Monthly Archives: November 2018

Bird Box

Winter is coming. Spare a thought for the wildlife in your garden.

A few weeks ago, Tim and I were planting up a mixed hedge of pretty-much full-size trees to replace a Leylandii hedge for a lovely couple in Benson. When the client was explaining the reason behind the job, Tim and I stood aghast; the hedge (belonging to the neighbouring property) had been removed without warning by developers who were building new houses in the field next door. Our client had literally walked out into his garden one morning to find he no longer had a 20ft hedge screening his garden from the neighbouring field.

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The grass is always greener – or is it?

Over 10 years ago, the RHS noted the impact of climatic change on our lawns in their Encyclopedia of Gardening (2007). This year we have seen temperatures soar to dramatic highs and are no doubt still seeing the impact on the grassed areas in our gardens.

Whilst a lush green lawn may be the aim, you may be surprised to read that it is really important to give established lawns little or no water during drought periods. Lawns will turn brown during a drought and it would be easy to assume they had died. However, did you know that many lawn grasses go into a dormant phase during extreme heat and when it does rain again, as you are probably noticing, most lawns will recover well?

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A rose by any other name…

When I had the idea for this blog, it was just after the first flush of summer blooms covered the rose bushes, and now in some places, we are onto our third flush of blooms, which doesn’t look set to finish any time soon. I have to confess that rose care is probably my favourite gardening task. I am also not ashamed to admit that it is rare that I can walk past a rose in bloom, without sinking my nose into its petals to inhale the heady perfume. Is it just me?

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