Bridgette's June Bulletin

With the Chelsea flower show behind us now and lots of inspirational gardens on display, including the “Best in Show” garden for the Daily Telegraph, designed by Cleve West, it was interesting that Cleve choose the parsnip, Pastinacia sativa, as one of the plants that seemed to enjoy a lot of oohs and ahhs from the public!  Of course, we usually eat our biennial vegetables, (parsnips and carrots) before they flower and their beautiful umbel shaped flowers escape us. 

Many of the plants used on the winning garden were drought tolerant – which is very timely in that we have had so little rain in the last six weeks. I thought it would be a good idea to investigate how drought can be dealt with and first of all how we understand it, as it appears to be part of the life of every gardener.  Gardening continues to grow in popularity, despite the scorching summers and impending hosepipe bans making maintenance of gardens and allotments much more difficult.

So in this months bulletin I will cover:

• Water issues (drought tolerant plants, soil preparation, what to water and when)
• Weeds
• What to do in June

best wishes,  Bridgette