TRADE show Glee is like Disneyland for horticulturalists. It’s where all the garden centres and shops meet manufacturers to pick out what they reckon will be the upcoming trends next year.
From Tuesday to Thursday this week, the Birmingham NEC was packed to the rafters with sparkling, shiny new products that you could well be shoving in your basket in your local garden centres soon.
I got a sneak peek of what the gardening gurus think you’ll be buying.
And here are eight of my favourite things I saw.
1) Westland Weed And Slug Stop Mulch: Sounds too good to be true but I was assured the mulch contains repellant to turn away our slimy foe — and suppresses the weeds. Available early next year.
2) Kapiteyn Plant O Mat: Direct from the Netherlands — this is literally a cardboard ring filled with 12 tulips, 15 crocus, 3 daffodils and 15 muscari, all ready to plonk in a hole, or in a pot with soil — just water, sit back and let it grow. Available now for around £10.99.
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3) Solar Centre forest mushroom lights: This cute set of 12 lights sells for just £19.99 and will look lovely dotted around a tree in your garden. It has been updated with clever hooks to keep the wires in check and the mushroom tops also have a hook to stop them blowing off in the wind. Available now.
4) Kelp Shot: A very trendy looking organic seaweed plant feed made from rope-grown Atlantic kelps. Of course it is. But it sounds wonderfully ethical, helps your plants and is great for gardens prone to drought. Coming soon.
5) Blast Off water rocket: This fun kids’ sprinkler actually takes off and sprays the garden from height — while your children dance around it. From Creative Products — not a company I had heard of before. Really good fun, and it costs just £9.99. Available now.
6) Sedum Seduction La Vie En Rose: Direct from Darby Nursery Stock, this is a fabulous compact sedum with variegated foliage and masses of pink flowers. It won the Glee best seeds, bulbs and stock category. Out soon.
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7) Trifibre Ascot large outdoor plastic planter: It’s £144, but for the size and quality it’s actually a really good deal. You could use it as a pond or pot — but either way, it’s a lovely addition to any modern garden. Available now.
8) Kent & Stowe Landshaper K Shock shovel: Who else has felt ominous shudders through their body when you hit a rock while digging? These tools — designed for landscapers — are specifically made to absorb the shock, and dampen the vibrations. Available early next year.
Also in Veronica’s Column this week….
Top tips, gardening news, Plant of the Week and a petrol lawn mower competition
For more gardening content, follow me @biros_and_bloom
SAVE: THE leaves have started falling. Get Dunelm’s heavy-duty long-handled leaf grabber for £40, or a £9.99 Woodside version from outdoorvalue.co.uk.
WIN! WE are giving one lucky reader a Vonhaus petrol lawn mower worth £172.99 and a Vonhaus electric hedge trimmer worth £39.99.
For a chance to win, visit thesun.co.uk/mowercomp or write to Sun Vonhaus Mower competition, PO Box 3190, Colchester, Essex, CO2 8GP.
- Include your name, age, email or phone. Entries close 11.59pm, September 26, 2026. UK residents 18+ only. T&Cs apply
PLANT OF THE WEEK! HEMEROCALLIS or Crimson Pirate is a hardy, resilient day lily that likes most soils. Remember each flower only lasts a day.
Get 20 per cent off at thompson-Morgan.com/sunoffers. T&Cs apply.
VISIT: KIDS are being invited to take part in a mass singalong to raise funds for butterfly conservation this month.
Sing2Save will see pupils from more than 200 schools and children’s choirs learn a specially composed song and perform it in the week beginning September 21. Find out more at sing2save.org.
TOMATO IS SNOUT OF LINE: FELLOW allotment holder Kate Hunt alerted me to her very strange-looking tomatoes.
Physiotherapist Kate found two tomatoes with odd “growths”.
Research revealed they are “tomato noses” and form as a result of a minor cell division mutation during the fruit’s microscopic stage.
And this happens because of – you guessed it – abnormally high temperatures. Some of my toms have developed unsightly sores on their bottoms.
Not – thank GOD – tomato blight. Instead, it’s blossom end rot.
This won’t spread but it is best to pick off the affected tomatoes so the plant stops wasting energy on them.
Blossom end rot appears when the weather changes from bone dry to soaking wet, causing calcium deficiency.
THIS WEEK’S JOB: DIVIDE summer perennials to multiply stock. Take cuttings of tender plants to overwinter indoors, and sow winter cover crops.
TIP: AUTUMN soil is warm and perfect for leafy greens, while cooler air stops them bolting. Try spinach, winter lettuce, rocket, and chard.
You’ll get a quick autumn harvest from rocket and lettuce, while kale and chard provide winter pickings.
SAVIOUR SALVIAS: SALVIAS have been true survivors this summer, and there’s one man who knows all about them.
William Dyson, curator of Great Comp Garden, near Sevenoaks, Kent, is an RHS award-winning expert on the blooms.
He will be at the garden’s annual Focus on Salvias weekend, from September 26-27.
Offering a glimmer of hope to gardeners who have experienced one of the trickiest summers in living memory, he will be joined by senior gardener Kristyna Kay-Clough to answer visitor questions.
There will also be lots of salvias for sale. See greatcompgarden.co.uk.