Chris is next on The Gardening Phone-In on BBC 3CR

All change! Chris will be on the BBC Three Counties Gardening Phone-in with Ernie Almond (pictured above) between 3-4pm on Sundays (dates to be confirmed) from 16th January 2011 for one-hour of gardening chat and answering your questions with Ernie. Please do come and join in, we'll be very welcome!

Link to BBC 3CR

Mixed Native Hedge Tour at Buckingham Garden Centre

One of the most popular natural hedges you can plant today, the Mixed Native Hedge line.

Where's Chris: THIS WEEK

CALLING ALL GARDENING CLUBS! Chris gives talks and demonstrations to local gardening clubs, WI's and horticultural societies. A full list, including "The Good Life Garden: Grow Your 5-A-Day" (hence BBC Good Life picture reference above) is available by e-mailing chrisd365@aol.com Please state your location, note bookings for 2012 and 2013 are being taken, 2011 is pretty well booked up!

Local press cover Big Shipton Bulb Plant

The Big Bulb Plant in our community, adding colour to Shipton

Apple Weekend Success

Get Cookin' with Apples...

Alli Templeton entertained visitors at our Apple Weekend today with an curry-apple themed dish. Alli will be repeating her demo tomorrow at around 2pm.

Despite the windy weather, visitors enjoyed the display of over 90 varieties of apples (see picture, top) as well as asking plenty of fruit questions. We look forward to seeing more people on Sunday from 10.30am-4pm.

Apple Weekend, 3rd and 4th October

Apple Day 2009Celebrating the Apple
Weekend 3 - 4 October 2009

Saturday 10am to 4:30pm, Sunday 10:30am to 4pm.
Apple variety identification by the Mid-Shires Orchard Group Fruit and Gardening Experts (Chris Day both days, Will Sibley, Sunday only) available to answer your questions
Good selection of English apples for sale Plant Heritage display
We will be exhibiting over 80 varieties of apples (cookers and eaters) and crab apples
Pot grown trees available to buy or orders taken for bare root stock
Cookery demonstrations, including delicious ‘apple’ recipes from Ali Templeton (afternoons) and Pauline Arnold (Trollie Dollies)
Good English Cider, Perry, Wine, Liquor, Jam and Chutney for sale Local vegetable produce for sale Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust
R.S.P.B.
Themed apple dishes Celebrate National Conifer Week (3-11 October)
Coffee shop and restaurant
Apple treasure trail competition for children
Fruit identification competition: Name it and WIN IT!!
Poultry advice for everyone with Laura Donovan Jamie at Home Stand hosted by Debbie
NO ENTRY CHARGE – JUST COME AND ENJOY THE DISPLAYS AND TALK TO LOCAL GROUPS. EXPERTS AND COMMUNITY GROUPS

News of this year's event coming soon,,,

Visit to Kathy Brown's Garden

A glorious September afternoon at Kathy Brown's garden at Stevington, near Bedford proved a winner with customers at Buckingham Garden Centre. Over 20 keen gardeners enjoyed a tour of this stunning garden, which includes formality with the cottage garden style as well as cutting-edge container and ornamental grasses amongst the stunning backdrop of The Manor House.

The garden is truly inspiration and certainly fires the imagination. The garden is just over 20 years in the making, set in four and a half acres and includes a wide range of trees, including eucalyptus and the wonderful white-stemmed betula.

For more information, see Kathy Brown's website at the following link... The last open day this year is Sunday 20th September, don't miss it!

http://www.kathybrownsgarden.homestead.com/

"THAT" Daily Express story... earlier this year

This spring's Daily Express story... I think I might of upset the BBC, but I stand by my comments, this new series (Carol Klein's How To Grow Fruit) should be broadcast now so gardeners have sufficient time to plan and plant, not April!!

UPDATE: September 2009, still NO news when this series is to be screened. Shame on the Beeb, its our license fee which isn't exactly being used wisely here, what do you think? Please let me have your comments.

UK NEWS
WHY BBC HAS LEFT GARDENERS OUT IN THE COLD

THE GARDENERS' WORLD TEAM: Joe Swift, Toby Buckland and Carol Klein (pictured above)
Wednesday February 25,2009

By Martyn Brown

GARDENERS have accused the BBC of being out of touch for pushing back the spring series of ­Gardeners’ World until April – after the planting season.
Even the presenters of the popular BBC2 show admit it will be too late to offer useful advice for gardeners ­hoping to grow certain plants.For instance, raspberry and blackcurrant bushes, and apple and pear trees, should be planted between ­January and March.Viewer Mary Robinson, 34, said: “It will be too late to follow the tips in April as my garden starts to come alive before then.“Gardeners’ World comes around like the seasons. You can set your ­calendar by it but I don’t know what the BBC is playing at this year. It’s a strange decision.”

Presenter Toby Buckland blamed scheduling executives for the change and said he would have preferred the series to start a few weeks earlier.Co-host Carol Klein agreed. She said: “We are starting again at the beginning of April. It is late to come back as people are interested earlier and earlier in starting things off indoors and starting things off early.”

The spring series of the programme, which offers expert advice to help amateur gardeners plan what to plant and when, usually starts in February or early March. The BBC has decided to start it later than usual this year, as it has three Gardeners’ World specials left over from last summer. One will be shown each week from March 13 before the new series begins.The decision has not only angered amateur gardeners. The horticultural trade also expects to suffer as a result. Garden centres fear they will see a decline in sales, especially of fruit trees and bushes, because the BBC series will be starting later in the ­season than usual.

Chris Day, of the Buckingham Garden Centre, in Buckingham, said: “Early spring would be the perfect time for the trade. We would want to sell dormant plants such as raspberry canes before they come into leaf. ­Gardeners’ World starting late would make the process more difficult.“For apples and pears it’s fine because they’re sold in pots. But we could have offered more variety if ­programmes started early in spring. This "could be a missed opportunity for the trade.” However, the BBC said the cold winter meant the gardening season would be later than usual.

A spokesman said: “According to the Met Office it is the coldest winter on record for 12 years, so the transmission time of the new series should not hinder our viewers.”

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/86382/Why-BBC-has-left-gardeners-out-in-the-cold

Doyen of gardening Geoffrey Smith dies at 80

As a teenager I used to watch Geoffrey Smith on the television. I have many of his books, and I was saddened to here that he passed away last Friday after a short illness. A well-versed Yorkshire man, who developed the famous Harlow Carr Gardens, he's been described as the Geoffrey Boycott of the gardening world by many people. I loved his wisdom, his passion for plants and the English language, Smith was a great communicator of gardening. His manner was often blunt, yet his sense of knowledge of all subjects was immense. He was a panelist of BBC Radio 4's Gardener's Question time for two decades as well as presenting Gardeners' World in the early 1980's for two years.

A truly unique character in the world of horticulture, who had great rapport with audiences, will be greatly missed.

Pots of delight - magical bulbs that light up the garden!!!

What a stunner!!!

Iris 'Katherine Hodgkin'

• Position: full sun
  Soil: well-drained, moderately fertile, neutral to slightly alkaline soil
  Rate of growth: average
  Flowering period: Jan-Feb
  Flower colour: blue, green and yellow
  Other features: sword-shaped leaves
  Hardiness: fully hardy
• 
  The great attributes of this plant have been recognised by the Royal Horticultural Society and they have given it the Award of Garden Merit.The flowers are breathtakingly intricate. Each bloom has a creamy-yellow base, overlaid with sky blue and a deep yellow centre, with green flecks and spots. These appear in January to February so they are up at the same time as the crocuses. They make excellent container and rock garden flowers.

All-In-One acquires land to expand

My old stomping ground All-In-One Garden Centre near Rochdale, has acquired land that almost doubles the size of the garden centre. Finance director, Jason Stafford, has engaged Ernest Wertheim to advise on extending the garden centre. This is great news for All-in-One as I remember how the massive expansion back in the early 1990s made a huge difference in the ambiance, shopping experience and merchandising expertise. Critically, the move comes at a time when spending on capital investment is at the mercy of the banks . I hear a 3-4 year development plan will be drawn up, a wise move in these credit-crunching economic times.
I wish it all the success, and knowing the team at All-in-One, it WILL be worth the wait!

Chris Day's Grow Your Own Talks at Buckingham Garden Centre

Grow Your Own Vegetable Starter: Part 1
Dates: March 18th and April 1st

Grow Your Own Fruit Starter: Part 2
Dates: March 25th and April 15th

VENUE: Buckingham Garden Centre, 10am-12noon. Charity donation to Greenfingers, the Garden Industry Charity, £1.00 minimum donation. To book call 01280 827910, http://www.hedging.co.uk/

Enjoy a great day out at Barnsdale Gardens in June

Join me on June 17th 2009 to visit Barnsdale Garden, the home of the late TV Gardener Geoff Hamilton (pictured above). Contact Buckingham Garden Centre on 01280 827910 for further details. Limited number of places are available so early booking is recommended.

February snow challenges

Over a week of snow, sub-zero temperatures and now, as I write this, heavy rain is bound to take its toll on the garden and its inhabitants.

Frozen soils, compacted by snow, will hinder moisture flow through the soil, so it is going to be essential to lightly fork over the soil to help benefit the soil prior to any planting or immediate soil preparation you may carry out.

Wilde about Gardening

Only the other day we were chatting about 1980s pop star Kim Wilde and literally the next day just walking into BBC Three Counties Radio studios in Luton, who should be getting out of a taxi to enter the buiding but Kim Wilde!!