Landscape and horticulture expert

Which garden tools are the best of breed?

I received an email yesterday from a Landscape Juice reader who needs some help with identifying what tools to buy.

It looks like Mr Jolly has had a frustrating experience thus far - I will print the question here and again in the network.

Can anyone help?

"Dear Landscape Juice,

Help!

I need to invest in some decent hand tools for gardening - ones that will not bend or break after a couple of uses. In the last two weeks of normal garden use I have managed to bend or break the following :

Is the growth of allotmenteering a fad, or is it here to stay?

Don't you feel that it is rather warming to hear (unless you are the one waiting) about the shortage of Allotments?

Only last week, allotmenteers in North Devon (source BBC) held a protest at Totnes Civic Hall complaining at the lack of spare allotment spaces.

What does a gardener charge?

This is a very common query on Landscape Juice - What does a gardener charge per hour or how much should I pay a gardener.

A lot depends on who you are employing, what their level or experience and competence is and what qualifications they have - I would put experience and competence way above the qualifications as a prerequisite.

They may have a brilliant learned mind but often, if a student spends four years making very high grades at horticulture college it can mean that they are very limited for practical ability - they may know their latin plant names but may not know what the hell you do with them.

Does your garden mirror your occupation?

I am sitting at my desk, here in the Lot et Garonne on a Sunday morning, listening to and watching a video about hacking which I have picked up from the Real Oasis blog.

In it, a hacker is asking an audience of hackers at a convention, what they think certain people do or what they are just from photographs of them or their cars.

It got me thinking - could you identify what people do for a living from the type of garden that they keep?

Is extended trading hours the answer to the garden industry decline?

On March 10th, the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) introduced a private members bill into the House of Lords, demanding that garden centres should be allowed to open for longer hours on Sunday's and even open on Easter Sunday.

David Gwyther, the Director General of the HTA, argues that time is too short for garden centres to sell their wares and by extending the opening hours - previously set in 1994 - it would give business the opportunity to increase takings by millions of pounds.

Should British Supermarkets support Horticulture Research?

How many gardeners out there feel that large retailers such as Tesco, Sainsubury's, B&Q and maybe even the largest garden centres themselves, do not put enough, if anything, back into the research and development at grass roots level?

These companies, and many more like them, are reaping rich rewards by selling horticultural based products, but, and I feel this is the crux, there seems little understanding of what gardening is all about and what makes horticulture tick.

Taylor Wimpey turns the screw on Landscapers but it is set to get worse.

Horticulture Week reports that Taylor Wimpey, one of the UK's leading building companies, is seeking a 5% reduction in fees from landscaping contractors who are engaged on their sites and The British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI) and the Horticulture Trades Association (HTA) intend to write a letter of complaint to The Home Builders’ Federation (HBF) about Taylor Wimpey's actions.

How do you stop Badgers digging up the lawn?

It is rather ironic that I should talk, yesterday, about Badgers getting into gardens and potentially damaging the lawn.

I received an email today from Stewarts Landscapes telling me of some extensive damage that Badgers have caused to this lawn whilst on the hunt for Chafer grubs (read the details here).

This is a severe example of how bad damage can be to your prized sward. Remember though, this damage, whilst not caused directly by the Chafer grubs, is a symptom of having them in your soil.

Indian Paving - is it ethical to use it on our patios?

The ethics of using Indian paving has raised it's head again after Chris Harrop, a director of Marshall's Landscape products, warned that child labour is being exploited, for as little as .80p per day, to supply the British landscaping industry.

An article, published in today's Telegraph, claims that only one third of the 200,000 tonnes, which is imported into the UK each year, is of a reputable source.

What side of the brain does a gardener use?

What side of the brain does a gardener use?

According to news.com.au, you can work out a bit of your personality by the side of the brain you use.

We all know that gardeners, especially landscape gardeners, are exceptionally creative people. But what side of the brain does a creative gardener use? Check out this little fun experiment - feel free to leave a comment.

Is it possible to live without garden designers?

"I know that Garden Designers are a luxury item and it is possible to get on quite happily without them - I have said as much before (and succeeded in rather irritating some of the more self important members of the profession in the process: Hee, Hee!)"

At last an admission from within! Something I have been saying for a long while. Garden designers are a breed unto themselves who tend to look down to landscape constructors and view them as a necessary evil.

I remember an instance when a very famous (within the circle and not truly worldwide) garden designer, put pencil to paper and created a rather flamboyant creation in deepest Hampshire, using battleship steel.

Garden Monkey - have a guess who it is?