When starting a garden for the first time or encountering new garden conditions it is nice to have help at hand. In this situation many of us have called upon the help of the doctor whose name often escapes our notice but his books do not.

Doctor D G Hessayon launched his first book in 1959 called Be Your Own Gardening Expert which was a thirty two page guide with pictures and charts. Twenty books later the format is still the same which says much for the thought that went into that simple format.

In May of 2008 his publishers celebrated the sale of the 50 millionth copy of the books by the now 80 year old author making him the best-selling non-fiction writer in the world.

I have several of his “Expert” books and have to admit that I have never stopped to think who Doctor D.G. Hessayon might be and I suspect that many reading this article are the same. Instead of saying Doctor Who we should be saying a quiet thank you to the man who fifty years ago produced a book for the everyday gardener at a time when most gardening handbooks were of a more textbook format.

The tomato seedlings are large enough to be potted on now. As ever I will be potting up enough for me, one of two extra in case of failure or accident, and a few for friends and family. We gardeners tend to be generous to those who do not have greenhouses or are not great at seed germination. The consequence is the same every year, when everything is growing well lack of space becomes a great problem and maybe we wished we did not have such generous natures!

My strawberry seedlings are not yet ready for potting on and neither are my begonias. The Sweet Peas are coming on well though and each day I am taking the leader off one or two to help them bush out. Those bits nipped off do not go to waste, our cockatiel absolutely loves them. For those of you who have not owned a cockatiel let me tell you that they are intelligent birds and this can be a problem. She spends a lot of time in the conservatory and she knows the direction that I take when returning with bits of sweet pea. If there is a day when I have not taken a top out I dread going in as I am punished with a high pitched screech!

My Garden is My Space

Garden Diary