VP Does the Garden Media Guild Awards

Yesterday this country mouse found herself in the heart of the big city to attend the Garden Media Guild Awards ceremony at the [very swanky - Ed] Brewery. This is the annual bash for the great and the good from the garden writing, photography and broadcasting worlds. There was no red carpet rolled out for us, oh no. Instead there was a most appropriate green one flanked by topiary balls with a very nice man at the end doffing his hat and issuing cheery greetings to all attendees.

Of course I personally knew hardly anyone there, though pretty well everyone was a familiar face. However, I had an instant result as the first person I bumped into was Cleve 'most snoggable male' West. The magic words 'Psssst I'm VP' was sufficient to generate a satisfying hug and pecks on both cheeks and the invitation to 'come and meet some people'. I'm most grateful to Cleve for making me feel welcome instantly. After that it was a mad whirl of introductions with a fair number of smiles of recognition as soon as the real name on my badge was translated into that of my alter ego. Martyn was also there, sporting a very thin moustache and award winning hair, who made sure I met Lia, whose sparkly hat I have to say would have made Arabella (literally) green with envy.


Then at last, some people who actually know me arrived! The first was Jekka McVicar, who greeted me with 'Oooooh it's you' and allowed me to photograph her escort, the controversial gnome Borage. You may remember his presence at Chelsea earlier this year ended in uproar and Jekka confided that the subsequent publicity and his appearance (at around 4mins 45secs in the link) on Have I Got News For You has gone to his head rather and as you see from the photo, he's turning to the demon drink. Then Victoria greeted me with a massive hug and 'At last, someone I know', which was a surprise as I thought she'd know everyone. We had a chance for a lightning catch up, interspersed with me meeting Nigel (yay, at last) plus Valerie McBride-Munro, the Guild's chairwoman.

We were then called into lunch, where I found myself seated at the Marshalls table, who were also the main sponsors of Chelsea this year. I was sandwiched between Mark Gregory and Graham Clarke. It was great to talk to them about my trip to Chelsea in May and to get the insiders' view of what goes on there: I'll tell you much more in a later post. Lunch was lovely - full details over at Victoria's - then just as things were threatening to degenerate into a post lunch snooze, we were awakened suddenly by the PA system bursting into life to welcome us to the awards part of the ceremony.

Thankfully this was briskly handled and helped by very few people choosing to make an acceptance speech. I had a massive OMG moment when the names for the best blog award went up as Veg Plotting was on there. James won of course and rightly so, but I was really chuffed when he urged everyone in the room to read my blog during his acceptance speech. That merited an enormous hug afterwards. James' table was a most successful one, as the double award winning Mark Diacono was there, as well as Martyn, who picked up a fair few shortlisted mentions for his sins. Whilst there, I also bumped into Matthew Wilson, who told me he'd just put the finishing touches to his eagerly awaited TV programme, Landscape Man, now due to be aired early next year.

Then it was back to the reception area for afternoon tea, plus more meeting people, thanks to Victoria. I also managed to track down Emmat, whom I'm sure you'd like to know is looking very well - there's hardly any evidence of her bump, yet. Victoria and I decided not to go to the post awards party (nor the alternative pub venue), but to decamp to the nearest Starbucks instead for a really good gossip and catch up.

I had a brilliant time and I haven't told you half of it. However, that would entail lots more name dropping [yes, you've done enough of that for one day - Ed] and lots of compliments that were made about my blog. I'd rather stay up here on cloud nine and hug them to myself for now, if you don't mind :D

Update: As well as Victoria, Cleve, Jane, Mark, Nigel and James have now posted their versions of last week's event. Each gives a fresh perspective which in my view serves to highlight one of the strengths of blogging :)

Update 2: And in 2010, we did it all over again, only this time the bloggers surreptitiously snaffled lots of the other awards ;)

Comments

  1. Arabella Sock4 December 2009 at 15:04

    How exciting! More name dropping please. Congratulations on being shortlisted - you put a huge amount of work into your blog and you deserve the recognition.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Threadspider4 December 2009 at 15:05

    OMG I have regular coffee with a Mega star!!!!!!!!
    Congrats on the honourable mention of your blog at the awards. It is very well deserved.Go VP.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Martyn Cox4 December 2009 at 15:19

    Hi VP, it was really good to meet you in person. And well done on getting short listed - I was convinced you were going to bag that award. You did well to avoid the after show pub venue - my head is sore and my arm aches from arm wrestling.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Karen - An Artist's Garden4 December 2009 at 15:24

    Well done you - and well deserved for being shortlisted - your blog is one of my "must reads" and you put so much energy into it. Glad it is getting the recognition that you deserve.

    :)
    K
    xxx

    ReplyDelete
  5. petoskystone4 December 2009 at 15:37

    :) what a great day!

    ReplyDelete
  6. VP4 December 2009 at 15:39

    Arabella - your Christmas garb is most wonderful, you would have been the belle of the ball yesterday. Another OMG moment for me was when John Craven went up to receive an award for Countryfile's piece on bees. It's not often you see childhood heroes close up. BTW I didn't know I was going until Tuesday afternoon, just in case you were confused by our talk over at Martyn's about doing a blog crawl whilst everyone was out partying.

    The list of people is really far too long, so I've kept it mainly to the blogosphere re mentions. Let's just say I went round saying 'I've got your book/ read your magazine articles/ got your DVD' rather a lot.

    TS - No, it's still me here. I thought of you at afternoon tea, because that's when we should have been having our squishy cake!

    Martyn - it was lovely to meet you too. If I'd come to the pub, it's a certainty I'd have missed my train. I know how I get distracted by good beer.

    Karen - thank you :D

    ReplyDelete
  7. VP4 December 2009 at 15:39

    Petoskystone - it certainly was :D

    ReplyDelete
  8. Unknown4 December 2009 at 17:56

    Hiya!

    Congratulations on receiving so much fabulous recognition. A most deserved nomination for a great blog written by a wonderful lady! I'm so pleased for you!

    I am also incredibly envious that you got to meet so many great people and not forgetting Borage!

    I have a sneaky feeling that this wont go away and I'll wait to see your name in the nominations next year! Keep up the good work hun and congratulations again!

    Ryan

    ReplyDelete
  9. Claire Potter4 December 2009 at 17:59

    whoo hoo!!!
    well done you! glad you got nominated, your blog is fab. and nice namedropping - tasty morsels in there!
    I hear the after show pub was, ahem, eventful, so you probably did better to stay on the t-total side of things...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Carrie4 December 2009 at 18:09

    OMG ans Eeekk! A bona fide celebrity!! It sounds so wonderful to be part of the swanky set and get to meet all those fab people that we feel we know already. Lucky you getting love from Cleve! Congrats on your own blog mention! Wow, always thought Veg Plotting was great. x

    ReplyDelete
  11. Elizabeth Musgrave4 December 2009 at 18:45

    What a great event - full of the great and the good, including you of course! I always feel the measure of a really good blog is that it is one of the ones you read when you are pushed for time and just pick a couple, yours always makes the cut!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Nell Jean4 December 2009 at 20:53

    I had no idea about whom you were speaking, but this was a very entertaining post, well presented.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Shirley4 December 2009 at 21:01

    Wow VP!! Congrats... very well deserved... about time :-D

    What a brilliant time you must have had. Look forward to hearing more about it... name drop as much as you like :-D

    ReplyDelete
  14. Liz4 December 2009 at 21:50

    It sounds like you had a very exciting day!

    Must admit this is the first I've ever heard of any such awards, well actually I read about the day over at victoria's garden...

    Lol, I never realised they'd have something like this... But you learn something new every day!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous4 December 2009 at 22:38

    What a fun time for you, VP, loved the green carpet. Well deserved recognition for you and James. Fun with Victoria sound like the best of the best. Distracted by beer, that's a good one! :-)
    Frances

    ReplyDelete
  16. Gail5 December 2009 at 03:26

    What fun and I finally recognized a few dropped names! gail

    ReplyDelete
  17. cw5 December 2009 at 09:14

    Great to meet you VP! How modest of you not to mention that you were up for an award. Tip for next year... It's worth going to the pub afterwards and, like me and James, staying sober just to have a pocketful of stories to blackmail people with later.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Mark D5 December 2009 at 10:23

    very very great pleasure to meet you VP! It was the first thing I heard on entering the hall 'VPs here, I just met VP - her real name's *&^%$£$^'

    Huge congrtulations on the shortlisting

    ReplyDelete
  19. Helen/patientgardener5 December 2009 at 13:23

    Congrats on the shortlisting. I was very envious when it was mentioned on twitter that you were at the event. Had to satisfy myself with he various photos posted by JAS

    ReplyDelete
  20. Susan Tomlinson6 December 2009 at 02:40

    Many congratulations! What an honor to be on that list--and to have James mention your blog in his speech.

    Your blog is one of my all-time faves, and I'd put it on any short list for best blog!

    ReplyDelete
  21. LittleGreenFingers7 December 2009 at 13:36

    Massive congrats - you really deserve it. And how cool to be rubbing shoulders with all those 'names'. V. jealous! Dx

    ReplyDelete
  22. Maggi7 December 2009 at 17:48

    Wow, VP, that is fantastic. what a great day you had! Make no apologies for name dropping - some things just have to be done! Make no mistake you deserve all the recognition you can get.!

    I've been a bit absent for a while, not sure why , but sometimes it happens but now I'm back and will hopefully get more blogging done. I'm made the big decision and have decided to give up the day job at Christmas. So here's to more days out. Cheers! x

    ReplyDelete
  23. Juliet7 December 2009 at 20:41

    Congratulations on the shortlisting, VP. Sounds like a good time was had by all. I agree with Elizabeth about the measure of a really good blog - and yours is one of the ones I pick out if I'm in too much of a rush to read very many as well.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anna8 December 2009 at 19:44

    Well done VP and thoroughly deserved. Your blog is of a consistently high standard and always entertaining. Sounds like it was a great day,

    ReplyDelete
  25. VP9 December 2009 at 15:41

    Ryan - thank you. It was a thrill to meet a lot of my gardening heroes :)

    Claire - thank you and now I feel really bad because I haven't been over to congratulate you on your Green Apple. Now that was hobnobbing in spades!

    Carrie - a snog from the most snoggable! It doesn't get any better than that :)

    Elizabethm - that's so good to know, thank you :)

    Nell Jean - it's the same for us when people report back from the GWA meetings etc. I've kept to mainly bloggers here and linked to them so that you can find out more if you want to.

    Shirl - one of the others shortlisted was the Gardeners' World wildlife blog. Yours is much better!

    Liz - I found out about them last year when James won. I never even dreamed I'd be featured this year!

    Frances - yes, beer has often been my downfall, though it did help me bag a husband as we were in rival branches of the Campaign for Real Ale when we met :)

    Gail - yippee!

    cw - welcome! What a good idea, must join you next year :)

    MarkD - hello, that's made me laugh! Next time I'll bring Veg Patch with me, so I can get you to sign it

    PG - those pictures are hilarious! I think Twitter gave a good feel of what was going on.

    Susan - thank you :)

    Dawn - I'm still pinching myself to make sure it wasn't all a dream!

    Maggi - you're on my list to email, I must find out more about what you've been up to :)

    Juliet and Anna - thanks, it was a fab day!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I love hearing from you and welcome thoughtful conversations :)

Comments aiming to link back and give credence to commercial websites will be composted!

Your essential reads

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

Image
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it ...
Read more

Jack Go To Bed At Noon

Image
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl...
Read more

Red Nose Day - Gardening Jokes Anyone?

Image
The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape...
Read more

Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

Image
I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing ...
Read more

VPs VIPs: Derry Watkins of Special Plants

Image
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Derry Watkins at her home, garden and nursery - the acclaimed Special Plants - just a few miles along the road from me. I first met Derry at one of her open garden days last year and was keen to find out more about her wonderful garden and running an independent nursery. She specialises in tender perennials and regularly goes on plant hunting trips to find new treasures, particularly in South Africa. As well as running Special Plants and opening her garden under the NGS scheme , Derry holds day courses at her nursery, hosts Special Tuesdays from April until September, lectures and has written a couple of books. How did you find your way from Connecticut to the UK? I'd started a biodynamic vegetable garden in Connecticut and we used to have people come along at weekends to help out. A particular young man turned up: he returned many times and at the end of the summer I married him. So it was all down to love? Isn't that the...
Read more

#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

Image
Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee...
Read more

The Resilient Garden

Image
  Part of Tom Massey's Resilient Garden at RHS Hampton Court I've been pondering VP Gardens a lot lately. Last year's drought conditions set me off initially, then our harsher than usual winter combined with this summer's flip and flop weather means the thinking continues. It's a huge topic which I freely admit I'm struggling to get my head around. Tom Massey's Resilient Garden  at Hampton Court recently  tackled this topic brilliantly and was a timely interlude which gave me much food for thought. There he encapsulated the detailed research he'd found which informed both his show garden and book of the same name. I think it's one of the most important show gardens I've ever seen. It's clear the way I garden needs to change so that I have my own resilient garden. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but Tom's book plus a couple of others (see below), alongside the rainwater management handout from the show garden's  sponso...
Read more

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

Image
The gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom:  Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter, ...
Read more

Make Use of Mildew

Image
On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi...
Read more

Testing Times: Tomatoes

Image
  I've run a couple of tomato trials this year. The first is a revisit of the biochar trial with Oxford University I attempted some years ago (with a different organisation this time), and the second is a trial of a water gadget called Plantsurge which I was given to try at Malvern Spring Show earlier this year. Most of you have probably heard of biochar already and the claim that this inert, carbon-rich material can help soil fertility and plant health. The RHS information in the above link says results can be mixed, with reduced effects found in alkaline soils. This may help to explain the lack of difference I found in my previous trial as VP Gardens is on a lime-rich soil. Plantsurge is a different beast altogether. It's a strong magnet which is attached to a hosepipe as shown in the photo above. It's claimed that it softens water, with the result more like watering with rainwater. The higher nitrogen found in rainwater is thought to be beneficial to plants. Gardener...
Read more