A Gardener’s Diary

Firstly an interesting an slightly disturbing word from the Pondoland coastline of South Africa.  It is proposed to build a 340 mile toll road (costing some US$500) through an area of outstanding beauty.   Those against the idea say it will put at risk some 400 rare plants of which 180 are found nowhere else in the world.  Those in favour say it will bring in untold millions of dollars from tourism.  What a decision to have to make.  Of course local people appear not to have not been consulted at all.

The recent rains seem to have returned to their traditional pattern, but for how long is anyone’s guess. The weather patterns the world over are changing noticeably, but for the moment it will be great to be able to sow seeds in the (almost certain) knowledge that they will not be washed away by some unseasonal rain.

During the last ‘wet’ one of the more irritating things that has happened in my garden (and which was completely predictable had I thought about it) was the rapid spreading of the spearmint from its allotted place. It just grew like Topsy because I didn’t put it first into a container to restrict its spread. Sinking a container into the soil and masking it afterwards is after all quite a simple thing to do.  Mints – all mints, are extremely attractive plants when container grown, and actually flower spectacularly when they are restricted, far more than when they are allowed to run free.

Recently, I have written about propagating plants from cuttings. Those plants which we find difficult or impossible to propagate are more expensive to buy, because everyone finds them difficult. Special techniques for propagating them have to be developed which are beyond the means of most of us.

Growing plants from cuttings enables you to get identical plants from those with the most desirable characteristics. Seed can also be collected from many of your garden plants which will come true. But not all of them.  However, seedsmen have hundreds of varieties of flowering plants and vegetables on offer, and they are relatively cheap. Many are old varieties from which seed can be collected, but probably most are new hybrids from which you can’t get seed to come true.  Nurserymen do offer you new hybrids which have been bred for resistance to disease, or which produce bigger and better vegetables than ever before, or produce more colourful flowers over a longer period of time than ever before. The chief difficulty is to decide just which to buy.

Certainly in Britain the problem is compounded by the fact that supermarkets and hypermarkets offer the shopper such a bewildering range of fruit and vegetables at such cheap prices that for many growers it hardly seems worthwhile going to the trouble to grow them. In fact surveys of growers seem to indicate that cheap vegetables have lead to a narrowing of the range of plants that are now grown. For the discerning man or woman though, the fact remains that fresh fruit and vegetables always taste better if they are cooked properly and this, believe me, is at the heart of the matter.   In Europe now gardeners are bombarded with scores of programmes which show how to grow vegetables properly, how to prepare and cook them properly and how to grow and arrange flowers for the table.  People are aware as never before just how important the garden and gardening  is to their everyday lives.  But always the message is clear. Carry out every job in the garden perfectly.  Pay attention to detail, and do not skimp on preparation.  Look after your plants and your garden and may your God go with you.