I used to joke that my dad was called ‘the shed collector’. He has so many sheds, probably around ten. With this in mind, plus the few sheds I’ve owned and installed for clients as part of my landscaping and garden maintenance business I ran for over 15 years, I think I have some useful knowledge to share when it comes to the best shed base kits. Living on a small holding and my family…
Now, I’m not a heavy user of heat guns in that I don’t spend hours each day using one like some professionals might. However, over the years, I have owned a few different models, including my old Bosch PHG 500-2 pictured below and the DeWalt 1800W Heat Gun when I renovated my second house a few years back, a great bit of kit and an absolute bargain for the price, probably my favourite heat gun.…
I’ve talked alot over the years about the importance of regular lawn maintenance if you want an immaculate lawn. I’ve been maintaining lawns professionally for going on over for 20 years. It starts with applying iron sulphate moss killer if moss is a problem, followed by removing the moss and thatch with a scarifier. I also like to aerate the lawn as shown above to improve drainage, and of course, if you want those stripes,…
I’ve recently talked about my experience with building compost heaps in my family garden centre and, my thoughts about using compost bins in my own small garden and the advantages of paying a little more and investing in a hot compost bin to speed up the process. The results have been great, with compost from a standard compost bin like the one pictured below taking 6-12 months. However, this was reduced to only 2-3 months…
I’ve been a gardener and nurseryman for over 20 years, mostly working in my family nursery and garden centre. With this in mind, we’ve always had a composting system using large bays. I’ve seen the benefits of composting waste and turning it into money, or at the very least, into black gold (compost) I can mix into the flower beds and do my bit to reduce waste and help the environment. However, when it comes…
I’ve used rotavators for over 20 years, from the large petrol Howard rotavator pictured below in my family nursery, which is a little overkill for most people. Still, it’s perfect for cultivating large areas before planting. These are also the sort of rotavators I learned to use in horticultural college back in the day. There are now much smaller, compact rotavators, which have proven perfect for landscaping, garden maintenance, and maintaining beds on allotments and…
If you maintain an allotment or want to cultivate a large area of compressed soil in your garden and are looking for a way to cultivate the soil quickly, let’s be honest: using a garden fork or hoe is back-breaking work. Using a tiller or rotavator has helped me go from spending an hour cultivating a bed to as little as 10 minutes. They are a real time saver and probably one of the best…
I’ve used petrol rotavators for well over 20 years professionally, mainly on my family’s local nursery for cultivating large beds before planting, landscaping jobs for removing lawns or breaking up compact ground, and on the occassional allotment. Even though you can get some very good electric tillers and cordless tillers, and I’ve tried a few of these over the years, you still can’t beat cultivating the soil with the best petrol rotavator. Now, we own…
Being a professional gardener and nurseryman, I’ve used many different types of lawns over the years, from the newest cordless rotary mowers I reviewed here to powerful petrol lawn mowers, which are great mowers for large lawns. Don’t get me wrong; I love my other modern mowers, especially cordless mowers, as there is no engine to service or power leads to worry about and have hanging over my shoulder. I don’t have to worry about…
I’ve been taking to the water in kayaks for over 30 years since I was a kid, usually on holidays. We never had the space to store my kayak, so we always rented on the day for a few hours. Still, I’ve been lucky enough to paddle in some of the most beautiful places, from Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, but more recently, Loch Ken in Scotland. Not forgetting some stunning…
