Gardening
with Tina
The RHS Chelsea Flower
Show celebrates its 100th
Anniversary this year and
designers and growers will be
working night and day from
now until it opens to ensure
that every plant is grown to
perfection to produce their
fabulous displays. Great skill
and effort go into producing
these plants and gardens,
T in a H ug he s trai ne
d as
a profession al ga rd
en er
afte r leav in g school
a nd
spent a su m m er w
orki
in Tu sca ny as a n E ng
ng lis h
Ga rd en er. Sh e ha s
a
N at io na l D ip lo m a
in
Horticu lt ure.
but the wonderful thing about
gardening is that anyone
A rainbow of potatoes
can have a go. I’ve found
that much of the pleasure of
gardening comes from small
successes such as growing
your first tomato or picking a
bunch of flowers for a friend so go outside and have a go!
With the trend for growing your own vegetables has come
a revival in the interest in many of the heritage varieties of
potato that were grown before World War II. Many of these
potatoes have great flavour, interestingly coloured skin
and sometimes flesh. These colourful varieties offer health
benefits due to the presence of anthocyanins as well as
pleasing the eye and the palate. My personal favourites are
‘Edzell Blue’ which mashes and roasts beautifully, ‘Pink Fir
Apple’, a waxy main-crop variety perfect for salads and ‘Red
Do you have a qu estion?
Duke of York’ a useful allrounder.
If you have a question, need some advice or even
a suggestion for an article then please email:
[email protected]
Bee my friend
Bee population
s are declining
at a frightenin
g rate. Our en
tire
food chain depe
nds on them an
d
they are depend
ing on us to gr
ow
flowers that pr
ovide them wit
h the
nectar they ne
ed. Simple annu
al
flowers like ca
lendulas are th
e
easiest for them
to forage.
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