Veg Plotting

First thought: Perhaps only a gardener knows the value of a heart shaped potato for Valentine's Day 😉 Second thought: Crikey! I didn't know I was that wrinkly! 👀 Third thought: Reader, we ate it 😜

Yesterday's gardening section in The Telegraph was HUGE! I had a little slot in there thanks to my friend Naomi . Sadly the weather forecast is against most of the tasks mentioned, though today's weather looks generally OK for a spot of raised bed making or plot mulching*, and there's plenty of opportunity for sowing seeds indoors**. It was so relaxing (and less painful currently) to do this over the phone rather than bashing it out on the computer. Thanks to Naomi who did the latter as well as our call. There are lots more hints and tips here  -  not just from me - with some that are doable whatever the weather. Note that the full online version is only available to subscribers. As NAH says, now I've got to get on with it myself. What are your garden projects this weekend? * = unless you have a broken wrist ** = which I will be doing... gingerly!

I was really happy when Barbara gave me an unusual looking Pilea peperomiodes aka Chinese Money Plant last summer. Little did I know then just how cool and trendy they are, being at the forefront of the houseplant revival. They even have a dedicated Pilea Lovers page on Instagram with over 21,000 Followers - it's not often you'll find me amongst the hipsters! I nearly wrote an article on my new treasure back then, but Jane beat me to it with a far more comprehensive guide than I could have managed with loads of links to further information. Jack's written a great blog post on how to divide them too. When I noticed my plant wasn't looking quite as happy as it should as you can see above photo, I knew just the right people to consult on Twitter, along with Andrew who's acquired quite a houseplant collection recently. From their replies it's clear I am a perfect example of how not to look after a Pilea as follows: Place it on your sunniest wind...

My third visit to a recording of Gardeners' Question Time  last week didn't disappoint. Eric Robson was in the chair (hurrah!), with Matthew Biggs, Anne Swithinbank and Chris Beardshaw ready to answer our questions. I went on my own this time, but that didn't matter as there were plenty of people to chat to during coffee beforehand and whilst we took our seats. I met a mother and daughter celebrating their birthdays that day, plus I sat next to a couple who were at the same recording I went to three years ago. All manner of plants and photographs were clutched by prospective questioners, all hoping to be called down to the front row of seats reserved for those chosen to pose their query. Producer Dan reassured everyone,  'If you're not chosen, it doesn't mean you're a bad gardener'. Our powers of clapping were tested, and a few gardening jokes told to make sure we were in good humour, whilst Hester posed with her enormous recording boom, and Pet...

The Erigeron steps of envy   plus must-have Papaver glaucum at Great Dixter , late June 2016  There's a pivotal scene in Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps , when the hard pressed hero Richard Hannay asks the theatre act Mr Memory ... "What is the secret of the 39 Steps?" A similar question has teased me ever since I read Christopher Lloyd's Succession Planting for Adventurous Gardeners 12 years ago... "What is the secret of the Erigeron steps?" They look artfully effortless don't they? And I'm sure the gardeners at Great Dixter have to do quite a lot of editing for their Erigeron steps to look so ravishing. Christopher Lloyd's book was my "lightbulb" moment, when suddenly this gardening lark made sense. It was a picture of those steps in particular which inspired me and became a must-have for the garden. To achieve that aim hasn't proved quite as easy as I'd imagined. I've sown plenty of seed and planted ...

Spot the difference: English bluebell to the left and Spanish on the right One of the surprise finds on my daily walk this month are the ribbons of English bluebells threading their way through the remains of the old hedgerows on our estate. They're a joy to behold and I'd say we're currently at peak bluebell in this corner of the world. Their presence has spurred me on to grub out the remaining Spanish bluebells I accidentally planted a few years ago. The packet was labelled as English, but as you can see from the above picture on the right they're clearly not. My friend Helen posted on her Facebook page a few days ago urging her friends to take out any Spanish bluebells they find. Most people agreed, but someone said "Why? They're pretty!" She has a point, though I'd say the delicacy of the English ones makes them much more beautiful, especially when viewed en masse in an ancient wood. Their heavenly scent and resemblance to a lake amongs...

How did you get on matching the flowers, fruit and vegetables to their respective plant Families? I hope you had some fun whilst doing so. The answers are: Amaryllidaceae - snowdrop and onion Apiaceae - Eryngium and parsnip Asteraceae - dahlia and lettuce Fabaceae - lupin and pea Polygonaceae - Persicaria and rhubarb Rosaceae - hawthorn and strawberry Which pairing surprised you the most? Well done if you spotted that by putting the pictures into alphabetical order, I'd given you three of the pairs already.

I've had a lot of fun putting together the latest edition of Puzzle Corner.  Can you match the flowers and fruit/vegetables with their plant kingdom Families? There is a flower and fruit/vegetable for each one. The Families are: Amaryllidaceae Apiaceae Asteraceae Fabaceae Polygonaceae Rosaceae I think - like me - you'll be surprised how some of these pair up with their families. I hope you enjoy this fun quiz and I'll give you the answers next week .

Today's Shows of Hands is courtesy of Andy Winfield who kindly emailed me this picture from the University of Bristol Botanic Garden . He says: "The plant is Osteospermum jucundum in our South African display and the hands belong to various staff and volunteers. I wanted the hands to form a circle around the flowers but with the age of some of the volunteers it would have meant them moving into positions they hadn't taken up for some years (their words not mine)." I did ponder adding this photo to Monday's Puzzle Corner Special , but I loved the smiley face on one of the hands and I felt this might get lost in a smaller photo. Thanks for a great shot Andy! I also owe Andy an apology. In my previous post  about visiting the garden, I promoted him to the position of Head Gardener. His actual job title in my view is equally grand: Botanical Horticulturalist. Oops - he was subjected to a great deal of teasing as a result of my error, sorry! Andy says he...

Thanks to everyone who's contributed to Shows of Hands so far - plenty's been happening via blogs, Twitter and email :) Naturally quite a few of the pictures submitted involve plants, so I've put some of them into a fun picture ID Puzzle Corner special. There's just 5 plants and flowers for you to name. For pictures 1 to 4, I'd like the latin name please and there's a bonus point for each of the cultivar* names for pictures 2-4. Picture 5 is a pesky usurper weed amongst the lavender, so there's a point for its common name and a bonus 2 points for the latin. That makes a maximum 10 points available and I'll put up a link to the answers at the end of the week. * = I've checked the RHS Plant Finder and it looks like they are all cultivars (propagated by cuttings rather than seed) as this part of their names is in quotes and isn't italicised ( this article nicely summarises the nomenclature and cultivation differences). My thanks to @A...

Here's the solution to the Gardener's Word Grid I published I last week. How did you do? The link takes you to the original cryptic puzzle, if you missed it the first time round and fancy having a go. There are more puzzles to come, once I've devised them!

Click on the picture to enlarge to a readable size and to print off for your own use :) The bumper Radio Times  cryptic crossword is a Christmas favourite here at VP Gardens , so perhaps it was no surprise my brain started devising some garden-related clues of its own. I then had a lot of fun trying to arrange them into some kind of grid, falling just short of the classic symmetry of a full-blown crossword. I hope you enjoy completing this as much as I did devising it. I'll publish the solution next week . A few days after putting this together, I learnt it's the crossword's centenary. This knowledge, combined with my endeavours meant I simply had to buy a copy of John Halpern's The Centenary of the Crossword . It's perfect reading for puzzle lovers :) Further puzzles will appear on Veg Plotting from time to time. In the meantime, there's my Garden Finder Wordsearch and Garden Scramble to have a go at, if you missed them previously.

Here's a quick extra post for the week because I love this discovery from yesterday's Guardian . I'm particularly delighted to see Denmark's translation of  "garden" is haven and the potential for us to drink sodas in Lithuania. You can take the link to the original article see how the word 'cat' translates across Europe and to have a play with the map yourself. There are also some FYI links on there which my Print Screen version hasn't captured.

Here's another fun puzzle I've put together to help while away the winter blues.  Note that I've had to omit the spaces in the Wordsearch, otherwise they show up in the puzzle. Like my Garden Scramble   puzzle, I've visited all these gardens but I might not have blogged about them... yet. If you need to use a pencil and paper to solve this, you're welcome to print off this post. If you fancy making your own Garden Finder or other wordsearch, here's the website I used for mine. If anyone knows of a wordsearch generator which also puts them on the diagonals, let me know in the comments below. NB Ignore the time on the puzzle, that was how long it took me to get a Print Screen. You have as much time as you need to find the gardens, not 11 seconds! Next up is a cryptic word grid puzzle in a couple of weeks time...

I thought it would be fun to devise a quiz for Christmas... ...can you unscramble the anagrams to find the hidden gardens? The photos are further clues but aren't necessarily presented in the same order. All the gardens are found in the UK or Ireland and I've visited them all, but I may not have blogged about them. Back lace boy (6,5) O! He must run (5,5) Half edit shoe (8,5) *  Err yet warp (10) Hop to curt man (7,5) Rob nets wit (10) New dates (4,4) Axed gritter (5,6) Roy earns my talc (5,4,5) * = Wellyman has helpfully pointed out you need to add a 'u' to this anagram to find the solution. He suggests Leafiest doh uh (or perhaps Uh! Leafiest doh) for the full anagram experience. My apologies. I've put the solution here , ready for you to check your answers. How many did you get before you had a sneaky peek? Update: Tuckshop Gardener has a fun Christmas-themed garden quiz if you fancy another stretch of your 'leetle grey cells...

Our GQT panel: Matthew Biggs, Christine Walkden and Matthew Wilson A couple of Monday's ago, I had the hottest ticket in the county when Gardeners' Question Time came to record at the Wiltshire Music Centre in Bradford on Avon. A quick exchange of tweets a couple of months ago meant I was there in the super company of Cally and Sara (of #britishflowers fame), thanks to Cally securing the tickets for us. We met up beforehand at a local farm shop for coffee and cake to keep us going - doors opened at 5.30pm and recording finished just after 8.30. We puzzled over our individual questions, before gaining all round approval of their worthiness then agreeing that all of them were far too long and we stood no chance of posing them to the panel. Thus we took our seats at the top of the auditorium safe in the knowledge we could sit back, relax and enjoy the show. How wrong we were. Eric Robson called out my name, followed swiftly by Sara's, so we had to make our way do...

It's Red Nose Day... with a tomato! We break from our traditional Garden Bloggers' Blooms Day broadcast to bring you some salad based humour in honour of today's Red Nose Day in aid of Comic Relief... For starters, how about a quick round of an alternative  Gardeners' Question Time ? Q Why did the tomato turn red? A Because it saw the salad dressing  Q : What is small, red and whispers? A : A hoarse radish Q :  Why did the tomato go out with a prune? A :  Because he couldn't find a date And then there's... Knock, Knock Who's there? Lettuce Lettuce who? Lettuce in and you'll find out. A man walks into the doctor's office with a banana stuck in one of his ears, a head of lettuce in the other ear, and a carrot stuck in one nostril. The man says, "Doctor, this is terrible. What's wrong with me?" The doctor says, "Well, first of all, you need to eat more sensibly." BOOM BOOM! And finally - a h...

February can be quite a hard month for blogging, so it's great to see Shirl's had her thinking cap on and come up with a couple of great ideas for us to have some fun :) We've had lots of bloggity laughs in the past, thanks to Shirl, which she's reminisced about as well as then going on to outline her latest ideas. Today's post is to share 5 questions. These can be answering them or posing them, or a mixture of both. It's an easy theme to adapt to suit one's own purpose. Previously on Veg Plotting  I've had a lot of fun writing some spoof Gardeners' Question Time  posts based on googled search terms which have hit my blog. Once again this is my starting point - using some of the top search terms from yesterday. James Wong wearing wellies pics bought a smile to my face. Sadly I can't oblige, but I'll look out for an opportunity to do so at The Edible Garden Show next month. I also had Gardeners' Question Time Chris Beardsha...

Regular Veg Plotting readers know I'm rather partial to a bunch of Cornish daffodils at this time of the year. I find January and February really hard going, so they're one of the ways I ensure there's some sunshine around no matter what the weather's doing outside. I've been uneasy about the daffodils for sale nowadays as they're displayed in boxes rather than the vases of water they'd been in previously. The shops concerned have tried to reassure me everything's OK, but I've had my doubts a) because the flowers don't seem to last as long in the vase as they used to and b) the flowers on sale quite often are showing a touch of yellow, rather than remaining tightly in bud. One of the great things that's happened since the flower farmer day 2 weeks ago, is they're having a regular forum on Monday evenings between 8 and 9pm on Twitter. I'll miss most of these as I'm at choir, but this week I was able to join in: Question...