The Coronation – Get your Garden Party-Ready!

The Coronation – Get your Garden Party-Ready!

How to transform your garden into a green paradise that will impress King Charles III… or at least delight your neighbours!

On the 6th of May 2023, the Coronation of Charles III, the new Head of State of the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland, will take place at London’s iconic Westminster Abbey. This flagship event will be an opportunity to celebrate the British monarchy, and to pay tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II, who reigned admirably for nearly 70 years.

A black-and-white image of a 1950s family watching Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation on a valve television with a tiny screen.
Slightly smaller than your average flat screen!

If you’re one of the millions of Britons who’ll be following the Coronation on television or online, you may want to organise a garden party that will enable you to share the moment with your friends and family. Of course, for your party to be successful, you’ll have to get your outdoor space ready, for which you’ll need the best horticultural tools.

The correct tools – whether manual or powered – will take all the hard work and hassle out of maintaining and beautifying your garden. With the right ones at your disposal, you’ll be able to tidy fence lines, shape hedges, clear leaves, scrub your decking and lop branches quickly and with little effort expended. Before you know it, your garden will have been transformed into a gorgeous green paradise!

How do you choose the most efficacious gardening tools, though? What are the criteria to consider? How do you use them effectively and safely? Well, that’s what we’re going to be discussing in this article. We’ll link to some of MowDirect’s most popular and best-performing products, as well as dispensing some advice on the best approach to those day-to-day gardening jobs, such as weeding, pruning, mowing and fertilising.

Here are some tips for getting your garden ‘party-ready’:

Delicate hand-weeding.
Weeding – it’s got to be done!

• Weed: Removing weeds that invade your garden and compete with your plants for water, light and nutrients is essential. Weeding can be done either manually with a hoe, mechanically with a tiller, or chemically with herbicide. Make sure you keep on top of the job, or you’ll become overwhelmed, especially in spring and summer when growth is faster.

A pair a secateurs in action.
Pruning: encourages growth, flowering and fruiting!

• Prune: pruning consists of cutting-back dead, diseased or unwanted, light-blocking tree-branches in order to promote growth, to encourage flowering, and to ensure bountiful fruiting. Depending on the thickness of the branches, you can use secateurs, loppers or a chainsaw. Hedges should also be pruned, for which you can use either hand shears, or a powered hedgetrimmer (conventional or long-reach). You’ll also want to deadhead flowering plants, such as roses.

A lawnmower creating a neat, close-cropped finish on a formal lawn.
Mowing: make sure you get hold of the right machine for your lawn!

• Mow: mowing your lawn with the right machine will give it a uniform and aesthetically pleasing appearance. Mowing can be undertaken with a manual, mains-electric, petrol, or cordless battery lawnmower. You should aim to mow once a week during the growing-season, adjusting the cutting-height according to the time of year. For example, during midsummer, it’s best to mow higher to prevent the turf from being overly exposed to the sun and losing vital moisture as a result. If you’re a fan of the traditional striped finish, choose a roller mower.

Granular fertiliser flowing onto the ground from cupped hands.
Fertilising: enriches the soil and optimises fecundity

• Fertilise your soil: fertilisation provides the soil with nutrients, which will improve both its fertility and its structure.

There are a host of machines that will make your gardening-life a whole lot easier!

Some must-have garden machines: 

Lawnmower

A great-looking four-wheel petrol lawnmower in striking orange livery.

It’s important to choose a mower with a cutting-width that suits the size of your lawn. Power source is another key consideration – if you’ve got nearby neighbours, you might opt for a quiet-running mains-electric or battery mower; if you’ve got a substantial, neglected area to tame, a larger, higher-performance petrol model will prove a better choice.

Hedgetrimmer

A petrol hedgetrimmer cutting-back a wild, overgrown hedge.
Powered hedgetrimmer: an effort-saving alternative to manual shears!

Manual shears are all very well, but with a powered hedgetrimmer, you’ll achieve a far superior finish more quickly and in greater comfort. Cordless and mains-electric models are lightweight and hassle-free; petrol models will take thick, woody growth in their stride. Make sure you get hold of a machine with the right blade length for your particular hedge.

Leaf Blower/Blower-Vac

Leaves being shepherded into a pile with a handheld petrol blower.
Forget about your yard broom – make the job quick and easy with a blower!

A leaf blower will prove an invaluable bit of kit, making debris clearance jobs far easier than they would be using a hand rake and/or yard broom. Again, you can choose between mains-electric, battery and petrol power, with both handheld, backpack and wheeled models available. If you like the idea of mulching and collecting lawn and garden debris, choose a two-in-one blower-vac!

Pressure Washer

A pressure washer blasting the dirt off asphalt.
Pressure washer – serious cleaning-power!

Finally, a high-pressure cleaner – or ‘jet washer’ – will do a thorough job of cleaning your terrace, patio, decking, furniture and ornaments. It’s important to choose a model that has good water pressure and a decent flow rate, and that comes with various nozzles and other accessories. MowDirect stock a huge range of pressure washers, including the latest handheld battery-powered models.

Remember that choosing the right garden machines will make all the difference to the appearance of your garden. By using these products correctly, and by following good gardening practices, you’ll achieve a perfect garden in no time!

In conclusion, preparing your garden for your Coronation party could be a tough task, but with the right tools, it will prove both easy and enjoyable.

If you need additional advice on the preparation of your fit-for-a-king garden, don’t hesitate to contact our team of experts. We’re here to help!