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Andrew Fereday Male Halifax, West Yorkshire United Kingdom: Share

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Andrew Fereday added a blog post

Autumn has well and truly set in and we're still no closer to London...

October 2

Donny Bryan commented on Andrew Fereday's blog post 'Some interesting statistics from a day in the garden.'

As I delegated killing the wasp nest in our garden to Mrs B I cannot possible comment. Well ok truer to say that after I came running in whingeing about my 1 sting (it was excruciatingly painful - honest!) - she went to Tescos, bought the killing ...

August 14

Robin Ainsworth commented on Andrew Fereday's blog post 'Some interesting statistics from a day in the garden.'

very good, so £2.50 on fags £2.50 on oil &petrol...........maybe more transport £5.00 towards tools/car........ £2.50 on food............or was this your own hedge ?? lol

August 14

Andrew Fereday commented on Andrew Fereday's blog post 'Some interesting statistics from a day in the garden.'

Oi! I'm telling teacher!

August 13

Kerrie commented on Andrew Fereday's blog post 'Some interesting statistics from a day in the garden.'

so you winged for longer. Thought you exaggerated.

August 13

Andrew Fereday commented on Andrew Fereday's blog post 'Some interesting statistics from a day in the garden.'

Well I might have exaggerated a couple of statistics for illustration purposes...

August 13

Kerrie commented on Andrew Fereday's blog post 'Some interesting statistics from a day in the garden.'

Hee Hee! Not sure of running records but 45m in 2.8 secs sounds quite fast, have you considered entering the 2012 Olympics? Impressed by only 2 1/2 hours of man wingeing, Cat got off lightly.

August 13

Andrew Fereday replied to Ian's Garden Services's discussion 'Wasps everywere!!'

Sorry, only just noticed this discussion and I've just written a little blog about some interesting gardening statistics.

August 12

Andrew Fereday's Groups

North West Landscape G...

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Sustainable Group

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Growing Vegetables

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Garden Maintenance Pro...

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Andrew Fereday Gardening Excellence

Andrew Fereday's Blog

Autumn has well and truly set in and we're still no closer to London...

A lot of you will know that Cat and I are planning a move down south after Cat got a promotion earlier in the year. That was in July and we still don't seem to be any further down the road to relocating than we were back then. September has been a month full of distractions - every weekend has been taken up with doing something for someone and we've hardly had a moment's rest. Cat's now travelling down to London on a weekly basis, just two days / one night a week but it seems to really tire both… Continue

Posted on October 2, 2009 at 9:51pm —

Some interesting statistics from a day in the garden.

Not strictly speaking mathematically significant but anecdotally insightful for anyone who has the idea that gardening is a very romantic and easy career:

* Dimensions & type of hedge cut: 60m length x 10' height - Hawthorn / Beech / Snowberry / Holly / Rose / Nettle
* Weight of petrol hedge trimmers: 6kg
* Time to cut hedge: 5 hours
* Number of cigarettes smoked: 8
* Estimated calorie usage: 2000
* Calories consumed: 1000
* Number of hawthorn splinters extracted from hands / arms / legs: 4… Continue

Posted on August 12, 2009 at 9:30pm — 6 Comments

Propagating plants by green and semi-ripe cuttings

Well, today I posted on my facebook page that I was really pleased how well my salvia and lavender cuttings are doing. I only took them about 3 weeks ago and have already started potting some of them on. Phil asked if there was any chance I could cobble a blog together on how to take cuttings, so in my best Blue-Peter style, here we go...

I should explain first that I'm by no means up to scratch when it comes to professional nursery standards, but taking cuttings is a really basic form of propa… Continue

Posted on July 22, 2009 at 9:09pm — 4 Comments

Managing a business by Zen - cross your fingers and hope for the best...

So, it's good news on Cat's job. She has been offered a post at a higher grade. She'll be doing the sort of work that she loves and you can see the difference the news has made - she's full of enthusiasm and energy. I've not seen her this happy in ages. She'll be doing a lot of work with the banking associations and although they said there wouldn't be any prejudice about location in handing out the jobs, the reality is that we will need to be down in London or within commuting distance at least… Continue

Posted on July 11, 2009 at 10:00am — 8 Comments

What is a Gardener?

What is a Gardener?
While listening to GQT a couple of weeks ago, a question popped into my head which I couldn't answer: What is a gardener? We all think that we know what a gardener is but at that moment I couldn't give a good enough definition. Is a gardener a nurseryman? Sometimes. Is a gardener a landscaper? Sometimes. Is a gardener a designer? Sometimes. Is a gardener a labourer? Sometimes. Is a gardener a greenkeeper? Again, the answer is sometimes. None of this helps so I'd like to try t… Continue

Posted on May 18, 2009 at 8:35pm —

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Profile Information

Company name (if applicable): Andrew Fereday Gardening Excellence

First Name:: Andrew

Surname:: Fereday

Telephone:: 01422330724

Email:: amfereday@hotmail.co.uk

Website:: http://www.gardening-excellence.co.uk

About Me:: Started working at a garden centre while studying for a PhD in Sociology. Funding dropped out of the PhD, I ended up as the plant buyer and a couple of years down the line I decided to set up my own business.

I specialise in border renovation and maintenance and with the background as a plant buyer I am more of a plantsman than a landscaper. I firmly beleive that almost all gardens can benefit from soil improvement every spring. I feel like I'm a fraud as almost all of my work in getting borders to look fantastic is in preparing the soil in Spring. Nature tends to do the rest...

I love the nursery aspect of gardening - dividing, replanting, tidying plants up & pruning and generally looking after plants. It's not so much the specific act of looking after the plants as much as seeing the end result, which I know is partly due to my management. Gardening is, after all, all about the plants (although Diarmuid Gavin and his followers may disagree...). I think it's knowledge of the plantcare aspect that seems to give you guru status, even when you can only expect to know how to look after a tiny proportion of the enormous world of flora.

What is your profession i.e. Landscaping, gardening, greenkeeping - other: Bespoke Garden Maintenance

If you are a professional gardener, landscaper or garden designer, list the services or special skills that you have: Border renovation, maintenance & replanting.
Plantcare: diagnosis & treatment.
Special interest in growing & care of Roses & herbaceous perennials.
Plant propagation from seed, cuttings, division and grafting.
Vegetable & fruit growing.
Pruning.
Lawn mowing (as part of the overall maintenance of the garden. I do not undetake lawnmowing in isolation from broader maintenance).
Soil improvement (possibly one of the most often overlooked aspects of garden maintenance).

How did you find this site?: Found the main landscape juice site through google and just followed the link. I was looking for a gardening blog to read...

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Comment Wall (19 comments)

At 8:56am on May 18, 2008, Philip Voice said…: Hi Andrew and welcome

I do not think you should feel like a fraud and maybe you will get more people to consider your approach than you appreciate.

So many people buy a plant looking turgid and healthy and ignore it's needs and wonder why it never looks the same again.

Soil is the plant engine room!

Good luck and thanks for joining:)

Phil

At 9:20am on May 18, 2008, Philip Voice said…: Hi Andrew

I think the mood is changing here (especially as there is a very high English population in various regions now)

Garden centres are changing from life centres to lifestyle centres with more emphasis on leisure than growing (deja Vu?)

Whilst there are still many people with vast veg areas, ornamentals are becoming popular too.

I think it is the same here as it was in the UK twenty years ago.

Phil

At 12:06pm on June 13, 2008, Philip Voice said…: Andy

I am so envious that you can where that straw hat and look cool! (I mean fashion cool and not temperature)

I love wearing a straw hat and the tattier the better but when I look in the mirror I feel ridiculous!

At 3:25pm on June 13, 2008, Andrew Fereday said…: Ah, having very little hair makes it essential in the middle of summer (even in spring!). I did feel a little ridiculous myself at first but then I realised that I do have a sense of humour!

At 9:22pm on June 13, 2008, Cat Fereday said…: That's a very nice photo of you (and your hat), dear .... did you employ a professional to take that?

At 9:47am on June 15, 2008, Cat Fereday said…: Ahh, thanks love. Do you think it says something about our marriage that we're communicating via a comment wall? Do you want salad with your lunch?

At 2:03pm on June 20, 2008, Philip Voice said…: Andy - if you win the holiday I will let you dig over my veg patch ;-0)

At 10:22am on June 21, 2008, Cat Fereday said…: Thank you for helping to sort out my pages.... and for my new trowel, fork and secrateurs set... it was very good of you to buy some which you wouldn't be caught dead with so that they don't "go walkies" from the kitchen.

At 10:09pm on July 14, 2008, chris said…: Andrew do you think i have made a mistake calling my company Blades rather than my own name?

At 7:35pm on August 20, 2008, Kerrie said…: Is there a shop one could buy a clone of you? Not only do you do Cat's ironing but take care of all the admin too!

I'm sorry that the Cat is finding work a challenge at the mo, she did tell me that all was a bit 'up in the air'. I'm sure that she meets all challenges head on, and will win!

We are all looking forward to blogs from around your house, could be juicy if a Midsummer Murder theme was adopted, along with your permanent disfiguration.

Take care, and look behind you at all times!
Kerrie