Blog Posts Across Landscape Juice Network

Landscapers - how to survive a downturn

I often hear landscape companies say, maybe arrogantly, 'we do not do garden maintenance' in a kind of way that infers it belittles their status. I think a lot of this attitude comes from a previous period when a gardener was viewed (and still is by some) as a servant or a job t… Continue

Posted by Philip Voice on 4 July 2008 at 9:30am — No Comments

"The Ning Cycle"

AHHHHHHHHHHH HAAAH! After a period in the Wagnerian hinterland when Ning the Merciless refused me access to my blog - I'm back! I can't tell you how overjoyed I am - I'm even mixing my references.... 9 hours of Germanic opera sitting side-by-side with Flash Gordon - fabulous what you can do in cyberspace. Ooooh Oscar Wilde now - rumours of my imprisonment in a garden shed have been grossly exaggerated - Fereday doesn't have a shed to imprison me in (yet)! Anyway, I've descended on the keyboard a… Continue

Posted by Cat Fereday on 2 July 2008 at 11:23pm — 1 Comment

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 the owners ge… Continue

Posted by Andrew Fereday on 28 June 2008 at 11:23am — 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 postie del… Continue

Posted by Cat Fereday on 26 June 2008 at 10:59pm — 8 Comments

Get rid of Moles..........

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Posted by Richard Loader on 26 June 2008 at 12:14am — 10 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 garden. Take… Continue

Posted by Andrew Fereday on 26 June 2008 at 12:00am — 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 have failed… Continue

Posted by Andrew Fereday on 24 June 2008 at 12:18am — 2 Comments

Save time with a 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 'l… Continue

Posted by Craig McGinty on 22 June 2008 at 9:30pm — 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 has no land… Continue

Posted by Cat Fereday on 22 June 2008 at 12:30pm — 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 spectre of heredity (which is the m… Continue

Posted by Cat Fereday on 21 June 2008 at 12:05pm — 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 we have a "… Continue

Posted by Cat Fereday on 21 June 2008 at 11:12am — 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 lot to say but I exp… Continue

Posted by Andrew Fereday on 20 June 2008 at 2:58pm — 1 Comment

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. the labour that you s… Continue

Posted by Philip Voice on 19 June 2008 at 10:19am — No Comments

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 activit… Continue

Posted by Craig McGinty on 17 June 2008 at 6:46pm — No Comments

It's been just over 35 years since I started in professional landscaping - being one of the first fe…

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, buildings, etc., changes. Most landscapes… Continue

Posted by Chris on 17 June 2008 at 6:29pm — 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 are just big enough to say… Continue

Posted by Cat Fereday on 16 June 2008 at 11:55pm — 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 fighting him for the right to di… Continue

Posted by Cat Fereday on 14 June 2008 at 12:00am — 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 fitting trousers… Continue

Posted by Cat Fereday on 13 June 2008 at 10:00pm — No Comments

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 My Discussions and My… Continue

Posted by Craig McGinty on 10 June 2008 at 6:15pm — 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. Continue

Posted by Cat Fereday on 9 June 2008 at 10:32pm — 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 al… Continue

Posted by vhowe on 8 June 2008 at 12:31pm — 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 he find to d… Continue

Posted by Cat Fereday on 8 June 2008 at 10:50am — No Comments

Analogy of a succesful garden network

I want you to imagine a bicycle wheel with the spokes and the centre spindle or hub. 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 find. That it why I have decided to keep… Continue

Posted by Philip Voice on 7 June 2008 at 9:00pm — 2 Comments

The Silly Season

"Silly Season" - traditionally, the period of the summer recess of Parliament when good news story fodder is sparse and the media turns to providing viewers with indepth coverage of skateboarding squirrels. In the modern era, a more outstanding indicator of the onset of silly season has appeared... the cultural sink hole of programme scheduling that is Big Brother. Tonight marks the commencement of the 2008 installment of Big Brother, that barren wasteland of shattered dreams and unregainable m… Continue

Posted by Cat Fereday on 5 June 2008 at 11:54pm — No Comments

Starting work on a new garden - first update

OK, so I have now seen the garden in question and have taken a few photos which I will upload just as soon as I have finished off my roll of film (luckily the roses in my own garden are just about in flower so I'll have a good chance to finish it reasonably quickly). The garden is quite an irregular shape - more or less stretching all the way round the house - and has two lawns, which I mentioned in my last post. There's not much to say about the lawns other than one is in a really awkward posi… Continue

Posted by Andrew Fereday on 5 June 2008 at 11:31pm — 2 Comments

Some very simple website tips

Websites do not have to be complex things if you are just promoting a small business, but put a few things in place and they can have a real impact. The main function of your site should be to create a welcoming feel, build a sense of trust and make it easy to contact you or buy your produc… Continue

Posted by Craig McGinty on 5 June 2008 at 6:00pm — No Comments

Create your own landscaping website for as little as five pounds

I imagine that you are all reading the headline and perhaps thinking that I have lost my marbles. Five pounds for my own website, how can this be when some commentators (OK website designers) are recommending spending up to £1000 on a landscaping or gardening website complete with fan… Continue

Posted by Philip Voice on 5 June 2008 at 5:00pm — 2 Comments

Wild Fereday hunting....

Finding Feredays... In response to the query on where you can get a Fereday, I offer the following guidance. There is no "Feredays-R-Us", I'm afraid, and they don't stock them at B&Q or Homebase. Feredays can usually be found in the wild. Cultivated ones may very rarely be found (and are usually only spotted very early in the morning in Wickes or Screwfix), so go for a wild one instead. The best hunting grounds are "post-festival" fields.... near to where the mushrooms are growing. If you… Continue

Posted by Cat Fereday on 4 June 2008 at 10:07pm — No Comments

A little bit of history repeating....

Hello possums! Today I thought I would share a little bit of history.... apparently - and apologies to all of you who know this titbit already - Capability Brown's real first name was Lancelot. The name "Capability" came from his frequent comment, "I see much capability for improvement here...." On a similar theme, then, my husband should be called one of the following: - "Soil improver" Fereday - "Herbaceous Perennial" Fereday or... in his "house husband" guise... - "I'll just put another l… Continue

Posted by Cat Fereday on 3 June 2008 at 11:50pm — No Comments

Starting work on a new garden

I've been trying to figure out how I can start blogging about the work that I'm doing on domestic gardens without awkwardly crow-barring something into the blog which seems clunky and forced. I think I may have the solution; I am about to take on a new garden and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to start a new blog which will hopefully develop quite naturally and not seem too contrived. The owners have previously had a gardener / handiman but he has proved to be a little too unrelia… Continue

Posted by Andrew Fereday on 3 June 2008 at 11:00am — 3 Comments

A social network, what's that?

If you are enjoying the Landscape Juice Network then you are taking part in a pretty new branch of the internet called social networking. Hopefully you are discovering some interesting ways to interact and connect with people by writing blog posts, leaving comments, taking part on forum threads or adding images for others to browse. And it is these 'social' elements that are spread around the network, be that on the Landscape Juice site, the wider internet through search engines or just simple… Continue

Posted by Craig McGinty on 2 June 2008 at 9:30pm — No Comments

Vegetable growing in a small garden: Update 1

It seems to have been a little while since I have posted on the vegetable growing so I thought an update might be useful. Most of the vegetables & herbs have germinated very well and are growing on quite nicely. The runner beans have the first flower buds on them which have yet to open. The mangetout meanwhile have their first one or two flowers. The blueberries have flowered and fruit are beginning to set. Some of the strawberries have flowered and are also beginning to set one or two frui… Continue

Posted by Andrew Fereday on 2 June 2008 at 9:11pm — 5 Comments

Trials of a Gardener's Wife

Hello. This is my new blog on this website. The theme is going to be pretty simple - as a gardener's wife, you're on a constant learning curve(!), so I'm going to share what I'm learning.... Here's the first few "seeds" of wisdom... (1) Gloves... the rabbits of the gardener's wardrobe. Gloves mate and reproduce. What starts as one pair of nice suede gloves fresh from the garden centre, (what seems like overnight) become some 10 pairs of grubby, rolled-up, pairs... and two mis-matched singles (… Continue

Posted by Cat Fereday on 1 June 2008 at 10:30pm — 2 Comments

A few tips on using this site

Craig McGinty has very kindly put together a few tips on 'how to' get the best out of this network. He has added the post to his page but I will also add a link in the about page too so it is always findable. I am getting some great feedback on how well the site is progressing and the best bit is, and this is what I am being told, the friendly and non competitive atmosphere makes us a feel a more frien… Continue

Posted by Philip Voice on 30 May 2008 at 1:54pm — No Comments

Tips on using the Landscape Juice Network

This page will draw together some of the useful hints and tips that will make using the Landscape Juice Network that much easier: Linking to another web page Websites are powered by links, here's how to point to useful web pages... Adding an image to a story Illustrate your article with photographs to help expla… Continue

Posted by Craig McGinty on 30 May 2008 at 1:00pm — No Comments

How to change your profile photo

You have the option to feature a photograph of yourself on your profile page, but if you want to change it then here is how to do it. Click on the My Page tab that appears towards the top of any page on the Landscape Juice Network. In the left hand column you will see a short line of text saying Change My Photo, click this, and you will be taken through to a page that lets you upload a new profile photo, or add one for the first time. Follow that link to change your profile photo. Please note… Continue

Posted by Craig McGinty on 30 May 2008 at 12:55pm — No Comments

Linking to another web page

One of the most powerful elements of a website is the link as this can point readers to articles of interest that everyone can then share. On the Landscape Juice Network you can either link to another page on the site or a web page out on the internet - here's how. 1. First you need to copy the target link you want, so if it is a page on another website then copy the full website address you see in your web browser. 2. On your own story you need to highlight the word or words you want to link… Continue

Posted by Craig McGinty on 30 May 2008 at 12:49pm — No Comments

Garden and landscaping networks, community and passive interaction

Any casual or determined visitor to the Landscape Juice Network will wonder what the point of having a garden related site is if all of the details that are discussed here can be viewed by anyone at any time. One wonders if this might defeat the object of having a membership in the first place. The internet is only just starting to break the surface of the many uses that it has been designed or evolved for. There was at one time the perception that exclusive membership was like being in the se… Continue

Posted by Philip Voice on 28 May 2008 at 11:19am — No Comments

About the Landscape Juice Network

Since arriving at the Landscape Juice Network site, you are probably wondering what it is all about and how it works and who the heck is Philip Voice? A bit about me first - I started my life as a garden odd jobber back in May 1984 running my little enterprise from the back of a mini car. I had never intended to be a gardener but it was the case of needs must after having a motorcycle accident whilst working as an assistant greenkeeper on Blackmoor… Continue

Posted by Philip Voice on 27 May 2008 at 9:30am — 4 Comments

Vegetable trials in a small garden

This year, my wife has decided that she wants to try growing some vegetable in our own garden. I should explain that we are renting a large Victorian end-terrace house not far from the centre of Halifax. That's an important bit of information as it means that we are quite limited in what we can do with the garden. A small vegetable patch in the front garden is out of the question as the landlady probably wouldn't allow it. We're fine to put ornamentals into both the front and the back gardens if… Continue

Posted by Andrew Fereday on 26 May 2008 at 12:17pm — 16 Comments

Firstly, an introduction...

Ok, how do people usually start these things? I've tried a little blogging on myspace but never really got that far so I suppose that introducing myself and what I'm doing will be as good a place as any. I'm a professional gardener specialising in garden maintenance (as opposed to design or landscaping). I have no qualifications in gardening, just enthusiasm and a love of plants - mainly herbaceous although I do include roses amongst my loves. I fell into gardening whilst being unceremonially d… Continue

Posted by Andrew Fereday on 26 May 2008 at 11:40am — 2 Comments

Unlimited bandwidth for your photos and videos

Why join a garden network and then pay for the privilege? My opinion is, if you can take the trouble to join the Landscape Juice Garden Network and share your knowledge and experience, the least I can do is provide you with all of the tool to do the job for free. So, my offer is, if you want to share your project photos and personal garden photos, the least I can do is make sure that I provide the right space for you to do it. Any cost in the future will be covered by advertisers who may have… Continue

Posted by Philip Voice on 19 May 2008 at 10:07pm — No Comments

Do permament gardening staff deserve higher pay

There is a vacuum in the gardening world when it comes to quality of the product and the rewards for the talented people, who strive day in day out to present a garden for the joy and relaxation. Some gardeners, who may live and work in London for example, are forced to scrape by on the minimum wage and are being penalised for choosing this creative career path. Nurses and Teachers get a lot of column inches when it comes to how bad we perceive their pay to be but the gardening fraternity woul… Continue

Posted by Philip Voice on 16 May 2008 at 9:01pm — 2 Comments

Why you should consider blogging about your gardening business

I am really pleased that we are getting the search engines picking up the content on our network so quickly. In less than three weeks and still with the minimum of content, what is written by us, in all the corners of the site, is being exposed to the search engine spiders. Check out this Google result for Landscape Juice and you will see that this network, hosted o… Continue

Posted by Philip Voice on 13 May 2008 at 9:27am — 1 Comment

RSS now enabled in your 'my page'

If you have a blog of your own, and do not want to write to two places, why not add your RSS feed into your left side bar. It does not necessarily have to be your own blog, choose one that you like reading if you wish and it will give other members the chance to check it out. Continue

Posted by Philip Voice on 13 May 2008 at 9:01am — No Comments

Britain’s Favourite Garden Vegetables 2008

Here at GrowVeg.com we have a bit of a unique perspective on vegetable gardening. Not only do we offer a comprehensive source of information about growing-your-own food but we also hold more details about people’s gardens than almost any other organisation, through our unique Garden Planning Tool. So we thought it would be really interesting to see just what people are growing this year and whether any emerging trends could be spotted. Firstly, we had to make sure that the results were going to… Continue

Posted by Jeremy Dore on 8 May 2008 at 11:00pm — 1 Comment

Problem with rotary mower blade

I am sure this is a simple one. I have a rotary hover type mower but it is cutting the grass too short, which is unhealthy. I need to take out a spacer but cannot undo the plastic nut which holds the blade. I may even be turning it the wrong way. Any suggestions anyone ? Qualcast Cyclone 6000 hover mower Continue

Posted by Keith Paterson on 5 May 2008 at 10:41pm — 5 Comments

Some new clematis

(Its a long story...but) Yesterday I at last managed to restore my 2006 archive containing images of some new plants which first-flowered in 2006, together with some second-year flowers and one or two plants from previous years. It is at http://www.bcollingwood.com/archive_2006.htm 2006 was a good season, especially for new species and hybrid plants from subsection viorna, also for new large-flowered hybrids and some viticellas etc. I wa… Continue

Posted by Brian Collingwood on 5 May 2008 at 12:00am — No Comments

UK Gardening and Landscape chargeout rates

I have added a link to Landscape Juice so that gardeners and landscapers can add their charges in order to build up a demographic for the United Kingdom. Hopefully, both business and the consumer will be able to use it as a reference point when trying to determine what price to sell at and what to buy at. To make this successful, we need as much input as possible. bear in mind, you can send an invitation to your friends a… Continue

Posted by Philip Voice on 4 May 2008 at 11:00am — No Comments

To be a 'Facebook' success, you have to remain proactive

I have just read an interesting story on New Media Age about the use of Facebook to launch an application for your company and surprisingly, not every well known brand is successful. I was also flabbergasted to read that "Applications rolled out by top brands such as MTV, Warner Bros and Woolworths were found to ha… Continue

Posted by Philip Voice on 2 May 2008 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Where to find your friends and personal messages

If, like me, you are still getting to grips with the functions on the network, you may find it useful to know that your friends, and your personal messages, can be found in the top left hand corner. You will notice your name or handle with a picture (if you have added one) with an icon of an envelope and a buddy. Pressing each one will explode the top pane and show a list of messages (read and unread) or all the icons of the people you have selected as friends. Continue

Posted by Philip Voice on 2 May 2008 at 1:30pm — No Comments

Add your show or club events

The great thing about the Landscape Juice Network is the flexibility of it. You can blog about a project or add photographs to a personal album. Maybe you would like to discuss a topic that is important to you in the forum and of course you can make friends and network with potential business associates. The other great thing, and I have tried to do this on Landscape Juice, is upload gardening events from across the UK. If you have a gardeni… Continue

Posted by Philip Voice on 30 April 2008 at 9:30am — No Comments

Uploading a members photo

Thank you to Craig for his blog post about uploading photographs. It would be cool if you considered adding a members photo too. It doesn't matter if you are a bit shy, add a picture of a project or a company logo, it matters not. And, remember, am about most of the time so if you need any help, just shout. Phil

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Posted by Philip Voice on 29 April 2008 at 10:30am — No Comments

Adding an image to a story

Phil has asked me to put together a couple of article about some of the features and tools built into the network that might not be too obvious. Naturally considering gardens are something to be looked at, I though I'd start with getting the best out of the image options available to you. If you want to add a photograph or image to a story you write then you can, but a couple of pointers might help.… Continue

Posted by Craig McGinty on 27 April 2008 at 12:20pm — No Comments

Networking isn't just a social thing

There are many reasons for visiting a forum or network and of course a blog. You may just enjoy reading what the author has to say on a blog and you may just like that sense of community on a forum or network. For some people who join a community, the novelty wears off and they move on to something new. However, there is a very serious side to a community that is often overlooked. The new friendships are one thing but the possibilities to gain business or pass on advice and raise your busines… Continue

Posted by Philip Voice on 26 April 2008 at 7:00pm — 1 Comment

Thinking of planting your tender bedding? - It might pay to read this first

The weather is getting a little warmer and the days are starting to get to respectable lengths. Even the Oak trees - usually the last out - are stirring into life and it is time to plant out the summer bedding - or is it? I have written about 'Saints de Gla… Continue

Posted by Philip Voice on 26 April 2008 at 10:22am — No Comments

Virginia Creeper - advice needed

I have received an email from Chris who is having trouble with his Virginia Creeper. "Hello, I purchased two plants 5 years ago and planted them some distance apart up against the wall of the house. I considered this to be an ideal setting, the wall is brick and the aspect is SW. Predictably, a period of time elapsed before the runners became really active, and at this point my expectation was that they would begin to take advantage of the wall. The runners made every effort to circumnavigate… Continue

Posted by Philip Voice on 26 April 2008 at 8:49am — 1 Comment

Where do you blog from

When you are talking to someone on the telephone, do you try and imagi