Catching The Rain

Should I down my tools and give up gardening?

This Dorset gardener has given up because he needed to keep stopping for a breather every 10 minutes.

I know how he feels.

The only difference is that he’s done it at the grand old age of 104, over two and a half times my age! And when you see the wonderful video clip on this page you’ll see he’s actually continuing in his own garden, albeit with the help of his daughter.

What brings it home is that if I manage to last as long as him, then I’ll retire in another 26 years, and then have 39 more years of gardening ahead of me. I can assure you though that, unlike him, I’ll certainly be taking my fair share of holidays; he’s never had one in his whole life!

Grow your own Viagra

The Independant ran a fascinating article on Sunday: Grow-your-own Viagra craze hits Britains garden centres

Thankfully I’m not one to need to follow their advice (too much info?!), but this has to be one of the best botanical news stories I’ve read for ages.

It’s always nice to see the wonderful and varied properties of plants,

a plant widely available in garden centres has the same effect on men as Viagra

it was discovered by an allotment holder

The latest gardening craze was triggered by a discovery by a 55-year-old furniture restorer, Michael Ford, on his allotment. He was always experimenting with drinks made from different plants and one day he tried an infusion from his winter-flowering heather. He said: “The effect was almost immediate. I had to stay in my potting shed for an hour or so before I could decently walk down the street.

and the effect was validated by a botanic garden

Botanist Alan Bennell said: “This first surfaced when East European chemists reported finding a Viagra-type chemical in the floral tissues of winter-flowering heaths. They were able to isolate measurable amounts of material that is an analogue of the active principle in Viagra.

The only thing that spoilt the story was the date of publication - 1 April!