Seabrook at Large

Easy graft

While the sheds, B & Q and Homebase, are fully behind the sale of grafted  cucumbers and tomatoes, the independent retailers and especially the smaller concerns, look to be reluctant to stock them.

I farmed out a few trial plants from Beekenkamp last spring and in every case in small gardens, allotments and greenhouses the results were excellent.  All those gardeners have come back this year asking where they can get them, what more can be said except over 90% of commercial tomatoes are now grafted.

The Gardener

The Garden Centre Group has done a remarkable job signing up 2.2 million members to their club in three years.  Out this week is The Gardener, a 40 page, full colour magazine free to Garden Club members.

It is a stylish publication aimed I imagine at likely readers of The English Garden.  It is not for me and my ilk, happy pottering about growing a few fruits, flowers and vegetables, in fact apart from strawberries as ground cover plants there was no mention of fruit.
Readers do see staff from two of the nurseries, but not one face or piece of advice from the very knowledgeable folk serving customers every day on their 130 plus centres

No secret.

First may I offer heartiest congratulations  to Tony and Joyce Secrett who this weekend celebrate their 71st Wedding anniversary.

It is too many years since we first walked the site ahead of their garden centre development and it is time I returned to see how things have progressed.

Growing Schools Conference at Wisley Garden.

There were over 80 teachers attending workshops at this year’s Growing Schools Conference held on a lovely sunny day in the beautifully blooming Wisley Garden.

Sue Biggs told the gathering that an urban garden of no more than three acres will soon be announced in one of the cities in an arc from Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool.

If you visit the Food Growing in Schools website some 71 organisations are listed, running through them I found just 3, the RHS, National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners and Garden Organic, who specifically offer help with gardening.

There is no doubt in my mind we need much more emphasis on ‘gardening’ and workshops for children at schools getting to them to do practical gardening tasks, like weeding and digging.  Where is the Model School garden?  Here is hoping the RHS Young Gardener of The Year unearths one.

RHS staff show teachers how to raise plants at the Food Growing in Schools Conference held in Wisley Garden.

The RHS is a truly magnificent organisation, we are lucky to have it, but at times it can be very frustrating.

Why for example when the bedding, tulips and polyanthus, look wonderful each side of the main walk way into the garden are they laying paving and keeping the visitors well away?

Beautiful bedding displays currently at Wisley.

I had a wry smile at the heap of baled peat, partly hidden under a water proof canvas at Wisley;  a matter of don’t do as I do, do as I say!

There have been too many times when I have paid dearly to attend conferences and came home feeling short changed.

This was far from the case at the BPOA Meeting at Meadow Croft Garden Centre, which had an evening programme of speakers, organised by Ian Riggs, that would take some beating when it comes to value for money.

Some of the delegates to the BPOA Meeting in the wood storage building at W.D.Smith & Co

Ian kicked the proceedings off with an up-date on the Home Grown campaign and made a very good case for growers to back this scheme.

He was followed by Roger Crookes with some very good plant promoting ideas, including ‘Creating a Buzz’ with a display of black and yellow flowers attractive to bees.  He picked up Ian’s red, white and blue campaign with his recently launched competition ‘The Greatest Jubilee-Doorstep Challenge 2012’.

Simon Whiteley stole the whole evening with his hardy Petunia Vesuvio range from Farmen.  Here is a petunia to safely sell in March, that flowers from April to October and, in well drained soil, over- winters to flower again for a second year.   As if this was not enough the three colours on sale at Meadow Croft are red, white and blue!
Darren McDonald of LS Systems gave a briefing on everything to do with water and irrigation that would be difficult to better.  Here is a specialist who really knows the subject.  Clare Dyson of Pro-Veg stood in at the last moment and like wine, kept the best till last.  Clare gave the audience very good reasons why we should all be growing edible ornamentals and the cultivars they are introducing will help us do just that.

Then there was the audience, a good cross section from right across the industry and an excellent opportunity to net work.  Prior to the meeting visitors were taken on a tour of the nursery and the brand new wood burning heating system installed by W.D.Smith & Co and had the 700 cultivar, independent  pansy and viola trial to view.

Part of the Meadow Croft Pansy and Viola Festival trial visited by the BPOA meeting delegates.

My thanks to all concerned for an informative, useful and friendly event.

The new gardening year has got off to a flying start with plenty of activity on garden centres.  Sales are getting a useful increase compared to 2010 and 2011 if the reports reaching me are a representative cross section.

B & Q are preparing for a real go this spring with £12 million being invested in rebranding their garden ranges and refitting 100 stores.  Twenty five stores a week over the next month will get the treatment.

Out goes high rack storage for composts; in comes The Garden Shop for all powered and hand garden tools; in comes automatic watering on new hardy container plant display units; garden sheds will be on display and in stock for immediate take-away or delivery.

Verve is their new own brand for gardening, Mac for a complete range of powered garden machinery and Blooma for furniture and garden ornamentation.  It will not be all own brand: Bosch will be offered alongside Mac, Verve Composts alongside Levington and Miracle-Gro.  Goodbye it sounds to Arthur Bowers and Westland.

One effect of the Alan Titchmarsh voice and face throughout their stores I had not appreciated is the lift in morale it has given to staff.  Workers have gained greater confidence in their company and its garden products when serving alongside the life size cardboard cut-outs by all accounts.

Steve Guy told  me  “it is an exciting time at B & Q, customers are going to see a dramatic change”.

There will be some dramatic changes too at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Hyde Hall Gardens. Ground works are already under way for two new courtyard gardens at the new entrance building.  There is a new lake, new snakes-head fritillary meadow and planned fifty acre rolling stretch of wild flower meadow, not to mention an allotment site, model allotments and new fruit and vegetable garden.  The seventeen full time staff will have their work cut over the next year or two.

Sparklingly healthy, fresh, well grown nursery stock, breaking into new growth does your heart good and there was plenty of it to see at Europlants Open Days. Here’s wishing Renato and everyone at Hatfield a Happy Twentieth Birthday, may they continue to grow from strength to strength and this is not their free champagne (that went with the very tasty birthday cake) talking! Over 600 people registered for this popular event and raised over £1,000 for Greenfingers on the first day alone.
 
I noted quality shaped box and yew in all sizes, super nandina (that has over wintered safely for me in a pot for more than 15 years), 10 litre erica full of flower and the sold out sign over a large batch of 1 litre sage. Buyers had snapped up those plants to replaced winter losses by all accounts and not just for sage. There were reports nationwide of cordyline deaths and with euphorbias, even under tunnel protection. More losses are expected to show up as the weather warms.
 
Quality was the watch word too for Gerbera ‘Garvinea’ and ‘Landscape’ plug plants, cut flowers, and specimens in pots in full flower from Florist, Aalsmeer delivered to 10 schools in Greenwich. They have been unbelieveably helpful and supportive for the Grow Your Own Cut-Flower, Chelsea Flower Show exhibit planned for next May.  
 
Our trade is remarkably willing to help with such school gardening initiatives, seedsmen Suttons and Thompson & Morgan, Scotts Miracle-Gro, Coolings and Thompsons Nurseries manned interesting displays. They all had youngsters aged from 6 years to 16 years, actively involved in tasting, sowing and planting. Chris Collins, the BBC Blue Peter Gardener, told us he has always found children interested once they can get their hands into compost and soil.
 
High flying Royal Botanic Garden Melbourne took to the 35th floor of sponsor Macquarie building in the City of London this week to launch The Australian Garden to be built at Chelsea Show next May. Their garden will feature Australian natives currently being grown-on by Kelways, Somerset.The whole activity is geared to premoting a completely new RBGM botanic garden at Cranbourne a few miles from Melbourne city centre. Director and Chief Executive of RBGM Dr Philip Moors made the presentation and from all the assembled press heard and saw proves an absolute gem.  It is a pity we can’t micro-propagate a few more like him.            

Today sees the last stems of chrysanthemums cut on the
Frampton’s, state of the art, nursery in West Sussex.  This will be the
first Christmas since 1887 that the Frampton family have not had blooms for the
Christmas market.  Why you may ask, well remember the price of five
stems of cut chrysanthemums 10 years ago was £3.99 and now it is £2.99, costs
on the other hand especially fuel have not gone down.  I find it
unbelievable that our major supermarkets are systematically closing down home
producers in this way when a modest price increase would save them.

The Garden Media Guild Awards Lunch was a triumph, there is no other gathering
in the year like it, a big thank you to all those who work so hard to put this
on for us.  My grape vine tweets that the Royal Horticultural Society
Officers were very impressed.  At an RHS Press Briefing earlier this week
we were up dated on the work undertaken by the Science Department at Wisley.
 It is time light was shone under that bushel and more of us told for
example about Dr Liz Beals’ work on the life of honey fungus rhizomorphs in the
soil.  The RHS is after all investing £1.5 million pounds a year in its
science and advice activities and has 44 staff working in this area.
 
While I have treated narcissus bulbs with hot water for eelworm control I did
not realise that this original work was done at Wisley in 1918.  Cut
flower growers in Columbia are doing there own research into biological control
of pests.  They are identifying specific strains of pest on their
holdings, finding suitable indigenous parasites and breeding them to release in
crops.  It would be useful if Wisley could do more original work like this
for example on lily beetle control.
 
A tour of the Lindley Library is always a jaw dropper, what a gem of a
collection is held there and available free for anyone who cares to drop into
Vincent Square.   I was interested to read Council minutes from 1940
 discussing the price of the first RHS Vegetable Garden Displayed, they
thought 2/6p was too dear and 1/6 was the result with Government Dig for
Victory help.  It is time that classic was reprinted, the sound practical
instruction it contained leaves today’s publications in the shade.
 
While on the subject of chrysanthemums I am interested to find China now has gm
chrysanthemums.  Get pest and disease resistance into this popular flower
and it can once again take its place in home gardens.  News from India
says there will be gm wheat grown on a large scale in the next few years, hybrids
that withstand drought, need less fertiliser and pesticide in-puts while giving
yield increases of 12%,  looks like a pretty attractive way to feed the
starving.  
 
Must have gift for 2011 a Heart-Cucumber mould, strapped around a developing
cucumber it produces fruit slices which are heart shaped.  Who says
romance is dead in horticultural production?  

Sorry folks about being all fingers instead of
thumb in my last blog and apologies especially to Green Thumb the lawn care
franchise.  They are soon to celebrate their Silver Jubilee and are close
to signing up their 500,000th client.

I bring sad news with the death of John Godsmark aged 85 years on Monday 16th August 2010.  

A
very longstanding and respected glasshouse grower from West Sussex,
John left school at 14 to help his mother run the family nursery in the
late 1930′s.  

They were founder members of FARGRO in 1946, the
grower cooperative that spawned Farplants. ??John grew many crops,
mainly cut flowers and including carnations (when West Sussex was a
major producer), stocks, Shoesmith and American Beauty chrysanthemums
for the Christmas trade and his favourite flower sweet peas.

??

He
organised the West Sussex Annual Dinner when this event and monster
Tombola attacted enough guests to fill the Pier Pavillion .  Always
great fun and good company he was a keen golfer and club captain of his
local club.  ??John is survived by his wife Dorothy and three sons
Martin, Duncan and David.  

David follows in his father’s footsteps at Swallowfield Nursery and is currently Chairman of FARGRO.

??John’s funeral will be held at Tarring Church next Wednesday 25th August 2010 at 1-45pm.

There are sections of our trade, mostly those at arms length from the sharp end keeping businesses afloat, who seem blissfully unaware that the world around them has changed and is continuing to change. Take for example the administrators of shows and exhibitions.  At flower shows they sit on their hands while visitor numbers steadily decline and yet continue to increase ticket entry prices.  Aren’t they aware that we are experiencing periods of deflation when prices go down?
 
The attraction for visitors to flower shows are the floral displays and the exhibitors laying this golden egg need cosseting and helping in every way possible.  Currently at too many national shows the exhibits steadily shrink in size and the exhibitor and visitors needs are steadily ignored.  Shows desperately seek sponsors, but once signed up and the money secured no efforts are made to see the sponsors get recognition and value for their investment.  Ball Colegrave [until recently] had sponsored the local authority competitive bedding displays at Tatton Park for years and what acknowledgement of this large investment have they received?
 
Attendances at regional trade exhibitions are also reducing which is no surprise as retail chains increase in size and the number of buyers goes down.  Too many exhibitors at these events appear to over look the fact that they only need to find one good customer, who may well trade with them for many years, for their presence to be a success.  At these exhibitions and flower shows costs have to be continually stripped out and the management steamlined to make the event more attractive to both exhibitor and visitor.
 
Where a buyer has spent hours travelling to a trade show every minute at the event is valuable, they do not want to queue up to sign in, to queue for a cup of coffee, to wait to see a stand representative, they need fast tracking to meet exhibitors who need to be on their stands keen to do business.  At Eastgro the sales lady working on commission for SCH(Supplies) Ltd didn’t let many visitors pass without a word, her company did miss a trick, however, by not having one of their people-carrying trailers ( see www.schsupplies.co.uk <http://www.schsupplies.co.uk> ) for John Woods Nurseries tours.  Attention to detail at every step along the way is needed today.
 
Visiting Writtle College recently it was pretty obvious more had to be done in the grounds to give horticultural students the training they need.  I know staff numbers have been cut, but there will be even more cuts if students enrolling don’t get value for their time and money spent.  Reports keep reaching me that  Wisley Garden is not as pristine as we have come to expect, not surprising when here again there have been staff cuts, but unless standards are maintained the numbers of paying visitors will go down.   Surely the first place to make cuts is at the top, in administration where the greatest savings can be made.
 
Where ever I go the message seems to be the same, Britain has lost it’s work ethic and I fear we have to find it once again pretty quickly if our standards of living are not to fall dramatically.     

Meanwhile the work ethic was very much alive at Thompson & Morgan last weekend when many of their staff rallied round to host a Trials Open Saturday and Sunday for customers.  The whole place was ablaze with colour, plants well grown, the grass lusciously green following two storms in the previous eight days and support from Greenfingers lawn franchise.  That standard of horticulture did the company and the visitors proud, T & M will now have a pretty good idea of what caught their customers eyes and is likely to prove popular in the coming season.
 
PS – Have you noticed it is now possible to join the RHS for 1600 Tesco Clubcard points?  That looks like a good deal with current annual subsciption £44 plus the joining fee, you will have to be quick Tesco Tokens have to be in by 30th November 2010.
 

The Lymington parish church was packed with an
estimated 500 congregation for Derf Paton’s funeral, a demonstration of
the high regard in which he was held by so many people.  Leading
horticultural trade representatives from Stockbridge to Cheshire,
Evesham, East Anglia, Kent and Cornwall had made the journey to pay
their respects to an irrepressible man who the vicar referred to as the
“small, round faced, smiling one with the funny hat”.  He went on to
describe Derf’s “Do anything attitude and generosity to others”,
planning the funeral in his last few days he repeated his mantra “It’s
always time to give and happiness remains with those who give it away”.
 
What a character, always full of ideas, not every one great  and some
not receiving immediate approval, but out they flowed none the less.
 The photo on the order of service was the one featured recently in
Horticulture week with him cutting chrysanthemums.  Derf and his wife
Jean started their nursery with cold frames constructed from turf walls
and glass lights covering them to raise the plants. A far cry from the
flooded benches and high tech glasshouses we use today. It was of note
that at the funeral we heard one of the last few British AYR
chrysanthemum nurseries will shortly close.  Time perhaps for another
maverick, young horticultural student like the one we knew at Writtle in
1954,  to start up and follow in his footsteps growing natural season
cut blooms to a high quality in the open ground.
 
One of Derf’s good ideas was the proposal for “Good-neighbours Day”, a
day akin to Mothering Sunday and Father’s Day when kind neighbourly acts
over the year were acknowledged by the gift of a plant.  He thought
this should be in the autumn when friends and neighbours who had looked
after things while we were away, or helped when we needed help, were
formally thanked with the gift of a plant.  A lovelly idea and what an
appropriate memorial it would be for one of lifes great characters if we
took  this up.