Free gardening event at Wisley

I popped into the RHS garden centre at Wisley, Surrey on Saturday and noticed a flier for a free Royal Horticultural Society event on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th June. 

Adrian Bloom who is an author, plantsman and  many times gold medal winner at Chelsea will be giving talks and signing copies of his new book, Bloom's Best Perennials and Grasses at 1.30 pm and 3 pm on both days. The talk is Take 12 Plants - the key to a successful garden. Worth combining with a browse round the garden centre - or even better a whole day at Wisley Gardens.

While I was browsing for plants, I overheard a husband and wife conversation which amused me. Husband spotted a plant and declared passionately "I love these. Let's get one!"

She replied, very testily, "How many times do I have to tell you that's not right for the theme."

He shrugged his shoulders, looked very peeved and said "I don't understand the bloody theme anyway."

"I've told you it's Seaside garden and that plant is English Country Garden. How many more times..?"

I wouldn't be bothering to save up for the Silver wedding  present! 

It  made me feel a bit sad for the way so many TV gardening programmes have made many people think it's all about rules and sticking to a rigid design. For me one of the beauties of gardening is the way the garden evolves in its own way over time. And it's always a shame when real passion for a plant gets subjugated to the desire to conform to a pre-ordained plan (assuming of course the soil and conditions are right for it).

Clare F

Roses for grown ups

When I was a little girl, I used to collect enormous quantities of rose petals – very often from the large and healthy rose collection in our front garden (Mum and Dad must have been really impressed by my enterprise) – and then mash them into water-filled jam jars.

As every little girl knows, this is how you make perfume.

My Mum even put up with me dabbing brown slimy liquid behind her ears, telling me just how lovely my latest concoction smelled. I guess I was just too young to appreciate that extracting the true essence of rose from petals was the job of a specialist and that I simply didn’t have the tools or know-how for the job.

Thankfully these days you can buy herb and floral essences direct from specialists and by-pass the whole messy business of scent extracting and instead concentrate on making products that will nourish your skin, protect you from over-dependence on commercial chemicals and save you a serious amount of money.

Making your own skincare and cosmetic products is a bit like having a go at cooking great food – by following simple recipes, you can make stuff that’s literally good enough to eat.

We love trying new things at makeitandmendit.com and from the simplest oil & salt rubs (fantastic hand and foot therapy to rub in a few drops of olive oil with some good quality sea salt) to more complex blends of oils and creams, you can create products that will give even the top brands a very long run for their money.

And speaking of money, if you check out our DIY beauty products article on our main website and pick up some astonishing facts and figures about what our collective devotion to cosmetic products costs us in terms of chemical exposure and hard cash – the figures are quite frightening.

Did you know it's possible to apply up to 175 different chemicals to your skin every day if you rely on commercial products?

We’ve recommended some really interesting books and sources for ingredients and even thrown in a few recipes to get you started.

Come on – let’s start making skincare and pampering products that we can trust. And if you’re interested in knowing how to make real rose perfume, here’s a recipe I just found on eHow

Let us know how you get on.
(Clare O'B)