Take-away ideas from RHS Hampton Court, rain, rabbits and some unusual soft fruits.

This week I look back at my highlights from RHS Hampton Court, and discuss some of the more unusual soft fruits you can grow in your garden.

First, I have to mention the weather – sorry, but it is climate change garden… Its been very wet, like much of the country.  Here in South Somerset, we have seen 80mm / 3in of rain since Friday, and at its peak rain was falling at 7.2mm an hour. The beds have been refreshed, which is good as my heavy clay soil was beginning to reveal a few cracks and my water butts and tanks are full. So a few pluses…. but I really would like to see a few sunny days.

The slugs have been back in action. My poor overwintered dahlias are still struggling to make headway against the onslaught and I even caught a cheeky slug munching one of the highest leaves of my climbing French bean – that’s at least a metre off the ground …. There is no stopping them this year and I am running out of ideas. I hoe the soil  surface around susceptible plants so the ground is not too smooth, but rough and friable, and I am constantly fluffing up the Strulch in a bid to make it a less appealing route. I am just hoping the…