There has almost been too much happening this year to be able to cram everything into a short review - I even had to split it into two parts - read part two here.
Naturally I am going to be a little biased but I have picked the best bits from the last twelve months.
Some of the items made me angry, bits made me sad, a little made me laugh and much made me proud - put it all together and it made my year.
I hope you have enjoyed Landscape Juice as much as I have and I look forward to the coming year with a great sense of excitement and anticipation.
January brought about criticism from Harvard professor Clive Aslet who said that the British people spent more on their gardens and completely neglect public parks and open spaces.
Worries surfaced about the Landscape Institutes's financial position as it revealed it had to make greater cuts than first anticipated.
Fears grew that it was a 'hole too deep' to dig itself out of and members demanded a new transparency and openness - Robinson Landscape Design director Tom Robinson added: "It is unreasonable to be told we have a financial problem and not be presented with any detail of it."
Another association finding itself in the spotlight was the APL after it tried to shut the door after the horse had bolted. It seemed scandalous that the organisation appeared to remain direction-less as the financial crisis consumed its member businesses.
British bee keepers were handed a £4.3m funding lifeline as disease and colony collapse ravaged through beehives countrywide. Defra proposed that some of the money was to be spent on identifying pests and diseases with the remainder on bee health over the next five years.
Exbury Gardens. owner Edmund Leopold de Rothschild died aged ninety three, bringing to an end a glorious period of romantic history. Also in Hampshire, Phytophthora ramorum outbreak in the New Forest caused the closure of Rhinefield Drive.
Marshalls warned of an uncertain year as orders declined.
Journalist Craig McGinty wrote that trade associations should put transparency at the heart of its organisation.
As severe weather gripped the UK the RSPB asked us to fill bird baths and save lives.
In February the APL promised to change starting with a website review but I had to question their strategy after announcing a tie-up with Yell.
Perhaps anticipating a dry summer, Janine Pattison gave us some tips on planting when dealing with dry shade in the garden. The Landscape Juice Network passed 400 members as word spread and popularity grew.
A cure for Bleeding Canker was found, things remained tricky for the Landscape Institute, the Gardenmakers won the APL top award and Britain's tallest tree was confirmed as the Stonardron Douglas Fir in the grounds of Dumans Castle, Argyll.
Doubts grew for this years Chelsea flower show as the RHS announces that only thirteen gardens have found sponsors - gardener Geoffrey Smith dies.
In March the government promised £25m to fight Sudden Death Oak syndrome, Landscape Institute member Amanda Davey asked if the LI could survive without its archive.?
The Landscape Juice Network continued its strong growth and one member, TVG Landscaping, told of the confidence LJN had given him to help win his biggest ever contract.
Marshalls continued to disappoint and James May upset stuffy gardeners after it was announced he would be building a plasticine garden at Chelsea.
Hort Week started to rubbish blogging as a serious medium and I asked if journalists could ever adapt to blogging?
Concerns were raised by farmers after the announcement that Beavers were to be re-introduced into the United Kingdom after four hundred years. Hilary Benn revealed details of an inoculation program for wild badgers against the spread of tuberculosis.
After a little over a year and promises of great things for the gardening industry, The Garden Network Owner Linette Applegate walks away and hands over to garden designer Tim Matcham.
Early signs of media meltdown started to emerge in April as Haymarket Publishing (the owner of Hort Week) drops Dawson Holdings as its distributor as costs begin to rise.
Heseltine also raised concerns for the coming twelve months saying "There is no alternative but a note of caution as we look at the current year and 2009. Trading conditions are tightening in many fields."
HP reported a 13% increase in online activities - I wondered as to what the declines would be to its traditional business?
Toby (who?) Buckland took over Gardeners' World - it would turn out to be 'annus horibilis' for the likeable gardener as he fails to win over viewers.
Hilary Benn said that the loss of British Bees was not linked to neonicotinoid pesticides saying there was no evidence that the pesticide is at fault for dramatic declines.
The APL prematurely announces that a new website is on the way. I captured a pictorial view while walking the dogs and Wembley announced an immediate pitch replacement with a new set of grass species and LJN adds another one hundred members.
May was a busy month for Landscape Juice bringing stories such as the restoration of Robert Dudley's Kenilworth Castle's Elizabethan gardens, Google using goats to cut its HQ lawns and a possible sighting of the Silver Studded Blue butterfly.
Paul Hervey-Brookes won a year long scholarship with Chris Beardshaw for his 'A Dance to the Music of Time' garden at the Malvern spring show.
Peat sales continued to rise through the recession and MP gardening expenses started to dominate news stories - from a professional gardeners view point, they didn't pay enough.
Chris Evans called LJ HQ to ask if I would like to go on his Drivetime show to talk about sunflowers - unfortunately I was out at the RHS did it instead.
Stresses began to build at Hort Week and Haymarket provides fruit and massage sessions to help troubled journalists find inspiration - meanwhile, as his empire continued to show signs of crumbling, Heseltine promised to take out anyone who stood in his way "you either fight them or you buy them. And if you’re a big enough company, you don’t hesitate. If you see someone ahead of the game, you buy them.”
Greenpeace and Garden Organic planted an allotment on the proposed site of Heathrow's third runway.
Marshalls and Travis Perkins announced a rights issue as both companies struggled with falling sales as the recession gripped harder.
Long standing radio gardener Daphne Ledward apologised for being drunk and abusing fellow guests at a gathering and was sacked by the BBC.
Chelsea couldn't avoid controversy as Borage the garden gnome gets a ban and nobody realised that James May's plasticine garden would cause so much anger.
The Landscape Institute remained in the news as disgruntled member Gabino Carballo said that the LI was 'detached from its members'.
I interviewed the lovely Alice Bowe, the plight of British bees was discussed in parliament.
The grow-your-own craze showed no signs of abating and allotment waiting lists grew to seven years in Cheltenham.
Beavers are released in Knapdale Forest and the Cuckoo is placed on the Red List of endangered species.
June brings more success for re-introduced species that became extinct in the UK after Great Bustard chicks hatched naturally on Salisbury Plain.
An argument began - should it be wisteria or wistaria?
I exclusively revealed the location of the new Gardeners World Greenacre garden as Birmingham's Botanical Gardens.
Britain goes vegetable crazy and even the Queen starts a vegetable patch.
Hort Week take another pop at serious blogging but defends a bloggers right to anonymity, even if the blogger has got his facts wrong.
Environmental writer (and now blogger) John Walker makes his Landscape Juice blogging debut.
Read part two of my Landscape Juice 2009 review.
Bee image: FHF Greenmedia
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