Blue Daisy Blog

I found myself in an antiquarian bookshop last week looking through the horticultural titles (of course!). There were some really lovely old fashioned books - totally out of date now - but absolutely lovely to flick through. Also saw some second hand copies of newer titles, for example Prince Charles' book on Highgrove.  As I worked my way through the shelves I came upon an author's name that I knew but I couldn't remember where from so I took the book down off the shelf and as I opened it I remembered why it sounded familiar.

It can't have escaped your notice that was the RHS Chelsea Flower Show recently and what a show it was from beautiful displays in the floral marquee through to amazing show gardens!  For me it was the show gardens that really attracted me the most, don't get me wrong I am a plant lover but I prefer to look at plants in situ and see how they work with other plants and different materials.

An RHS Gold Medal and The Best In Show Award went to The Daily Telegraph Garden designed by Cleve West who demonstrates how the more traditional materials can be combined with more modern materials comfortably.  Space too was included in his design which is a brave yet confident move, a lot of show gardens are crammed full but this space added to the calm and peacefulness of the garden.  For me personally it wasn't best in show - call me what you will but I didn't feel inspired and excited by this garden, I loved the planting and the clever use of materials but it felt 'comfy'.

Compost is something that we're always being asked about so in response to all those questions you have we've put together a downloadable Blue Daisy guide - Composting Made Easy.

We tell you what you need to compost, what to put into your compost, and answer the following questions and more:

• How often do I need to turn the compost?
• How long does it take to make?
• How do I know when it’s ready?
• If I’m leaving my compost to ripen where do I put all the compostable material I continue to generate?
• I heard that rats are attracted to compost – is that right?
• Can I add weeds to my compost heap?

So, if you want to know the answers to these questions and more please download your Blue Daisy Guide - Composting Made Easy here.

We’re really excited here at Blue Daisy because we are offering a new Garden Advice at home service so if you’re looking for new ideas or you have an area you don’t know what to do with contact us.

Not content with just advice at home Nicki will be starting to run some workshops during summer and autumn this year for beginner gardeners, growing vegetables and even garden design so if you want to know more please visit our garden advice & workshops page.

This weekend saw the very first Edible Garden Show which was held at Stoneleigh, Nr Coventry and the weather certainly held for it.  I wasn't sure what to expect with it being a brand new event, sometimes they can be slow to start and feel a little empty, this was not the case!  We went on Sunday and arrived about midday and as we walked what did feel like quite a way to the event we were amazed at the amount of cars that were there.  As soon as we showed our tickets and went in I was really pleased to see a hustle and bustle of people chattering, trying to get to the next stall or just simply asking questions!