Author: David Domoney

Competition: Win one of 50 Hozelock Pico Reel hosepipe systems

[fusion_builder_container type=”flex” hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” menu_anchor=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”center center” background_repeat=”no-repeat” fade=”no” background_parallax=”none” parallax_speed=”0.3″ video_mp4=”” video_webm=”” video_ogv=”” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_loop=”yes” video_mute=”yes” overlay_color=”” video_preview_image=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” padding_right=””][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ layout=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_position=”all” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding_top=”” padding_right=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” center_content=”no” last=”true” min_height=”” hover_type=”none” link=”” border_sizes_top=”” border_sizes_bottom=”” border_sizes_left=”” border_sizes_right=”” first=”true”][fusion_text]

THIS COMPETITION HAS NOW CLOSED.

Summer has finally arrived! It’s the best time of year for gardening – everything is in flower and all your hard work in spring has paid off. Now you can just get outside and enjoy your garden.

In fact, the only job for this month is watering, and that’s loads of fun! To help you out, we’ve got 50 Hozelock Pico Reel hosepipes each worth £29.99 to give away!

The Pico Reel is the perfect hose for smaller gardens. It’s compact and convenient, and easy to tidy away. It has a 10m hose and a non-drip spray nozzle, making it great for containers and vegetable crops. Plus it’s ideal for kids to use!

There is no need for extras – the reel is ready to use comes complete with all the fittings and Hozelock’s very own Multi Spray Gun. The low profile winding handle makes rewinding the hose a breeze, and the enclosed design keeps your hosepipe tidy and tangle free.

THIS COMPETITION HAS NOW CLOSED.

[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
June 13, 2014
Cultivation Street garden centre heroes – Bents Garden & Home

As part of our Cultivation Street campaign, we are going to be looking at garden centres that are going the extra mile to encourage their local community to get gardening!

[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”]

Me with the Bents staff

Bents Garden & Home in Warrington, Cheshire, is using the campaign as a way to engage with local residents and promote gardening to more people.

Find out more about the campaign here

The General Manager Mike Parker told us, “spending just a little time outside each day, whether tending to plants or just enjoying green space, can help improve our mood so at Bents we’re big fans of any type of gardening!”

The team have been promoting the competition across their website and social media, as well as on the community noticeboard in the centre itself.

They have even created some community allotments! They are located just across the road from the garden centre, and anyone from the local community who would like one should apply with this form.

It’s big news that there are long waiting lists for allotment sites, so this is a great opportunity. Read about the British fascination with allotments here.

Visitors to the garden centre can also look around the Weeping Ash garden, which Bents has created to show people just what can be achieved at home. They hope it will inspire people to revamp their own gardens.

I love this idea – sometimes the best inspiration comes from seeing how plants work together. To make sure your new plants complement each other, try standing them together in the garden centre.

Use a mix of textures and sizes too! Foliage is really important, because it provides a rich green backdrop for the flowers and adds interesting texture and evergreen colour.

In store at Bents, there are also garden displays that customers can use to source products and plants, to be transported directly to their own gardens. And the Bents horticultural experts will be on hand to offer their advice and recommendations.

To help any garden centre adviser to help you, take along a couple of snaps of your garden so they can see the light levels and other plants.

We’re delighted with the support from Bents Garden & Home, and it’s great to see the difference our campaign makes in the local community. Join us now and let’s bring the UK’s streets back to life through gardening!

Order your starter pack here

Garden centres should order their free posters and marketing pack from the HTA by emailing [email protected].[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
June 13, 2014
One year on: Sustainability and Community winners Greening Brownfield

To celebrate the second year of our Cultivation Street campaign, we’re taking a look at last year’s winners and what they’ve done with their prize vouchers.

Greening Brownfield Community Garden was the deserving champion of the 2013 Sustainability and Community award. They impressed the judges with their stunning garden built on the mantra: reduce, reuse and recycle.

Residents of Brownfield Estate in Poplar, East London, wanted to find project the whole community could participate in. They also wished to improve the neglected areas of the estate, so they decided to commandeer two disused tennis courts on the estate.

They got a grant to get running water on the site and a shed for storage, and set up two beehives. A further grant enabled them to build a children’s play area and put in wheelchair access.

Residents then began building growing boxes out of old pallets and scaffolding boards. Some are communal and others are leased by individuals. Building their own gave them the freedom to lift some up on legs to make sure less mobile members could still get growing.

Everything was sustainable, from containers like old guitars to the compost they used! Resident Fiona Kearns said, “We re-use our garden waste and, with the help of a rotating composter, we recycle as much of our kitchen waste as we can gather.”

One of their biggest projects was a building a henhouse. Local builders donated the materials and they assembled it on site according to a design downloaded from the Internet.

The only money they spent was £3.50 on hinges, and it now houses eight ex-battery hens which provide the residents with plenty of fresh eggs.

They created a bug hotel from second-hand bits and pieces which for the last two years has also been home to blackbirds raising their chicks.

Everyone in the community was delighted to win the prize, and they have decided to put the vouchers towards a large purchase – a greenhouse! They would also like some battery-operated tools so they can build even more on site, and are currently fundraising to make it happen.

Since last year, they have held many community events, including a Bonfire Night party and a barbeque with the local housing association. They also won Best Newcomer in the Tower Hamlets in Bloom competition, and came third overall.

But most importantly, they have continued to make their garden sustainable. “We bought a second-hand shed from eBay to store the equipment for the chickens, and installed a water butt to reduce our consumption,” said Fiona. “We have also joined the local shared electric car scheme to help move materials with eco-friendly transport.”

The community has also been helping out the local wildlife. They still have blackbirds nesting on the site and there are hundreds of tadpoles in their pond, which is built in a discarded bath.

They also upgraded their beehives to ones with better insulation, and are taking part in the Tower Hamlets’ Bee Watch to monitor and record the different sorts of bee that visit.

Community gardens benefit everyone, as Fiona says. “The garden provides a space for residents of all ages to learn new skills and have somewhere simply to be in a green and growing oasis in a very concrete environment.”
June 12, 2014