The birds are singing

The birds are singing so perhaps they know that spring is just around the corner. The gardening season must be getting into growing mode because the reckless gardener email box gets busier each day. My eyes are on stalks at the moment because we have had quite a few book reviews to get through so keep logging on to the website to check them out over the next few weeks. One book which I have just read is absolutely fascinating and very unusual.

John Robertson's "Is that cat dead? and other questions about poison plants' answers some of the many questions he was asked when warden of the poison garden at Alnwick Castle Gardens. It makes very entertaining and informative reading - John also has his own website so check that out on www.thepoisongarden.co.uk

By the way the cat is not dead just high on catmint!!

There are quite a few campaigns at the moment urging us to grow our own. Garden Organic has now launched their One Pot Pledge®, a nationwide campaign, to get 30,000 people to pledge to grow their own fruit and veg for the very first time. You can read about the campaign on our website www.recklessgardener.com
or log onto their Garden Organic campaign website at
www.onepotpledge.org

For the second year in a row B & Q is digging deep and showing its support for wounded servicemen and women by joining with charity Help for Heroes this summer. As well as supporting the design and build of a garden at this year's RHS Chelsea, the retailer will be selling two exclusive products so that its customers can support the charity too. The garden will feature a new, limited edition, Help for Heroes Sweet Pea seed mix and a limited edition Petunia mix, which will go on sale from 24th May at B & Q Stores.

The Thrive 'Plant a Difference' campaign will officially launch on the 10th April when the Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire, Mary Bayliss will do the honours at the horticultural charity's food and plant festival. People around the UK are being asked to help disabled gardeners by swapping plants or produce between April and September 2010 and making a donation for each swap. Money raised will be used to send boxes worth £35 full or ready-to-plant vegetables, herbs or perennials, directly to the door of a disabled person to help them discover the benefits of gardening for themselves. For information on the plant swap log onto: www.thrive.org.uk

Spring is here

Evidence of spring is now, thankfully, starting to show. I have actually been out in the garden, following its big pre-spring tidy up, and started to sort out the pots and arrange them for the next few months.

Everything is about three weeks late up in Cumbria and I dare say in most other parts of the UK as well. Just to help you into the Spring feeling, here is a pic of the lovely daffs at Brodie Castle, Morayshire, Scotland. Estates and gardens across the UK are now opening up for spring weekends to view daffodils, bluebells and snowdrops. When this happens you start to feel that the spring and summer is actually on its way, so let's hope that after the really bad winter we all get some good weather in the next few weeks.

If you are up in Scotland there are several National Trust for Scotland properties opening for their show of daffodils and spring flowers including Brodie, Threave Garden, Dumfries and Galloway and Greenbank Garden in Glasgow. Check out their website for information on opening times and dates: www.nts.org.uk

A poll of PURE digital radio users has shown that birdsong is the most popular alarm tone after the traditional beep. Numbers of people choosing birdsong to wake up to were more than double those of any of the other 365 sounds you could choose. Second to birdsong were church bells.

An RSPB spokesperson commented that songs from familiar birds in your garden are extremely relaxing and a gentle cheerful sound is a good start to the day.

Check out the website for book reviews of the lates companion book for Chelsea and all your gardening news - www.recklessgardener.com

It will soon be flower show season so keep logging on to find out what is going on. If you have any comments about your own garden log onto our forum and become a member of our members section.

We have quite a few book reviews coming up om the next few weeks and if you haven't seen them yet, do log onto the Three Men Went .... videos which are a lot of fun.

Bright spring days

The weather has been superb these last few days and we have really enjoyed actually getting out into the garden and doing some pre-season work. The pots are ready for the spring and all the beds cut down and weeded so the welcome break in the weather has been a boon. I have a sneaking suspicion that we might be in for a dry spring so have resisted the temptation to empty out the barrels which are just about at bursting point after the wet periods in January.

The camellias are still in good bud although I fear one or two have been damaged by frost, it has been so excessive this winter, however, we are looking forward to a reasonably good show within the next month or so. Talking of camellias, Trehane Nursery, Wimborne (next to Knoll Gardens) will start their plant sale on 27th March which runs until the end of April. They have severeal new varieties of camellias for sale including the one pictured which is called Oo-la-la. Last year's sale was very successful with gardeners coming from as far afield as Wales and Derbyshire to get the right camellia for their situation.

We will soon be planting and its very easy to forget where you put things, I know I do and so does my neighbour with sometimes fatal consequences! The answer might be a notebook from funkeypigeon - with this handy little aid wondering which seeds you planted and where will be a thing of the past. Check it out on www.funkypigeon.com

Its great to learn that since the RHS launched this year's Grow your own campaign last week, over 20,000 people have signed up. Signing up to the 'Veg Pledge' includes growing at work as well as at home and already several major businesses have agreed to support the idea and enable their employees to have plots at work. Cafedirect are planning to grow their own fruit and veg on the balconies of their London offices - this could be a whole new trend in Grow Your Own. Info. on the RHS campaign can be found on www.rhs.org.uk/growyourown

Don't miss out on show information or information of events/courses happening across the UK - make sure you log onto www.recklessgardener.com events page - tab available on home page.