The daisy is a flower popular with children, who love to make daisy flower chains from them to wear as necklaces or bracelets, but did you know that there are over 70 different species of daisies?

The daisy is Read the rest of this entry »

I read an article in The Independent, which was talking about the collapse of bee colonies across the world, initially in the US, then Europe and now in Britain too.

Scientists believe that the radiation from our mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets could be killing the bees.  They think that the radiation interferes with the way that bees navigate, meaning they can’t find their way back to the hive.  60 - 70 percent of beehives have been abandoned and one the London’s largest bee-keepers has also announced that 23 of his 40 hives have also been abandoned.  Nobody knows for definite why it is happening but German research Read the rest of this entry »

What does a hoe do exactly?

Hoeing removes shallow rooted plants so is great for if you keep up to date with your weeding.  However, for deeper rooted plants, it cuts them off at the roots, leaving the roots there to grow back so hoeing is not good for these. Read the rest of this entry »

This weekend, it’s time for a bit of spring gardening and to spruce up the garden. Many find this a gruelling task so here are one or two tips:

To make it easier on your back Read the rest of this entry »

Many people love to have a pond in their back garden.  However, they are often neglected and within months can acquire unwanted aquatic plants.

To get rid of these, you can use an aquatic herbicide.

There are two types of aquatic herbicides: Read the rest of this entry »

I think we all know what a dandelion looks like. Believe it or not, it is actually a flower, although most gardeners would class it as a weed. I certainly don’t want the ugly blighters in my lawn. They grow in the middle of grass, bright yellow flowers that smell of pee and overnight they can turn to a white head of seeds that scatter everywhere and make a mess.

To get rid of dandelions, you need to get a herbicide, i.e. a weedkiller (herbicide means the same thing apparently), that is a ’selective’ weedkiller. This means it will kill the dandelions but not your grass.

It’s important to use weedkiller at the right time. You have to kill the flower before it seeds, which is what can be difficult with dandelions, because they germinate so much and often. Plus their roots can grow up to ten inches below the ground, the nasty little cretins. You can’t even pull them up because Read the rest of this entry »

Today I read an article that finally answers the question I asked in an article last week - How to keep cats out of your garden.

Yes, today I finally have the answer. The answer is… are you ready for this… Read the rest of this entry »

This time of year is your last chance to plant trees or hedges.  I’m talking about the dug out kind, not the ‘grown in a pot’ variety.

Few people are lucky enough to have sufficient room in their garden for more than one or two trees - I only have the one - so how do you decide which would be best?

Here’s my personal top three, given the criteria of a small garden Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday was the first day of spring and I nearly forgot - if it hadn’t been on Google’s home page I may have missed it.

Spring does seem to be inching in, albeit slowly, and it’s now time to blitz everything and get the garden ready for new growth and summer happenings (although not this weekend, as I mentioned the other day about the Easter weekend weather) - this weekend, you’ll have to settle for planning not doing.

You need to clear out the weeds, any undergrowth, start sowing the seeds you want (try the Garden Exchange I wrote about yesterday) and just generally tidy everything up.  I’m still waiting for a nice, bright weekend to paint my garden fence!

Well I never! I didn’t realise that you could actually exchange and trade plants and seeds online. It’s almost like eBay for gardeners but no money changes hands. It’s called GardenWeb and it’s part of the iVillage e-community and you can even do group trades Read the rest of this entry »