Hosepipe Bans

I was very disappointed to read in certain Gardening News that English water companies have promised there will be no hosepipe bans this year. One of the few pleasures alleviating the almost daily rainfall of a Glasgow summer is the thought of English gardeners – particularly those who write into gardening magazines to complain about too much dry weather – struggling with their watering cans.

The gardening advice in magazines seems to ignore us too, I’m still waiting for a dry spell to apply moss-killer to my lawn and then to rake it. Apply weedkiller  on a dry day, which dry day would that be? I’m hoping covering my weeds with a layer of newspaper may convince them they are not welcome! I know some would tell me to hoe on a dry day and leave the weeds exposed to the sun, well you know what I think of that advice!

This year I’m trying to grow my tomatoes outside. I didn’t intend to, but because the wind blew my temporary greenhouse across my garden I weighted it down with slabs and the wind just tore it apart and dumped the debris on top of my toms! Apart from distance there is nothing between me and the North Atlantic and the winds are horrendous, in my garden temporary is measured in weeks.

While I’m grumbling about English gardeners I think Alan Titchmarsh deserves a dishonourable mention. When pushing his new – admittedly enjoyable show – he suggested there was only one gardening program on television and that there was room for a second. He completely ignored The Beechgrove Garden, where Jim McColl will talk about his greenhouse tomatoes with the rain pouring down the glass behind him and garden visits are frequently made wearing raincoats, that’s what I call a realistic gardening program!