I’ve always been an avid DIY’er, and having access to a pillar drill I could use at my family’s garden centre, I’ve always had access to a decent floor standing pillar drill. However, I’ve also done many projects at home and wanted a more compact pillar drill in my garage at home. This is when I first started looking at the more modern, easy-to-use pillar drills with features like electronic speed control, which means no…
Regarding pressure washers in general, I’ve always had electric pressure washers connected to the mains tap, which included my Karcher K2 and, more recently, the Karcher K5 with smart control. At my family’s garden centre, we’ve always used petrol pressure washers, so when these cordless pressure washers first caught my attention a few years back, I was very doubtful and wrote them off as more of a gimmick than a useful cleaning tool. Fast forward…
When it comes to walking, especially with the dog, I always wear a decent pair of wall-insulated wellies, especially in winter, rather than hiking boots (I wear them more in summer when it’s dry). My wife prefers Dublin River Boots, while my daughter loves her Moretta farm yard boots, both of which are excellent quality boots and, I’m told, very comfortable. I like my Jack Pyke Wellington boots; I love the neoprene rubber material, but…
As a child, I was always around chickens as my dad always kept a few small bantams and cochins along with rabbits, guinea pigs and even pigeons, and that was when we lived in a terrace house. My dad was always into keeping animals, and was definitely passed on to my brothers and me! Fast forward almost 40 years, and my dad still keeps chickens along with guinea fowl, a few sheep, a few pigmy…
As a professional gardener and nurseryman of over 20 years working at my family garden centre, like most gardeners, one job I’ve never been keen on is weeding. Whether I’m maintaining a client’s lawn by removing dandelions in spring or weeding potted plants in my family’s nursery, the job of weeding is always one I’d prefer not to be doing. Over the years, I’ve tested and used many tools for removing weeds than I can…
I’ve been splitting logs for years, mostly at my family’s garden centre, as we sell our own firewood, which we split mostly with a good old-fashioned log-splitting axe or maul with the Spear & Jackson Razorsharp 6.5 lb Log Splitting Maul being a favourite of mine. With this in mind, I thought I would share my experience here. I now mostly split my own logs for my wood-burning stove I had installed a few years…
I’ve been cutting and splitting logs and making kindling for around 15 years. I started doing this at my family garden centre, where we sell seasoned logs that we cut ourselves. Back in the day, we used a good old-fashioned hatchet and a smaller splitting axe like the Roughneck ROU65640 Axe, which is 1¼lbs for the kindling. These days I think there are much better ways for making kindling. Over the last six years since…
Over the years, I’ve owned a few convector heaters and Mica heaters, which are very similar and often used interchangeably. However, they are different types of heaters, but very similar. With Micro heaters such as my favourite, this Duronic HV220 Mica Heater, the heating element is covered in thin sheets of mica. Micathermic heaters produce both convection heat and radiant heat which is what makes them unique. I’ve reviewed my greenhouse heaters from Biogreen as…
As a professional gardener, in the autumn, when the leaves begin to fall, there is one garden tool I won’t be without. That is my Spear & Jackson Neverbend Leaf Rake pictured below. It really is a lovely rake to use but more on this in a minute. Over the last 20 years, I’ve used countless garden rakes for my garden maintenance jobs and on my family’s small nursery and small holding. Most only last…
If there is one garden tool I wouldn’t be without, especially in autumn, it’s a decent leaf grabber. In particular, a long-handled leaf grabber or leaf collector like my Clear N Collect Leaf Rake Grabber, which I think is one of the best leaf grabbers. It’s one of those garden tools I wish I had invested in sooner! As a professional gardener and nurseryman for over 20 years, I always try to invest a little…
