June 2008 Blog Posts (30)

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Starting work on a new garden: First Full Day

Well, I have finished my first full day in the new garden so I thought I would add another blog post.



The main lawn in front of the house is in a terrible condition. It is full of moss, really spongy to walk on. It has quite a mature weeping willow in the lawn down at one end. I have trimmed some of the overhanging branches to lift them up off the lawn. I'm not sure whether they would layer themselves into the lawn! Either way, it looks much tidier now. I'm going to recommend that… Continue

Added by Andrew Fereday on June 28, 2008 at 10:23 — 1 Comment

Beware of postmen bearing gifts.... and all that....

Today I returned home to find it was THE DAY... those of you who can recall the era of "Ren and Stimpy" (the anti-Tom and Jerry) will be able to conjure up the image of Fereday skipping around "Stimpy-style" clutching something to his chest and sighing "Joy..." Those of you who don't remember "Ren and Stimpy" have clearly avoided one of the main signposts to the downfall of Western culture..... Well done, you!!!



Anyway, it appears that while I was out working hard today, our perverse… Continue

Added by Cat Fereday on June 26, 2008 at 21:59 — 8 Comments

How to prepare a herbaceous / mixed border in Spring.

Now, many of you will think that this is an odd time to be talking about Spring border preparation and to a certain extent it is. I've had a question from Chris about how I go about border preparation though and it's always good to be planning ahead and thinking about what changes you'll need to be making next year.



In a way, some of the things that you notice now will dictate what you will do next Spring so it might be useful to take a notebook with you when you're going round the… Continue

Added by Andrew Fereday on June 25, 2008 at 23:00 — 4 Comments

Vegetable growing in a small garden: June Update

Well, it has been a little while since I've given an update on the vegetable growing, so I thought it was time to update the blog.



We have had a couple of good results so far - mostly the salad leaves. The Mizuna has been a runaway success so far and is very easy to grow. We've been thinning out the plants for some time and the more mature ones are now providing leaves on a daily basis. The rocket seems to have been a little slower to reach a decent size for picking by comparison. I… Continue

Added by Andrew Fereday on June 23, 2008 at 23:18 — 2 Comments


PRO Member Save time with a style-guide

style guide Every member of the Landscape Juice Network has a blog that they can use to write about their experiences of working in the garden.



Already Cat Fereday has been busy keeping people up to date with her experiences of being the 'long-suffering wife' to a professional gardener.



So if you want to use the blog to write up about your own… Continue

Added by Craig McGinty on June 22, 2008 at 20:30 — 15 Comments

Pests and Diseases of the Common Gardener 1 - PMS

There are times,...usually quiet times...., when Fereday can be caught staring blankly out into the garden while absently fiddling with the newspaper.... innocuous a picture as this may present, to the keen observer or gardener's wife, Fereday is manifesting a major early symptom of PMS, a common gardener's affliction.



PMS is becoming increasingly virulent among the gardening classes. With housing demands impinging on open space, and the modern habit of living in accommodation which… Continue

Added by Cat Fereday on June 22, 2008 at 11:30 — 2 Comments

Nothing quite like parents....

This morning, we've had an email... It's headed "from me to you" and comes from Fereday's Dad (Fereday Snr).... now, from the heading, you'd be forgiven for thinking Fereday Snr is about to impart some age-old Fereday family wisdom... but you'd be wrong....



Hi Cat and Andrew,

I have just finished preparing the July Bulletin of the geology group.... I thought that you might like to read about the slime mould eating beetles.

Lots of Love XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX



The… Continue

Added by Cat Fereday on June 21, 2008 at 11:05 — 1 Comment

In praise of the Grand Webmaster Phil

Today, a big, huge "thank you" to Phil who has got my page back up and running! For a couple of days, the gremlins have prevented me from accessing my blog and poor Fereday has been suffering from having to listen to my outpouring and non-sensical ranting. He looked thoroughly relieved this morning when, after a couple of phone calls with Phil and some good techie "bloke-talk", my page became accessible again. You don't get this type of service from all webmasters, you know.



At work… Continue

Added by Cat Fereday on June 21, 2008 at 10:12 — 2 Comments

Starting work on a new garden: Good News!

As the title suggests, there is good news on the new garden.



Picking up from the last update, I didn't think there was much to write about in the new garden. It looked like the owner would only be engaging me to mow the lawn and not much else. I was feeling very disheartened after the first visit but things are looking up...



I met the owner this morning very briefly. We had a chat and she asked me how the garden was coming along. After only one visit I didn't have an awful… Continue

Added by Andrew Fereday on June 20, 2008 at 13:58 — 1 Comment


PRO Member Landscaping business - cut your cost base now!

I am sure, as a business owner, that you are keeping a breast of the wider picture when it comes to planning your business?



It pays not to live a hand to mouth existence and even if it is just kept inside your head rather than being written down, you must try yo take a six-12 month view on where your business is going and more importantly, what it is going to cost you to deliver that all important hour of your precious time.



Try to think on the lines that your sales (i.e.… Continue

Added by Phil Voice on June 19, 2008 at 9:19 — No Comments


PRO Member Using the RSS buttons on the network

If you want to follow the latest updates and the writing of a fellow user of the Landscape Juice Network then the orange RSS buttons you see on the site are the way to do it.



By default the network provides individual blogs with an RSS feed, as well as the forum and groups, even the latest activity section has one so you can receive updates of what has been happening on the site directly.



What RSS or Really Simple Syndication means is that instead of having to… Continue

Added by Craig McGinty on June 17, 2008 at 17:46 — No Comments

It's been just over 35 years since I started in professional landscaping - being one of the first few at Merrist Wood !- prior to that I sold houses for an upmarket estate agency. Recording In all …

It's been just over 35 years since I started in professional landscaping - being one of the first few at Merrist Wood !- prior to that I sold houses for an upmarket estate agency.



Recording



In all that time, I have always carried two cameras with me snapping both colour prints and slides in the early years, of the work we were doing.

Today a couple of digital camera's works just as well.



What I have noticed is that whilst the design of clothes, cars,… Continue

Added by Chris on June 17, 2008 at 17:29 — 2 Comments

Pride goeth before a fall (which must mean it comes in late August / early September)

I have a big day tomorrow, meeting someone famous (at least in my world) and I'm fairly hyped up about it all... "prematch" activity has included:



- picking out two outfits (one for cold, one for warm - it is English summertime after all);

- ironing my "lucky" shirt so it only has one crease on each sleeve (my ironing skills are "lacking");

- using the hot rollers (not a piece of lawn equipment, lads.... its a big day, and calls for big hair);

- selecting baubles that… Continue

Added by Cat Fereday on June 16, 2008 at 22:55 — 3 Comments

Always somebody worse off...

O'Reilly: Just remember, Mr. Fawlty, there's always somebody worse off than yourself.

Basil Fawlty: Is there? Well I'd like to meet him. I could do with a laugh.



And this sets the theme for my next whinge....



At this time of year, Fereday is feeling fairly smug about himself and his job. He gets plenty of sunlight, has a good tan (healthy glow), the "sweater basketball" he carried around in the winter months is a dim and distant memory, the plants are no longer… Continue

Added by Cat Fereday on June 13, 2008 at 23:00 — 1 Comment

Curse of the mother-in-law

Fereday's mother-in-law has sent him some tee-shirts over from the States.



It's an interesting thing that the average American man is, on average, taller than the average European man. Alistair Cooke, in his famous "Letters from America" explained that Americans are taller because their mothers drank more milk than European women. On average, the American woman's thigh bone is one inch longer than the European woman's - statistics,... where would we be without them? (In better… Continue

Added by Cat Fereday on June 13, 2008 at 21:00 — No Comments


PRO Member Changing the lay out of your own My Page

A few days ago Phil wrote about some changes to the way the site displays information, one of these was the ability to tweak the lay out of your own My Page area.



By default your page displays the activity you undertake on the site like adding a blog post or commenting on the forum at the top of the page, but it's only a short line and a link through.



If you want you can now place the… Continue

Added by Craig McGinty on June 10, 2008 at 17:15 — No Comments

Feeling the heat...

Fereday has been working hard today... and feeling the heat. Loading the mower up 9 steps onto a lawn was clearly not the thing to do today. Luckily he managed to keep it from running away from him as he loaded it back down from the lawn using two boards as a ramp. My trip home from the office today necessitated a swing past SuperDrug for aspirin - Fereday had a headache from being in the sun too much - reminder to all gardener's wives - make sure he has a hat and sun block.

Added by Cat Fereday on June 9, 2008 at 21:32 — No Comments

Wildlife in the garden

Have just read the article on fawn in the garden. Would it not be great if wildlife/weeds( flowers in the wrong place) could live in harmony with we gardeners. Finding the balance is not always easy. Rabbit on lawn - perfect picture- next morning no tops left on newly planted annuals. Deer in the field opposite grazing peacefully oblivious to me enjoying the moment at a distance moving closer to home as I sleep only to pull out parts of the newly planted beech hedge. Foxes - pests to many but… Continue

Added by vhowe on June 8, 2008 at 11:31 — No Comments

Further Trials of a Gardener's Wife

Yesterday, our lovely neighbour presented us with some "thinned out" peas and beans from his large vegetable plot... it was either us or the compost heap, apparently. I'm not sure how I feel about that!



Anyway, this prompted Fereday to make a visit to the wonderland of tools, screws 'n nails, bits o' wood, etc. that is the local Wickes builders merchants. (Avoid this place at all costs - it's where your shopping sensibilities go to die.) He returned some 45 minutes later (what does… Continue

Added by Cat Fereday on June 8, 2008 at 9:50 — No Comments


PRO Member Analogy of a succesful garden network

I want you to imagine a bicycle wheel with hub and spokes radiating out to an outer rim.



I now want you to imagine that wheel and try to imagine it as a map of our garden network with the open space beyond the rim as being the world wide web.



Gardening communities aren't just about belonging because it is the 'in thing'. The whole concept is about sharing knowledge and optimizing opportunity. To do that, the network has to be freely available and simple to… Continue

Added by Phil Voice on June 7, 2008 at 20:00 — 2 Comments

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