I met TV personality and columnist, Sharon Marshall(pictured) while I was training ‘recruits’ at an Army style Boot Camp recently. As we walked together on a midnight mountain trek, she told me about her garden.
“I’ve only got a garden because I have a cat. It’s an absolute wilderness. I have no idea what to do with it.” Sharon admitted. “My Mum has a huge garden at home in Lincolnshire and she’s a brilliant gardener. I bought her a lovely posh pair of leather gardening gloves from Fortnum & Mason for Mother’s Day but she said they were too good for gardening and wore them to the family Christening instead. I’ve told her the next time I’m home I want to see them dirty and full of thorns.”
“I haven’t inherited her gardening skills, (I got the cooking skills instead). Here in London, I just kill everything. I had the flat Feng Shui’d and put a Money Plant in the Wealth corner but I had to throw it out a couple of weeks ago ‘cos it died ... along with a Yucca Plant that was placed in my Creative corner . That died too. I’ve decided that I’m going to get plastic ivy now and let Mum arrange it with her new gloves. I get frustrated because I don’t know anything. I even took my two houseplants into the Gardening Expert on This Morning to fix but even with professional help, I still managed to kill them.”
“I’d like my garden to be an adventure for the cat, Merlot (as in the wine) to play hide and seek. I’d like to have a nice area to be able to eat out in instead of trotting over to the park for a picnic and I’d like lots of big, clipped shrubs and bushes that weren’t too posh – just nice, a bit like an Edward Scissorhand garden.”
Does she enjoy the outdoors then? “Definately!” She refers to the Army-style training we are doing in the Brecon Beacons and confides, “Before I came to Wales, I didn’t even own a flat pair of shoes and the only coat I had was a blue velvet Vivian Westwood. I had to go and spend a fortune in Millets! My asthma is already better,” she continues, “ and I do love the fresh Welsh air. In London, I run along the Thames or picnic in the Parks but you’ve always got a face full of fumes! I’ve become a bit of a soft-Southener now and would rather do Pilates in heated studios.”
Sharon goes on, “There’s a gardening tip in the book I’ve written with Tara Palmer Thompkinson, (The Naughty Girl’s Guide to Life.) It’s full of tips on how to cope with Life’s little hiccups and grenades, you know, if your boss is a swine to you or if your fella dumps you,” she explains.
And the gardening tip? “Nip out in the middle of the night with a bottle of weed-killer and write an obscenity on their lawn,” she laughs, “it takes a while to show in the grass, so they’re really surprised!”
Has she actually done that? “Of course – all the tips are tried and tested. Luckily my ex thought it was funny too.” As we reach the top of the mountain and look down on the little lights of the towns and villages, it seems a good time to ask if she cares about the Environment? “I cycle, walk or take the bus when I’m in London. No-one can afford to use a car there anymore anyway, thanks to Ken Livingstone , so we are all forced into reducing our carbon footprints. My carbon stiletto print is tiny!” She grins, “which reminds me, I must buy a pair of Stella McCartney’s vegetarian knee high boots when I get back – that’ll help won’t it?”
‘Good Luck’ Gardening
Feng Shui is an ancient Oriental method of divining good and bad forces. Plants can be used to bring good chi, or energy, into the house or office space. Each room should have one good sized plant in it to freshen energy and cleanse the atmosphere and as Sharon said, placing certain plants in specific places can enhance different areas of your life. Similarly, a vase of pink flowers in the bedroom can improve romance, chrysanthemums will bring happiness and laughter and the narcissus will encourage good fortune. Round leaved plants increase harmony and good energy but spikey plants can produce negative energy.
Did You Know?
The narcissus (daffodil) is also known as the ‘Lent Lily’ as its blooms in Spring with the flowers usually dropping before Easter. Narcissus comes from the Greek for ‘numbness’ which refers to the narcotic properties of the plant.
If you put cut daffodils into water with a few drops of food colouring the dye will be taken up the stem and into the flower-head producing a ‘bespoke bloom’.
