Planning Days

Just to cheer us up during the continued long cold spell I thought I would post a pic taken at last year's Chelsea Flower Show. Brings back warm memories eh! What we must do during these long cold days is start to plan for the spring and summer. A good place to start is Gardening Which? The Jan/Feb issue has good advice on seed compost and new flowers for 2010.

There is also a test on gourmet potatoes and advice on hiring a contractor for your garden.

I've started some initial planning for the new season but will have to take into consideration this year, any plants which we might have lost due to the severe winter. Not only have we had snow and prolonged ice/frost but also quite a bit of water during November, so there are bound to be casualties.

We are continuing to be busy getting the website back up to strength and of course planning for the major flower shows now starts to get under way. All this planning and dare I say dreaming will help to chase away the worst of the cold and wet and may bring spring that little bit closer. I need more than a lovely burst of snowdrops to convince me that spring is just around the corner! At the moment my garden looks like an untidy mess but I have to say that the moss on the dry stone walls has come on a treat with all the rain we had in the autumn. Take a look.

Spring will also bring a bust of new gardening books so we will be bringing you news of the latest publications. Don't forget to check out the interactive section of our website, we have some really excellent videos and podcasts with all manner of advice and help for your garden and allotment through our collaboration with www.thegardenchannel.tv

Hope the sun shines for you just a little while this week and if you manage to get out and do some tidy work - enjoy.