It’s certainly no secret that stored water levels across the UK are at their lowest for decades and a domestic ban on using hosepipes has recently been implemented - but what is less clear cut is what the beleaguered gardener can do about it!

And there’s no denying that the hosepipe in particular is a greedy garden serpent – this coiled water guzzler is capable of shifting 1000 litres an hour – but with some careful consideration and a few good water wise ideas from Harrod Horticultural, hanging up the hosepipe doesn’t have to result in a parched, desert-like garden.

Anglian Water spokesperson Antony Innes says: "Our region has had the driest 18 months for over 100 years, which is why a hosepipe ban was introduced for domestic customers recently.”

"Despite this ban, customers can still have a well-stocked and healthy-looking garden without having to rely on a hosepipe. By following some simple tips and loving every precious drop of the water we do have our gardens needn’t suffer this spring and summer."

So let’s start our watering odyssey with a few H20 saving ideas for thirsty grow bags and containers. Efficient watering can save litres and that’s certainly an accurate description for grow bag stalwarts the Growtube, Speed Feed and Big Drippa, all of which deliver water exactly where it’s required and stamp out wasteful spillages. Potted patio plants get a look in too with the Iriso Water Spikes and space age Idris Watering Device and if you’ve not tried self-watering systems like the Quadgrow (complete with Holiday Watering Kit) and Chilligrow before, then this summer could be the time to start.

Moving onto raised beds and the capillary matting legs (there’s 12) of the arachnid-like Aqua-Spyder creep over the soil surface delivering essential supplies of water to plants. Micro and drip irrigation kits loop across the bed dripping directly onto the soil and big brother version, the erstwhile low pressure Soaker Hose is ideal for economically watering larger open beds, borders and hedges.

Responsible gardeners will welcome the availability of water timers – set these simple devices to water in the early morning/late evening to avoid evaporation in the heat of the day – and win/win pressure reducers, designed to reduce water usage and cut bills.

Watering cans are in line for a comeback too and if carrying that precious liquid cargo by hand seems too much effort, think again! The stylish and perfectly balanced Haws watering cans are just the job and will make you feel like you’re ‘floating’ along, not transporting up to 8.8 litres of water!

And we can’t ignore arguably the ideal replacement for that hosepipe and garden tap combination, the water butt. Team up the range of butts supplied by Harrod Horticultural with the feisty water butt pump and you won’t miss the hosepipe at all; low pressure systems like the Soaker Hose will happily run off a butt supply and rain traps, linking kits and spare taps mean that you need never miss or waste a raindrop.

Lawns pose a trickier problem but implementing a spring care programme of scarifying, aerating and feeding will set the grass up for a summer battle with the sun - and you can find plenty more cultural tips on beating the ban on the water companies’ websites.

But before you start writing out your hosepipe ban-friendly shopping list, a word of caution - it’s important to state that you should check with your local water provider exactly what garden watering products they consider suitable for use during the ban.

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The Lowestoft-based family run business was searching for a suitable location in which to display their new in-house designed and manufactured range and the contrasting gardens of Hoveton Hall - situated just outside the 'Capital of the Broads' at Wroxham near Norwich and a popular tourist attraction – proved the ideal reference site. With some of the existing arches in the gardens of the Hall reaching their sell-by date, both parties were delighted to team up for their mutual benefit.

After liaising with Rachel Buxton, Hoveton’s Head of Marketing and Events and Head Gardener Stewart Wright, Harrod Horticultural’s installation team moved in to assemble examples of their Ogee Pergolas and Gothic Arch – along with a show stopping 10 metre long wire linked Gothic Arch - in the stunning surroundings of the Hall’s walled Old Kitchen Garden and Spider Garden, named after the distinctive, arachnid designed wrought iron entrance gate.

“The arches provided by Harrod Horticultural have enhanced the beauty of the formal gardens, providing a focal point to draw the eye and frame the walkways and borders. We are sure our visitors will appreciate them just as much as we do,” said Rachel, whose family has owned the Hall and gardens since 1946.

Also on display in the grounds of the early 19th century constructed hall are examples of Harrod Horticultural’s steel obelisk range. The pyramid, square steel and round steel designs were seamlessly introduced to the gardens with the latter in particular arriving right on cue to replace an existing, life expired design.

Staff at Hoveton Hall have also been so impressed with the build quality of the Superior Garden Structure range that additional obelisks, a Gothic Arch and a second Ogee Pergola have all been purchased and installed to further enhance the gardens.

Manufactured from pre-galvanised steel (treated inside and out), finished in a matt black powder coating and carrying a 10 year framework guarantee – not to mention the flush fitting connectors and black coated stainless steel fixings – the arches and obelisks are going to be on view at Hoveton Hall for years to come so if you're on holiday on the Broads this summer, we fully recommend you moor up at Wroxham and come and see the products – and gardens - for yourself.

Hoveton Hall gardens are open every day from April 1st this year (except Saturdays and Mondays) until mid September, with a number of special events taking place throughout the season. Full details can be found on the informative Hoveton Hall website, including a downloadable leaflet featuring opening times and admission charges.

The Hall itself is not open to the public.

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After all, it's not everyday you get the chance to win a quality 6ft Long Manger Planter and a 1m cubed (that's 1000 litres or 1 tonne) bag of Rolawn Vegetable and Fruit Topsoil to fill it - but by simply entering the competition on page 99 of the magazine (the entry coupon is actually on page 109), you could scoop one of the two top prizes!

And not only that; with the manger soil capacity calculated at 408 litres, you'll have nearly 600 litres of prime fruit and veg growing topsoil left over to pep up your veg patch, strawberries, fruit bushes and fruit trees!

You can also place your competition entry online and with two first prizes worth almost £300 to give away, what are you waiting for?!

Closing date for the Manger/Topsoil competition closing date is May 4th.

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In another coup for the Suffolk-based mail order company, Martin's article - entitled 'Thyme for some sage advice' - took pride of place on page 48 of the newspaper, following up on his piece concerning growing vegetables from seed back in March 2011.

Unfortunately, none of Martin's images - he's the company photographer and web copywriter here at Harrod HQ as well - were used to illustrate his words this time around but by following his handy herb advice (you can download Martin's article in the form of a PDF file), you could be enjoying freshly plucked leaves and seeds with every meal!

And don't forget, Master Composter Martin is also on hand to answer questions and queries in his composting role and as a member of our Ask the Expert panel - he's a handy man to know!

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And although most gardeners with even a little experience can spot the usual suspects on your plants, identifying those you’ve not seen before can prove rather tricky, as can deciding upon the best course of action. Here at Harrod Horticultural we’ve tried to make the whole question of garden pest control much easier – that’s why we’ve recently taken Julian Ives, a renowned pest trouble-shooter, on board to head up our ‘Natural Choice’ range of organic pest control products and help make the whole question of garden pest control that much easier to answer.

Julian’s certainly got the pedigree to be ‘labelled’ an expert; his horticultural career began at RHS Harlow Carr, before going on to Writtle Agricultural College to study commercial horticulture. On leaving college, Julian worked for a horticultural sundries supplier before joining Europe’s largest producer of beneficial insects for biological pest control. For over a decade he advised many different types of growers from tomato and strawberry to pot plant growers on how to best apply and use biological control whilst also reducing insecticide use. He knows what he’s talking about!

He’s also “delighted” to be part of our set-up and can’t wait to get stuck into those pest queries. “When Harrod Horticultural asked me to join their team to offer my advice on the ‘Natural Choice’ pest control range, I was delighted to be able to use the years of experience I have gained from studying pests and advising different types of growers,” says Julian. “Armed with beneficial insect habitats, nematodes, traps, barriers and natural sprays, it’s easier than you think to kill or deter garden critters without harming the environment. Not only is this range safe to wildlife, children and pets but it’s highly effective which takes away the typical gardeners’ struggles and frustrations.”

So how can you get in touch with Julian? We’ve made that easy too – just click on the image below, send him your pest-based questions and queries and enjoy a stress-free, pest-free year in the garden!

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It appears that our Padova Flat Flasks are ideally suited for playing a major role in keeping your carefully created concoctions as fresh as possible too!

Over to you, Jess...

Pickling Vinegar
When storing pickling vinegars it's hard to find any better vessel than the Padova Flat Flask. Vinegar is known as a highly acidic liquid and is very proficient at drawing flavours from many other type of materials. Glass is completely inert and impervious to the corrosive actions of vinegar.

When preparing pickling vinegar it is imperative that a quality vinegar is used. Cheap vinegars are in most cases very harsh with little flavour. This harshness will mask the delicate flavours imparted by the spices you will want to add.

There are five main varieties of vinegar that can be used for pickling:

Malt Vinegar – this old fashioned favourite is excellent for pickling onions and eggs and favours being spiced with mace, coriander, black peppercorns and allspice.

Red Wine Vinegar – idea for pickled red cabbage and beetroot. It likes to be coupled with the oriental spices of ginger, cinnamon and cloves.

White Wine Vinegar – best utilized for pickling fresh vegetables for example cauliflower, French beans and gherkins. The light spices of caraway, mustard seed, rosemary and thyme suit this vinegar.

Cider Vinegar – beloved of the pickled egg and the base for all those good fruit chutneys, this vinegar will go well with the sweet spices of cinnamon, cumin, cloves and coriander.

Distilled Vinegar – very harsh and colourless, it is used diluted to pickle eggs, gherkins and silver skin onions. Most spices and herbs will fuse with this vinegar as it has little taste of its own.

To produce a good pickling vinegar:
1. Put the vinegar that you prefer into a saucepan, preferably made of stainless steel. The saucepan must also have a lid.
2. Add 1 tablespoon of sea salt to every litre of vinegars, plus any herbs and spices you want. Usually a teaspoon per litre will be enough.
3. Bring the vinegar to boil, put the lid on the saucepan and simmer for five minutes.
4. Allow to chill and store in Padova Flat Flasks until use.
5. Before use reheat the vinegar if necessary. Different recipes may need the vinegar to be hot when poured onto the pickles.

And that’s generally it - simple! You can make your pickling vinegar and store it for very long periods of time in Padova Flat Flasks which also look very appealing on kitchen shelves.

The flavour will mature as it ages within the bottle. Home pickling is really easy and rewarding. There are tons of great websites with all sorts of interesting pickling recipes available so what are you waiting for, get pickling today!

The 2012 version took place on Thursday February 2nd at RHS Lawrence Hall, Greycoat Street in London's SW1 with our Harrod Horticultural team - exhibiting for the third year in succession - occupying stand H56.

And with the Lowestoft-based garden product supplier and manufacturer unveiling their new innovative Slot and Lock range of connectors and braces, the garden media made the Harrod stand their first port of call.

Not only did the Slot and Lock range - which attracted the attention of Gardener's World editor Adam Pasco and is guaranteed not to let aluminium tubing slip out or turn once secured in place - give the journalists plenty to write about but fellow debutants the Steel Pyramid and Round Column obelisks also had them scribbling frantically in their notepads.

Also proving popular were the associated Slot and Lock pea and bean support frames with Barbara Segall (Garden Media Guild Editor) showing a particular interest; so much so that she requested samples of the frames, Slot Together Compost Bin and universally acclaimed Micro Manger. Barbara intends to plant up the small but perfectly formed manger and feature the product in the Herb Society magazine
The eye-catching garden structures were complimented by the Beepol Bumble Bee Garden Hive and much awaited Wax Moth Kit, provided by Harrod pest control expert Julian Ives. With the weather favouring wax moths last year, many bumblee hives were lost and the introductioon of the simple, screw-on door kit should prevent wax moth adults from entering hives and wreaking havoc.

Other notable visitors to the Harrod Horticultural stand were Kitchen Garden editor Steve Ott, Chris Young (RHS The Garden Editor), Grow Your Own duo Sara Cork and Teresa Tudge, Stephanie Donaldson (Country Living and Blog writer), Evening Standard garden writer Pattie Barron and Harriet Lane Fox (Freelance and Daily Telegraph). Special thanks must go to the Daily Telegraph's Helen Yemm as she kindly suggested instruction and packing improvements after recently trialing one of the manger planters..

The task of pulling the Harrod Horticultural display together went to company marketing assistant Victoria Myhill and she explained just how important the show is to the mail order business.

“The Garden Press Event marks the beginning of the show calendar for Harrod Horticultural and gives us an invaluable opportunity to show key garden writers the new products we have been working hard to bring to fruition.

"Many of the writers will have visited our Kitchen Garden Press Day last summer to feedback on product prototype ideas and contribute to the design process and seeing the products in full production demonstrates fully how much we appreciate their comments.

"The time spent at the show with journalists on a one-to-one basis is a seasonal highlight for us and meeting face to face to demonstrate the key selling points of a product is something no other show offers the opportunity to do,” said Victoria.

The Garden Press Event is an ideal opportunity to highlight your plants, products and range early in the season and network directly with the leading writers from the National and Trade Press, Garden and Home Interest Magazines and TV and Radio Garden Broadcasters.

The event also raises funds for Greenfingers, a national charity dedicated to creating magical gardens for children’s hospices around the UK.

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October 13th is the date with the newly designed and planted Harrod Horticultural Folly Garden the plush venue for the autumnal Press Day, with prominent garden mag editors and writers enjoying a largely home-grown lunch, a tour around the Kitchen Garden and a talk from RHS Hampton Court Edible Garden co-designer Anita Foy.

And that's all in addition to the business part of the day as Harrod Horticultural New Product Designer Alex Rocke and MD Stephanie Harrod unveil some of the new products the company have spent the summer developing, giving the journalists a real sneak preview of what's to come from the mail order gardening outfit in 2012.

With an impressive guest list - Julia Heaton from Amateur Gardening, the RHS The Garden duo of Chris Young and Daren Davis, Garden Answers' Greg Siggs, Jackie Whittaker of Garden News, Paul Wagland and Liz Dobbs (both More From Your Garden) and Garden Media Guild members Jeannie McAndrew and John Negus, along with John's PA Maureen Hunter - and an equally attractive line-up of new products including the tomato growhouse, new versions of the popular Manger Raised Planters, examples of the new Slot and Lock aluminium tubing connectors and braces, prototype arbours and much more, the day promises to be the usual resounding success.

So which composter should I choose? I can help with that decision up to a point, as I've road-tested quite a few models at our own Kitchen Garden and have knowledge of other versions through my Master Composter activities. But there's one I haven't managed to lay my compost hands on just yet, and that's the wonderfully named Green Johanna.

Dubbed as a 'hot composter' and apparently capable of decomposing usual composting no-no's such as meat, fish and dairy products, the Swedish-made Green Johanna has aroused interest from fellow Master Composters. Just how does it cope with cooked food and bones; are there problems with rodents and how long does it take to produce usable compost are just a few of the questions being aired around the country.

So what I'm really appealing for is for a composter out there with experience of the Green Johanna to tell the rest of us what it's really like? To inform us of any rodent interest; to enlighten us if it does actually digest bones, meat and fish, and to avail us of the quality of compost it produces.

Simply contact me and I'll let the world - ok, anyone who tunes into this blog - know if the Green Johanna deserves a place in the composting Olympics!

The autumn is a wonderful season to be a gardener. There's a kitchen table-full of fruit and vegetables to harvest, the colours are astounding and the pests and diseases are dying out. It's time to plant winter greens, onions and garlic and your head's full of grandiose schemes and plans for next year.


But there's also the leaves! This subject splits gardeners into two distinct groups - the clear-it-up-as-it-drops-platoon and the-leave-it-to-nature dudes! Collecting fallen leaves keeps the garden looking spotless and also removes potential slug egg-laying sites. The downside? Just as you’ve finished raking one area, the chances are the wind will blow and you’ll need to start again. But don’t see this repetitive work as a chore, because the hard work that goes into collecting these leaves will eventually pay off.

Alternatively, the let 'em rot philosophy follows nature's law to the letter and the fallen leaves will eventually break down where they lay and replenish the soil in a wonderful cycle. But are there other places in the garden more deserving of this natural fertiliser?

Both parties are agreed on one thing. Leaf mould - however and wherever it is made - is beneficial to the garden. Why?

* Easy to make and use
* It's a great alternative to peat
* When used as a mulch it cuts down on watering and water loss
* Can be used on the lawn as a conditioner
* Suitable for adding to potting compost
* And it's free!

Making this valuable mould could not be easier! Just collect up the fallen leaves (all types are suitable), add to a suitable container - a compost bin fits the bill - and water if dry, then leave them for a year or two. There's no quick fix composting aids you can use to speed up the process as it's the action of fungi, as opposed to the composting mainstays of bacteria and micro-organisms, which break down the leaves to form mould. And the fungi like to take things slowly!

Anything else you should know? Chopping or shredding the leaves will help speed up the process slightly (running a mower with grassbox attached over leaves on the lawn is favourite) and it's best to leave some leaves - they provide valuable hiberation sites and bedding for garden animals.

The root aphid, as the name suggests, feeds on the roots of various greenhouse, house and outdoor plants - resulting in grow checks and wilting. Thankfully, some species of aphids have alternative host plants and only attack plant roots during one part of their cycle, but there are others - the artichoke tuber aphid, for example - which live on the roots permanently.

Lettuces are specifically at risk and enjoy the distinction of having an aphid species named after them - the lettuce root aphid, which is also a good example of the alternate host syndrome, as the pests overwinter on poplars before migrating to lettuces and sowthistles (the importance of weeding cannot be understated!) in the summer.

Control of the white or light-coloured root aphid follows the same lines as the above-ground pests, when identifying and removing the aphids as early as possible pays dividends. Regular checks of plants will reveal the first intruders, which can be removed by hand, by spraying with a soap/fatty acid based organic pest control spray or by blasting into blivion with a jet of water. Vigilant checking of the roots of brought in pot or plug plants before planting or re-potting can also expose stowaways, which can then be removed in the same fashion.

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I find a tub trug is my ideal right hand man for most garden tasks. It can be filled with weeds; it's great for harvesting; you can use it as a temporary home for slugs, snails and other pests you might discover whilst down on your hands and knees and it's also ideal for transporting compost around. We've even introduced colour-coded tub trugs to the Kitchen Garden - green for any compostable material collected during the rounds, and bright red for anything you don't want to end up in the heap!

It's not only in the garden that the tub trug is a great help. I know of friends who use one to carry logs, I've seen one helping to take out the washing and the equestrian set swear by them!

Harrod Horticultural stock a large selection of all the colours and sizes available, so if you haven't already got a tub trug in your garden, pick one up today - you'll wonder how you managed without!

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The main topic of conversation across allotments and gardens this summer is the atrocious weather; atrocious for us maybe, but slugs and sails are revelling in the damp, warm conditions and their numbers seem to be as high as ever. And if our Kitchen Garden is a typical example, then plants in gardens across the country are suffering at the slimy 'hands' of these voracious molluscs!

Of course, there are multitude of products available to trap, catch and deter both slugs and snails - some organic, some not quite so friendly to the environment and other organisms - but the best control measures all occur naturally.

That's why we were delighted to find this little fellow (right) during a recent photoshoot at the garden. Bufo, as we've named him, is a common toad and a very welcome addition to the Kitchen Garden team. We discovered him in a pile of leaf litter and have since re-housed him in a carefully cracked clay pot, with a far more attractive Toad in the Hole - a real toad abode with style - in the pipeline.

Bufo wouldn't be your first choice dinner date though, as his peculiar tastes include insects, larvae, spiders, slugs and worms. We're hoping that he'll enjoy making inroads on the slug population and possibly bring along some friends for tucker any time he likes!

Of course, we'll continue to apply nematodes, test out other organic slug and snail barriers and traps and diligently pick off the pesky pests at every opportunity, but it's good to know there's a hungry Bufo dining al fresco every night too!

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Other grow-your-owners will know that the taste of home grown produce - in raw, cooked or preserved form – is eminently superior to supermarket vegetables and is this fact that gets me excited when I’m making chutneys and sauces.

I know that when I serve up a dish garnished with a tangy, tasty, home grown and homemade sauce or place a selection of cheeses, bread and Stephanie’s Kitchen Garden-based chutney in front of friends and relatives, their taste buds are in for a treat – and I’m happy to confess that I’ve had a big hand in introducing the stunning Kilner Jars, jam, preserves and chutney making kit and – my personal favourite – the Rigamonti Passa Pomodori Passata Machine to our range – and an even bigger hand in ‘testing’ them out!

In the same way the apple presses deal with gluts of fruit and windfalls, the passata tomato press will turn excess fruit into a delicious, smooth, rich tomato sauce, removing the skin and seed in the process.

Making my renowned sauces is all well and good, but they’ll be ‘legendary’ for entirely the wrong reasons if I don’t store them properly. That’s why I’m such a big fan of the best jars money can buy – the Kilner Jars! These handsome jars are certainly tried and tested – they’ve been around for over 150 years – and the screw-top lids of the preserve jars feature a rubber seal to keep my chutney, pickles and preserves as fresh as the day I bottled them. The clip top jars are the real deal and you can keep yourself in chutney throughout the winter months with the 3 litre version and storing rice, pasta (back on that sauce again!) and lentils couldn’t be easier.

Yes, the weather is starting to close in and my gardening time is slowly being curtailed but when I’ve got my kitchen activities to fall back on, it somewhat softens the blow!

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Alyson is planning to expand her hard-won vegetable plot and is looking for some advice on how to combat this three-pronged attack. Should she go for a fruit cage to cover the whole area, net individual beds or fence off the entire area? Luckily, our experienced horticulturist and photographer Martin Fiddes is on hand to answer these and many other gardening questions - here's his advice...

I think you’ve already identified that the road to tidying your garden forks in two directions, and the first way sees a fruit cage covering the entire area giving you the freedom to work inside with the crops safe from rabbits and birds. This is likely to be the most costly solution and doesn’t solve the weed problem but does offer you a completely protected environment in which to grow, with possibly only any brassicas plants requiring extra netted protection from cabbage white butterflies. If you’d like us to quote for a cage to cover the area, have a measure up, drop us the dimensions and we’ll give you an idea of price.

And that’s about it! In summary, I’ve suggested two alternative solutions which you can take away and see which best fit your location and budget. No doubt you’ll have a few further questions which spring to mind and please don’t hesitate to contact me with them; I’ll do my best to provide you with answers and ideas!

Many thanks once again for your enquiry and the best of luck with what sounds like a fascinating project in an idyllic spot!

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