ONE of the fun things about being involved with the media is that all sorts of people send you mail. I look forward to coming home and opening the front door to piles of envelopes littering the doormat.

It makes me feel wanted and important. Much of it is horticultural junk mail, mind, but quite often I get exciting invitations to events, newly published books to review or products to try out.

Then, of course, there are the letters from readers asking for assistance or sharing their experiences, advice and points of view with me. I like these, especially the humorous ones.

Coming back from holiday this week, I was faced with a door-jamming mountain of such publicity mail. I immediately sorted it out into piles according to potential levels of interest.

The thin brown envelopes with cardboard backing tend to be big companies informing me of their latest product, which may have some vague horticultural relevance.

These usually come with a photograph of the product in question. The best of them yesterday was from a poison-free pest control specialist telling about their brand new slug and snail catcher, cunningly called the Slug & Snail Gizmo.

The Gizmo (as it is endearingly nicknamed) is an ingenious picking device (similar in character to the ones that snaffle litter) that incorporates specially-designed collecting cups, which grab large slugs and snails without damaging them.

It is also fitted with its own detachable torch so the search can continue during the hours of darkness, when slugs are at their most active.

Then there are the A4 envelopes, which are just two or three pages thick. These usually also contain product information. This week, I have been introduced to the 'Twist It' broom made by Wilkinson Sword. It has a rotating head that swivels through 360 degrees, allowing easier cleaning in corners, tight spaces, and at high and low levels.

Earlex has a spray station that can instantly transform your back yard walls into a Mediterranean oasis. As well as explaining how you can throw away your brushes and rollers and allow the turbine motor to deliver a smooth and constant layer of paint to any surface, it goes on to give further practical hints and tips on how to create your 'hacienda'.

Focus runs through a selection of new plants for 2004 and gives simple planting tips. I particularly liked the Lychnis Jenny which, like most Lychinis plants, is a frost hardy perennial. It is happy in the sun or the shade and flowers all the way through from June to September.

Unlike the other Lychnis plants, this one does not have a red flower, but comes in a ragged light purple.

I have received two catalogues. One is the Enthusiast Collection from Mr Fothergill's, which features a sample of their extensive range of favourite flower seed varieties. The other is from D.T. Brown. It is their autumn collection, and just goes to prove that the garden doesn't go to sleep after the delphiniums die down.

I put the half-inch thick A4 brown envelopes to one side. Then I made sure that I had completed all my chores, made a steaming mug of coffee and plumped up the cushions, before opening them.

These were the magazines. I needed a good few hours to slowly digest all the sumptuous glossy pictures and absorb every word.

Of course, I never actually get more than half an hour (if I'm lucky), and usually end up cramming them into lunch breaks.

The last package, the bulky one, contained this week's reward for all my writing and broadcasting. It was my press passes for the Tatton Park Garden Show, which starts on July 23rd and goes on till the Sunday.

It is billed as the Chelsea of the North, and I hope to make it for the Tuesday, which is press day. This should give me the chance to mingle with the designers and celebrities.

I shall look forward to this week with huge anticipation, but not as much as next week's mail. READER'S QUESTION

THIS week's sample came in from Mrs Graham, from Darlington. She has been waiting for her unidentified shrub to flower for 20 years. She used to have one in a previous garden, which flowered profusely and then produced loads of white, 'mothball-like' fruit, which the birds loved. She has tried everything with this bush, cutting it, feeding it, watering it, not feeding it and not watering it. It is now 5ft high and goes very bare in the winter. She wants to know what it is and what she can do to get it to do something.

THE plant is a snowberry (symphoricarpus albus), which is a suckering shrub that likes to grow in shade. They make an impenetrable hedge, but need to be cut hard back each year during summer. You also need to take out any straggly growth. Hopefully, the bush will fill out a bit. They don't usually suffer from pests or disease and are generally trouble-free.

The bush is far too big to move now. I would suggest that if you are happy with it in it's current state, then stick with it. If not, maybe now is a good time to remove it and either try a new one, or something else. Sorry.

JOBS THIS WEEK

Tie in clematis shoots as the plants grow. This prevents them bending and breaking in the wind, and shows the flowers off to their best.

Trim box, privet and lonicera hedges to keep them neat and compact.

Open vents in the greenhouse to allow air to circulate, thus preventing disease and mould.

POSTSCRIPT

Brigid presents Ask about Gardening on Sundays from 12-2pm on BBC Radio Cleveland. Questions can be sent to brigidpress@hotmail. com.

Published: 03/07/2004