Tag Archive for: garden

Keeping garden bugs at bay

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Keeping garden bugs at bay: Green fingered homeowners falling victim to destructive garden bugs are being given advice on how to keep them away.

The team of outdoor experts at GardenBuildingsDirect.co.uk have provided some cheap and easy solutions on how to tackle these bugs.

Keeping garden bugs at bay

Keeping garden bugs at bay

As the sun starts to come out, Brits are making the most of their outdoor space and making them look as beautiful as possible.

Unfortunately, the likes of moths, slugs and snails also come out in the sun and can do a lot of damage to gardens.

A spokesperson for GardenBuildingsDirect.co.uk said: “It is inevitable that garden bugs will cause a bit of disruption, whether you’re out relaxing, planting your own veg or growing your own garden.

“This guide is full of some of the most destructive garden bugs and the top tips to help keep these at bay, so the outdoors can be stress-free.”

Slugs and Snails

Slugs and snails are some of the most common yet destructive garden pests. Not only do they leave a sticky trail behind them, but they also love to munch through leaves and vegetables. This can be particularly problematic on vegetable patches if you are growing plants like lettuce and cabbage.

Salt has always been a fool proof way of killing slugs and snails, but if you want to stop them in their tracks, copper tape acts as a great deterrent, giving them electric shocks.

Caterpillars

Caterpillars love to nibble their way through fruits, vegetables, and plants. They are also detrimental to some flowers too, with the buds and seeds often all destroyed.

One of the most natural and inexpensive ways to rid your plants of these pesky bugs, is to spray them with hot soapy water. This can then be poured into a spray bottle and used as many times as necessary.

Moths

This type of garden bug can be especially damaging in the summer months. They love cotton and wool fibres so homeowners need to be aware that leaving outdoor cushions and furniture in the garden could be targeted by moths.

An easy solution for deterring them is to use herbal sprays in the areas you want to protect. Herbs like lavender and rosemary are not loved by these bugs, and they also smell nice too.

May Bugs

Usually seen around May-time (up until July), which is how it earned its name, May Bugs can cause considerable damage to gardens. In their early years they live under the soil and feed off the roots of plants and flowers.

As there are not a lot of homemade options available to keep these bugs away, the best option is to use an insect killer.

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The most destructive garden bugs

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The most destructive garden bugs: Green fingered homeowners falling victim to destructive garden bugs are being given advice on how to keep them away.

The team of outdoor experts at GardenBuildingsDirect.co.uk have provided some cheap and easy solutions on how to tackle these bugs.

The most destructive garden bugs

The most destructive garden bugs

As the sun starts to come out, Brits are making the most of their outdoor space and making them look as beautiful as possible.

Unfortunately, the likes of moths, slugs and snails also come out in the sun and can do a lot of damage to gardens.

A spokesperson for GardenBuildingsDirect.co.uk said: “It is inevitable that garden bugs will cause a bit of disruption, whether you’re out relaxing, planting your own veg or growing your own garden.

“This guide is full of some of the most destructive garden bugs and the top tips to help keep these at bay, so the outdoors can be stress-free.”

Slugs and Snails

Slugs and snails are some of the most common yet destructive garden pests. Not only do they leave a sticky trail behind them, but they also love to munch through leaves and vegetables. This can be particularly problematic on vegetable patches if you are growing plants like lettuce and cabbage.

Salt has always been a fool proof way of killing slugs and snails, but if you want to stop them in their tracks, copper tape acts as a great deterrent, giving them electric shocks.

Caterpillars

Caterpillars love to nibble their way through fruits, vegetables, and plants. They are also detrimental to some flowers too, with the buds and seeds often all destroyed.

One of the most natural and inexpensive ways to rid your plants of these pesky bugs, is to spray them with hot soapy water. This can then be poured into a spray bottle and used as many times as necessary.

Moths

This type of garden bug can be especially damaging in the summer months. They love cotton and wool fibres so homeowners need to be aware that leaving outdoor cushions and furniture in the garden could be targeted by moths.

An easy solution for deterring them is to use herbal sprays in the areas you want to protect. Herbs like lavender and rosemary are not loved by these bugs, and they also smell nice too.

May Bugs

Usually seen around May-time (up until July), which is how it earned its name, May Bugs can cause considerable damage to gardens. In their early years they live under the soil and feed off the roots of plants and flowers.

As there are not a lot of homemade options available to keep these bugs away, the best option is to use an insect killer.

For the latest industry news visit turfmatters.co.uk/news

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2022 Garden Trend Report

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2022 Garden Trend Report: A new study by garden furniture retailer, Moda Furnishings, has looked into a variety of data sources to see what types of gardens people are looking at for inspiration this year, their favourite colours, furniture trends, flowers and more.

As spring is here people are looking to give their garden a refresh or maybe even a total makeover. Moda Furnishings has put together their 2022 Garden Trend Report showing all the most popular garden trends!

2022 Garden Trend Report

2022 Garden Trend Report

As warm weather hits the UK people are beginning to plant their flowers for the Spring and Summer seasons. Moda analysed search patterns to discover what flowers people were most interested in as spring approaches. Violets came out on top with over 659,000 searches and tulips were not far behind in second with 558,100 searches. View the full list here:

Flower Searches
Violets 659,000
Tulips 558,100
Ammaryllis 442,900
Daffodils 373,100
Hyacinth 286,600
Primrose 207,800
Forget Me Nots 194,200
Ranunculus 186,900
Pansies 175,800
Lillies 104,800

The study analysed Pinterest data and was able to find the number of pins used for each key term to determine which ones people were getting the most excited about. The winner was in fact “Colourful gardens” with almost 1.5 million pins in users’ inspiration boards, showing that people are wanting a splash of colour in their garden as we move closer to the warmer and longer days. Coming in a very close second is “Natural gardens” with 1.3 million pins, which shows that people are taking inspiration from the current climate to create more natural-looking spaces.  See the full list below:

THEME NAME PINS
Colourful Garden 1,435,672
Natural Garden 1,340,090
Entertaining Garden 1,034,231
Modern Garden 903,350
Sustainable Garden 672,280
Cottage Garden 567,210
Wild Garden 448,540
White Garden 256,788
Balcony Garden 132,475
Foliage Garden 101,435

Moda also looked at what colours seem to be trending this year when searching for garden furniture, flowers and accents. The most popular colours people were incorporating into their gardens are natural colours like greens, nudes, whites and greys or pastels, blues, purples and surprisingly yellow.  

With the warmer weather and longer days on the horizon people might be looking for some furniture to kit out their garden or balcony, but the big question is what type of furniture are people looking at this year? Rattan garden furniture took the top of the list with almost 9.1X as many searches as the second place, wooden furniture. I think it is safe to assume rattan furniture reigns supreme this year. See below for the full list!

TYPE OF FURNITURE SEARCHES
Rattan 301,000
Wooden 33,100
Aluminum 14,800
Metal 12,00
Teak 9,900
Wicker 6,600
Plastic 5,400
Iron 3,600
Bamboo 2,900
Recycled Materials 1,100

As we all know trends come and go so sometimes the best way to spruce up your garden is with an accent piece. Moda looked at searches across garden furniture trends to see which trends are booming this year. Firepits have quickly risen to the top of the list this year with the always favourite “egg chair” close behind. Check out the full list to see other ways you can bring your garden to life!

ACCENT PIECE SEARCHES
Firepits 433,000
Egg Chair 299,000
Outdoor Rugs 195,000
Unique Lighting 169,000
Bistro Set 97,400
Large Sofa 82,600
Water Feature 82,400
Outdoor Bar 71,800
Sunbed 58,000
Dinning Set 46,600

To read more about Moda and its products please visit here.

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Garden of the Year award

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Garden of the Year award: The Historic Houses Garden of the Year Award 2022 kicks off this Friday (1 April 2022) with eight extraordinary gardens competing to be named the Garden of the Year in a public vote. The award, launching in 1984, and run in conjunction with Christie’s auction house, has gone from strength to strength since then with over ten thousand votes cast in the 2021 competition.

Shortlisted entries are chosen from among the hundreds of gardens, parks, and grounds that offer free entry to members of Historic Houses, the association that represents and supports the UK’s independent historic homes, castles, and gardens. Details of this year’s eight finalist gardens are detailed below. Voting opens at 10am on Friday 1 April 2022, with the voting page located on the Historic Houses website.

Garden of the Year award

Garden of the Year award

Ben Cowell, Director General of Historic Houses:

“Once again, our Garden of the Year Award celebrates the very best gardens from across the UK – and now, beyond. That’s because for the first time our shortlist features a garden from the Channel Islands too. We are very excited to launch this public vote, at the start of what we hope will be a very successful year for open gardens. The award shines a welcome spotlight on our national passion for horticulture – so we encourage everyone to take a look at the shortlist and cast their vote.”

Ursula Cholmeley, Chair of the Historic Houses Gardens Committee:

“The Garden of the Year Award recognises the beauty and quality of independent historic gardens – often still those of family-owned homes. The contemporary spirit of our great country houses is reflected in gardens in which each generation of inhabitants makes their mark and leaves a legacy for the future. These evolving gardens are amongst the finest in the country and we hope that you will get great pleasure from visiting some of these gardens and voting for your favourite.”

Orlando Rock, Chairman, Christie’s UK:

“If a garden is a reflection of a person’s soul (as The Prince of Wales said) the shortlist for the Historic Houses Garden of the Year sponsored by Christie’s exemplifies some truly wonderful individuals. In addition to being horticultural wonders, the gardens selected from the rich variety across the UK and beyond reveal the changing fashions and tastes which have shaped our outside spaces and lives. I urge you, the public, to vote, and more importantly to get out there, visit and enjoy.”

About the eight competing gardens

The garden at Abbotsford, in Melrose, Roxburghshire, is distinct in character; taken together, the layout forms three outdoor ‘rooms’ designed to offer picturesque settings for the main house. The gardens we see today are still fundamentally Sir Walter Scott’s work, though with certain alterations carried out by his descendants to adapt the space for the changing needs of the family.

The gardens at Bressingham Hall, in Suffolk, range from the colourful island borders encircling the front of the house, laid out by founder Alan Bloom, to Foggy Bottom gardens developed by Alan’s son Adrian. Here you will find wide curving walks and great drifts or ‘rivers’ of perennials and grasses.

At Grimsthorpe Castle Gardens, in Lincolnshire, there is a long history of gardening, which continues to this day with fresh planting ideas that provide something to enjoy whenever you visit. Intricate parterres marked with box hedges lie close to the Castle, and a dramatic herbaceous border frames views across the lake.

Mount Ephraim Gardens, in Kent, are most well-known for their spectacular ten-acre Edwardian gardens featuring a topiary garden, rock and water garden, arboretum and rose garden. They also have a fabulous grass maze, planted with ornamental grasses and herbaceous perennials, and are home to an extensive collection of spring bulbs, trees and shrubs including Rhododendrons, many types of Camelias and Magnolias.

Parcevall Hall Gardens, in North Yorkshire, are a renowned historic plantsman’s garden laid out from 1927 onwards by the late Sir William Milner and set in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Comprising of 24 acres of formal and woodland gardens they rise up a hillside for 200 feet giving wonderful views in every direction.

At Pashley Manor Gardens, in East Sussex, you will discover eleven acres of beautiful borders and vistas – the culmination of a lifetime of passion for gardening and an admiration of the tradition of the English Country Garden. These award-winning gardens are family owned and maintained – visitors often express delight at the attention to detail displayed throughout and the intimate, peaceful atmosphere.

The Wild Subtropical Garden at Sausmarez Manor is an ancient woodland surrounding a couple of small lakes and is inter planted with exotic and subtropical plants, trees, ferns, and shrubs, which, because of Guernsey’s mild, equable climate can survive and flourish. Visitors can enjoy seeing around two hundred varieties of camellia, tree ferns from New Zealand, Australia, and Tasmania, and around forty different bamboos.

At Wentworth Woodhouse’s gardens, in South Yorkshire, you’ll discover a wildflower meadow, ancient trees, shaded woodland copses and 18th Century follies. Roam at your leisure or follow a trail which begins at the Stables and takes in the West Terrace, and don’t miss the sweeping views from the Ha-Ha and South Terrace.

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Recharge your garden

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Recharge your garden: Imagine a battery: powerful enough to drive lawn mowers, intelligent enough to automatically recognise whatever garden tool or machine it’s in, and versatile enough to tune the power to match it!

That’s exactly what Mountfield‘s new E-Power 20V technology has delivered. Designed, developed and produced by STIGA engineers specifically for the Freedom 100 range. Available in both 2Ah and 4Ah capacities – this 20V battery helps make every day gardening jobs easy!

Recharge your garden

Recharge your garden

Innovative E-Power battery that does the thinking for you
At the heart of the 20V battery lies a Smart Tool Recognition System. This battery management microchip optimises the performance of the battery to each tool by analysing the electrical resistance. It then adjusts the power output and current levels accordingly – constantly balancing charge and discharge rates with the temperature to maximise the battery’s storage ability, longevity and run-time.

Achieving the perfect size-power-safety balance 
Expertly designed, the lightweight battery unit…

– Is small enough to handle power easily and efficiently, but big enough to ensure maximum airflow.
– Has Lithium Cobalt Oxide cells that are carefully spaced to allow sufficient cooling.
– Has a charging terminal protection that offers even greater safety thanks to the smart long-life transistors which open to isolate the terminals if an alert is activated.
– Has energy saving power indicator lights that also mean the battery’s charge is only displayed when the status button is pressed, meaning 100% of the charge is preserved to power the garden tool.

Tested for the ‘real world’, not just to pass the standard test
Like all Mountfield batteries, the E-Power 20V system is tested at a full, ‘real-life’ usage current. This goes far beyond the common, but less demanding, Industry Standard test of only 300 charges at 20% of the ‘real-life’ usage current.

Testing methods that stipulate that E-Power batteries are still going strong after 600 charges – the equivalent to an owner running down and recharging the battery twice a week for six years. In actual gardening terms, that’s 30 lawn mows, five tree-pruning sessions or 30 leaf-blowing occasions!

Whatever the tool, whatever the job, this cost-effective, convenient and adaptive 20V battery performance is something none of Mountfield’s main competitors in this price segment have come close to matching.

Easy Mows it
Easy Blows it
Easy Cuts it
Easy Trims it
Easy Prunes it

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