Landscape Juice

Winter lawn maintenance

It may be cold out side and expected to get colder but your lawn is never totally dormant. It pays to keep the lawn in check and when it has had time to dry beneath the surface I like to get out and trim the top to keep it fresh. Leaving the first grass cut till May does serious harm to the lawn and the shock could damage the whole seasons growth and recovery potential. Cutting infrequently will also mean the desired grasses are crowded out and will fail also because of competition for light air and nutrients. Cur your... Read more →

Tips on pruning Clematis in February

It may be a bit cold, very grey and damp and more enticing sitting next to your inglenook fireplace but there are some jobs we need to do this month and believe me, make the effort and reaps the rewards. Once the motivations kicks in and you cross these chores off of the list you can soon be back with a hot mug of soup in front of the telly watching Gardeners World. One favourite of mine is Clematis and we need to cut back the summer flowering varieties. Take them down hard to the strongest emerging buds and they... Read more →

RHS Photographer of the Year competition

Colin Roberts is top of the tree in his field. In this case the tree is a Fagus Sylvatica (Beech) and his field is the South Downs. This perfect snow covered scene was entered by photographer Colin in the Medici sponsored 2006 RHS Photographic Competition tree and shrub section and beat 3,500 other hopefuls to take top spot. If you think you have what it takes the next winner could be you. Details on how to enter the 2007 Competition can be obtained by e-mailing photocomp@rhs.org.uk or by sending a SAE to: RHS Photographic Competition 2007, RHS Garden Rosemoor, Great... Read more →

Young horticulturist of the year

This can be your chance to pick up the Young Horticulturist of the Year award. Historically, over 1,000 people who are employed in production or environmental horticulture, and anyone studying for a horticultural qualification can enter - and it could be you. This might be your chance to become the next Alan Titchmarsh or Charlie Dimmock. Seriously, there are many unsung heroes around the British Isles who maintain anything from a few square metres to stately homes. It is a challenging and skilful but most of all rewarding occupation. My early days in gardening and attendance of Merrist Wood nr... Read more →

Skype gardening chat room

I have been looking to add a forum to Landscape Juice for some time now and what better way than using Skype! This is experimental for now but lets share ideas, information and a few laughs. I do not intend to make too many rules because we are all adults - right? Feel free to talk about anything to do with horticulture, landscaping, gardening or even global warming. Perhaps the best thing to do is I start with a topic. What temperature will the UK be by 2010 and what plants will we all be growing? Update June 2008 Since... Read more →

Does Ivy kill trees?

Jane Cornwall from Leeds has emailed me to ask if the Ivy growing up a young Oak tree will cause any harm. Firstly, thanks Jane for asking the question and it is a subject we encountered often but I am afraid it does not have a single definitive yes or no. Firstly, Ivy (Hedera helix) is not a parasite and it does not actually live off of the trees resources but merely uses the tree as a support. As Ivy grows it anchors itself using aerial roots and will grow high into the canopy seeking light. Contrary to popular belief... Read more →

Tips on pruning and propagating roses

I have noticed an awful lot of queries about pruning or propagating Roses sent to my site by the search engines. Many gardeners are frightened about Roses and how to deal with them but you should not be because roses are more or less indestructible. It is more important to get the feeding and disease treatments correct. Do you remember when Windows first hit our computers? Soon after the famous range of books starting with 'Computers for Dummies' hit the bookshelves. Well the Dr Hessayon range of books can almost be thought of as 'Gardening for Dummies'. OK maybe that... Read more →

Review of the Max Tapener

All of our maintenance vans would carry one of these handy plant tying machines and I must say that they saved us hours and hours on commercial jobs. It doesn't matter what aspect of gardening you undertake, clipping climbing roses, grape vines onto wires or tomatoes on to support canes or strings is a breeze. I even used to join cables together on mowing machines. It will set you back about £46.00 but you could recover this back in just one hour of work because of the speed you can operate at. Gone are the days of cutting hundreds of... Read more →

Garden centre robbery caught on camera

Do you recognise this man? If so the Police would like to hear from you. He is wanted in connection with a number of frauds carried out at garden centers. He was caught on CCTV at the Hillfoot Garden Center in Pernrith after he lifted a set of Christmas Tree lights worth £99 from an aisle and then tried to claim his money back from the checkout claiming that his wife had bought them previously but had been attacked and had her bag stolen which contained the receipt. The conman even produced a crime number to strengthen his case but... Read more →