The Gardening Mind

Hello, and finally, I’ve been out once more, Digging Around with garden-y Substack writers. First though, if you’re new to The Gardening Mind, welcome. There’s all sorts going on here in this gardening community.

Illustration: Anna Lena Feunekes for The Gardening Mind Happy 1st August, and I’m imagining that you might well have had another steamy week. Here, it continues to be hot, the grass is yellow, and we have to be ok with that. The green WILL come back.

Thank you so much for your amazing reaction to this week’s news - it’s so good to know that many about-to-be students are already members of The Gardening Mind. Finally, I’m able to tell you the news that I’ve been having to keep quiet for months. And my goodness, has it been a hard one to keep quiet about. As you know, I love teaching.

Finally, I’m able to tell you the news that I’ve been having keep quiet for months. And my goodness, has it been a hard one to keep quiet about. As you know, I love teaching. I started off teaching after university, and it’s something I’ve always been totally passionate about - in fact, I’ve devoted the whole of this Substack to sharing everything I’ve learned about gardening.

Memories of long hot summers always seem sepia-tinted, however long ago they were. Even summers of a few years ago seem as distant as the summer in The Go-Between, The Great Gatsby, Atonement and The Enchanted April. During those distant faraway summers, there was nothing like the excitement of the summer specials, those fun-filled, jam-packed, chunky editions of your favourite comic which would appear at the local newsagents.

You may be new to The Gardening Mind, in which case, thank you ever so much for joining this lovely community, now entering its fifth year here on Substack. It exists purely due to the support of its readers - thank you. There’s a lot here - have a scroll, check out the home page, join in the Chat…… I hope you enjoy! You will find THE FRIENDLIEST gardening community here, I promise.

PHEW. Building a garden in a heatwave is no easy task, especially when your main nursery supplier sends you some pretty dire plants and you have to spend three days driving round the Cotswolds looking for a couple of hundred show-quality specimens. But we did it! And also, the Cotswolds are a pretty lovely place to have to drive around. So no complaints here.

Hello! It’s the eve of the RHS Badminton Flower Show and I’m sending this from a very hot and very gorgeous showground at the Badminton Estate. There are still tickets available and I can’t begin to say how lovely the show is - some amazing gardens and some FABULOUS stalls with lots of plants and all things garden-related to buy. Tickets are available here. It’s been a wonderful week, started off by the news that as well as being no.2 in the global Home & Garden section, The Gardening Mind is no.

I’m here at Badminton and we have the most wonderful team - including Gardening Mind volunteers! - who are helping to create this garden. Substack, you’re now helping create an RHS Flower Show garden!! (Warning: there are A LOT of exclamation marks in this article as I’m just so excited. Remember when we were told not to use them as it made you sound too happy and enthusiastic?

I’m off to do something very exciting - more about this on Saturday, but before leaving, I’ve done my usual 6am prowl around the garden to see what’s going on, and I couldn’t set off without telling you about this beauty which is currently in seventh heaven here. None of the plants in my garden get any water, apart from some in pots. This plant, though, thrives on neglect - it’s put up with the wettest of winters, and now it’s putting up with the hottest of summers.