This time of year it's common to find fellow gardeners distracted, unable to answer simple questions and failing to perform tasks you've asked them to do four times already. The simple explanation of the mystery is that it's the busiest moment of the calendar, that time of year when you look out the front window to find the seedlings you planted have doubled in size, apparently overnight.
But it's also flower show time, and the blogs are one way to gauge gardeners' growing excitement about Chelsea in particular.
If you care about gardening it can be hard to justify swanning off to London in the middle of the growing season, so I think one reason for Chelsea's eternal popularity is that it provides a cast-iron excuse for a bit of bunking off.
The number of friends who complain about their sore feet afterwards also suggests to me that it is what gardeners consider to be a sufficient excuse for a bit of day-time dressing-up - an activity not usually all that customary in horticultural households, as a brief glimpse of Gardeners' World most weeks will demonstrate.
Anyway, on behalf of all the gardeners, I'd just like to offer many apologies, we'll be back to business on Monday the 26th at 9am sharp.
(Image: Rosa Wisley, to be launched Chelsea 2008 by David Austin)
I thought you'd like to know that my peonies are out and looking lovely.
Posted by: jakers | Tuesday, 13 May 2008 at 06:55 PM
I actually had to stop in the street today and take photos of someone's peony, it looked so good. It seems to be that dark raspberry one which survives bad treatment for years on end, living on in neglected front gardens. A nice old irishman in my street came past as I was admiring it, and said "oh, yes, the pameonies are beautiful, aren't they?", which is a brilliant mix up perhaps of camellia and peony. But maybe appropriate for such a dark red flower. So I'm tempted to call them that from now on.
Posted by: emma townshend | Tuesday, 13 May 2008 at 07:08 PM
Cleve West's blog has added immensely to this year's build up and my excitement. Sadly I have no ticket, so I'll be glued to the telly next week instead.
I'll also be trying the 'Chelsea chop' for the first time this year....
Posted by: VP | Wednesday, 14 May 2008 at 09:22 AM
Now there is an excellent thing in Gardeners World Magazine, which I don't always read, by Carol Klein this month, about the Chelsea chop. She suggests doing separate strands rather than the whole thing, so that you get a kind of mix of productivity. Honestly - very interesting, and almost worth the £3.20 or whatever it is these days.
Posted by: emma townshend | Wednesday, 14 May 2008 at 04:42 PM
It's that very article that's persuaded me to have a go Emma. There's also a great article by Roy Lancaster on Magnolia stellata, including a nickable idea - stooling them. I'm going to have a go at that too. So GW Mag is particularly good value this month!
Posted by: VP | Wednesday, 14 May 2008 at 08:27 PM
I'm busy running a cafe for slugs.
Esther
Posted by: Esther Montgomery | Thursday, 15 May 2008 at 10:17 AM
You'd think with so many people going into that particular trade that there'd be no work left. And yet...
http://abiggerpot.blogspot.com/2008/05/war-on-molluscs.html
And James A-S just disposed of 514! And still has more customers...
http://web.mac.com/blackpittsgarden/Site_2/Blog/Entries/2008/5/6_Rabbit_in_the_Headlights_of_the_Hispano_Suiza.html
Posted by: emma townshend | Thursday, 15 May 2008 at 10:34 AM
I've been doing a hefty trade here in Wiltshire:
http://vegplotting.blogspot.com/2008/03/what-to-do-with-all-those-snails.html
If you're feeling particularly murderous about them the next posting provides some handy hints:
http://vegplotting.blogspot.com/2008/03/yes-there-really-is-use-for-couch-grass.html
The Slugger Off!!! garden at RHS Cardiff also had a particularly inventive use - snail shells as cane toppers. They looked a bit like how spiked heads at The Tower of London must have done in days of yore.
Sorry to any of your readers of a more nervous disposition.
Posted by: VP | Friday, 16 May 2008 at 03:15 PM
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Posted by: james | Monday, 27 October 2008 at 11:28 AM