Landscape Juice

Daffy's Duck

It is not the first time nor shall it be the last that rivalry, competition and jealousy have entered into what should be a celebration of nature and hard work combined.

But, the villagers of Harthill with Woodall and the gardener, Peter Dungworth, who planted the £500 worth of Daffodil bulbs over several years have been devastated by what looks like an act of sabotage just before the judging of Britain in Bloom.

The heads of about 5,000 blooms has been cut off in what is believed to be a pre-meditated attack.

Its Easter, ready steady................

Go!

Traditionally, Easter is known as the starting line for many to the gardening year and I can almost feel the buzz in the garden centers across the UK.

In fact I can still remember the frenzy at the Forest Lodge garden center, next to Birdworld near Farnham, on an Easter weekend when so may people tried to get in the already crammed car park that it caused miles or tailbacks along the A325 in both directions.

Sadly, those days have gone for the garden retailer and probably a good thing if you are responsible for keeping traffic flowing on a bank holiday.

The Jolly Green Gardener

As a gardener, do you ever get the feeling that the environmentalists have have stolen our strap line by 'going green'? Phrases like carbon footprint or carbon emissions are hardly out of the headlines.

Surely, as a sharing and caring breed have been trying to save the planet for decades now by growing our own vegetables and fruit to save on fuel costs from carriers and propagating trees to suck up that excess carbon dioxide?

The Masters Golf 2007

We are fast approaching the 2007 major golf season.

The US Masters from Augusta is the premier tournament and an amazing show piece for the sport.
It is also an amazing show piece for the green staff.

What I would like to see this year is the BBC and Sky start to take on board the role of the greenkeeper in the presentation of the golf course.

Cutting through garden centre theft

I am going to admit to a crime and I fully expect to have a visit from the long arm of the law.

He must be mad I hear you mumble into your computer screens! Why would anyone admit to a crime?

However, this crime has been committed in the name of research and I hope any garden centre  operators or nurserymen will benefit from my observations.

Taking hardwood cuttings

Before the season gets too far advanced there is still time to take many types of hardwood or semi hardwood cuttings.

All you need to do this is a pair of secateurs or pruning knife, and a corner of the vegetable patch or one of your borders.

It will even work in a bucket of sandy soil or cold frame.

Tips on laying a new lawn

I think it might be the psychology of the instant effect that leads gardeners to by-pass proper preparation before laying turf as opposed to preparing a seed bed for grass seed.

I have witnessed shoddy preparation on many occasions over the years and I believe that the effect of one minute having a dark brown look and the next a bright emerald sheen tends to make customers overlook proper preparations.

Complete Gardens voted best buy

Since stumbling across the Complete Gardens website I have kept an eye on developments and even been in contact with its creator Neil Bromhall.

Neil is an 'Emmy' award winning photographer and Cameraman who worked with David Attenborough on The Private Life of Plants and was also nominated for a BAFTA for his work The Life of Mammals.

I found, after all of the software we used in our business, the Complete Gardens CD, which is endorsed by BBC gardener Chris Beardshaw, is the most powerful and user friendly application to date.

The Real Oasis blog

I came across the Real Oasis blog, the landscaping and design website, after Richard Boyd left a comment on the Concrete Spread.

The site is full of great information which incorporates topics from garden safety to topiary and even CAD which I will cover at some stage myself.

Garden nature at its very best and blogging in your business

It has been a weekend of quiet reflection for me and time to enjoy my family, the lovely warm sunshine and enjoying the emerging flowers as the season gets a grip and unfurls from the winter slumber.

The sensitive Peach blossom, which I am hoping will shrug off the morning frosts and furnish us with some summer fruit. Also the tender tentative shoots of the asparagus as it pops up from the heavy soil. I love asparagus and this will be the first season we can try a few spears and I cannot wait.

In the meantime, I would like to explore what exactly we can all do in providing our blogs for the potential readership. I remember when I read my first blog by Ray Ozzie the creator of Lotus notes who subsequently went on to create Groove (now owned by Microsoft).