A weekend back at the folks' is a rare opportunity for some actual gardening - and this time also for a wee product test.*

We'd concluded that the solid plastic Council-issue compost bins (left) we'd been using for years were unlikely ever to yield more than a squidgy anaerobic thatch, so when Jamie Single of Air-Pots gave me the pitch for his new CompostAir (right) at Four Oaks last month, I was all ears. Will see if it really does do what it says on the bin next spring.


I'd also been encouraging my parents to do a spot of grow-their-own, but even my Mum could spot that the "sweet pepper" seeds I'd sent up (from a supplier which shall remain nameless) looked a bit peculiar as they tumbled from the packet. And the results have been some very unusual "peppers" indeed:



* other more comprehensive compost bin tests are available

Last week's Four Oaks show saw a bumper crop of over 30 new plant introductions - we have photo galleries of some of the nursery stock and bedding & pot plant launches, and also of the show's winners receiving their awards.

Garden retail guru John Stanley had earlier urged attendees to tell the world of their award wins, in line with his philosophy of "selling the story rather than the product". Glad to see my co-blogger Neil Alcock doing just that.


Am feeling quite sated with Darwin-alia, having caught a preview of the controversial biopic Creation last night. Is there any aspect of the great naturalist's life that hasn't been picked over in this bicentenary year?

And while the film is beautifully shot and acted, it's grindingly slow - you get a real sense of those 20 years it took for him to get his act together and publish his seminal work - and mawkishly fixated with disease and death.

However my wife, a Darwinaholic, enjoyed it - cried a lot anyway - but then like Darwin's ill-fated daughter Annie in the film, she likes sad stories.


If you really haven't got anything better to do with your Friday night, I'm on BBC2's Mastermind tomorrow at 8pm. Avoided horticulture for a specialist subject - embarrassment potential too great!