How time flies

I can't believe how quickly this year is passing - must be getting old!!
Various degrees of success in the garden - tagetees and calendulas continue to be the best value option for my summer garden and still in flower now although their days are numbered as a cold wind is blowing outside.
Will pull up the calendulas and scatter their seeds for free display next year - everyone comments on the border at the end of my drive asking what they are?? Sometimes just the simplest things are the best
Mixed with the purple erysmium they have given a splendid show all summer long.

Now though our thoughts here are turning to Christmas and yes, some of you are already doing your Christmas shopping. I could never get my head around it until after the October school half term but now running this business has meant I have to be one step ahead!!.

I hope you will agree that we have a great selection of Christmas Gifts for Gardeners including some fabulous new products alongside some old favourites too.


If it's fun items you are after then have a look at our cute dancing flowers


At just £2.95 each they are guaranteed to raise a smile.

For the vegetable gardener the Veggi Stikks are proving very popular at £8.95 for a set of four.



For these and more ideas just go to the Stocking Fillers section for great gift ideas for gardeners all under £10.00.

Happy shopping.

Is gardening just for oldies??

Earlier this week I read an article about sure fire ways that suggest you are getting old - you know the sort of thing - moaning when you get up cos your knees/hips hurt, you can't hear so well, hair appearing where it shouldn't, policemen/doctors getting younger etc etc.

Yet some way down that list it also said that as you age you take up gardening???

Well I'm no spring chicken but I have been messing about in gardens for ages, growing my own veg in my mid twenties even before it was fashionable and just loving the outdoor life. Did that make me old before my time - I don't think so and if the Garden Divas customer base is anything to go by then I would say there are loads of trendy young (well youngish) gardeners out there.

I can't see Grandad on his allotment wearing this funky toolbelt

You also have to be pretty fit to be a gardener, all that mowing, digging, pruning and sowing - taking up gardening in later life could be a real shock to the system for some.

So to all you gardeners out there whether male, female, young or old - keep up the good work and just enjoy a fab hobby and remember you don't have to be old to take up gardening.

Ups and downs of gardening

I love gardening, really I do, but sometimes it is a bit of a challenge to stay "on top" of everything.
First of all there was a really dry spring at a time when sowing and planting is at it's peak and now as I write this blog at the end of June it is raining heavily and the roses outside my window are taking a bashing, their perfumed petals falling to the ground. I know I shouldn't complain about the rain - it's just it's the wrong type of rain!!
I meant to nip out the tops of my broadbeans (as suggested in an earlier blog) but the business was extra busy (not complaining about that) and I forgot so yes they got covered in blackfly. Still I've taken out the tops now and the broadbeans lower down the plants are fine and really rather nice.
I dug up some Aaron Pilot potatoes (resistant to scab) - well these weren't but I confess they were from a bargain basement store so won't be doing that again. Always buy Scottish certified seed potatoes. Next I dug up some Charlotte potatoes and they were amazing and delicious par boiled and sauted for tea.
Here they are in a pink Burgon & Ball Garden Trug
- so useful for bringing in the veg and featured in a recent Daily Mail Weekend Magazine as one of the best trugs.
My runner beans were put out too early and succumbed to a rather chilly easterly wind so have had to re-sow (twice) cos the slugs got the second lot.
My wisteria died but has left me a brilliant frame work for an alternative climber .
My tagetees got too leggy in the greenhouse but have nipped out the tops with the deadheads so they are bushing out nicely, although a little late.


My husband (bless him) has never been a keen gardener leaving "that sort of thing" to me but just lately he has discovered he enjoys weeding (only in the veg plot tho) and is even going out into the garden after work.
Now that really is an up!!

My garden hands!!

Walking back from yet another visit to the dentist this week made me wish I had taken more care of my teeth even though my dentist gleefully informed me that they are now past their sell by date - ie I'm getting too old - what a cheek!!

It then got me thinking about the other parts I may have have neglected including my hands!! I gardened for years without using gloves and I don't recommend that either!! Then about 6 years ago I discovered the Floreo 370 Garden Gloves.

- a godsend for someone who likes to garden but who also likes to really feel what she is doing. Now there is a plethora of gloves available to protect our hands ( and I have garden gloves for all occasions) and whats more they are pretty and comfortable to wear too. And even if you are suffering from arthritis ( and I confess my thumb joint hurts a bit now) there are the Bionic Blooms Gloves with their special padding and support.

What a pity I didn't discover any gloves I felt I could garden in for years - the result - my nails and finger tips were always ingrained with a little dirt - not a good look when going out for the evening! They're still not that great now after years of potting, sowing and general digging in the dirt but at least they stay clean plus I now have a great hand care set from Gardener's Therapies
which includes a liquid glove barrier cream - how cool is that!! So there is no excuse - if I don't feel like wearing gloves I can just slap some of this on and away we go.

Then when all the work is done for the day I can nourish my hands with this wonderful handcream
- a customers favourite and featured in the Daily Mail Weekend supplement as one of the best 5 handcreams for gardeners. Really with all this pampering I should have beautiful hands although nothing can make them long and elegant and they still remain a pair of small, wide gardener's hands but they are a whole lot better than my teeth!!)

HOW TO BE HAPPY?

Head into the garden, that's what does it for me! After attending a funeral last week and realising once again how quickly everything which is familiar changes, this gardener was in slightly melancholy mood. Nothing for it but to head outside. At this time of year the garden is continually changing too: those bright yellow tete a tete have now given way to colourful tulips, a bare patch of earth is home to fresh asparagus spears working their way to the surface and the apple blossom is bursting into bloom. In another few days or so I may see the first leaves of my early potatoes and the sweet peas and tomatoes I have planted should be up and raring to go. From one weekend to the next there is always something new and exciting to see and I can't believe how quickly everything has grown during this unseasonably warm spell. Even the bluebells seem to be opening earlier than usual. If you are, or know a gardener such as me who finds the simple pleasures of gardening raises her spirits then take a look at the new Thoughtful Gardener hand tools(from Wild & Wolf who manufacture the Pretty Useful Tools). With their stylish presentation and garden related quotes they make the perfect gift for every gardener whether they are melancholy or not!!

Mothers Day

It has been pretty busy here at Garden Divas HQ with orders for lucky Mums ranging from the ever popular Floreo 370 Garden Gloves to the fab new Tulip & Rose Garden BasketBut as I write this blog on a Sunday afternoon my house has been invaded by the smell of Dettol!! My beautiful daughter succumbed to a sickness bug overnight and the Mother'sDay lunch out has been cancelled . Oh well these things happen - all part of being a Mum!! Instead of going out I've treated myself to a long soak in the bath using the beautiful Gardener's Bath & Shower Gel which makes a lovely bubbly bath and certainly helps to relax and unwind (And after all I am a special gardener)!! Now I think I will head off into the garden for a while, maybe plant my second lot of potatoes - Aaron Pilot. I've already set some Charlotte potatoes which are a salad variety - my family tradition has always been to set the first lot of potatoes on Good Friday but as Easter is so late this year I have already got going - but don't worry I will still be setting some then - "Cara" which make nice jacket potatoes. And that is just what my daughter is saying she will be living on this week - jacket potatoes until her tum has settled down. My late Mother used to say if you have a potato and an apple, then you have a meal - a simple one at that but if grown in your own garden absolutely delicious!!! And Mums really do know best!!

NIP N SNIP

I have had withdrawal symptoms from the lack of gardening over the winter so have been making the most of the (slightly) better conditions to get outside.

I've lost quite a few of my shrubs in the cold snap - hebes, in particular several shrubby veronicas, a Sun King - look at these poor things

and even the lavenders which is such a shame as I had a lovely lavender pathway. They will all have to be nipped out and replaced. Think I'll try box hedging as that's pretty hardy with just a lavender at the front edge so I can brush past and get that wonderful smell.

I also set some Broad Beans last November and now have only 3 plants remaining due to the harsh weather!!! Fortunately we have a brilliant market nearby and I managed to pick up some young plants quite cheaply so will be setting them out this weekend. Broad Beans do tend to get covered in blackfly which is such a nuisance - but I am going to snip out the tops of the plants when they are in flower to try and deter them as the aphids always love the soft new growth at the top. Fingers are fine for this job but I think the Deadheads Mini Snips with their sharp blades will be better.

They should also be good for the tagetees I grow every year as I tend to be a bit clumsy when nipping out the tops to make a bushy plant and end up ruining the young growth.


Just pop them in a pocket to keep them to hand and at £3.95 they are a bargain!! Lots of our customers think so too so snap them up before they are gone