1st Class Gardens

Lots of people like to have flowers and plants around them at home. Plants can not only brighten up a room but can help you feel better as they produce oxygen, often giving the air a fresher feel. Depending on how much of an avid gardener you are, you may struggle to keep plants alive. Like with any living thing, plants have certain needs such as water, sunlight and warmth but different species of plants need different amounts of these things. Whenever you go to buy a new house plant, be sure to read up about the type of plant it is. Make sure you know where it lights to be situated and how often you should water it. If you are not very good at remembering to water plants... Continue reading

Over winter many of us do not bother attempting to cut the grass often because it is either too wet or cold and grass tends not to grow that much during these months. Winter and early spring can be a great way to let your garden recover from the summer months when it tends to get used most, trampled down and dried out in the sun. When it comes to February and March time you may want to consider giving your lawn its first cut, this often depends on what types of weather we have had over the last few months of winter. Leaving it too long to cut your lawn can damage the grass and can make it a lot bigger job than it needs to be. If the... Continue reading

Evergreens are shrubs or trees that stay green all year round. A popular evergreen tree is a conifer. Many evergreens, once established need little or no maintenance but some may need pruning to keep them in shape and to stop them taking over the garden. Pruning should be done with care, as conifers are quite unforgiving, it can take a while to get the shape back if you over prune. Many conifers have evolved in regions with low rainfall, poor soil conditions, and extreme temperatures, so they are generally considered to be rugged plants and therefore a popular choice for many people that want to fill their garden with greenery without having to maintain them regularly. Often people want to prune conifers due to their size. Ideally a conifer should... Continue reading

In our gardens, we tend to focus more on what will be aesthetically pleasing rather than consider what effects our gardens have on the surrounding wildlife. For example, most people like to keep their lawn cut fairly short so that it looks neat and tidy, however, egg-laying insects, such as butterflies, actually require longer grass to be able to lay their eggs. Keeping hedgerows around the border of your garden is also much more wildlife friendly than having fences or walls. Hedges provide birds with a place to nest, hedgehogs a place to hide and small mammals shelter from bigger predators. Having a water feature in your garden such as a pond can be great for any amphibious animals such as frogs and newts and having aquatic plants will also provide... Continue reading

If you want to give your garden a bit of a refresh then it may be worth planting some grass seed to cover up the patches that seem to appear over the summer months. With kids playing on the grass, play equipment left in the same position and lack of rain, the summer really can take a toll on our gardens. Planting grass seed is a way to give it a refresh and hopefully help it to recover ready for next year. Grass seed is relatively cheap compared to some of the other products on the market but it does require a bit of TCL to get it to grow. When you are ready to plant the seed, give the patches a raking over to loosen the top soil, then... Continue reading