Landscape and garden expert

The Landscape magazine audited circulation - 18.3% drop?

2009-11-08T15:46:08+00:00

The Landscaper magazine's ABC audited circulation figures have finally been released.

I am not sure why it has taken quite so long because the circulation date which was used for the audit was the 18th May 2009 - ABC didn't release the Landscaper certificate until the 4th November 2009.

The Landscaper figures are of great interest to me for two reasons. Firstly, these are the first set of figures that have been officially audited by ABC and secondly, advertisers can get a real feel for how their adverts are viewed by landscaping and horticulture industry professionals.

This is how the figures break down:

100% distribution 5748 copies

1.23% or 71 copies are actually sold at face value to anyone who requests a copy.

10.75% or 618 copies are given away to BALI and APL (I will come back to this).

46.78% or 2,690 copies is controlled free circulation - to qualify under this category, the copy has to be requested by the recipient and details of the magazines destination must be recorded.

41.23% or 2,371 copies of non-controlled free circulation. These can be copies that are given away to anyone at trade shows or events. Names and addresses should be recorded.

I am a little concerned - unless I am reading it wrong (and I hope editor, David Curtis gets in touch if I am) - that the Landscaper has declared that it is the official journal of the APL and BALI. I am even more concerned that ABC appear to have accepted this.

Previous to the ABC figures, Metropolis Publishing had claimed 7041 copies were distributed. If we assume that this was a genuine figure (and I have got my sums correct)and we compare it to the audited numbers then it represents a drop of 18.3%.

I am also a bit concerned and sceptical about the claim that every copy of The Landscaper magazine is read by an average 3.9 people - to come to this conclusion The Landscaper interviewed just 100 members of the Association of Professional Landscapers (see the circulation breakdown)

I have emailed David Curtis and asked him to get back to me if I am interpreting these figures incorrectly.

View The Landscaper's ABC certificate here.

Follow your guts when gardening organically

2009-11-07T10:04:57+00:00

It’s time to stop using our heads when wrangling over the pros and cons of growing food organically and trust more in the visceral, says earth-friendly gardening writer John Walker.

The next thousand words or so are going to be a bit of a gamble, but if, like me, you’re well and truly cheesed off with the game of ping-pong that broke out during the summer over the merits (or otherwise) of organic food, it will hopefully be worth it.

This game is one of words, and the ‘ball’ in play has ‘nutrition’ and ‘health benefits’ emblazoned all over it. The key players are the Food Standards Agency (FSA), an independent Government department set up ‘... to protect the public’s health and consumer interests in relation to food’, and the Soil Association, ‘... the UK’s leading organic organisation [who] promote planet-friendly food and farming’.

Other players have been pitching in too, including the ‘meeja’, with its usual in-depth and incisive news analysis intended for all those with a 30-second (or shorter) attention span.

In a predictably depressing manner, the ‘debate’ has focused largely on the spat that’s broken out following publication of the FSA’s review of organic food, which found that ‘... there is little, if any, nutritional difference between organic and conventionally produced food and there is no evidence of additional health benefits from eating organic food.’

The FSA review, carried out by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, looked at ‘... all papers published over the past 50 years that related to the nutrient content and health differences between organic and conventional food.’

The anti-organic brigade has had a field day. Our pro-chemical punditocracy, including those in the gardening media, have been busy dusting off their long and wearied lists of reasons to ditch earth-friendly organic gardening, as they urge us all to switch to ‘conventional’ gardening. What’s the point of it, they gleefully argue, if the Government is telling us there’s no benefit in eating organic food? – better to offload organic and garden ‘properly’.

Some have been harebrained enough to suggest we shove nature aside while we get to grips with gardening (especially food growing, they say), bring on the chemical corps instead, then go back to the hard drudge of gardening organically later on, if we really must, once everything has been knocked into shape.

My response is, sadly, unutterable here in cyberspace, but I can tell you that it was preceded by my baying with anger among my runner beans, and followed by a long sigh of frustrated despair.

But what this reinvigorated debate has done is to get me thinking more than ever before about exactly why I grow, buy and eat organic food. The papers included in the FSA review were almost certainly the result of scientific analysis, resulting from experiments and research conducted by the white-coated inhabitants of laboratories, the haunts of scientific rigor.

All will have focused on very specific, narrow criteria – in this case differences in nutrient levels and the perceived health benefits of eating organic versus non-organic food. And in doing so, they will, naturally, have left out so much.

But that’s what I’m interested in – what the boffins in white coats can’t find, pin down, label, measure or even identify, that something, that feeling, that palpable aura about home-grown organic food that defies scientific investigation or analysis. For me it’s the ungraspable dimension of gardening organically that keeps me strong in my belief that it’s simply the right thing to do in a world that’s seriously overstepping its environmental limits.

I don’t think I actually care much whether organic food is better for me nutritionally; the humble act of simply growing it gives me more ‘benefits’ than any test tube-gazing scientist can track down, and they’re not all related to what passes down my oesophagus. For me, it’s about not just what goes into my guts, but what my guts are telling me. I did say this was going to be a gamble.

So here I am, bereft of white coat, devoid of test tubes, offering you nothing in the way of peer-reviewed science published in some august, internationally-respected journal. But the one thing I do have, of sorts, is a laboratory – it’s called my garden.

I don’t carry out strictly scientific experiments there, but a lot of experimentation, teaching and research goes on, although audio-visual gizmos and microscopes are absent, and nature is head tutor. Whether I’m squishing cabbage caterpillars, watching two weasels scrap as they weave in and out of my slate walls, or gathering a colander of fresh veg within sight of my kitchen, I’m acutely aware that my ‘gardenlab’ is much more than a lab: it’s a green-hued crucible of ideas, thoughts, and perhaps above all else, feelings.

Please don’t run away at this point. Feelings are important to us organic gardeners, and surely none experience such deep and meaningful ones as those of us who choose to make that most fundamental of all gestures, that of feeding ourselves.

One of my favourite feelings is the one I get when I ‘plug into’ the earth. Imagining my hand as equivalent to a plug going into a socket, and with eyes closed, I see myself as the tiniest of specks, wondrously connected to gardens everywhere, and indeed to the whole of nature, via a powerful global web of interconnected roots. That’ll get the chemical pundits spluttering into their sprayers.

Unplugged, and back to tending my own intimate patch, growing my own food brings myriad other feelings: joy at the sheer abundance of life that my garden encourages, whether it’s lizards basking on the slates I’ve left among the long grass, or a haze of hoverflies vying for a slot on the marigolds amongst my tomatoes; awe at how tiger worms turn every scrap of rottable material into rich, energizing compost; amazement at how the reddish, nutrient-poor soil that once anchored tall stands of bracken is slowly darkening as worms and compost work their alchemy; reassurance in the knowledge that most of what I munch on contains no unnatural chemical residues, and that if the shops run dry, I’ll have something to eat; and humility at how my garden gets me thinking, how it increasingly challenges and informs the way I see the world, and paints me an unfolding picture of how we’ll all need to be gardening – and living – in the not too distant future.

These are just a few of my favourite feelings. Together, they make me feel good, good about myself, and good about my place on an imperfect and increasingly ecologically embattled planet. If that’s not a ‘health benefit’, I don’t know what is.

The act of growing food organically nourishes me as much as the food itself, and that’s something which no FSA review or scientific report into the ‘benefits’ of organic food – nor the one-dimensional arguments that follow – can ever finger. And that, surely, is a good thing. Just like when I plug into my soil, there’s something hugely liberating in knowing that there are some unfathomable things which can outmanoeuvre the yapping hounds of sometimes dubiously motivated science.

It might be just a feeling deep down in my guts, but it’s a mightily empowering one.

This article was first published in Kitchen Garden magazine, November 2009. Text and images Copyright John Walker.

Is Alan Titchmarsh to return to Gardeners' World?

2009-11-06T11:31:47+00:00

The horticulture world (and Twitter) is alive with a rumour that gardening God and guru, Alan Titchmarsh, is about to make a sensational return to Gardeners' World to stem its loss of viewers.

The Daily Mail says that the sixty-year-old gardening favourite is in advanced negotiations with the BBC 'An announcement could be made in a matter of days'.

Titchmarsh, who lives in the village of Holybourne, near Alton in Hampshire will surely stir interest in the flagging show and the Mail say that current presenter, Toby Buckland, may stay on.

Blog and Internet sites have been discussing the shows new format since it moved to its current site at the Birmingham Botanical gardens.

Garden writer, Martyn Cox told his Twitter followers: "I admire Alan and think he's brilliant on TV, but going back to previous presenters isn't exactly forward thinking."

Martyn goes on to say, "BBC have denied Buckland rumour, but say they will make an announcement nxt week about a new gardening project led by AT"

UK landscaping associations just haven't got a clue

2009-11-06T09:15:40+00:00

It is probably not a good thing that I am sitting here at my keyboard typing - I should be walking the dogs and enjoying the Autumnal weather.

Why? because I am feeling a little angry and again extremely frustrated by the rhetoric that is coming from the UK's landscaping associations.

Reading an article in Hort Week this morning, Mitch Westwood of Rogue Traders, says that the recession has caused an erosion of landscaping standards and says anyone can buy a wheel barrow and a few tools and set up as a landscaper and goes on to say that it's not the easiest of trades to do well in.

Well, I agree so far, but as one of those landscapers who threw a few tools into the back of a car on the 21st May 1984, I am offended by the implication that I am not worthy of being in the profession.

I started at 19 years of age and sold my business twenty one years later having employed lots of people and spawned many new businesses, been a member of the APL and won one of their awards. I also paid for my own passage through Merrist Wood and Sparsholt College's gaining City and Guilds level three in amenity horticulture and greenkeeping.

I didn't go on to take any higher education but I believe that learned and developed many creative skills from generations of different trades who I worked with and for.

I made mistakes - I would not believe a single APL or BALI landscaper who told me that they didn't - and I made decisions I regretted. I even had to re-do work done by a very prominent APL member.

There are many many people like me who have started as an odd-jobber and made a solid business and many of them need trade associations like a hole in the head.

Westwood says [HW]: "those who knock trade associations are further eroding standards: "With all trade associations, only the good guys are going to join. Guys who are going to do a quick, cheap job - why are they going to join? I'm all for trade associations. They give clients more confidence. Contractors are vetted and not just sending in £10 and getting a sticker for the van."

This statement is so patronising to so many good people. How many thousands of landscapers, gardeners and designers - not to mention product and service providers to the trade - are there in Great Britain?

The APL has 360'ish members and BALI have under the 700 that they quote - Is Mitch Westwood (who incidentally, doesn't say if he is a member of BALI or the APL on his website) telling me that those individuals and businesses who are not inside these two organisations is because they are doing a cheap quick job and that they are not concerned with the quality of their work? I am incensed by this!

Let me get one thing straight - I am not against trade associations per se. I believe in tight control, I believe in education and training and I believe in ambition and targets.

I am on record as saying - and I stick by this wholeheartedly - that the outdated trade association system which continues to be practised in the UK is flawed. There is no way that a committee of self appointed practising landscapers should dictate who should or shouldn't be worthy of adorning their badge.

Every individual or business is more than capable - especially now that the Internet is such an everyday tool - of building a profile and portfolio of themselves and demonstrating, through audio and visual means, what level of competence and experience they have achieved.

If they were punching above their weight they will surely be shot down in flames. The Landscape Juice Network brings transparency to its free membership.

The responsibility is very much on the business to be honest about themselves and what they are capable of doing. Any client being sent to or landing on the site has the option to click through to any member profile and read about them and their work.

Unlike APL and BALI, potential and existing clients can also start or participate in debate and leave comment on individual profiles. Because the client also has to leave their real names and details, only those with a genuine complaint will do so if they know that they are accountable.

BALI chief executive, Sandra Loton-Jones, takes the biscuit with this quote: "Our members' contracts are as keen as they can be and they get increasingly frustrated when they find the work they hoped to get has been taken by people who are not VAT registered and not fully aware of the legislative position."

Loton-Jones continued with this: ""These people devalue the industry and make it look like something anyone can turn to."

What has VAT got to do with it and what right does an association member have to first refusal on jobs that come onto the market. 'These people'? What people? are they criminals?

APL CEO, Jason Lock moans: "My overriding concern is that there is the temptation in tight economic times to price a contract short to win the work.

"In these instances, nobody wins. The contractor makes no money and invariably has to cut corners and the client is short-changed with substandard work. It may be a short-term fix but in the long term it will affect their reputation."

Err, no. Both these organisation are extending their patronisation to their clients. Is a client not capable of making an informed choice? What about healthy competition? What about an association business coming into the real world and pitching his skills in a full pool of competing businesses? What about a fair playing field? Under the open-association philosophy, the right contractor will win the work at the right price.

APL and BALI members have surely enjoyed a premium return for their membership over the years - they had no opposition until now but, now, only businesses capable of doing a job are being considered by wise clients.

In a separate HW article, Jason Lock calls for tighter regulation for domestic landscapers saying that domestic projects are more like civil engineering jobs.

He says that both domestic and commercial contracts should be treated the same but how many domestic clients call for risk assessments and health and safety documents?

Jason is still working in the old world where the mentality was for information to be 'pulled' from the contractor.

In today's digital world, the practice is very much about 'pushing' information. It's about educating contractors to send in their supporting literature, including risk assessments and health and safety documents, without being asked.

Let's give the client some credit - they are capable of making a decision that suits them. I think one of the problems that the associations won't admit to is that many clients who get a raw deal are pushing a contractor to do too much with insufficient budgets.

The contractor, wanting to help and do the right thing, agrees and then the client changes his face once the contractor is hooked into the deal.

LJN is all about all-round education - whether that's for the contractor or the client.

...Now for that walk - come on dogs.

Using a geotextile membrane under concrete

2009-11-05T15:55:13+00:00

Back in 1999 I was called out by a client who had a stylish and rather expensive Haddestone ornamental pool - like this one - installed as a show-piece in the yard of a barn conversion.

The farm had previously been a livery stables and before that a working farm on arable land close to the village of Crondall.

The farm yard itself was a rather thick slab of re-enforced concrete that I would estimate was a minimum of six inched in depth.

The client had decided that the slab was too costly to remove so it was decided by all, including the architects, landscapers and the owner to use it as the base and all entry door levels, pathways and borders were determined from this.

It seemed like a perfect scenario for construction because this foundations was deemed perfect - except for one (or more) fatal flaw.

The landscaper had carefully prepared a full concrete raft for the pool to sit on and the Haddestone pool was constructed directly on the concrete slab; G4 pond sealant was applied to its interior.

The client first noticed a problem when the water level started to drop on a regular basis. Initially it was put down evaporation and splashing as it tumbled from the centre fountain.

However, after being away for two weeks and leaving the fountain off, the client returned to an almost empty pool. No water could be seen leaving any of the joints in the modular pond sections - we were baffled.

We agreed to dismantle the pond and rebuild it; in fact, it was ideal for the client because it was also decided to re-locate the pool into the centre of its section of yard - currently it was off-set.

We removed the fish to a holding container and drained the rest of the water and then removed the weed. The G4 had de-laminated and peeled back in two separate lines across the bottom. It was apparent that these two cracks were a likely source of the leak.

When the 20mm gravel was raked back away from the underneath the pool we detected two stress cracks in the original concrete and they were almost identical to the two lines in the raft base.

To cut a long story short, the concrete base was obviously expanding and contracting over the year and because the concrete raft had been poured into a form-work directly on top, movement was transmitted through the new (and probably still green) concrete.

Our solution was to follow the exact same principal of a raft of concrete but isolate the new base from any movement by sandwiching a sheet of plastic DPC between two sheets of geotextile membrane.

This left the old concrete base to do its own thing with the pond effectively floating on top without being push and pulled from below - in fact, I reckon if we had put four lifting eyes around the edge of the base we cold have lifted the pond up and moved it around.

Consider the same method if laying a patio on an old concrete base.

How much does it cost to cut a hedge?

2009-11-05T08:18:43+00:00

When it comes to hedge cutting there is not a one size fits all - there are tall hedges, wide hedges, hedges that are growing on banks or squeezed between buildings.

Some hedges may have difficult obstructions such as a greenhouse or wall next to them or maybe the hedge borders a busy road or dangerous bend.

Other aspects to take into consideration is the type of hedge. For example, Pyracantha, Berberis or Hawthorn can be vicious with their long spiky thorns, which may slow down the operator both in a practical and safety sense.

Highly manicured or topiaried hedges are time consuming and demand a greater attention to detail.

Neglected hedges may need to have remedial work carried out before ongoing maintenance is even considered. This may mean pruning back two year or older thicker stems to allow reformation of the shape - only the following year will this softer re-growth be capable of shaping and trimming and even then, don't expect the face or top to be fine in appearance immediately.

If a hedge has been neglected for several years then extensive thinning or cutting back may be needed. In curtain circumstances, specialist tree surgeons should be employed and it is in your interest to ensure that they are adequately experienced and insured to carry out your work.

All of the above will impact on the price being charged - what might look like a fairly simple and quick job, may be influenced by more than one factor.

If you are about to employ a garden contractor then consider getting a fixed price or an estimate - this way you will not have too much of a shock at the end.

On occasions it will not be possible to fix a price and it may be necessary to agree to having the work done on an hourly basis - for the first cut at least.

Even year on year when a hedge has been trimmed by the same gardener, there may be time variations due to extensive growth in warm mild summers.

It is not possible to give a quote per hour or job here. Any good contractor will always come and look at your work before giving a price - quotations per metre over the phone are not to be relied on.

This is what a contractor will be charging you for:

Their time - The cost will vary depending on the type of service you are employing. A one man band who supplies labour only will be starting at between £8-12.00ph.

A contractor who is experienced with working under difficult conditions, carry out risk assessments, deal with traffic and difficult obstacles.

Budget for a minimum of £18.00 per hour (per man) for relatively straightforward hedge work but be prepared for this price to rise significantly should the circumstances dictate - ask the contractor to list any special conditions that he feels has contributed to greater costs.

Waste - this is an increasing problem for contractors to deal with. A contractor must carry a waste carrying license to remove trade waste from your garden.

He will also have to pay for it to be processed. Even if a contractor is burning your waste or even composting it, there is a cost to him and this will be passed on to you.

You may consider using a contractor who has the necessary equipment to chip and shred waste on your premises. There will be a labour and machinery charge but it could be considerably cheaper than removal from site.

If you have a big enough garden then you may want to burn the waste yourself - this could save money.

Machinery - Good hedge cutting machinery costs money. A contractor will have a capital outlay to recoup as well as an ongoing maintenance charge to cover - one way or another, the contractor will charge this back to you the client.

Charges may be broken down as itemised separately (my preferred method) or lumped with the hourly rate.

Contractor insurance costs can vary - the larger the operator the greater the cost so consider this too. A typical insurance cost for a medium sized contractor will be £500-£1,000 per year so even this can add a few £££'s to your bill.

If you you are a contractor or a client and please feel free to add anything by the way of a comment that may help others when making a decision.

A garden is in the eye of the beholder

2009-11-04T18:37:03+00:00

I have just read 'Why I'm sick of 'lovely' gardens' on the Guardian gardening blog by garden writer Anne Wareham, and, apart from being a little confused by what motivated Anne to write it, I think Anne is making a similar mistake to 'garden media' she refers, by casting a wide net and capturing everyone - surely the term gardener or garden is not a one phrase fits all?.

If I am reading correctly I think Anne is trying to tell us that gardening isn't for the lesser folk and should be reserves for the intellectual great and good.

I am getting the message that if your garden is reserved for a mass planting of marigolds or lettuce then you are not allowed to call yourself a gardener and if it's easy, it's not real gardening.

I have always worried that there has been an unnecessary smokescreen put in front of plain and simple design which has led the garden visitor to be convinced that they are missing the intended message when, all along, the garden creator's sole intention has been to create something that is pleasing to himself and not the masses.

Am I reading Anne's piece wrong?

Knapdale Forest beavers build first lodge

2009-11-04T11:32:34+00:00

Beavers, which were released in to the Knapdale Forest in a joint operation between the Scottish Beaver Trial (SBT) and the Scottish Wildlife Trust back in May, have built there first lodge - the first seen on British shores for four hundred years.

SBT Project Manager Simon Jones, who discovered the lodge, said: “We are thrilled to see that one of our beaver families has now constructed their own lodge.

"This is a fantastic sign that these beavers have settled into the area. They are following their instincts and acting as beavers naturally do. Until now our beaver families have been using burrows along the sides of their release lochs.

“Our first lodge is an impressive structure, measuring 5 metres long by 2 metres high by 7 metres wide (5x2x7m) in size. Beavers build lodges to shelter in during the day. This provides them with warmth and protection.

"The lodges usually consist of two chambers, accessed from the loch by an underwater passage. The first chamber is where the beavers spend a few minutes drying off before moving into the large chamber, which is extremely dry and cosy.”

A spokesperson for Forestry Commission Scotland, the host partner of the Scottish Beaver Trial, said: “The lodge fits in really well with its surroundings and has been built in a secluded part of the forest.

"There are no designated trails or paths to the site so we would ask people to not try to visit the lodge as any attempts to do so would only disturb the beavers and other wildlife and habitats in the area.“

The beavers have been closely tracked by the SBT staff and volunteers who have been gathering data - Scottish Natural Heritage will assess this data to measure the impact the beavers have had on the surrounding environment.

But not everyone is happy about the presence of the beavers and, as revealed in a SNH consultation about the proposed release, when one local landowner - and former SNH board member - expressed concerns.

To quote the consultation: "His concerns focused on the potential impact of beavers straying into salmon spawning areas of the river Add and his fear that their damming activity would lead to the total and permanent loss of salmon from the whole of the river system.

"However, SNH has found little evidence from Europe and North America that indicates significant detrimental impacts of beaver on salmonid fish."

More at the Scottish Beaver Trial and

Have the RSPB been reading Landscape Juice?

2009-11-03T11:57:51+00:00

I had to have a little chuckle this morning when I read an article on the RSPB website.

It seems as though the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds concurs with my view that Golf courses can be wildlife havens.

In an article, Golf courses can help save threatened birds, the RSPB and golf's governing body the Royal and Ancient, have released a new handbook entitled 'Birds and Golf Courses: A Guide to Habitat Management'.

With over 140,000 hectares of heather, grass, bramble and trees that abound golf course fairways, golf course can do much to redeem their poor reputations as over-users of chemicals and fertilisers and work to improve wildlife habitat - I think we should push this a bit further and include native plants and grasses too.

Co-writer of the RSPB book, Nigel Symes, said: “The truth is that every golf course has potential to be a sanctuary for wildlife, and to provide an important stepping stone for birds and other animals whose habitat is under threat."

How do you define a garden centre?

2009-11-03T11:17:37+00:00

I have been reading a forum thread on Hort Week - What is a garden centre - Andrew Stalham asks the question and then quotes: "Encarta Dictionary English UK - Garden Centrea retail establishment that sells plants and gardening equipment"

There is something earthy and natural about plant nurseries - somehow the term gives a hint that someone cares and a lifelong vocation.

Garden Centre doesn't seem to have the same ring to it and conjures up a feeling of mass business with a hint of Woolworths - I am sure that one day we will even be able to book our holidays at one.

I guess garden centres are a good thing for retail but they seem to have been hijacked by businessmen who care little about plants and the gardener gets a raw deal.

I remember when I was a kid, our local Springfield Nursery cottoned on quite early that Christmas trees would be a popular item to boost festive sales, apart from that it was probably only Cyclamen or Poinsettia one could buy.

Nowadays, it's not just the tree you can buy but the LED Christmas lights, tinsel and stand as well as the presents that go underneath.

Mind you, judging by the amount of naff Christmas tree light displays in British gardens, the Christmas tree light is probably a popular seller?

Probably been the liveliest debate on Hort Week to date.

A French countryside summer in images

2009-11-02T17:39:04+00:00

Find more photos like this on Landscape Juice Network

It's Monday evening, dark outside and the wind and rain has brought a touch of Autumn and the realisation that Winter is nearly here.

I don't know about you but I like to trawl through my summer memories at this stage of the year and prolong the pleasure a little longer.

Here are a few eclectic images to enjoy of my summer here in France.

Join the APL LinkedIn group

2009-11-02T09:41:19+00:00

As part of its website restructuring and pledge to become more interactive, the Association of Professional Landscapers started a LinkedIn discussion forum - so far the group has fifty members discussing four topics.

The APL group is open to anyone so if you think you can add something to the debate or you want to start a discussion on the benefits of APL membership, then why not pop along.

One of the discussions - How are you finding the current economic climate in relation to work levels and also contracts/designs booked ahead? - APL Chairman, Adam Frost and CEO, Jason Lock, give a little insight into their business and how work is flowing through these turbulent times.

Adam Frost says: "On the landscape and design the enquiries are still good, things did go a little quite at christmas time but soon picked up in the spring. I agree with Andrew i would say we are signing up 90% of design enquiries.

"Adam continued, "With the Landscape,Richard the m.d. of newground is having to put in more leg work to get clients to sign up but they know have enough to see them though the winter which i think will be key for us all."

Jason Lock is in his first year of business after Notcutts closed its design and build service and said: "At Deakinlock we have picked up some good enquires recently working with a developer on a high value project plus starting to get referals from contractors we have passd work to, which ultimately widens the net.

"As its our first year of buisness its difficult to tell but comparing enquiries with our Notcutts days it is a little behind these but holding up well."

Perhaps a little clue that, despite affiliation to an established landscaping association, work is still a little scarce on the ground and everyone is in the same boat.

Join the 718 members of the Landscape Juice Network and discuss the current challenges and future of landscaping and horticulture.

Recognising turfcare professionals' exceptional talents

2009-11-01T11:23:25+00:00

Every time I watch a sporting event on the television I always, always look at the turf.

I know exactly how much work and effort that has gone into its maintenance, preparation and presentation before hand.

I can also appreciate that it's a science and a skill and it takes many years of experience and education to land a job at a top venue.

Most sportsman take the playing surface for granted and I wonder how many have ever taken the trouble to pop along to the groundstaff's yard and compliment them on their work?

I wrote to Peter Allis a few years back, complimented him on the BBC's commentary teams coverage of the British Open and other golf tournaments and urged - I even wrote about it here - the BBC to spend a little time explaining what a greenkeeping team does before a major event to present a perfect venue.

I personally think it would make compelling viewing and I also reckon there would be enough material to do documentary - Peter responded and said he had no jurisdiction over the format and passed in on to the producer.

I know that Ken brown does a little piece, perhaps explaining how the speed of a green is measured, but the topic of course management is never covered in depth.

Forget the big venues for a moment though and have a think about all of the greenkeeping and groundstaff of all of the smaller sports pitches and playing surfaces around the country - dedicated professionals out in all weathers and often in their own time doing an often thankless task.

The Institute of Groundsmanship have published a news item about the Musselburgh Windsor groundsman, John Buckley, and his dedication to the job over the last twenty seven years.

John was presented with the John Murray Shield by Musselburgh Windsor Football Club - an annual award considered the highest honour from the organisation.

On the IOG website - Mark Saggers spoke to Darren Gough about the challenges facing groundsman - listen to the interview on his TalkSPORT radio show.

Saggers also talks about the IOG awards which were held at the Emirates Stadium earlier in October.

Autumn lawncare tips and advice

2009-10-31T10:16:28+00:00

Phew, what a scorcher.

The Met Office promised us a good summer and I think, generally, it has been good and mainly dry, what a bonus to be able to enjoy warm sunshine right up until the beginning of November.

If you have not already started tackling your lawn renovation programme you had better start pronto before the soil starts to cool down.

Germination of grass seed can take as little as ten days to two weeks when the soil is still radiant, but as the day length gets shorter and the night air cooler, the chances of getting grass established before Winter does its worst are decreasing.

For seed to germinate and good root recovery to take place, the soil needs to be in a range of 17-24 degrees - the optimum about 20-21 degrees.

Feel free to have a delve into my lawns and turf care archive for tips on aerating, scarifying and laying turf and seeding.

Plant Virginia Creeper for dependable Autumn colour

2009-10-30T12:35:32+00:00

I have had rather a busy week and struggled this morning to find something topical to write about.

About five minutes ago I popped out to get a breath of fresh air in the extremely warm Autumn sunshine - it was there it hit me.

I bought a small Parthenocissus tricuspidata Veitchii in April 2007 at about 75cm in height. My idea was to cover over the end wall of our Gite which is covered in rather a drab grey rendering.

I couldn't have begun to imagine it two and a half years later absolutely smothering the wall.

The leaves are well advanced into their Autumn colours and it is quite literally on fire.

The wall faces due North-West but the stems have moved onto the South-West and North-East facing and don't seem to have lost any vigour on the cooler/darker side.

It's easy to describe this Virginia Creeper (Boston Ivy) as the Jordan of the plant world. Brash, rampant and exotically colourful and I would defy anyone not to fall in love with this plant as it changes colour into the shortening days.