Landscape Juice

The Lawn Society

I have been keeping an eye on the Lawn Society website and today they have made available some advice documents in the form of PDF's that explain various turf disease and insect problems.

The PDF's explain how to identify the problem and what controls are available.

Pruning Sedum 'Autumn Joy' mid season

I am a real lover of Sedum. There are so many interesting times in the season for Sedum from the first emergence of the tips while the weather is still just too hostile for many other plants, right up until the frosts shatter the stems.

As it grows, the succulent stems and leaves remain turgid even in the driest of summers. The flowers, just when the summer is in transit through it's Autumnal swansong it is one of the few plants that still looks amazing and will do so right up to the first frosts.

Complete Gardens spikes in the United States

It seems that the 'Stream It' download button on the Complete Gardens page has warmed up with good inroads now being made in the United States.

In a previous post I explained how advantageous it is for the owner of an application to stream the application to the end user instead of using the costly 'snail mail'.

Neil Bromhall has been greatly encouraged by sales thus far. I will keep an eye on developments

How to make a strimmer Guard for a tree

I am sure, like me you have spent a lot of money over the years buying new shrubs and trees?

I am also fairly sure that, like me, some of you have caught the odd tree whilst strimming and damaged a tree with the nylon cord?

I would like to think that I am fairly proficient with a strimmer but hey! accidents happen so this little tip is perfect for limiting or eliminating damage caused by a little vacant thinking.

The solution, and it can be free or extremely inexpensive, is a simple strimming guard.

How to save and print from the screen

Have you ever been searching the internet for a particular plant or scene and wished that you could save the picture to your computer or print it off?

There are a couple of ways of doing this but bear in mind the photo will not always save as the same quality or print the same quality that you are looking at.

The simple way is' to go to the picture you would like to save - for this exercise I am going to use one that I own the copyright of so I do not get into trouble (I will say a bit about copyright a bit later)

This is my post on 'How to Kill Ivy' which gets an awful lot of attention from the search engines. The thumbnail picture is a little small to see the detail so I have left clicked on it to enlarge in a new pane.

The picture will open in a new window of which the size is determined by the way it has been saved. This one is still particularly small but it makes life easier for uploading rather than a large file.

Childrens gardening competition

Hello kids, it is competition time and I am delighted to be able to offer a fantastic prize.

The theme of the competition is Pumpkins - yes Pumpkins!

The aim is to grow the largest (determined by weight) Pumpkin that you can, weigh it and photograph it and send the information to me here at Landscape Juice for judging.

You must enlist the help of an adult to assist you but it has to be your project.

Time is short so get moving and the judgement day will be Halloween 2007. Do not cut your pumpkin free until the 31st October 2007. Take a photo with a time and date stamp and then weigh it again with a photo and send it to me.

Is it now the time for Hortcom?

I am a great believe in the deliverance of quality. Be it products or services it does not matter but your customers need to know that they can expect the best from you and if anything at all fails then at least have the peace of mind for a good after care service.

Now, we are all aware - and I am speaking as both a service and product provider and also as a consumer - that some clients will take you for granted and expect more out in times of trouble than they have paid for.

Merrist Wood Horticultural College Guildford

Merrist Wood Horticultural College Guildford, in conjunction with Guildford College is looking for a finance director.

In charge of a turnover of £30 million this director will be responsible for overseeing the finances of Merrist Wood as it meets the continuing challenges and expansion.

Servicing you mowing machine

As a contractor the condition of your machinery is important to the quality of the services that you are able to deliver to your customers.

If you are the operator, be it as a gardener working solely or as part of a team you have a responsibility to maintain your machinery.

Before you start the engine, look at the nut that holds the blade, the engine mounts and the handle bolts.

Mike Seaton makes his presence felt at Chelsea

Mike Seaton, aka Dr Lawn, the founder of the Lawn Society has set tongues wagging after telling the organiser of the Chelsea flower show, Bob Sweet that the British lawn needs to be recognised at the Royal Horticulture Society Chelsea International flower show.

The lawn society hijacked proceedings by awarding their unofficial Gold Medal to Brian Alabaster. Brian whose naturalistic sculptures sell for up to £20,000, was judged to have the best lawn in the show.

The message has now really hit home and Bob Sweet, admitted that the subject of lawns is the number one topic at their advice centre during the show, is taking the criticism seriously.