Monty Don.  He’s like a zen mountain man in relaxed denim who makes you believe that everything will work out fine. I have a lot of respect for a man who acknowledges that even after all his years of experience – one minute you’re 32, the next your 60 –says he still feels green, or an imposter, when presenting at fairs and at the RHS Chelsea Flower show. 

Like you, or possibly like you, I spent a lot of time watching programmes on television and on the internet on catch-up during lockdown.  I watched Monty’s Paradise gardens, his French gardens, his Japanese gardens, and the online coverage of Chelsea – an annual ritual for me denied to us all this year. All excellent. Thanks Monty.  I also listened in on a variety of lectures and talks, increasing my knowledge and learning about the experience of many of our top garden designers and gardeners.  I especially enjoyed a two and a half-hour session with Fergus Garrett of Great Dixter on layered planting, which if still available, I highly recommend you rent.  Now that summer is here and more particularly, now that lockdown has begun easing, I’ve started volunteering at a lovely garden near Haywards Heath, Borde Hill.  https://www.bordehill.co.uk/  If you’ve never been I recommend it highly.  The staff are fantastic, the café is excellent and the summer border is looking absolutely stunning.  You can book a visit online and social distancing is being observed.  A few weeks ago my dog became unwell and would be up each night being sick.  He would regain his appetite the next day, but as this pattern continued, we took him to the vet who promptly but him on anti-biotics.  His liver enzymes were elevated, often the sign of ingesting some type of poison.  Immediately I thought – is it something in the garden?  Is it something I’ve done to put him in harms way?  Is it the Echiums? Though toxic to horses, there is no evidence that they are so to dogs.  However, I quickly set out to pull down the three huge Echium pinniana candelabra towers  – over thirty flower spikes creating a cathedral like effect, dominating the garden – and deposit them in the compost heap, just to be safe.  Triennials, I had been nurturing these tree Echiums over the last two and a half hears, which I grew from seed, into these enormous prehistoric looking towers of blue flowers.  It had been bee central for weeks. Turns out, according to the vet, it wasn’t the Echiums at all.  We never did discover what made Moose, that’s my Parsons Jack Russell, ill.  To our relief, the anti-biotics got him back to his perky inquisitive self.  Whilst we didn’t get to enjoy the Echiums for as long as we would have liked – on the plus side there are big empty spaces to fill with late flowering perennials, and maybe some new ornamental grasses and shrubs!  Whoo hoo!  Roll on summer and remember: wear a mask when you go shopping – out of respect for others. Stay safe, keep happy, and keep gardening.