Reviews of ornamental and practical gardening products.
It’s still too early to add a general weed and feed to the lawn, you need to wait until April when it is a bit warmer and the grass is actively growing. However, it is a good idea to tackle any weeds with a spot weed killer, or dig them out, before they go to seed and make more work for you later.
We seem to accumulate all sorts of ‘essentials’ by the back door; garden shoes, secateurs, gardening gloves, garden string, dustpan and brush, pots, watering cans, plant food etc, all of which I use too frequently to hide away in the shed! Until now these items have resided on some tatty old wooden shelves we’ve had for years. Continue reading
When pruning shrubs in the garden, it is important to use the right tool for the job, to avoid putting unnecessary strain on your wrist and hand. There are two main types of secateurs:
Garden arches make interesting features in garden design. Use them to separate different ‘garden rooms’, or to give some height to a newly planted garden, or even just to grow climbing plants up them. It is worth investing in a good quality arch as cheap ones often rot very quickly or are not strong enough to take the weight of the plants growing up them.
Over the winter we removed a conifer tree that had become a bit of a thug. The roots were travelling under the path and coming up in the vegetable beds. You could tell where the roots had reached, as the veggies and strawberries were not growing as well as the others. Enough, is enough, we thought. Food comes before an overgrown bully-boy conifer, so down it came.
At this time of year, when the sun is actually shining, it is incredibly strong. The temperature in the greenhouse rises rapidly and plants, young seedlings in particular, are vulnerable to scorching. I noticed yesterday that several of my seedlings have been burnt in the greenhouse. Fortunately I had already ordered some shade netting and thankfully it turned up today.