On the face of it, Rosemary Edwards is writing about sweet peas. But only on the face of it.

The scent of Monty lingers in the garden - his Sweet Peas are in flower and they truly smell divine. In fact the formal garden has never been so packed with presenters - Alan Titchmarsh in one corner, Percy Thrower in another and Monty’s brand new edition in the third.

Alys has even managed to grow Geoff Hamilton’s lovely mauve Sweet Pea in the fourth - despite the fact we had been warned it’s become unstable. Personally I had never heard of an unstable sweet pea before until grower Roger Parsons explained it meant the flower keeps reverting in colour to one of its parent plants - in Geoff’s case pink.

In truth there are various different shades of Geoff in our formal garden - but we don’t care - we still love him.

Monty Don’s gentle, passionate style of presenting could make the most unpromising of subjects into compelling television and if his self-styled ‘gardening leave’ becomes permanent retirement he will be a temendous loss to broadcasting.

In many ways he is the mirror image of Gordon Ramsay - quiet and gentlemanly where the Scottish chef is noisy and profane.

Very different at first sight, they are nevertheless similar in possessing a charisma born of their great experience, a devotion to their subject matter, and a committed enthusiasm for passing on their knowledge to the lay person. Both carry the story of their work (and their working conditions) in the lines on their faces, and both make the best sort of television - entertaining, instructive, and very, very watchable.

Carol Klein, who stepped up as acting lead presenter of Gardeners World when Monty stood down, has many of those qualities too and it was no surprise to see how good a job she did in the role.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Toby Buckland, who will take over the job from this autumn, has some tremendous acts to follow. But he’s not the first new presenter of the show about whom that has been said.

We reckon he’ll cope. Good, well managed, TV programmes - like good, well-managed gardens - usually bounce back, blending new ideas with the legacy of what came before.

Turfing specialists Rolawn are celebrating more success at the Chelsea Flower Show as, once again, many of the medal-winning gardens used their turf and topsoil.

This year, 16 prize-winning gardens used their Medallion turf and Blended Loam topsoil - including nine gold medal winners.

These include Adam Frost’s ‘A Welcome Sight’, chosen as the overall best urban garden.

Sales and marketing director Cedric McMillan said the company was proud of the part it had played in the winning gardens and was delighted with the success achieved by the designers.

He said: “The fact that so many industry-leading garden designers choose Rolawn is an accolade in itself as we are very aware of the extraordinarily high standards expected.”

The award-winning gardens included:

Show Gardens

• BUPA Garden - Gold
• A Cadogan Garden - Gold
• I Dream, I Seek My Garden - Gold
• The Savills Garden - Gold
• The Largest Room in the House - Silver-Gilt Flora
• From Life to Life, A Garden for George - Silver-Gilt Flora
• The Reflective Garden - Silver-Gilt Flora
• The Oceanico Garden - Bronze Flora

Urban Gardens

• A Welcome Sight - Gold & Best Urban Garden
• The L K Bennett Garden - Silver Flora
• Tokyo City Garden - Bronze Flora

Great Pavilion

• Bloms Bulbs - Gold
• Hillier Nurseries - Gold
• R. Harkness & Co - Gold
• Blackmore & Langdon - Gold
• Burncoose Nurseries - Silver-Gilt Flora

• If you fancy following in the winning designers’ footsteps, Rolawn are offering 12 per cent off all purchases over £150 if you use the discount code rolawn107 when you buy from their website.

Fear not! Gardencentre.co.uk is offering MyGardenFinder readers five per cent off all purchases until April 31.

As well as plants and seeds, its range includes garden machinery and landscaping supplies, tools, books, horticultural supplies and even wild bird feed - so there’s something for everyone!

Just enter the discount code WGA5APR when prompted at the checkout!

• Apply organic material to revive the soil - you can do this in the form of mulch and deal with the inevitable spring weed crop before it gets a chance to sprout. If it’s too late, get the hoe out (and dispose of the results in a way that stops them reoccupying our garden).
• Love your lawn - give it a feed, if this is the kind of thing you usually do, or take a look at this BBC Gardening guide to creating an organic lawn. Cut it back as soon as the grass is dry enough, neaten up your edges and give it a good going over with the scarifier. Remember that the compost heap loves grass cuttings but doesn’t want to be swamped with them - combine them with kitchen waste or even torn-up cardboard for a better balance.
• Plant any summer-flowering bulbs that you have in mind as soon as the soil is dry enough. Dead-head and tidy up any spring-flowering bulbs that need it - a liquid feed before they die down will boost them for next year, try soaking a little home-made compost in a bucket for a few days and using the resulting liquid for this purpose.
• Take out any winter and spring bedding that is past its prime and start preparing your beds for summer planting. But beware of the frost! Do no more than prepare…
• Take the opportunity to clean up your paths and patios - it’s a chore, we know, but you’ll be very glad in a month or two that you did it now.
• Check your vegetable planting schedule. This is the time of year when many perennials such as asparagus and rhubarb like to go in.

Here’s a couple of great offers from GardenCentre.co.uk: right now you can pick up four packs of vegetable seeds for just £2.99. It’s a lucky dip, so you’ll get a random selection. But, seeing as this would normally have cost around £7.50, it’s definitely worth a punt.

You can also get six-packs of Dawn Chorus wild bird fatballs for £1.99 - and the retailer is running a buy one, get one free offer to make them even better value.

Regular customers at GardenCentre.co.uk might also notice that it has reduced shipping rates on smaller orders.

Shipping now starts at just £1.29 for items such as a few packets of seeds or other small purchases weighing less than half a kilo.

More than 600 products fall into this category, so definitely worth having a good hunt through its catalogue…

Jersey-based garden centre and florist Blooming Direct has come up with an innovative way for you to save money this Easter.

It’s holding an egg hunt on its website - with 17 eggs hidden among its product images (just follow the link below to see an example). Each egg will give you 15 per cent off your next purchase. Find all 17 and you could win 50 per cent off your next purchase.

Get full instructions and clues here >>

So, what else is going on at Blooming Direct? For a start, there’s free water gel available with all plants as part of a special offer throughout March while stocks last.

We recommend taking a look at its offers on summer favourite Lobelia Blooming Fountain, available at £6.95 for 60 ready-to-plant plug plants - that works out at 12p per plant.

Or check out the four lavender mix at £17.95 - a pack of 20 young plants including five each of the English Hidcote, French Kew Red, Munstead and Rosea varieties. The retailer recommends planting together to make a stunning lavender display or spreading a beautiful scent around the garden.

Also well worth a look are the offers on 10 summer-flowering gladioli bulbs for £5.95, Surfinia Petunia mixed packs of five young plants for £7.95 (dispatched April to June) and five beautiful Pensham Penstemon Czar plants for £8.95.

That should give you plenty to be getting on with! But, just in case it’s not, you can view the full Blooming direct plant range here.

Here’s a summary of what you can get your hands on:

• Get £50 off a popular aluminium frame greenhouse - supplied with base and horticultural glass, maintenance-free construction, a single sliding door, built-in gutters, roof vent as standard and an easy clip-in glazing system. Was £369, now £319.
• Get 25 per cent off an oil drum barbecue - featuring two adjustable chrome-plated cooking grills, a large lower storage shelf plus side handle and wheels for easy manoeuverability. Was £69.99, now £49.99.
• Get reductions on the Brighton Hammock - perfect for outdoor relaxation, this comfy swing seat includes cushions and an adjustable green polyester canopy. Was £129, now £99.
• Plus, up to 40 per cent off all kinds of garden products - including furniture, lighting, gazebos, barbecues and tools. Enjoy your garden that bit more this spring. Plus, spend more than £45 online and get free delivery to UK mainland addresses.

This retailer has got a host of special offers in time for the upcoming Bank Holiday weekend. Here’s a few that caught our eye:

• Walton Sussex Summerhouse - 8ft x 8ft - was £629.99, now £589.99 until April 7. Attractive, traditional style that works well in any garden, with large glazed windows, double door and veranda.
• Rimini Cappuccino Patio Set - was £169.99, now £98.99 until April 7. Stylish and elegant, perfect for outdoor dining and featuring four folding armchairs, a round tempered glass table and a matching parasol.
• Auckland Wooden Bench - now half-price at £39.99. Featuring an ergonomically-designed seat and backrest to offer maximum comfort and made from treated, MTCC-certified hardwood.
• Pop-Up Gazebo - now half-price at £39.99. Forget the hassle of assembly with this clever design. A showerproof covering makes it great for parties and picnics. It can be erected in seconds and folds away neatly.
• Spear and Jackson Electric Patio Heater - now half-price at £49.99. Complete with three heat settings, ideal for all weathers and equipped with an easy-tilt head for fully directional heat.

Its Grow Your Own Veg team has developed a special website section where you can decide what to grow, find out when to sow and even brush up on your gardening techniques.

There’s a monthly guide alongside tips on how to keep your plot flourishing. You can sign up for a free newsletter or take part in a veg growing survey. Or, if a problem’s a bit too knotty for you to tackle alone, there’s a forum for seeking advice

There are also regional events that you can attend to pick up tips and advice in person.

There’s nothing as tasty and satisfying as cooking with your own home-grown veg - good luck!

Interested in learning more about attracting wildlife to your garden? Then you’ll love a new project launched by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

Following its Big Garden Birdwatch event in January it has set up a Homes for Wildlife campaign.

It says that if you own a garden, or even just a window box, you can take simple, practical steps that will benefit many of our most important birds, mammals and insects. The UK’s largest nature reserve is in your hands…

Sign up to the project (for which you don’t need to be a member) and you’ll get a personalised garden audit that tells you about the most important improvements you can make.

There are straightforward factsheets that you can print out and keep and an advice list that will remind you of simple steps you can take to make your garden more wildlife-friendly.

To learn more about Homes for Wildlife, just click here. Or follow this link to learn more about RSPB membership.

]]>