Landscape and garden news, tips and advice

Deer collision hazard warnings - a matter of life and death?

Colliding with a deer is not something anyone wants to do, and it's far from ones thoughts when driving through beautiful countryside. The warning triangular sign of a deer with red outline, can seem overcautious when no deer are to be seen. But the danger's always there.

At certain times of the day, such as at dusk or dawn, animals come out into the open to cross the roads. Vegetation camouflages animals as they approach the road leaving little or no time to avoid them, by Carol Miers.

Deer are shy creatures and we aren't used to their habits. Although they move quickly, it is not always fast enough.

What can be done to reduce the risks of accidents?

A green new force in British politics: The Gardening Party

With trust in status quo politics withering away, earth-friendly gardening writer John Walker presents his manifesto for a brave, visionary and greener force fit for the dawning of a more earth-friendly era.

As a media frenzy media engulfs confirmation of the date for the forthcoming general election, I am as delighted as I am humbled to announce that I intend to stand for Parliament, where I will sow the seeds of a dynamic new force in British politics. Fresh and forward-thinking, it will put real plot into politics, so that within a few short months of my party taking office, ‘political plotting’ will gain a new, historic meaning. When I say that my party will appeal to the grass roots, I truly mean it.

This new, vibrant and earth-centric powerhouse for change will be known as The Gardening Party (TGP). Its policies will be driven by the seriousness of the environmental challenges which lie ahead: the intertwined threats of climate change and ‘peak oil’, resource depletion, destruction of natural habitats, global pollution, and the planet-wide erosion of biodiversity.

Getting into bed with a garden centre undermines what Garden Organic is about

Being co-opted by big business threatens to undermine the ecologically desirable tenets of thrift, frugality and prudence that organic gardening actually epitomizes, says earth-friendly gardening writer John Walker.

Without knowing quite where it’s going, and with some reluctance, I recently parted with £28 of my hard-earned cash. The call-up for my twenty-eight quid was a subscription reminder from Garden Organic (GO), the UK’s national charity for organic growing, of which I have been a member for many years.

What caused me to waver were still-gnawing doubts following the announcement last autumn that GO was proposing to enter into a commercial partnership with Webbs Garden Centres Ltd (WGC), whose HQ is at Droitwich in Worcestershire. My conundrum is that for the first time ever I’m not sure whether my £28 is potentially going toward ‘researching and promoting organic gardening, farming and food’, or helping to expand the business interests of the ecologically indifferent gardening industry.

Chainsaw wood carving

If you are planning to take down any trees in your garden and you are perhaps feeling a little but guilty because of the trees maturity then why not consider doing something useful with the trunk instead of cutting it all up for logs?

Bob Smale has just joined Landscape Juice network and he has uploaded this picture of a twenty foot Larch - larix trunk that the client had carved into a rather unique Totem Pole.

Speaking to Bob earlier to day I found out that the project came about by a chance conversation in the pub, otherwise the remainder of the tree would have come down completely.

J'ai besoin d'un jardinier en France

Le Reader équipe est heureuse d'annoncer que 20% d'un autre projet est venu de concrétiser: la traduction automatique en Reader! Poste de 20% de bénévoles et d'experts glottology, Brett Bavar.

TagsBelieve-le ou non, le Web est vraiment le monde entier. Cela signifie qu'il ya beaucoup de contenu intéressant là-bas, dans des langues autres que le vôtre. Vous avez peut-être manqué sur ce contenu dans le passé, mais maintenant, avec la traduction automatique dans le Reader, vous ne devez pas manquer!

Gardening contracts 'will' suffer the Credit Crunch

Gardeners, landscapers and home-owners should now be under no illusions that the economy will, if it has not already, impact hard on them.

Lehman Brothers, the worlds fourth largest bank, has filed for bankruptcy, with the potential loss of four thousand UK jobs and commentators are fearing that a further wave of failures will ensue.

Whilst there will also be some refreshing change that comes with the collapse of some of the worlds biggest institutions - Lehman Brothers was 158 years old - it will take considerable time for these effects to filter through.

Foraging for Mushrooms this Autumn

Have you noticed that the mornings are becoming very dewy and the atmosphere is changing and giving you that a mellow feeling? Late summer time, just before September is probably my most favourite time of year.

It was always a pleasure to go to work, maybe scarifying a lawn or preparing the soil in readiness of broadcasting grass seed or laying some turf.

One thing I always romantically fantasised about was wandering the woodland with a basket and my trusty dog Hector in search of wild fungi. We get a rather tasty fungi that grows on old Willow and Poplar wood - I wouldn't have dared to eat them until Mr Bertrand our neighbour showed me what to look for.

Chasing gold can be a landscaping disaster

It is every garden designers dream to win a gold or silver medal at a top show and to be honest will be one of the greatest marketing opportunities that are available - get noticed by the right person, magazine or television and you are away.

For the landscaper, involvement in a gold winning garden can easily spell disaster if you are not careful, and it is imperative that you are not stereotyped as the do-er and not the thinker.

Bring a garden designer to you for greater success rather than migrate to them; that way you can influence the design brief to suit your building style and capabilities.

Getting the best out of your garden blower

Did anyone watch the formula one motor racing from France last weekend? If you did, you may have noticed that the teams are using an ordinary hand held garden blower/vacuum to introduce air into the car engines to stop them overheating.

I think that this is probably the latest obscure use I have seen for these fantastic machines - I have thought of a few other uses that I have seen or heard of - please feel free to add one of your own.

Do not let your garden rule your life

I have a major confession to make and it is not something that fits comfortably with me. I feel I have let myself down and above all, I have let you, the readers, down - let me explain.

I live in a wonderful place, deep into rural France with twenty acres of truly unspoilt countryside looking out over a truly natural landscape.

I came here to relax and enjoy the second half of life and explore gardening just a little bit more and try to develop a burgeoning vegetable patch to supply us with all of our produce.