Landscape Juice

How fast does a lawn mower go?

It's now just one week until I leave on my epic charity Mowerthon. In fact one week from today I hope to be at least 60-70 miles up country en route to Plueville, where I'm planning my first overnight stop. However that target is now in doubt after I found out at the end of last week that the Etesia tractor I will calling home for the duration of my trip, doesn't actually do 20mph as I thought. The tractor's top speed is in reality only 18kph; and that will make one hell of a difference to my planned itinerary.... Read more →

SGD appoints Juliet Sargeant to chair

The Society of Garden Designers has appointment Juliet Sargeant as chair with immediate effect a week after the resignation of Charles Rutherfoord. She has been a member of the Society since 2000 and a long-standing member of council. The new appointment comes as the SGD faces a crisis, with many members unhappy at council's handling of proposed name changes. Charles Rutherford quite saying he couldn't 'represent this council'. More news when I have it. Read more →

Wakehurst Place remembers the great storm of 1987

Wakehurst Place, the Sussex country estate of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, will mark the 25th anniversary of the 1987 hurricane next month to highlight how the gardens were restored in the aftermath of the great storm. Wakehurst’s botanical gardens and surrounding woodland lost more than 20,000 trees when winds of more than 75mph tore across southern England in the early hours of 16 October 1987. Centuries old trees fell like matchsticks at the 500 acre estate at Ardingly, near Haywards Heath. It took five years to completely clear the damage. A quarter of a century on, the anniversary will... Read more →

SGD put brakes on name change in favour of further consultation

The Society of Garden Designers has postponed its vote on proposed name changes whilst it undertakes further research. In an email from acting chair Amanda Patton, members were informed: "First of all, we would like to thank you if you have contributed to the online debate. This has raised various questions which we would like to address more fully and so council has in the short term decided to defer the vote on the proposed names while we undertake further research. "We now intend to undertake a more detailed consultation and discussion with all members and with other organisations to... Read more →

Society of Garden Designers in crisis

@mcquegardens @paulhensey Not heard anything. Looks like a crisis situation for SGD @landscapejuice— Janine Pattison (@janinepattison) September 15, 2012 The Society of Garden Designers starts the new week in crisis after the shock resignation of its chairman Charles Rutherfoord. Rutherfoord quit last Wednesday after just eight months into the job, informing members via a 'curt' email late at night. The reason, or reasons, why Rutherfoord has left the job remain unclear but he is quoted as saying he cannot represent 'this council' any longer. At this point one can only speculate but one issue which appears to be causing consternation... Read more →

Charles Rutherfoord resigns as Society of Garden Designers' chairman

Charles Rutherfoord has resigned as chairman of the Society of Garden Designers. In an email to all SGD members late last night, Rutherfoord announced he is 'stepping down' with immediate effect. No further details are available at the moment but I will bring further news as and when I have it. I have asked Charles Rutherfoord for a statement. So where does this leave the SGD? Rutherfoord was only appointed in the job in January 2012, taking over from Annabel Downs who held the post for three years prior. In taking up his post Rutherfoord said: "The Society is at... Read more →

Moors for the Future restoration gets under way

An airlift operation got underway this month as work started to transport around 300,000 moorland plants onto the hills of northern England to help restore the Peak District and South Pennines Moors to good health. Between now and next spring, the thousands of native moorland plants are being airlifted by helicopter to six moorland sites. The work is being carried out by the Moors for the Future Partnership - the largest moorland conservation partnership in Europe - which is led by the Peak District National Park Authority, and funded by Natural England, Defra, the National Trust, Yorkshire Water, United Utilities... Read more →

Don't fall for the 'heh u didnt see them tapping u' scam

WARNING: THIS POST IS JUST ADVISORY - DON'T CLICK ON ANY OF THE LINKS I'VE PASTED INTO THIS POST. I cannot believe how many people have been duped into sharing their Twitter log-in details by clicking on a link sent to them via a Twitter contact. Every few minutes it seems am I sent a message which appears to be from someone on my Twitter contact list with the headline: "heh u didnt see them tapping u [link]" or "you even see them taping u him [link] thats awful" or lol ur famous now [link] or "wat are u doing... Read more →

Man controls the destiny of the world's 100 most endangered species say scientists

A new report has identified a list of 100 of the world's most threatened species which scientists believe may be allowed to die out because there is no obvious value to mankind. The list, which includes the tarzan’s chameleon, spoon-billed sandpiper and the pygmy three-toed sloth was released today by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). 8,000 scientists from the IUCN Species Survival Commission (IUCN SSC) have come together to identify 100 of the most threatened animals, plants and fungi on the planet. But conservationists fear they’ll be allowed to die... Read more →

Is there an alternative worm treatment to Carbendazim?

There's no getting away from the fact that, as a nation, British gardeners have come to encourage insects and bugs rather than kill them. For the home owner, having worms in a lawn isn't a major issue as they provide food for birds, foxes and badgers. However for the serious lawn enthusiast, professional green keeper and groundsman, worms in fine turf are more than an unsightly mess. Anyone who's ever played golf, bowls, lawn tennis, croquet, football, rugby or hockey (just to name a few) know only too well that worm casts disrupt the playing surface. sticks to one's feet... Read more →