Mandy's Blog – Who is Gloria?

So many things in my garden have been inspired by Gloria

You will have seen Gloria’s Gardening Tips and I bet you wonder who Gloria is? No, she is not a figment of my imagination but a real live Gloria! I met Gloria because she was one of my students and at one time my Son, Harry, worked for her as a Gardener. She is now a very good family friend whose talented and passionate for her garden is the source of envy and inspiration in equal measure! I genuinely think she eats (quite literally in some cases), breaths and lives her garden and I listen intently to her tips some of which I have now persuaded her to share with you.

She is full of garden magic here are just some of the things she has inspired me to do:

• The pile of old bricks in my garden now waiting to be transformed into an extension is all her doing.

• I filled an old trough with bedding and sweet peas, they are growing up the back.

• She told me to pinch tips out of my cosmos and now they are thick and busy.

• The old galvanised tin bath on top of the bricks has bush toms and yet more bedding but also more sweet peas, Gloria says they will tumble down over the bricks. I cannot wait!

Must dead head those calendula before Gloria spies them!

But my favourite tip of this summer that I have used all over the garden since spring was her suggestion to fill pots with bedding and then when you have a gap in your borders you can fill it in with your pots for instant colour, it helps with slug problems as well.

We will continue to share Gloria’s tips with the Secret Society over this following year, I do hope you get as much inspiration from them as I do.