Landscape and horticulture expert

Free Countax Scarifier when you buy a tractor

I am not particularly a fan of Countax machinery I have to say, but they do meet the demands of a particular swathe of UK gardeners and if you do not drive them too hard will remain fairly dependable.

I have always found the Countax, which is basically a re branded Wessex, a little 'tinny' and always preferred the Wheel Horse in that range of mowers available.

Gardeners who use Sat Nav can reduce their costs

When the satellite navigation companies, gave their products their generic name, I think they missed a trick.

Shortened to Sat Nav, the in car or pedestrian gadget that receives signals via satellites thus triangulating your position to a few centimetres, should have been named Sav Nav.

I haven't gone into this scientifically but it didn't take me too long to realise how a garden company, running a small fleet of vans, could save a packet on fuel charges and indeed wear and tear on vehicles, if they employed the services of a reliable navigations system.

Everedge - the 'Forever' edge

How many of you are in the throws or planning to lay a new lawn this Spring?

Getting lawn preparation right is not an easy task and getting your lawn edging to not only do a job, but also look stylish, is even harder.

Constructing a brick edge is very labour intensive and quite costly. It also involves a fair bit of experience, if the desire to create an eye catcher, is your goal.

Everedge is that great alternative solution that is not really an alternative but more than quite acceptable as the 'first' choice.

Easy gardening with the Earthbox

Has anyone seen the new product from Harrod Horticulture called Earthbox?

As a concept the Earthbox isn't anywhere new but reading through the literature, I can see how easily it will be to introduce this space saving planter into the average greenhouse, conservatory or even patio with little fuss.

Reviewing Baxters Perfect Edge

Wading through the news which plopped into my inbox this morning, I noticed an item about Baxters Perfect Edge - garden border and edging system.

I have seen a lot of 'useful' tools, come and go over the years, and I am not entirely sure what category this one comes into.

Is it a useful gardening aid - On the face of it, using the special train track assembly, this looks as though it can provide an easy to assemble and consistent system for getting good repetitive edge results.

symbiotic fungi accelerates plant establisment

Have you ever planted a plant, shrub or tree that has remained motionless for more than a year before it romps away?

Scientists have discovered that some plants will not start to grow until fungus, friendly to the plants needs, colonises the soil around the root zone.

Stylish garden Truggs from a sustainable source

I get a lot of emails here at Landscapejuice asking if I would be willing to review a product or advertise something. The trouble is, trading currency, dating agencies and selling insurance does not really fit well with a gardening and horticulture website.

Make your own pot liners using recycled newspaper.

Have you all had time to scour the 2008 seed catalogues yet? I have and my first four packets have arrived.
For those of you that are not aware, I live in France, renovating an old French farm and second house which we let out for holidays.

Whilst the countryside and surrounding area is absolutely stunning, the immediate areas around my house need a little livening up. Because the farm was a working one, right up until the day we signed on the dotted line, it meant that anything that might have grown here was eaten by the herd of cows.

Planting a Green Screen by Mobilane for instant effect

Whilst perusing the Design Buy Build on line magazine, I came a across this rather ingenious product for instant screening using real plants, that are already attached to your fencing. The product is called Green Screen and it is supplied in the UK by www.mobilane.co.uk.

The concept, is not itself a new one. I am sure we have all bought mature plants to shut out the view to an eyesore but, what Mobilane have done with their Green Screen is created a a very thin screen that is already attached to a robust fencing/trellis material, with the plants grown into a biodegradable pot.

In effect, you are using a modular system, the same way as you would erect an ordinary fence or trellis but in this instance you are killing two birds with one stone by have the vegetation attached. Hey presto! job done.

The Muck Truck versus the Powerbarrow

Rugged! a term that has to be used when describing machinery needed for the landscape industry. Rugged because any machine has to withstand constant use at a constant hard pace and sometimes by some pretty unsympathetic operators.

I thought I would take a look at two machines that are available to the landscaping industry that are designed to move heavy weight and material across pretty unfavourable conditions from the start of the day to the end.

Putting the Grab-O-Saurus though it's paces

I little while back I picked up on a press release about retired engineer to inventor, Graham Renny's device, the Grab-O-Saurus, designed for picking up horse manure, grass clippings and leaves.

I thought that rather than just pass a throw away comment it would be prudent to try the device out for myself so I sent off for one.

Merry Tiller for sale

Oh how I got a tingle when I saw this picture and advert for a Merry Tiller. Anyone over the age of forty will have probably seen many of these little cultivators churning through the soil at allotments or back garden vegetable plots nationwide.

When I started in the game back in 1979 on Blackmoor Golf course, one of these machines was the mainstay of our winter program equipment line up.

I remember rotovating the 17th tee around about December 15th in a raging blizzard with Dave Weller, whilst a Robin Redbreast tried his hardest to eat as many Chafer grubs and leatherjackets as he could find from the fluffed up black and silver grey sandy soil.