We’re now accepting entries for our August Your Vintage Garden competition. Please send us photos of interesting and creative ways you’ve used any vintage garden items purchased from Mabel & Rose for your chance to win a £10 voucher. Email your entries to competitions@mabelandrose.com before 31st August.

Send us Your Vintage Garden Photos

Each month for the rest of the year we’ll be awarding a £10 voucher to the customer who sends in a photo of the most interesting use of an item purchased from Mabel & Rose. The winning entry will be chosen by a panel of judges, and a selection of the best entries will be shown in the Your Vintage Garden section of our blog every month.

How To Enter

It’s simple. Just take a photo of an item you’ve purchased from our online shop that you feel you’ve used in an original or creative way and email it to competitions@mabelandrose.com.

It could be a photo showing how you’ve planted up a vintage container you’ve recently purchased from Mabel & Rose, or perhaps how you’re using one of our products to decorate your home or garden. Your creativity is your limit!

The start date and end date for each monthly competition will be the first and last date of that month. You’ll be entered into the competition for the month during which your photo entry is submitted. The winning entry for each month will be announced in the Your Vintage Garden section of the blog at the beginning of the following month.

Now start snapping those vintage garden goodies!

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Competition Rules

1. All competition photo entries must include an item purchased from Mabel & Rose.

2. There is no limit to the number of photos an entrant can submit to the competition.

3. The start date and end date for each monthly competition will be the first and last date of that month. You’ll be entered into the competition for the month during which your photo entry is submitted.

4. The winning entry for each month will be announced in the Your Vintage Garden section of the blog at the beginning of the following month.

5. Each month the winning entry will be chosen by a panel of judges (including at least one member not associated with Mabel & Rose). The winning entry for each month will be announced in the Your Vintage Garden section of the blog at the beginning of the following month.

6. By submitting a photo into this competition the entrant is giving Mabel & Rose permission to display the photograph on our website. Copyright in all photos submitted for this competition remains with the respective entrants. Photos submitted will never be used for anything unconnected to this specific competition without written permission from the photographer.

I’m sure I’m not the only person who has lost their patience with modern hoses and plastic hose reels that offer “kink-free” easy use. They never work as well as they’re advertised and they look awful in lumious greens and garish yellows.

I’ll be honest my vintage hose reel doesn’t really function any better than my modern one, but with its age-worn rusty patina and lichen it looks SO much better in our garden -  blending in with the cotswold stone and plants and uttering a satisfying rust creak as it winds in and out.

I used to watch the hurdle-maker, hypnotised by his calm, steady movements and efficiently repeated actions. The tool he held most commonly was an old billhook which he used to expertly split the hazel rods before weaving them into hurdles.

This billhook looked like it had been passed down through generations of Hampshire hurdle makers – its blade was worn but still sharp, its handle polished to a smooth satin patina by decades of use.

Nowadays when I use a vintage garden tool with a similar hand-worn grip I can’t help wondering how many generations of gardeners have held this same old fork or spade. It’s easy to imagine that the tool itself has inherited some wisdom and skill from its masters over the years -  and that in turn the vintage tool passes on this knowledge and expertise to anyone using them in the garden.

Do you have a favourite vintage tool you use in the garden, or a garden implement that has been handed down through your family? We’d love to hear about them.

Traditionally managed coppiced woodlands are a really important part of our countryside – they supply us with sustainable wood, provide a rich habitat for wildlife, support rural jobs and help to keep ancient skills and traditions alive.

Last weekend I planted out my sweet peas in an old cast iron copper and used some peasticks that I carried home from the community woodland in our village – we’ll see whether the plants do better, but I definitely prefer the rustic look.

For a directory of where to find local coppice products try the Allotment Forestry website or www.coppice-products.co.uk . Details about the various events that are going on around the country to celebrate National Beanpole Week can  be found on their website.

We will be adding more products over the coming days and weeks so please do check back regularly. If there is something specific that you’re after please don’t hesitate to get in touch and we will try our best to source it for you.

Luckily for us, we were able to call on a good friend of ours, John Brown, a very talented natural history and documentary cameraman and stills photographer. John spends a lot of time travelling with his work, so we only had a small window of opportunity between Ants in Arizona and Lemurs in Madagascar. Thankfully the weather was kind to us on the morning of the shoot – not that freezing cold temperatures and snow on the ground would normally be classed as kind – but at least it didn’t rain.

Without giving too much away, we couldn’t resist showing you a couple of the stunning images that John took – the rest we’re keeping under wraps until the site goes live.

I am loving these pretty vintage teacups which I planted up last autumn – see Alys Fowler’s blog for excellent detailed instructions on how to do this.

Brighten up your windowsill or give as a unique Mother’s Day gift – these are a great project for anyone with a cupboard overflowing with mismatched vintage china ( if you can bear to drill holes in it that is).  Junk shops and charity shops are good places to find old teacups and bowls that can be given a new lease of life with a bit of creative planting.

My sister lives in Painswick, home of the Rococo Garden which is famous for its display of snowdrops.  Yesterday we joined the throngs of ‘galanthaphiles’ – can’t believe there is actually a name for showdrop enthusiasts – for an afternoon in the sunshine and a good opportunity to get some practice in with my new camera.

For me, snowdrops are a welcome kind of snow – they mark the start of the gardening season and are a sign that spring is on its way. I read an interesting article recently about how snowdrops can be used in the treatment of Alzheimers and malaria, which is surely another good reason to celebrate these little beauties.

January is named after Janus, the Roman god of gateways and new beginnings, so I thought I’d share a gallery of wintery gate photos taken over the last month…..I’m not normally a big fan of the cold but it can be very beautiful.