Forum

What is the market like for Christmas Planters?

I noticed the planters outside a ladies fashion boutique were looking very sorry so I popped in on the spur of the moment. They want me to give them a price for replacing them with something more seasonal.

Which led me to wonder what the market is lik

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Ditches?

What are peoples views on filling in ditches in domestic gardens? Our ditch does not 'act' as a storm drain anymore due to good drains on the roads now. It's about 50m long and would not be missed at all! We had buckets of rain last night and there i

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Hedging with good root system for top of sandstone quarry

We have been asked to plant a hedge along the top of a disused sand stone quarry.  There is about 500mm depth of soil along the top of the quarry and we need a vigorous root system to help hold the soil in place and reduce the erosion. There is exten

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Heather beds

After a stroll around the RHS garden at Wisley at the weekend I wondered whether anyone on here looks after any heather beds ? I can remember in the 70's they were in fashion along with dwarf conifers , probably coinciding with Adrian Bloom's clever

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Trimming a conifer next to a swimming pool - any tips?

As part of a garden tidy up I will have to trim/tidy a 5 metre high conifer where the broadest part of the conifer is about a 2 feet from the side of the pool. The pool is only small, approx 3m x 10m. Will be using a long reach hedge trimmer but woul

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Grass edging shears

Can anyone recommend the best tall edge lawns?I've tried the conventional edging shears which blunt or work themselves loose very quickly.

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POTATO YIELD

I am preparing a 180sqm potato bed for a client (made up of 5 smaller individual beds). Does anyone have any information on yield per sqm and in broad terms yield per potato planted.

thanks Robert

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Quoting to High?

Hey all,

Iv just quoted 2 hedging jobs.

The first one was a reduction and a trim, the hedge containted Hawthorn and Laurel, the Hawthorn measured about 12ft long and 8ft high the depth was about 4ft. The Laurel was 15ft long and 8ft high depth went fro

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Dream job on georgian house

Well after a very interesting phone call from a client the other night i was invited to go and view their property with the scope for some future work. Upon arrival through two massive gates and a long sweeping drive i was in shock. The property is h

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Bulb Planting in a lawn

I am bulb planting for a client. Approx 400-500 spring bulbs from under a tree across lawn into a border.

For the lawn part I am wondering if it's worth turf stripping (approx 2m2) or simply knuckling down with a hand held bulb planter. 

Any past exper

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How not to cut a hedge

Picked up a catalogue today from a well known builders merchant and while thumbing through came across the image posted below.

Cutting a hedge, albeit just a posed photo, but using a grass strimmer while standing on a platform and no ear defenders or

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Sycamore killing Privet when in hedges ?

I've done a quick net search and can find nothing on this topic.

I've noticed many times over the years that whenever a Sycamore starts to grow inside a privet hedge the surrounding privets growth seems to die off.

In fact I've just this minute returne

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Edible Flowers

This year I have really enjoyed eating Hemerocallis (Day Lilies) as they have been particularly abundant in my garden this year. They taste quite sweet with a mildly crunchy texture unlike anything else I can think of. Their beautiful colour and form

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Disappearing strawberries

One of the gardens I maintain has a vegetable plot, one bed is full of strawberry plants, which had a fine crop developing. The bed is netted all over, but today when I checked it, every strawberry has been eaten! They have been removed from the stal

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Acer damage

Had to remove a large bed of tree's bushes and shrubs due to building an extension to the rear of the property and while moving the Acer tree the sling slipped removing the bark from the tree stem

photos showing the tree before and the damage

is there

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Single sided hedgetrimmers - am I the only one?

Started the yearly round of hedge trimming this last couple of weeks and am looking at the options for a hedge trimmer upgrade - its either that or go for a rebuild a stick a new piston and barrel on the Echo HC210E to cure its worsening lack of comp

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Identifying a hedge

I really hope someone can help as my brain is starting to melt! I've had a total memory lapse on some of the hedging near me - rural Suffolk.The hedge is evergreen and mid green wide oval leaves that flowers tiny white blooms in early spring and the

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Tomato Plants - Unwins Tomato ( Cherry ) Gardeners Delight.

Hi,

My girlfriend sowed a few of these around two months ago, we had then indoors and then put them outside in a certain orange brand buckets with holes drilled in the bottom ( fantasic idea if you have no flower beds ). Started off with 10 plants

It t

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Looking for a regular maintenance gardener to look after one of our gardens in Cobham Surrey - do you know anyone who can help?

We designed a small garden on a steep site in Cobham, planted up last year. and the client's gardener has just told him he's not able to offer his services any more.  We offer maintenance ourselves, but it's too far away from us to be economical - cl

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Fungus in the lawn

Can I avail myself of the collective expertise of you wonderful people.

I am suffering from a large quantity of what I suppose are toadstools in my back lawn, can you give me advice on a quick and lasting solution to my problem. They seem to be killin

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