Welcome!

Header Picture courtesy of: WaterAid/Daniel O’Leary; Logo courtesy of: WaterAid

When I decided to join my local Sing for Water choir (see The Sing for Water Challenge on the sidebar) in 2008, I was also asked to raise a minimum £50 donation in addition to anything we might raise at the concert itself. I racked my brains for a different fundraising idea and came up with - opening my garden over the web!

This very different blog raised a fantastic total of £1085 (approx. 1,750 USD). Donations are closed now, but I decided to retain this tour as it gives such a good introduction to my garden for new readers of my regular blog, Veg Plotting. Before I show you around my garden, I thought I'd tell you a little bit about the charity, then if you like what you see, you might like to donate directly to WaterAid (note this link opens in a new window, so you won't lose your place here), the charity striving to provide clean water and sanitation for over 1 billion of the world's population. WaterAid were very excited about my fund raising idea and provided this 2 minute video to show why their work is so important.



I must also add that I've worked as a volunteer freshwater biologist researching into water quality on a nature reserve in Mallorca. For a number of years we had European Union funding to enable scientists from various African countries to come and help on the project. I was surprised to see their reaction to water when they came out with me to take samples. Many of them were terrified of it. Not just because of the dangers of animals such as crocodiles, but they were worried that by just touching the water they would contract a dreadful disease. It was hard work for them to overcome this fear and help me with my studies. Their reaction really drove home to me the value of the work that WaterAid is doing.

I'm suggesting a £2 (approx. $4 USD) donation for your visit. This is the usual minimum fee for gardens involved in the National Gardens Scheme in England and also reflects the equivalent amount of preparation I've made to open my garden to you over the web. My prize giveaways mentioned later - just to show what you missed - have finished, but I still have some seeds saved from mine and a couple of other bloggers gardens if you'd like some. See the sidebar on the right for more details and contact me via vegplotting at gmail dot com.

Note: The seed giveaway will be for UK and EU residents only (thanks to Sue Swift for confirming I can send seeds to EU residents) owing to the seed import restrictions applicable elsewhere. For example, I can't send seeds to the US unless you're registered with customs. I have risked it in the past and seeds have got usually got through to the recipient, but the postage costs are almost as much as my suggested minimum donation. In view of this I won't be sending seeds to the US.

Update 30/6/2009: Sing For Water continues! The first Sing For Water West took place last Saturday at Bristol Harbour, thanks to Chris and Ali, 2 of our choirmasters from last year, Chris' wife Lisa and a great team of volunteers. We were blessed with a hot sunny day and a large audience who came to hear 600 of us gathered from all over the south-west and Surrey. It was another fantastic day and you'll find links over to Veg Plotting about this year's event in the right sidebar.

Now, let's go and find the garden shall we?

Rehearsals Start - 3rd June 2008

Hmmm, I think I need to clean that out...

My regular choir's finished for the summer now, but I've joined another one that's formed temporarily to Sing for Water, raising money for WaterAid. There's about 70 voices drawn from several choirs across Wiltshire and we have just 6 weeks to learn 7 songs. In reality it's 3 weeks to learn them as the last 3 weeks will be polishing the songs to performance standard. We met in Trowbridge for the first rehearsal on Tuesday night - 2 songs down, 5 to go! There were 3 choir leaders there, so the way of learning the songs was quite different to what we've been used to as the different parts could be learnt pretty much at the same time instead of our usual in turn. Our local performance takes place on 8th July and we'll then be going to London in September for the big Sing for Water concert at The Thames Festival, where a choir of 1,000 voices will be performing.

We learnt a E Marabini, a South African song on Tuesday - with a really catchy, cheerful tune. However, the translated lyrics are quite sad:

What has happened with the Marabini dance. It has taken them away. We will look after this child because it indeed, has no parents.

The other song was called Talk to Me and consisted mainly of the women singing 'Talk to me' and the men going 'Dum dum dum dum' - sounds familiar eh?

BBC Radio Wiltshire was there and will be returning to record most of the rehearsals, plus hopefully the concert itself. Chris, our choir master was interviewed by them last week and said there are quite a few people who haven't sung before who will get to performance standard in the time we have - well that happened to me last year and it's happening right now to one of NAH's ex-colleagues who's joined the choir. The radio wants to see if Chris' claim comes true - so it feels a bit like one of those choir reality shows that's been on the telly recently. We had a lady dressed in pink waving a microphone in the middle of us all for 2 hours on Tuesday night - and she nearly ran me over in her radio car on the way in to where we're rehearsing!

The Practice CD

Half way through rehearsals having gone through each song at least once, we were given a practice CD containing all the songs. There's a track for each part for a song, plus one with all the parts combined. Some of the parts are also split (so we're singing eight part harmony instead of the usual 4-part), so for these songs you have to listen carefully for which speaker your allotted split part has been allocated to. It means lots of concentration is needed, even at home.

I have to sneak in my home practising as NAH doesn't like to hear me singing. Luckily, he goes swimming training in the morning on a regular basis, so I have a quick half an hour going through each song before he comes home. I have tried singing along in the car, but gave up after I was so busy singing on the way to rehearsals, I missed the turning to Trowbridge and went off to Warminster instead!

Focus on the Horizon - Ist July 2008

The 12 Apostles, Great Ocean Road, Victoria, Australia - December 2003 (11 since 2005, the first one's now rubble)

This piece was written as part of the monthly Garden Bloggers Muse Day - an optional meme held on the 1st day of the month, where bloggers offer a piece of prose or poetry appropriate to their thoughts or mood.

I'm a non-gardening muse today, but I'm sure that doesn't matter. I had initially toyed with presenting Pam Ayres' I Wish I'd Looked After My Teeth after a particularly bad tussle at the dentist's yesterday which is still painful. However, he's assured me that I do look after my teeth rather well, so it's not really appropriate.

Instead I've chosen a song for you today. It's one of the ones we'll be rehearsing tonight for next Tuesday's Sing for Water concert. Unfortunately this particular song hasn't been on the radio as part of our regular broadcasts, so I can't reveal the wonderful sound of it - yet. However, I love the words of this particular song. It's very simple and the writer (Roxanne Smith) has managed to re-create the impression of waves with the way she's woven the music around them. But I think the words speak for themselves too and also chime with the more philosophical muse I've been lately. Our recent holiday proved how by removing ourselves from everyday life for a while, the important things become much clearer - as in the song's 'focusing on the horizon'. Now we've been 'carried back to the shore', both NAH and I are much more at peace.

I need to gaze out beyond the sea
To focus on the horizon
Let the water lift me up
And carry me to the shore

Let the waves, carry me (gonna)
Let the water, carry me (carry me to the)

I need to gaze out
To focus
Let the water
Carry me to the shore

The Concert - 8th July 2008

Our weeks of hard work paid off on Tuesday night and we gave our all for the performance. I had an absolute blast and it seems to have gone down well, judging by the audience's reaction and the piece on yesterday's radio. The whole concert will be broadcast at some point - I'll let you know when that happens. Hopefully it'll include the set from our support act The Chausettes which included Chris and Ali, two of our choirmasters. Their finale Hit Me Baby One More Time had me in fits of giggles, especially when Chris was a Bass version of Britney Spears!

Like all good fundraising concerts we also had a very moving film about Wateraid's work and the following extract from Chris' e-mail to us all yesterday sums up what we've achieved so far:

You have every right to feel extremely proud of yourselves for last night. I knew it was going to be OK after our run through, but the performance exceeded all my expectations. You sounded fabulous, looked gorgeous and also seemed to have a good time too (the audience always pick up on that).

We also collected nearly £600 on the door and will almost certainly make £1,500 with the ticket receipts. Add this to the Bristol profits and we're looking at over £4,000 from the two concerts. If we hit the average minimum target of £50 a singer in sponsorship (and many of you have already raised more than that), we can add £10,000 to the money we've raised.

You can see from the film last night that that will have a significant impact.

You have made a difference.

Thank you.

Chris, Candy and Ali *

Now for the concert in London on the 14th September!

* = Our choirmasters

Rehearsing for London - 13th September

Tomorrow's the BIG day - the Sing for Water concert in London. So I found myself in Trowbridge at lunchtime for another rehearsal. A number of the songs will be sung quite differently in London - in a much simpler way. Apparently we were given a much more complicated mix for our concert in July to make the performance more interesting. However moving 800-1,000 singers across The Scoop in London (where we'll be performing) can't be done, so I'll be somewhere at the side of choir for tomorrow's performance and there I'll stay.

But our choir masters don't want us to rest on our laurels. So we had a completely new song to learn today, in an African language to boot. Luckily for us, most of the song (Obatala) is calling (i.e. a soloist or group singing the song's verse), and we just sing the response back. It's a catchy number, involving African drummers too. The tempo quickens as we go along, which was a little difficult to master at times, but we have a rehearsal in London at 9.30 am tomorrow to put the final polish on the song. That means we leave Corsham at 6.30 am, a time I previously didn't think existed on a Sunday. I'm grateful Corsham's the final pickup, the Trowbridge singers will be picked up at 6 am. :0

Flushed with Success - the London Concert

One of the more unusual volunteer opportunities WaterAid has on offer

I re-discovered a number of things I'd forgotten on Sunday (14th September) - getting up in the dark, the 5.30 am Shipping Forecast on Radio 4, mist laden fields and empty roads. They were all worth it for the experiences later on that day. Sing for Water forms part of the Thames Festival - an end of summer extravaganza held on the banks of the river. A heady mix of dance, world music, stalls on all sorts of watery themes and of course song. All of it free, except for the food and drink. It's really hard for me to adequately describe the day - except to say it was one of the best, ever. I hope the following pictures will give you a flavour.

1,000 people in rainbow coloured tops with nothing to do but sing our hearts out...

... to an audience of 1,500+, who gave us a standing ovation at the end...

... conducted by Michael and Roxanne (who wrote Focus on the Horizon), exaggerating every movement so we could all see what was wanted...

... right in the heart of London opposite where Zoe could see from her perch on the Epsom Downs...

... with some of you actually making donations over at my Open Garden whilst we were singing. Thank you so much! You've helped to exceed my second target of £750. Today (16th September 2008) the donations stand at £813. Shall we go for a third target of £1,000? Oh yes, I think so.

101 Bold and Beautiful Flowers

I originally reviewed this book over on Veg Plotting in June. James has kindly donated a signed copy of his book for the prize draw I'm having for those of you who have generously given a donation.

As a reader of Gardeners' World magazine, I always look forward to the We Love (insert current month) for.. feature, not only for the luscious pictures of must-have plants, but also to read the accompanying words of the 'master of the simile', James Alexander Sinclair (JAS).

Now Gardeners' World has branched out into the world of books, bringing out a series of (largeish) pocket guides for less than a fiver on the theme of 101. Thankfully these have nothing to do with the Orwellian room of doom and are much more useful, brimming with ideas for projects, pots, shady or problem places and growing to eat. JAS brings us the latest in the series, the pictured 101 Bold and Beautiful Flowers.

The book is divided into colour-themed sections, thus helping gardeners to easily match flowers into their current plantings, or to produce a whole border or garden from scratch. There are selections of choice bulbs and perennials and I'm glad to see annuals have not been left out of the equation - providing those welcome fillers whilst a garden develops or this year's fireworks highlight. Many of the plants will already be familiar to most gardeners, but the book's strength is to suggest a less well known variety - take the pictured front cover as an example. The usual Helenium on offer is 'Moerheim Beauty'. Nothing wrong with it, but it's in pretty well everyone's border. JAS suggests 'Rauchtopas' instead, describing its daisy shaped flowers as 'the reddish buff of burnt toffee, while the dark brown centre of each flower could be a chocolate-covered caramel rolo'. Doesn't that make you want to buy it right now (along with some accompanying chocolate perhaps)?

In this case you can judge a book by its cover - the standard of the photography throughout is high and the choice of plants throughout never fails to please. Flowering times and cultural notes are also provided, though I would have liked a one-liner summary at the bottom of each page (along the lines of what's seen on plant labels perhaps) to help with garden planning. They can be a little difficult to find at times amongst the sumptuous prose. That minor quibble to one side, it's a book to return to and I'll be using it to help replan some of my borders next year.

I'll leave you with a favourite description of mine - it's for Kniphofia 'Ice Queen'. Now I grew some of the usual Kniphofia from seed when I first had my garden, but ripped the whole lot out a couple of years later as they were an ugly mess for most of the year. I vowed Kniphofia would never darken my door ever again, but this had made me reconsider:

In the case of Kniphofia 'Ice Queen' you could call it Chic Poker. It may not roll off the tongue as easily, but instead of glowing harlot-scarlet flowers there are modish pokers wearing tasteful frocks of greenish-yellow, and the unsophisticated foliage is swapped for neater, spined leaves. It is a poker more likely to be found taking tea at musical salons than loafing around with disreputable sharks in basement billiard halls.

Jekka's Complete Herb Book

This review appeared in Veg Plotting as part of the pre-publicity for this blog.

Jekka McVicar is a national treasure in my view. A herb guru and record breaking multi-gold medal winner at Chelsea, whose nursery is one of the few certified as organic in this country. I met her at one of the open days held at her Herb Farm last year - luckily for me it's not that far from where I live. It was a fascinating day out- it was just before Chelsea, so we got a sneak preview of the plants being grown for her exhibition stand, plus her new seed range 'Reds Under the Beds' to be launched at the show. It's a colourful mix of saladings which we also got to sniff and taste. I also met her lovely cat called Borage - as in the herb pictured above. She personally chose for me the lemongrass plant I have in the garden, as she thought the one I'd picked up wasn't up to standard. She then told me to try wrapping salmon in its leaves before baking in the oven - delicious. So I was already a fan.

Now The Garden Monkey has also persuaded her to donate a signed copy of her latest book, Jekka's Complete Herb Book, for my open garden fundraiser, so her status is now national treasure squared in my view. It's a gorgeous book and Jekka uses the term 'herb' in its widest sense, covering medicinal, culinary and other uses. So plants like Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) and Betony (Stachys officinalis) have equal billing alongside the more familiar Mint and Thyme.

The bulk of the book is the A-Z of herbs (by botanic name, not common) and covers over 150 plants. You'll find plenty of history and folk-lore alongside the expected details on cultivation, harvesting and uses. There's recipes too - I've sneakily written down the one for lavender biscuits as I'm intrigued by it and also the instructions for pickling Nasturtium seeds as my plot is overrun with them this year. After the A-Z, there's a shorter, more general section covering propagation, planning a herb garden (including several designs), container growing, pests & diseases, harvesting, using herbs as natural dyes plus instructions for making herb oils, vinegars and preserves.

The text is clearly laid out whilst packing a lot of information into each page. The photographs are beautiful too. I think it's a perfect gift for a complete beginner or an expert and I think you'll be looking at a number of the plants in your garden with fresh eyes, OR finding somewhere to squeeze in 'just a few more herbs that'll come in handy' into your garden. As it's a book I'm going to find extremely hard to part with, I've decided you've got to make it worth my while. Therefore, it'll go to the person giving the highest donation to this blog. In the event of a tie, I'll draw the name out of a hat.

And if any of you are in the Alveston area on the weekend of 29-31 August, I'd recommend popping in to Jekka's Herb Farm as it's the last open weekend for this year - if not, she does do mail order too. See you there!

The Allotment Keeper's Handbook

This review first appeared in Veg Plotting on 4th September 2008.

It's been a rainy day here in Chippenham, so I've had a chance at last to catch up with some of my 'book log' (i.e. book back log). I always have a number of books on the go at one time, with a number forming an orderly queue behind them. Leaping over them all in an effortless bound today is Jane Perrone's The Allotment Keeper's Handbook. It forms part of my Open Garden prize book stash, so demands a review without further ado.

Peruse the gardening shelve(s) in any bookshop at the moment and the number of titles on the subject of food growing and allotmenteering has (pardon the pun) mushroomed in the last couple of years or so. This title is a relative newcomer (published last year) and came after the time I was in search of my own allotmenteering bible. However, I've been enjoying Jane Perrone's blog Horticultural since I started blogging, so I was delighted when The Garden Monkey persuaded her to part with a signed copy for me to give away sometime in the next few weeks.

Unlike most of the books in this genre, The Allotment Keeper's Handbook falls into the practical sized volume - neither coffee table glossy nor impossibly large. It feels like it should have the reassuring words Don't Panic written on the cover in the style of Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy. This is a book written from personal experience aimed at the beginner allotmenteer. It feels like you have that allotmenteering friend to show you the ropes right there in your hand - the friend I didn't have when I started my allotment 4 years ago.

This is a book that cuts right through the jargon, packing a lot of information, advice, anecdote and humour into a relatively small size. You won't find many photographs along the way, but that doesn't mean the book isn't useful. In fact it leaves the way clear to get the novice allotmenteer thoroughly started - from getting the right plot, cultivating it, right through to the final, satisfying harvest. There's also plenty of new information to keep relative old hands like me interested, such as the reputed use of carrots to attract nematodes away from the cucurbit family. This is the book to help you get your allotment licked into shape. Partner it with Joy Larckom's classic Grow Your Own Vegetables for more details on specific crops and you'll have the best help possible to get you started on your plot.

Sadly Jane has given up her allotment since writing this book. I wish her well in developing her new vegetable garden from scratch at her new home.

New Gardening - How to Garden in a Changing Climate

This review was posted at the end of March after I'd won this excellent book in another giveaway. Happily The Garden Monkey has again managed to persuade the author to part with a copy for this one - a signed copy this time. Since this review, I've learned that the book has been awarded Practical Gardening Book of the Year 2007 and Matthew Wilson has taken up a high profile new role (Head of Gardens Creative Development) in the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS).


I was lucky enough to be the first winner in The Garden Monkey's (GM) Big Bash Books a couple of weeks ago and bagged this one as my prize of choice. It caused quite a stir on its publication at the back end of last year and has been on my 'To Read List' ever since.

It sets out to redefine the RHS' best practice and its author Matthew Wilson, has been at the forefront of shaping this during his time as Harlow Carr's Curator. He looks at how we can garden in harmony with nature whilst reducing our impact on the environment. You may think he's preaching to the converted, but believe me there's plenty of gardeners out there who don't have this enlightened way of thinking if Chippenham's anything to go by. Sustainable it ain't.

The book starts with a look at climate and the soil, a refreshing starting point - these vital elements are often overlooked; then the themes of sustainability, wildlife gardening, and gardening in a drier climate are tackled. Trees, shade and container planting are looked at alongside planting styles, design and planting partners. Each chapter is broken down into a series of sumptuously photographed double page spreads, making it a highly 'dippable' book as well as one to read from cover to cover. This dippability was thoroughly put to the test by my blogging buddy Threadspider plus my SUP group (needlepoint and crafting friends) recently - the book and several of the projects are now on various 'To Read/Do Lists', including the log pile seat on mine and the rather nattily wood clad shed on another.

GM asked me a couple of weeks ago how I was enjoying the book. My initial reaction back then was it's a brave book for the stuffy old RHS to tackle. Having thought about it further (and finished the book), I believe it's exactly the kind of publication they should be doing. After all, their other books and website are often my first ports of call when I want to find out something. That's also why I use their website as a good source of links for my posts. Perhaps they're not so stuffy after all!

It's not a perfect book - there's concrete alongside rammed-earth raised beds and the planting lists aren't that extensive. However, I believe this makes the book much more approachable for anyone wanting to start to garden in this way who also needs a helping hand to begin. It covers a wide range of topics so I'm also sure there's something in there for all of us.