And this year it's been
pretty busy one by gardening standards. So in the great tradition of
New Year's Eve nostalgia: here's a look back at an eventful 2011.
It was a good year
for...
Cleve West: there
was no getting away from him. First his ridiculously good garden at Chelsea scooped Best in Show, and as if that wasn't enough
the man goes and writes a book that gets shortlisted for awards and all sorts. One
can only hope he develops a tiddlywinks fetish next year to give
everyone else a look-in.
Giant veg: It
all started with pot leeks the size of bollards at the Tatton Flower
Show and went on to see records toppling left right and centre, both
at the National Vegetable Show – home of the newly-crowned world's biggest swede (37.29kg) – and in back gardens: the world's heaviest spud, at 3.8kg, was grown this year by amateur gardener Peter
Glazebrook in Nottinghamshire.
Disease:
phytophthora (both lateralis,
currently working its way through the nation's Lawson's cypress trees, and
ramorum, now responsible for wiping out millions of Japanese larch across the West Country), citrus longhorn beetle, oak processionary moth: the list of imported invaders is lengthening almost as fast as
their relentless march across the UK. Luckily Kew has built a
whopping state-of-the-art quarantine centre to try and stop them
getting in in the first place; and the RHS is also building a new
scientific research centre at Wisley to try and figure out how to
tackle them once they've arrived. The fight-back starts here.
Clumsy gardeners,
who can now rest easy in the sure knowledge that they will never do
anything worse than the American gardener who managed to drive a pair of secateurs through his eye socket and into his skull, and still
survived to tell the tale.
It was a bad year
for...
Weather forecasters, who must have given up on comparing anything to 'normal' conditions now as it's so long since we've had anything that can remotely be described as normal. This year it was a spring that was more like summer, followed by an autumn-like summer and a summer-like autumn, too. Confused? So are your plants.
The Queen who
can't find herself a gardener. Possibly something to do with the fact
that she lives in SW1A – one of the country's most expensive
postcodes – yet is offering a salary that would barely pay the
rent.
First-year British botany students, who no longer
exist. The 2011 academic year began with not a single undergraduate
course offered in the subject of 'botany'; these days it's labelled
'plant science' and more often offered as a specialism within a wider
biological sciences degree. It's telling that Kew hasn't taken on a
single British botany – or even 'plant science' - graduate in five
years.
David Cameron –
well, yes, for all sorts of reasons. But also for revealing that he
equates gardeners with street cleaners in his estimation of the worth
of what we do. Cue every pressure group in the industry bearing down
on him in justifiable wrath. Serves him right.
Elks,
at least the one who got drunk on fermenting apple windfalls and woke
up next morning to find itself dangling from a tree with no idea how
it got there. And no doubt the mother of all hangovers.
Hatches...
The Olympic Park
appeared out of a vast stretch of wasteland somewhere in the east of
London to become perhaps the most talked-about green space ever.
Sarah Price did her stuff, as did James Hitchmough and Nigel Dunnett and Hillier Nurseries, which grew 2,000 of the legions of Olympic trees.
The Chelsea Flower Show
got its very own spin-off as the Chelsea Fringe was conceived –
can't wait to see what it comes up with on its debut.
Britain's 'finest landscape garden' rose from the ashes in probably the most talked-about restoration of the year: the shiny new Wrest Park comes complete with French parterre, rose garden and an Italian Garden. And it ain't over yet: the American Garden is unveiled in 2013.
And a new, if slightly
dubious sport was born as gardeners male and female competed to grow the most unbecoming moustache, raising over £20,000 for Movember in
the process. Slugs were involved. That's all you need to know.
...matches...
Monty Don picked up his
love affair with Gardeners' World again and stepped back into his
battered Head Gardener boots; Alan Titchmarsh was
back on our screens too with ITV's tentative foray into gardening programming, Love Your Garden; and the BBC's gardening
team upped sticks and left for Bristol. 2012 will be the first time,
I think in its history, that the BBC's green-fingered output hasn't
come from Birmingham.
...and despatches:
Carol Klein's nursery in Devon closed its doors amid an unseemly row about trees and
compost heaps.
The Blue Peter garden –
and its capsule, not to be opened till 2029 – was grassed over after
more than 30 years, ahead of a move to Salford that was meant to
happen in time for the next series but has now been put on ice. We'll
find out soon, I'd guess, whether the much-denied rumours that it's
to be ditched altogether are true.
The recession killed
off Stapeley Water Gardens in Cheshire, closing for good today, and
put a huge question mark over the future of Trevarno in Cornwall
which can't find a buyer. Staff find out in the next few weeks
whether they've still got a job.
And Ventnor Botanic Garden is also awaiting its fate as the Isle of Wight County
Council, bent on getting rid of its unwanted burden, decides which of
two bidders will be taking it off their hands. Verdict in February.
And finally...
What's hot:Forest gardening: and permaculture, and anything that involves growing food in among your other plants.
Foraging: getting food for free from all sorts of unlikely places, even the towpath of Regent's Canal. Though you can just stick to elderflowers and sloes if you want.
And what's not:
Peat: after many years of pontificating about the damage peat extraction was doing to the environment, the government finally committed, in a rather woolly way, to a voluntary deadline, whatever that is: 2020 sees peat-based composts disappear from garden centre shelves. We hope.
Meerkats. 'Nuff
said.
Happy New Year!
4 comments:
They say that the difference between a gardener and a farmer is that a gardener always thinks the next year will be better.
Due to a mixture of family illness and personal injury, we have written of last year, bar a small amount of pottering in the back garden. At least we have a good amount of compost, mainly courtesy of the chickens, and a builders bag full of leaves breaking down to make leaf mould for 2013 and beyond. Treated myself so several packs of coir bricks from Ikea (goes by the delightful name of "cocosnot") to augment the seed compost, and later on shall get creative with capilliary matting, custom trimming it to fit gravel trays.
Aim to spend at least 24 hours a week on gardening related tasks. At this time of year much of the weekday hours will be after work research, and filling the bath with seed trays to soak and clean while I'm at work all day.
Off out now for first task of year - pop out to see if the firework parties nearby have left decent rocket sticks scattered on the pavements.
Hello BST, 'cocosnot' eh? that made me laugh :D
You're quite right: gardeners are incorrigibly optimistic. Despite all signs to the contrary I'm certain this year will be better than last. Even if it's as good that'll be enough for me! May yours go as well as you hoped - and better in places.
I heard it suggested on GQT by Chris Beardshaw (I think) that all a prospective gardener would need at BuckHouse was a sit-on lawnmower...I have a couple of friends that are professional gardeners and are paid a pittance. Add to that working for a committee and it's a hard life!
Pleased to see Cleve getting all the recognition he deserves and as for meerkats, I'd rather have a gnome..
Oh I think Chris might have been a bit tongue in cheek there :D They have to leave a lot of space for those garden parties (my invitation is in the post, so they say) but with that many acres there are a few plants too I think. But yes, I'm not sure I'd like the job - too many people watching and passing judgement...
Entirely agree about Cleve. And meerkats.
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