“Advice is always welcome… as is cash” so says a sign behind the bar of one of my local pubs, the Misfit and Mallard. But is it true? Do we really welcome advice? If I am in the garden and my neighbour Bungalow Ben leans over the fence to let me know what I am doing wrong and tries to give it the “Ooh I wouldn’t do it like that if I were you”. I’m not sure if I am best pleased. However, there are times when it is invaluable and I am sure more than welcome to many a struggling gardener or allotmenteer.
Recently some of our clever bods at MowDirect (and me) ran a little competition to find out what the best gardening advice was that had been given to our facebook followers by their Fathers. The entries have been entertaining, interesting and enlightening so, although I am not judging, I thought I would share a few of my favourites. Little snippets of wisdom kindly contributed by our competition entrants…The Advice Squad.
1. Don’t plant anything you don’t want to look after for years. Absolutely true. Once it’s there and growing you are duty bound to look after it. And, as my wife pointed out when she read this, you could substitute the word ‘plant’ for ‘marry’ and the advice is just as good.
2. At the end of the season, clean your tools and lightly oil them so they are in good shape next spring. Very good indeed. Always good to wrap them too if you have time and keep them out of the brain. Same goes for your garden machinery! There is nothing as disheartening as opening your tool-shed in the spring and being confronted by a rusty rake and an eroded aerator.
3. Don’t stress with weeds. They are only plants growing in the wrong place. Fair enough. But if it’s in my garden I’m not happy. It is true though that one man’s weed is another man’s treasure. I mean borage is virulent stuff according to my neighbour,as it gets everywhere and is hard to get rid of, but I like it as it’s rather nice in Pimms.
4. Never carry secateurs in your trouser pocket. I’m not even going to comment. Moving swiftly on….
5. Get someone else to do it! Another thing my wife says. And it’s always me! Very popular answer though and it just shows how inherent lazy human beings are. Apparently, DIY stores and so on are suffering because young people don’t want to do it. They want to get a man in to do it. Good grief. Put up a shelf for Pete’s sake. It’s a rite of passage. Change a plug once in a while! I heard of someone recently that actually paid a chap to come round and change the light-bulbs. Unbelievable.
6. Take the time to sit back and look. Great answer. Yes. If we don’t take the time to stop and look at what we have achieved what is it all for? It’s not all about growing giant parsnips you know!
7. If you’re after a high quality cut, consider a cylinder mower. Smart tip and very true. and if you want to look at some of these stripe-making-lawn-cutting machines… here you go.
8. Never mow the lawn in flip-flops. Like the secateurs in the trouser pocket, ’nuff-said. This is not the way to keep your toe-nails short.
9. Buy the best quality tools you can afford. Chap after my own heart. Couldn’t agree more. And the same goes for garden machinery! In fact on that subject, another favourite is…
10. Cut your grass regularly rather than when it becomes a nightmare and buy the best quality lawn mower you can afford.
Last but not least eh?
That is what I call good advice and fits in rather neatly with some I was going to give you. You should be mowing regularly now, it being July, and if you need a mower, you could do worse than take my pal Dick’s advice. He’s written about this Einhell mower, a German superstar, so take a look at this little beauty.
Results will be announced on Friday 26th (tomorrow!) Good luck and as always, enjoy your garden…that’s my advice! Drew Hardy.