Landscape Juice

A clean and attractive garden helps to sell houses

It's a difficult housing market out there at the moment; buyers can pick and choose what they buy or rent and probably haggle for a good price as well. If you are selling or trying to let a property, take note; sixty-seven percent of potential buyers recently surveyed, say they would be put off buying or renting a potential property if it had an unattractive or untidy garden. Forty-eight percent say that they would expect to get at least £50 a month knocked off of the monthly rental charge if the garden was untidy and forty-five percent of potential buyers... Read more →

New and improved Amateur Gardening magazine hits the news stands

The guys at Amateur Gardening gave me a shout back in early March and asked me if I'd cast an analytical eye over their revamped magazine when it hits the news stands on the 3rd April 2010. Front cover...I have to say that there doesn't appear to be an awful lot of difference here. Look at the photo at the top...the left hand side is the latest edition and the right is from December 2009: OK different colours and content but nothing to tell me there's been a revamp. Similarly - unless you are bit of fonts fanatic - the... Read more →

Small birds hit hard by extreme cold

The RSPB's annual Big Garden Birdwatch has revealed that Britain's smallest garden birds suffered dramatically during this year's harsh winter - 530,000 volunteers recorded 8.5 million birds in gardens across the United Kingdom. The House Sparrow retain its position as the most sighted bird but its total recorded number is down 17% on 2009. The coal Tit and Goldcrest were most affected as their tiny bodies failed to resist the biting and prolonged cold - these small birds have to eat throughout the day to survive and with the frozen ground staying covered in snow for several weeks, many appear... Read more →

An analysis of the current position of land based industry practitioners

The landscape and horticultural industry is at a major cross-roads. Angered and motivated by recent news that the British Association of Landscape Industries, the Association of Professional Landscapers and the Society of Garden Designers, is to form a coalition, I have been working in collaboration with a land-based analyst, to complete a draft report [see below] into the current state of the UK landscape and horticulture associations. It is my view that the current organisations are dysfunctional, non-effective and have increased fragmentation and division amongst land-based businesses. I am also distressed that a close relationship has developed between these members... Read more →

Landscaping associations suffering 'Great Firewall Wall of China Syndrome'?

Have you been following the Google news concerning its search engine censorship in China? In the last few days, Google has issued a statement saying that it had been a victim of sophisticated and sustained cyber-attacks launched from the Chinese mainland and as a result, it can no longer censor search results passing through its Chinese based servers - it has now diverted all of the Chinese search traffic through its Hong Kong servers instead. Google's action has been condemned by China for making a commercial situation into a political one and has warned Google that its meddling in its... Read more →

International Garden Photographer of the Year winners announced

The ‘4 seasons’ competition, which is supported by Landscape Juice, is the first of the '4 Seasons' themed quarterly photographic competitions being staged by IGPOTY. The overall winner, Tom Wundrak receives £500 in cash. All of the first three winners receive a copy of ‘International Garden Photographer of the Year Collection 03’ and awarded points which will be taken through to the judging of the main competition which finishes on 30th November 2010. Second place was won by Elspeth Briscoe with Prunus serrula at Anglesey Abbey Organiser, Philip Smith, said: "We had a fascinating selection of images submitted from all... Read more →

Expanding your market into ever decreasing circles

hta, Read more →

Is 'high-end' garden design heading for a fall?

The recession has forced a change of emphasis from material wealth to a much more earthy existence - gardening and landscaping is surely benefiting from its return to basics? However, I feel the market is creating its own garden design bubble that could lead to many aspiring garden designers becoming disillusioned and falling out of love with gardening and landscaping - not to mention financial loss and the prospect of a saturated supply chain and a lack of willing buyers of their work. The danger appears to be coming from the hard-sell of the high-end garden design package and not... Read more →

Skilled hard and soft landscapers needed

Banbury based landscaping company, The Gardenmakers, are looking for skilled and semi-skilled hard landscapers with genuine provable experience and ability. Hard landscapers must be competent at paving and wall construction in particular but willing to adapt to company methods. Applicants should be aware that The Gardenmakers place strong emphasis on quality, hard work and great customer service. Soft landscaper must able to turn their hand to a bit of labouring if necessary as soft landscaping projects are sporadic. The nature of work varies but consists of mainly lawns and border planting at the end of a project; The Gardemakers are... Read more →

Help scientists to record Non-native species

I remember once, when playing a game of golf, standing on the tee read to tee-off when all of a sudden out of the bracken came twelve Muntjac deer. They made a helluva din and boy could they shift for their size. I estimate that they were no bigger than my labrador dog but ran as fast as a greyhound; I was extremely pleased that they decided to scarper down the fairway and not towards those of us standing on the tee. Despite many years living and working in the countryside, it was my first ever encounter with muntjac and... Read more →