Susie Vereker - One Thing I've Learnt

A few things I've learnt about gardening.






It's difficult keeping up a garden in England if you're an
expat and I made several mistakes in the beginning when I was young and
green. For instance, initially I didn't realise ground elder was a weed
and let it rampage.  In the TV gardening programmes the presenter often
starts with a bare plot (with amazingly good soil) but in real life it's often
a question of trying to get to grips with a wild old garden. Seek early advice
from an experienced gardener and if in doubt, rip out.




A few more tips. Spend money on keeping large hedges under
control from the beginning (we didn’t).  Crucial:
right plant, right place. No point in buying delicate plants that hate chalk if
you live in a chalky frost pocket. If you don’t know what will thrive, look at
your neighbour’s garden. 




Last vital piece of advice: never, ever plant arum italicum,
however pretty its leaves, & even if you see it in the smartest garden
centre.  Its tiny bulbs spread like triffids.  You think you’ve burnt it, but next year up it
comes, all around the bonfire, all over everywhere.






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