Tips and Tricks

For those horny-handed sons of toil who equate gardening with hard labour, or technophobes who prefer to call a spade a spade rather than a non-automated digging apparatus, the proliferation of gardening gadgets on the market may seem bewildering, even unnecessary.

But taking advantage of technology that handles routine jobs leaves you free for the more interesting horticultural pursuits, such as propagation or sowing seeds.

Here are five garden tools to save you that most precious of resources – time.  

1 Cordless hedge trimmer

A well-kept hedge gives a garden an elegant look, and formal box or privet hedges will need trimming two or three times a year during the growing season. Battery-operated trimmers do away with the need for cords that can get in the way and slow you down, but a disadvantage in the past has been short usage time. New models on the market are offering extended battery life so you can get the job done in one go. Husqvarna’s 536LiHD60X is a powerful, lightweight pro-lever hedge trimmer that gives you the convenience of a 36V battery with the oomph of a petrol hedge trimmer.

2 Robotic mower

The ultimate time-saving garden tech has to be the robotic mower, which will not only cut the lawn for you, but dispose of clippings – so no raking or emptying grass bags. It does this by cutting little and often, producing grass “shavings” that are simply left on lawn to act as a mulch; so it saves time on feeding the lawn too. Many models in the Husqvarna Automower® range can be connected to an app on your mobile phone so you can control them while you’re out and about. And from September 1, Husqvarna robotic mowers will be compatible with Amazon’s cloud-based voice service Alexa; users will be able to start, stop, park and get status updates from their mower by just asking Alexa. The upgrade will be available to the many thousands of connected Husqvarna robotic mowers already in gardens and parks around Britain.

3 Watering system

For those who want to hand over total lawn-care duties to the robots, the Gardena Smart System is a fully automated package which comprises irrigation control, a robotic mower and a bunch of sensors that will keep track of rainfall, sunlight, temperature and grass growth. Having gathered the necessary data, it will determine how often your lawn needs to be watered and mowed, and get the jobs done. Using WiFi, the system’s components all “talk” to each other via an app. If you think the system’s getting a bit too smart for its own good you can intervene, and control settings and schedules.

4 Steam weed killer

Weeding can be one of the most dispiriting tasks, so if you’re averse to weed killers and flame guns make you jittery, try steam power. The Batavia SteamBoxxer electric steam cleaner and weed killer is a handy multi-function tool that builds up a head of steam to break down the cellular structure of weeds, killing them down to the roots. It comes with three different attachments designed to zap weeds growing in various places, plus it can be used for steam-cleaning tasks indoors, making it a versatile timesaver.

5 Power barrow

If you have a largish plot or a sore back, a motorised wheelbarrow may not be a cheap option, but it will save you a heap of time and effort traipsing around the garden transporting heavy compost, logs, garden plants and debris. The three-wheeled Greenworks Self-Propelled Garden Cart is powered by a 40V 2Ah battery that runs for 20 minutes on one full charge (45 minutes if you buy a 4Ah battery), and can handle loads up to 100kg. It’s easy to use, with two forward speeds and reverse, has a simple lever function for easy unloading and will even haul loads of up to 90kg up a hill.

A perfectly cut lawn, effortlessly

Keeping your lawn healthy can be a lot of hard work. Husqvarna Automower isn’t just a lawn mower, it’s a robot that does the work for you – unsupervised, round the clock.

Automower trims your lawn day and night, handling gardens of any size. Best of all, it’s manufactured in Britain. Prices start from £1,000. Locate your nearest Husqvarna dealer by visiting husqvarna.com.

Why do people like gardening?

There are lots of reasons and it will depend on who you are why you want to garden. Here is a selection of the main reasons that people reach for a trowel to start gardening:

1. Grow your own food; In a relatively recent survey by the University of Illinois discovered that the number one reason that people wanted to garden was so that they could grow safe and healthy food. You have complete control over what goes on your plants and you know the provenance of the fruit and veg that you produce.
2. Building beauty; When you are gardening you are creating a beautiful environment and working with spectacular plants. Even if it a simple planter in a patio or a window box in a flat window you are adding colour, a touch of nature and making a focal point that the eye is drawn to. There are few things as satisfying as creating and then watching a garden grow and change through the seasons
3. Gardening is good exercise; Gardening in a free “sport”, and provides excellent cardio and aerobic exercise. It requires lots of bending and stretching keeping people supple and calories are burnt – around 300 an hour for women and about 400 for men.
4. A leaning experience – Not only will gardening exercise your body it is a great challenge for the mind also. The topic is so broad that there will be something to suit most people; for the more academic there are the Latin names and the biology of the plants and for the more artistic there is the challenging of matching colours and creating garden styles or themes. Gardening is also a wonderful place for children to start to learn about plants, agriculture and nature.
5. Gardening is emotional; People also garden so that they can express their creativity, they can satisfy an emotional need for tranquillity and a distraction from every day life. It is also an opportunity to create an enduring legacy that will last and grow on, possibly for many generations.

A Short history of the British Garden:

For many thousands of years man has attempted to tame nature and use the land to cultivate plants for his own use. Forest Gardening is the earliest form of this style dating back to prehistoric times. This approach was more for agricultural reasons, and soon by about 10,000 years ago out door spaces were being enclosed, although the purpose is not full understood. The history of the garden really begins with the Romans when they conquered Britain.

Roman gardens: Despite this long history we will take up the story of the British garden in roman times as this is thought to be one of the earliest times that gardens were planted here in Britian. There is a wonderful example of a roman garden at Fishbourne Roman Palace in Sussex. Romans gardens were formal and often planted with low box hedges. There would have been urns, statues and garden seating. They would also have had more open landscaped gardens and most villas will have had a kitchen garden which would have grown fruit and vegetables for the household.

When the Romans left, the warring Saxons were considered not keen gardeners and little is know about them.

Monastic Gardens: It was the monasteries in the middle ages that made the garden important to life in Britain once again. Gardens would be found all around monasteries and they would provide a tranquil environment for the monks as well as food for the monastery. They were typically small and enclosed with a well or fountain as the centre piece. Walk ways would be covered and seating would most likely be turfed and there would be mounds for resting on.

Later in the medieval period garden became common around castles and fortified manor houses. These were simpler and often just grass areas surrounded by hedges where games like tennis were played.

After the reformation, powerful land owners enclosed common land to create parks where they kept cattle and deer. More formal garden could be found near the house protected by walls and hedges.

Tudor gardens great contribution is the knot garden. These are intricate patterns of lawns and typically box hedges. In between the hedges were flowers, herbs and shrubs. The idea that this sort of garden would be views from above, such from windows of the house.

Stuart Gardens: The Stuarts took the French style of garden and made the formal Italian Tudor gardens less formal. Chatsworth house in Derbyshire is an excellent example of this style, which is characterised by broad avenues sweeping away from the main house. These are often flanked by square parterres with formal low hedges.

By the 18th century William Kent had created a highly influential garden for Lord Burlington at Chiswick house. This style created vistas and follies in open parkland settings with statuesque trees and classical ornaments.

English Landscape Garden: Kent’s pupil and son-in-law, Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown had a huge impact on the English garden and even architectural style. As the leading proponent of the English Landscape Garden he led the movement started by his farther-in-law for more rounded and natural features; out went the straight lines, rectangles and hedgerows and fences; in came a style for open parkland coming right up to the house. Great examples include Longleat and Blenheim Palace.

Victorian Gardens: The Victorians brought us the public garden and there are a large number of parks and green spaces created for public use during this period aimed at brining culture to everyone.

The style shifted back to one of masses flowers in beds which were brought on in greenhouses. Intricate designs and bright colours were fashionable. There were variations between the formal and the wild gardens, which could be imaginatively integrated in a single garden.

Modern Garden: This can be thought of as an extension of the traditional cottage garden. Flowers, shrubs and climbers are crammed into a boarder to make a profusion of colour and texture. The undisputed champion of this period is Gertrude Jekyll, and possibly the most influential gardener of her period. Her inspiration was to consider that the home and the garden were a whole to be designed as one, rather than the garden and interesting after thought.

Gardening can be a very rewarding pass time and there is a long history and heritage in this country to draw garden ideas and inspiration. The reasons why we garden are almost as varied as the history of gardening, but we hope you find everything you need to know to help you on your way in this our gardening and landscaping section.