THE MODERN MINT BLOG
National Nurseries Week
From May 1st – May 7th we will be supporting Britain’s specialist nurseries. Why? Because it is National Nurseries Week! …
Val Bourne’s 5 Golden Rules of Planting
For those of you who missed the Gardens Illustrated piece, here are five pieces of advice by ‘Natural Gardener’ Val Bourne. You can’t go far wrong if you stay close to these… 1) Plant diversely and densely – using trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, ferns, bulbs and grasses. 2) Have flowers throughout the year – particularly early on, to help sustain bumble and solitary bees. 3) Only grow what suits your soil and enhances your setting. 4) Only grow plants that are worth a place in your garden. 5) Put your plants in the right place – this basic approach helps avoid disease. The …
Chelsea Fringe – “You Should Have Seen It Last Week…”
Modern Mint are running a project for the Chelsea Fringe. The project is called “You Should Have Seen It Last Week…” a phrase you will often hear a gardener say when they show someone around their garden. It seems wherever you go, the garden always had less weeds and more flowers back then…! What is the Chelsea Fringe? If the Chelsea flower show is the spectacular, trendy, stunning starlet of the horticultural world, the Chelsea fringe is the anarchic, homemade, anything goes fun lover that won’t be home until dawn. Now in its 3rd year, it is a platform …
Jump Over The Moon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlwoh4uliAI The video features Monty Don visiting different gardens in South Africa. If you watch a short section from 26-30 minutes you will see him with a man named Donovan, who has a garden called L’il Eden in Cape Town. “I see myself as an artist…” Donovan says, “… I come to my garden, I experiment, I play around with the rocks… it’s always changing.” The garden is also used to run a project introducing children to the pleasures of gardening. Donovan has a very clear idea of what his garden does for people, and what his role is to the …