The current economic climate quite rightly makes us all careful with our money.

With that in mind, you may like to consider some of the services which we offer as being very cost effective.

For example, if you need to sell your house, a design followed by a quick garden makeover is an investment which will see your property standing out from the competitors and more likely to sell.

If you are thinking of holidaying at home next year, a consultancy visit, or a design and refurbishment will help you make the most of the garden you have and increase your pleasure in it.

So whatever your garden problem or query, drop us an email or give us a ring and we’ll see what we can do to help!

Our policy is to recycle both green and non-green waste wherever possible. The following options are suggested, some are applicable for occasional, large amounts, some for small, regular amounts. You may like to consider a compost bin as this will take soft garden waste as well as kitchen waste. Most local councils have special offers for residents.

Those of you awaiting our tree surgery service need wait no longer!

Waiting for Nathan!

As it’s a topical subject, we thought letting you know our environmental policy as outlined below,

might be of interest. We already meet the legal requirements for small businesses. It is a complicated area as we come under more than one business category!

November

November starts with sad looking pumpkins left over from October 31st. Then it has a mass of bright lights around the 5th – if you’re in charge of your own bonfire, remember that wood ash is a useful source of carbon in the garden. Poppies obviously feature this month, particularly so this year, ninety years since Armistice Day. It seems appropriate to mention that the War Graves are beautifully maintained, with something green or flowering whatever the time of year you visit; a reminder that life does continue.                  

Read our seasonal tips below; November is still a time for ‘doing’ in the garden and there’s plenty to be done…

Pests, Predators, Weeds and Saviours: Part 1

Warm weather, warm soil, rain, sunshine all make the garden grow. The downside is all that young tender growth makes tasty meals for a whole host of pests and is as good for weeds to grow in as it is for ornamentals and vegetables.

So, are you prepared to do battle for another year? Hopefully you have your army of allies in place already; if not what can you do?

I suppose your first decision is whether to choose chemical or organic. If you’ve always been chemical and are alarmed by the decreasing number available to you, or if you’re not sure if you’re ready to become fully organic, you could try an integrated scheme, where you use organic, cultural, biological methods first and move onto chemical later if / when you need to. (Officially known as IPM or integrated pest management).

Let’s consider a fairly informal interpretation of IPM as being that most likely to appeal to most people.

I’m assuming that your soil is in good heart to begin with, full to bursting with organic matter and friendly worms. By ensuring your plants are healthy, they’re more able to fight off attacks by pests, and survive. It doesn’t stop the weeds, unfortunately; although a bed full of nettles is a sign that the soil is healthy!

Just in case you’re still confused, annual weeds germinate, flower, set seed and die once or many times over the growing season. Examples are Shepherds purse, chickweed. So although they may come up year after year, you can get rid of them (until the birds drop some more seeds…) Perennials are longer lived and tend to have a tap root which goes deep into the ground, enabling them to over winter. Bindweed and dandelion are two examples.

Interestingly, many of the plants we call weeds are useful culinary and medicinal plants and have been used as such for hundreds of years. They have also provided us with many of the ornamental garden plants we love through cultivation and breeding.

For weeds, our casual IPM could mean cultural methods of hoeing or picking out annual weeds while still small and doing one’s best to dig out the worst of the perennials. The perennials are the point at which many people understandably call in the marines (sorry, I mean the chemicals). The problem is often avoiding spraying the plants you do want when you have horsetail in between your salvias and bindweed clinging to your clematis. The answer there is start earlier if you’re going to spray or paint on a systemic weed killer, or indeed use a more organic version such as strong vinegar. So maybe that’s for next year. What may help a little is to plant a good sized, strong, ground covering ornamental or productive plant as soon as you’ve dug up the mass of perennial weeds. It won’t stop them, but it may slow them down by increasing the competition.

Where you have fewer, possibly specimen plants, or under shrubs, laying down mulch will reduce weed seeds germinating and slow down perennials by creating a barrier. Mulches can be organic, such as bark or compost, or inorganic such as pebbles or membrane.

Pests come in many shapes and sizes…

Encouraging beneficial insects into the garden is a positive way to reduce pests and, once you’ve done the encouraging bit, should mean a lot less work for you! It doesn’t mix so well with most chemicals, so do be careful and read instructions if you need to use them; for example, some can be sprayed on flowering plants in the evening and the residue has gone by the morning so the bees are less affected.

To be continued…