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020 3026 8712

Opening times
  • Call Weekdays 9am - 7pm (Closed Between 1pm & 2pm)
  • Saturday Phone Lines 10am - 4pm
X

“And The Winner is.” Karen Laing wins the Mountfield HP180 – one of our Super-Stars.

Our spring competition is over and we have a worthy winner, the witty, short and sweet entry of Karen Laing made us all laugh and we were pretty unanimous when it came down to it. She wins the ever-popular Mountfield HP180, one of our major, highly-rated Super-Stars with more than 80 4/5 star reviews

We asked you the question “What’s your first job out in the garden at the start of Spring?” and we had so many excellent entries, from the silly to the very helpful to the downright strange. They have kept us all entertained over the last few weeks.

It seems you are all getting out there, planning, mowing, tidying and sometimes lazing in deck chairs expecting someone else to do it

We did have a few people who possibly didn’t read the full rules and guidelines for the competition so if you just wrote ‘Id love to win this’ sorry, we couldn’t consider you, and a few people didn’t see our ‘not more than 50 words’ rule. We had to be strict as there were so many entires, over 900 in all! But we loved all your entries, from tips on pruning to the aftermath of storm Doris, we had a wide variety of ideas.

So, here the winning entry, from Karen Laing in full, plus a few of our other favourites. Thank you all for entering!

Tidying up and pruning, scarifying the grass to get rid of all the dead grass and encourage new growth, and then once he’s finished I make him a coffee ! x” 

We loved the way this catches you by surprise and it’s nice to see scarifying coming in there. We are busy trying to spread the word on how important scarifying is.

We have no official runners up, just a bunch of favourites but this is definitely one of mine, wise, informative words from Arthur Humphreys, a rhubarb enthusiast…

“I tend to my rhubarb first off, removing any flowers that appear so growth is directed to the stems. I weed around but disturbing the soil as little as possible. For a great crop, apply a thin layer of sodden manure to aid water retention/penetration.” 

And don’t forget, as Karen Wythenshawe reminds us, planning is important..

“Sitting in the garden with a brew, a notepad and a pen, and list the things that need doing, then prioritise how you’re going to do it all and when. Feel a sense of achievement as you tick things off the list that you’ve completed! ”

Dick liked this next one one, from the caring Jayne Hunnable as he is a also bit of a wildlife fan.

“My first job is to checkout what wildlife has started to makes its home within my trees bushes and borders before I start moving and clearing up.”

And I loved this top tip from Paul Taylor, clearly a knowledgable butterfly enthusiast…

My first spring job is to prune back our three buddleias to basal growth. I let one grow and keep the other two pruned back. In May, I let the second ‘take off’, pruning the third back until July, ensuring a garden filled with butterflies right through the season.”

Holly was delighted with this reply from Catherine Furness to the title of her blog.  Holly wrote… ‘Spring is here and don’t we know it. It makes me want to be a poet’ and tCatherine wrote this as a reply…

 “You’re right! It’s true, my garden is glowing! But no time to rhyme, Cos the weeds keep on growing!

This next one made us from Judi P Luscombe made us chuckle, nice image…

Bleaching the paths and patios as they become very green and slippery over the Winter months and the thought of me speed skating down from the washing line carrying all our clean undies would not be a pretty sight.”

Meanwhile,Tracey Baker was working VERY hard…

“Have a good tidy up, at the weekend I power washed all the decking and patio. As much as I would have loved to cut the grass it was still a little wet. Getting the patio clear I washed and sorted out my pots topping up with soil etc going to start tackling the borders if the weather holds out!”

And we were intrigued by  Margaret Jones’ ‘alternative approach to gardening…

Take up the plastic flowers I planted to make my garden look more colourful than the neighbours and wash off the paint I coated the grass with. Must say though it did look very realistic only problem was when I let the dog out he came in with green feet and looked very disorientated.”

The appropriately named Mel Brolly (April showers soon?) gave us a funny and neatly scanned ditty, but we’re not sure about supping beer while the kids do all the work…

“First thing I do, when springtime is near, dust off me wellies, and grab a cold beer

Round the kids up, give em shovels and rakes Get them all digging, while taking beer breaks

Wash tables and chairs, clear leaves off the lawn Planting some seeds, some carrots and corn!”

While JoJo Young got into a Disney mood…

Every year I start training all the animals and birds in my garden in the hope that I can be like Snow White and have lots of little helpers. It hasn’t worked yet but I live in hope. I still whistle while I work though”

Dee Gilespie went PUNtastic and you could hear our groans for miles…

“The first thing I would do is get MOWtivated and stop being so lackaDAISYcal. I would PLANT my feet firmly on the ground to try to get to the ROOT of the problem and then I’d tackle the edges of my garden using cutting HEDGE technology

The nest two are into compost. Quite right too… Chris Greenhall clearly likes to put his in the hedge. What’s wrong with old sweet wrappers?

“A general tidy up of the lawn will be in need, the borders will need to be weeded and the hedgerow that I am growing will have to be given fresh compost”

and last but not least, Lorna Lyons is working that compost into the garden as well…

“Clearing out my beds; removing the dead leaves, turning it over & adding compost getting it ready to plant our seedlings & plants that are preparing in the propitiator. Whilst I’m doing this my hubby gives the grass its 1st most important cut of the year”

So that’s it. Again thank you and don’t forget to enter our next competition. If you are in need of anything to help you develop your garden this spring, from a low-priced but great quality self-propelled petrol mower to a top-notch, great value scarifier why not look at some of our Super-Star products… rated and loved by our customers. Enjoy your garden    Drew Hardy.

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