around a compost that continually feeds the garden with the rotting matter as it grows. This a great way to use up kitchen waste and means you can grow lots of vegetables in a small area, all year round. Perfect for city balconies or terraces where space is at a premium and there is often nowhere to have a compost heap. The height is good for elderly people who may find bending down to tend their vegetables more difficult.

For many families in Africa these amazing keyhole gardens are the difference between life and death. Climate change has seriously reduced the levels of soil fertility in many parts of Africa and the situation has been made worse by the loss of almost a whole generation to Aids which means that horticultural know-how is very limited.

About 70% of Africans depend for survival on what they grow on their land and keyhole gardening is just one of the areas that Send A Cow is involved with. Set up in 1988 , this group of farmers in the West Country helps African farmers develop answers to this need to grow their own food. They deliver direct, practical help to poor farmers in Africa, by providing, cows and other livestock, training in livestock rearing and organic farming, plus low-cost veterinary and advice services .

Another novel idea that was demonstrated by Send a Cow was the bag garden - see pictures above right. These tall hessian sacks of soil are sent to families trying to survive famine in Africa . They are deep enough to grow potatoes in, plus you can also cut holes in the sack and plant things up the sides too. They can be watered easily when irrigating fields isn’t possible. The bag garden saves lives in Africa but it will also do well on a tiny British patio or balcony.

Congratulations to Send a Cow for their invaluable work in Africa and for inspiring UK gardeners to think more about natural gardening techniques, soil erosion and water shortages - all things we need to consider for a future of gardening in a changing climate.

Check out their excellent web-site at http://www.sendacow.org.uk for more information on their various projects plus some more sustainable gardening suggestions from Africa - making your own natural pesticide and liquid manure.

Garden sustainably from Send a Cow

1. Make your own natural pesticide

Soak seven cups of marigold leaves, one cup crushed chilli and seven bulbs of garlic in five litres of water. Add a piece of soap, three spoons of baking powder and some wood ash. Use after four days.

2. Make your own plant ‘tea’

Fill a bucket with chopped docks, comfrey and clover. Cover with water, adding a pinch of ash. Cover and stir daily. After a week, remove the leaves and use as you would a diluted liquid feed.

3. Make a keyhole garden

Draw a 3m circle and edge with rocks. Mark a tiny central circle with posts and make a compost “basket” inside with sticks and string. Fill bed with soil sloping down from centre, leaving a tiny path for access. Fill the basket with vegetable waste and enjoy your fertile plot.

Tags: Vegetables

How apt these words from Mark Twain were today.

Woke up in Lewes to brilliant sunshine and temperatures of 20c but, as I took a train and carbon free boat ride to the Hampton Court Flower Show, the weather changed. Great big clouds moved across the sky casting a shadow over the 25 acre show ground.

By contrast, the ever impressive Hampton Court displayed the Union Jack at full mast in the only shaft of sunlight for miles. Henry V111 would have been proud to see the many visitors admiring his beloved abode as they walked along the River Thames to the Flower Show.

I headed straight for the Met Office Climate Change Dome to check out the information displays. There was an excellent one about pests that have arrived from overseas in the past ten years as a result of our warmer summers - more on that in another blog.

Popped into the Climate Change TV studio which was full of budding weather readers giving their version of a future climate change scenario which was automatically relayed to the big screen outside - see right picture below. It was great to see so many children engaging with this idea as they will be dealing with the reality of climate change in 40-60 years time. I wanted to record my own weather predictions but the queue was too long and I had to get back to the Dome for the Climate Change talk.

These ran every hour and combined the weather knowledge of the Met Office with expert advice about gardening in a changing climate from the Royal Horticultural Society - one of the organisations providing information about climate change in the garden - apart from me of course!

The talk explained what is happening with our weird weather systems and how gardeners everywhere in the UK must start to adapt to new climatic conditions now so that they are prepared for the next 50-80 years of predicted higher temperatures and heavy rainfall patterns.

It was extremely reassuring to hear the experts confirm what I have been saying about the uncertain future for our gardens on this blog and at http://www.globalgardening.org . They predict that it will be a mix of good and bad news for the UK,with too much water in the winter and too little in the summer. If the Hadley Centre climate change scenarios prove to be correct, then, by 2080, we could be cutting our lawns on Christmas Day due to milder, wetter winters and picking bananas in the South West as summer temperatures are predicted to reach 42c.

The RHS expert explained how the extension of the growing season has become particularly noticable. He described how this is defined by the number of days when the mean temperature rises above 6c. In the past 50 years this has increased by 20 days as late spring frosts are becoming less common after early May and Autumn extends well past September with very little frost happening until the end of October.This is great news for many plants but, certain traditional english crops such as rhubarb, blackcurrants and cherries, require a cold snap to tell the plant when to fruit .These plants could find future climatic conditions particularly challenging.

I was pleased to hear the RHS suggest the biggest concern for gardeners in the future will be water usage. It is certainly an issue that we all need to address by harvesting rainwater and recycling our grey water whenever we can - http://www.globalgardening.org/home/water and http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/watering.asp.

The presenters mentioned two very impressive facts about our UK weather that I would like to highlight:

* 2006 was the hottest since records began in 1659

* 11 of the hottest years have been in the past 12 years

BUT THE BIG QUESTION FROM THE AUDIENCE WAS - WHY IS THE WEATHER SO BAD AGAIN THIS SUMMER?

It appears that the recent wet weather is due to La Niña. This is the opposite of El Niño which was apparently responsible for the hot, dry weather in 2006.

Climatic features in the equatorial regions of the Pacific Ocean off South America involve oscillations for water temperature with La Niña being associated with colder water and El Niño with warmer. The effects of these are felt throughout the world.

Although this year will be cooler than 2006 because of La Niña, it will apparently still be one of the warmest years on record as temperatures were much higher than normal at the beginning of the year. When El Niño comes around again in a few years, we should expect summer heatwaves again which will bring on the vines, olives and melons we are all starting to try and grow. However, this means that other more traditional crops such as brassicas and peas will need more watering.

That is the price we must pay for climate change. I would certainly rather grow melons than cabbages !

Tags: Met Office

The Met Office have published the following key facts about climate change and gardening . These support everything that I talk about on this blog and at http://www.globalgardening.org

Faster: UK gardeners cut their lawns almost two weeks earlier than they did in 2001.

Slower: The yield of fruit trees is reduced when the buds fail to break in mild UK winters.

Wetter: January rainfall could increase by 25% in central and southern England by 2080.

Drier: July rainfall could decrease by 45% in South West England by 2080.

Earlier: Spring has advanced by 2-6 days per decade in the UK.

Later: Autumn has been delayed by two days per decade in the UK.

If you want to know more, check the Met Office web-site for the impact of climate change on gardens in your region:http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/hadleycentre/gardening/impacts.html

This information links to the theme of the Met Office exhibit at Hampton Court . Working with the RHS, they have created an impressive Climate Change Dome to explain the facts and myths about weather and climate change, and, how climate change is affecting our gardens and the world at large.

It sounds fascinating as each are day there are talks on climate change-related topics and the chance to discuss the effect of the weather on our gardens. You can even have a go at presenting a weather forecast in an on-site TV studio http://www.rhs.org.uk/hamptoncourt/2008/climate-dome.asp

Climate change scientists will be giving daily seminars on climate science and the impacts of climate change.There will also be simulations of climate in the future and a climate change quiz.For the children, RHS Wisley have a special ‘bug zoo’ showing some of the bugs and wildlife which may be threatened by, or even thrive under, a changing climate.

This will definitely be the firt place I visit at the Show this weekend.

Tags: Hampton Court, Met Office

After a great spell of lovely weather, today brought a mix of rain and strong winds. This played havoc with the men’s singles tennis final at Wimbledon and no doubt has challenged exhibitors building their show gardens at the Hampton Court Flower Show which opens in less than 24 hours.

The largest and most popular of the RHS summer shows, the Hampton Court Flower Show runs from Tuesday 7th - Sunday 13th July in the stunning location of Henry VIII’s spectacular palace beside the River Thames. It offers 25 acres of flowers, gardens, displays, shopping and events and is much more relaxed than Chelsea. This is because it is aimed more at real gardeners rather than those who are concerned with the design and fashionable elements of creating a garden.

The sustainability and ethical responsibility of such an enormous show comes into question every year. To its credit, the RHS actively promotes the environmental aspects of gardens and the need to engage children and families.They have also announced that even tools that are broken in the service of making the show will be collected, repaired and reused, in an attempt to make this year’s show the greenest,

Environmental sustainability and re-cycling feature heavily as alternatives to traditional garden features. One of the most intriguing is the “underground” gardening group, Guerrilla Gardening, which is creating a show garden made entirely from the leftovers from other gardens.”Fighting the filth with forks and flowers” is the mantra for Guerilla Gardening, now a worldwide movement turning inner cities into greener, environmentally friendly places for residents to enjoy.http://www.guerrillagardening.org/

I am planning to visit the show at the weekend when hopefully the sun will be back and I can explore some of the environmental gardens and ideas.

Tags: Hampton Court

A fabulous English summer day with fluffy white clouds drifting across a bright blue sky.

For Americans, it is time to celebrate Independence Day.

For my family, it is a landmark that I would like to share with you.

Will, my 18 year old son, is leaving school. Like his sister, Amy, he has grown into a wonderful individual who lives life to the full and is full of optimism about his future.

I have just spent a happy hour wandering round the garden, reflecting on how quickly the past years seemed to have flown by. I took photographs of plants that were not even visible above the ground when I moved to the house in January but which have become such fine specimens with the recent warm, sunny weather and regular watering.

Growing plants is like bringing up children. If you invest all your love and care into these precious beings they will produce quite spectacular results. Nature is truly remarkable as you can see.

It was the hottest day of the year yesterday - 30c and very humid. One plant that is thriving in this tropical weather and blooming much earlier is the wonderful Dahlia - a key component for any exotic garden in the UK. There are around 50,000 different flowers - except blue apparently - which should mean that you can find something to suit your garden.http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/plants/plantprofile_dahlia.shtml

Dahlias definitely do better with plenty of sunlight but they also need from one to two inches of rain every week - today’s showers will certainly be welcomed by Dahlias everywhere!

The key to their success is a really good rich soil with plenty of organic material, a regular pruning, possibly staking as the plants grow ever taller and the occasional feed.

Dahlias are actually grown from a tuber, a bulb like structure, and are classified as bulb plants. Plant them near the beginning of June and they will provide wonderful colour late into the warm Autumns that we seem to experience every year with the onset of climate change.

They look simply wonderful in exotic borders with one of the most popular being The Bishop of Llandaff, a tall elegant plant with intense dark purple foliage and a generous amount of large peony- flowered, semi-double intense bright red flower heads, each two or three inches across on long, tall stems. This was introduced to the UK in 1927 and was a favourite of the late Chrisopher Lloyd in his legendary garden at Great Dixter in East Sussex.http://www.greatdixter.co.uk/

Below are some photos of The Bishop of Llandaff growing in a delightful garden in South London. This beautiful oasis has a definite feel of the countryside and has been created by Rosie Catherwood, a film-maker, art collector and avid gardener. Rosie uses her creative talents to position her many plants in just the right places.Wherever you look there is something unusual to appreciate. My daughter Amy and I soaked up the atmosphere when we went for tea last Sunday afternoon . These flowers caught my eye as we were tucking into cucumber sandwiches and carrot cake - you just can’t beat afternoon tea on a glorious sunny day in a beautiful English garden!

The flowers look simply stunning as the sunlight catches the deep purple foliage and bold flowers. Rosie cleverly combines sculpture within her planting - notice the imposing black piece from Zimbabwe which creates a great contrast to the vivid red flowers.

Many gardeners dig up dahlia tubas for the winter to be re-planted the following year. If your garden is sheltered from frost, try leaving them in and covering them with straw as many will do better this way as long as the ground does not become frozen or water-logged.

Or, if you fancy growing these delectable plants from seed, read the interesting piece about propogating dahlias on the BBC Gardeners World web-site: http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/projects/dahlias-from-seed/index.jsp

Tags: Exotics

The Gardeners World Exotic Garden was recently voted the most popular by viewers which confirms that gardeners become hooked once they see what an amazing effect you can create with the bold foliage, exuberant colours and luscious scents of exotic plants.

Will Giles Exotic garden in Norwich opened last weekend and is open all summer transporting visitors to a tropical paradise. The garden of about 1 acre complete with tree house is an immense mix of planting from the ludicrously tender to the dead hardy, all having an exotic appearance in nature.

http://www.exoticgarden.com/

It is a quite magical place, full of hidden corners and riotous colour where Will experiments with plants from the extremely hardy to the ludicrously tender, endeavouring to find a balance of plants that grow well in his own microclimate and which fit into his idea of a lush sub-tropical setting.

Many of the plants he grows today were considered only viable in the balmy south west of the British Isles a few decades ago. With global warming, the winters in Norfolk are far warmer than they used to be when he was a child, hence many of the more tender plants now grow well, as lows in the garden of less than -5C are rare. Today he has many different species of Palm trees and other exotic plants like the ginger family, which are interspersed with other more hardy but exotic looking species and of course the now popular tree ferns. These are the backdrop to the more tender planting which is carried out by him and his team of intrepid slaves in late spring when the nights have warmed up.

Exotics such as cannas, gingers and colocasias to name only a few grow exceedingly quickly, knitting together and forming an impenetrable jungle of foliage and flower by June when the garden first opens to the public. In high summer, the air is filled with the intoxicating scent of Jasmine, Brugmansia (Angels trumpets) and different varieties of Hedychiums and Alpinias. (Gingers). The ridiculously large leaved Elephants Ear, Colocasia esculenta, ‘Mammoth’ with luscious green leaves 2×3 feet in size on long stems. Towering bananas such as the purple Abyssinian banana Ensete ventricosum ‘Maurelii’, form massive canopies to walk under as do the root hardy banana Musa basjoo.

To help with choosing exotic plants, check out the wonderful book that Will recently publsihed - The Encyclopedia of Exotic Plants for Temperate Plants - which has more of his fantastic photographs.

Buying exotic plants has never been easier with many specialist nurseries located all over the UK. Most of these offer mail order service although I always think its nice to see what you are buying first .Plants are like people with individual characters. I prefer to get to know them before I decide if I want to invite them into my garden.

There is a great nursery not far from The Exotic Garden in Norwich - http://www.urbanjungle.uk.com/

Or visit these for more inspiration and get hooked on this addictive style of gardening.

http://www.easytropicals.com - Cheshire

http://www.hardyexotics.co.uk - Cornwall

http://www.athelasplants.co.uk - East Sussex

http://www.urbantropics.co.uk - Hampstead, London

http://www.ep-d.co.uk - Oxford

http://www.mulu.co.uk/ - Shropshire

Tags: Exotics, Will Giles

Growing vegetables from seed is a great way to source plants for your garden and veg patch. It costs almost nothing and you can stagger the planting to get a crop that runs for weeks. In May I bought a packet of lettuce leaves for £1.20 and have planted these into the ground at two week intervals. I now have rows of salad leaves that I pick whenever I need them for the same as the cost of just one bag of lettuce from the supermarket . The taste is wonderfully fresh and my carbon miles are also kept low. Apparently sales of vegetable seeds are up 60% in the last year. This is supposed to be because of the credit crunch but it could be due our changing seasons which now offer the chance to grow more vegetables over a longer season. http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/gardens/story/0,,2275408,00.html

Most vegetables are short-lived annual crops offering adventurous gardeners the chance to respond to changing growing conditions almost immediately. Longer growing seasons suit sun-loving crops such as sweet corn, aubergines, sweet peppers chillis and outdoor cucumbers - but remember you need adequate water , ideally harvested from the rain that falls in your garden. With warmer months from March to April and October to November many kitchen garden plants can also grow without cloches or fleece covers.

I love the range of overseas seed varities that are now available.Seeds of Italy has more than 500 Mediterranean vegetables, many of them heirloom or regional cultivars new to the UK http://www.seedsofitaly.com .

Tozer Seeds breeds specifically for UK conditions, and trials cultivar from the Mediterranean. They offer an increasingly large range of sweet corn, and have seen a huge increase in the popularity of their ever-widening range of chili peppers. Their new butternut squashes ‘Hunter’ and ‘Harrier’ were bred to ripen fully in UK conditions.http://www.tozerseeds.com/

Watching seeds grow is a great experience for children. I am very lucky to have two young gardeners from across the road who are always keen to help. Frederica, age 10 and Eliza age 8, tackle digging up stones, sowing seeds, watering and weeding the veg patch with such enthusiasm. - although their favourite job does seems to be picking the snails and slugs from the lettuces and feeding them to the birds!

It is wonderful to see children involved in gardening. After 4 hours hard digging both Frederica and Eliza announced that it was addictive and could they come back tomorrow - how brilliant is that!

Getting their hands dirty in the soil helps children to nurture an appreciation and understanding of nature. There is a great book called The Playground Potting Shed by Dominic Murphy which suggests gardening activities for children http://www.bookrabbit.com/catalogue/detail/bookid/3349753 .

I am really keen to encourage a nation of young gardeners as they are the generation that will have to deal with the reality of climate change in the garden.Digging up snails will be the least of their problems in 50 years time!

Tags: seeds

The wet weather is back in full strength in the North West and the Midlands tomorrow according to the Met Office weather forecast.

With the UK at increasing risk of monsoon rainfall due to climate change, the Met Office is channelling a large proportion of its£10 million research programme in 2008 into finding ways of predicting extreme rainfall - this time last year the UK received the largest combined rainfall since records began in 1766.

A new computer modelling system will now provide multiple “what if” forecasts of how weather might develop over a period of time. Whilst the Met Office has always been able to pick out possible extreme events - severe weather warnings - they were less able to calculate how likely they were to occur until a relatively short period of time before.

Flooding is now a huge issue for many parts of the UK and this early warning system should help the emergency services to evacuate more people from their homes and help to reduce the level of insurance claims - last years floods caused £3 billion of damage.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7453522.stm

Having our rain fall in buckes highlights the importance of rainwater harvesting systems for our homes. Research suggests that a third of all home buyers are more likely to buy a house if it has a rainwater harvesting system. Check out these excellent sites to source one for your home and to use the rain water in the garden: http://www.savetherain.info/

http://www.freerain.co.uk/

http://www.rainharvesting.co.uk/

http://www.envireau.co.uk/

Tags: rainwater harvesting

It is unlikely that we will ever grow mangos in the UK but, I have just had my first taste of exotic fruit gardening - Ruth presented me with 3 melon plants that she has grown from seed.

The plan is to plant them outside as, according to the RHS, rising average night temperatures in March and April and more growing days a year are allowing gardeners to produce a number of varities such as kiwis, peaches, nectarines and lemons without the protection of glasshouses. This conjures up thoughts of my trip to Calabria earlier this year when I saw wonderful lemon trees laden with fruit.

We may not manage to achieve the same size of crop in the UK’s unpredicatable climate, but, it is great to think about growing some of the following trees outside in the future:

OLD APRICOT (Prunus armeniaca) cultivars such as ‘Moorpark’ and ‘Isabella’ and Flavorcot (‘Bayoto’) and ‘Tomcot’ - the last two selected to suit more northern climes - will become more common.

PEACHES (Prunus persica cultivars such as ‘Peregrine’, ‘Rochester’ and ‘Red Haven’) and smooth-skinned nectarines (P. persica var. nectarina) such as ‘Lord Napier’ and ‘Early Rivers’ could crop well out of doors without the protection of glasshouses.

There are also certain nuts from the Mediterranean that should adapt well to a warming UK climate:

ALMONDS(Prunus dulcis)

WALNUTS(Juglans regia, now available grafted onto dwarfing rootstocks),

PISTACHIO(Pistacia vera). The predicted warmer, longer summers should give them a chance to ripen fully.

FIGS (Ficus carica)

OLIVES (Olea europaea),

CITRUS Meyer’s lemon (Citrus x meyeri ‘Meyer’) and calamondin orange (x Citrofortunella microcarpa) may grow outside in certain areas.

It is always wise to seek advice when buying exotic fruit trees from a specialist nursery - here are a few suggestions:

http://www.readsnursery.co.uk - Norfolk

Reads Nursery are the National Collection Holders of Citrus, Figs and Grapevines for the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens NCCPG.

http://www.crosscommonnursery.co.uk - Cornwall

http://www.globalorangegroves.co.uk -Dorset

http://www.davids-exoticplants.co.uk - Kent

http://www.seagravenurseries.co.uk -Leicestershire

http://www.treesdirect.co.uk - Shropshire

Tags: citrus