Hints & Tips

SHOW CATEGORIES
The Lawn

The Lawn
Cutting Stuff

Cutting Stuff
Growing Stuff

Growing Stuff
Dick

Dick
Hints & Tips

Hints & Tips
Holly

Holly
Silly Stuff

Silly Stuff
When To

When To
Garden Power

Garden Power
Our News

Our News
Drew

Drew
What

What's New

Recent Articles

Grow your own vegetables, they taste so much better

By

Nothing beats the taste of fresh vegetables from your own garden! And if you don’t have your own plot, now’s the time to start work preparing one. You can start sowing the first salads this month. In this MowBlog edition, we talk about some basic garden advice on soil preparation to ensure success growing anything…Continued

Grow your own vegetables, they taste so much better

By

Dick Roberts

Norfolk journalist and countryman, now retired from daily newspaper life but still commentating and writing. Keen gardener, when dodgy back allows, and devout researcher of local ales and French wines. Married with two children who have flown the nest, but return regularly to empty the fridge. Living in listed country cottage which gets more expensive by the year to maintain. Retired but still writing regular columns and pieces for web sites.

Latest posts by Dick Roberts (see all)

Nothing beats the taste of fresh vegetables from your own garden! And if you don’t have your own plot, now’s the time to start work preparing one. You can start sowing the first salads this month. In this MowBlog edition, we talk about some basic garden advice on soil preparation to ensure success growing anything … Continued

Time for a good chainsaw to help clear away the storm debris

By

Braked branches tree and garden debris

Dick Roberts

Norfolk journalist and countryman, now retired from daily newspaper life but still commentating and writing. Keen gardener, when dodgy back allows, and devout researcher of local ales and French wines. Married with two children who have flown the nest, but return regularly to empty the fridge. Living in listed country cottage which gets more expensive by the year to maintain. Retired but still writing regular columns and pieces for web sites.

Latest posts by Dick Roberts (see all)

The recent gales have left branches and debris strewn all over the place just as we were hoping the worst of the weather was over. These blown-down branches need to be cleared away and you may well need a chainsaw to help – a bow saw is all well and good but pretty tiring after … Continued

Chainsaw: Preventing Injuries During a Cleanup following a Storm

By

Preventing injuries by using a chainsaw
With Storm Ciara causing havoc over the weekend, many of us have suffered serious property damage, from fallen down trees to blown down fences. The clean up operation has begun across gardens and properties around the UK.   Here at MowDirect we want to help and ensure garden machinery is used safely whilst getting everything back … Continued

Crop Rotation: Let’s plan to grow Vegetables!

By

Home garden vegetables

Holly Ashcroft

Latest posts by Holly Ashcroft (see all)

While you might feel as though there is little to do in the garden itself around this time of year, overwinter and into January is an ideal time to plan ahead for the coming months when it comes to what you want to grow for your home vegetable garden. This particularly rings true when it … Continued

Dreaming Of Your Holidays? What About The Garden?

By

Follow me

Drew Hardy

Freelance Writer at Mowdirect
A keen allotmenteer with an interest in all things horticultural, Drew has a varied writing background with experience in a number of fields including garden machinery, lawn care and compost. His first experience with gardening was a cultivating a small plot he was given by his house master at school. He grew a decent crop of radishes and lettuce and sold them to a local shop, exhibiting his first, and last, sign of an entrepreneurial spark. Drew lives in North London with his wife, two children and a slightly bonkers cat
Follow me

Latest posts by Drew Hardy (see all)

Breaking news. It seems that scientists working on the Large Hadron Collider in Cerne, have initiated a microscopic shift in the earth’s rotation which has created a location-specific temporal anomaly whereby the whole world seems normal, except there is a Teletubby in charge of the USA, the UK’s weather has reverted to the summer of … Continued

Water Water Everywhere – But Mostly In The Tap. Looking After Your Garden In The Heat

By

Follow me

Drew Hardy

Freelance Writer at Mowdirect
A keen allotmenteer with an interest in all things horticultural, Drew has a varied writing background with experience in a number of fields including garden machinery, lawn care and compost. His first experience with gardening was a cultivating a small plot he was given by his house master at school. He grew a decent crop of radishes and lettuce and sold them to a local shop, exhibiting his first, and last, sign of an entrepreneurial spark. Drew lives in North London with his wife, two children and a slightly bonkers cat
Follow me

Latest posts by Drew Hardy (see all)

Yes. Wimbledon fortnight is here to fill in the gaps between huge football teams being knocked out of the World cup by minnows, and the strawberries and cream brigade are out in force in their Panamas, club ties and cool silks, sipping Pimms, wafting programmes in front of their faces and wondering what that curious … Continued

Clear up The Long Grass and Reclaim your Garden

By

Follow me

Drew Hardy

Freelance Writer at Mowdirect
A keen allotmenteer with an interest in all things horticultural, Drew has a varied writing background with experience in a number of fields including garden machinery, lawn care and compost. His first experience with gardening was a cultivating a small plot he was given by his house master at school. He grew a decent crop of radishes and lettuce and sold them to a local shop, exhibiting his first, and last, sign of an entrepreneurial spark. Drew lives in North London with his wife, two children and a slightly bonkers cat
Follow me

Latest posts by Drew Hardy (see all)

I was recently (over the weekend) at a very nice and comfortably lavish party in North London, held in the garden of my dear friends Gordon and Hermione.  This garden is surprisingly large for a sprawling metropolis where a slightly larger than average studio flat goes for the same price as a castle in Middlesborough … Continued

Safety Tips For Hedge Trimming and Pruning

By

Follow me

Drew Hardy

Freelance Writer at Mowdirect
A keen allotmenteer with an interest in all things horticultural, Drew has a varied writing background with experience in a number of fields including garden machinery, lawn care and compost. His first experience with gardening was a cultivating a small plot he was given by his house master at school. He grew a decent crop of radishes and lettuce and sold them to a local shop, exhibiting his first, and last, sign of an entrepreneurial spark. Drew lives in North London with his wife, two children and a slightly bonkers cat
Follow me

Latest posts by Drew Hardy (see all)

Now, as Michael Caine never actually said, ‘not a lot of people know this but hedges go back a long way.’ Some say the first hedges were grown or made to surround and fence off the land on which cereal crops were being grown and date back to the Neolithic era, around five or six … Continued

Toe The Line. Safe Usage of Your Brushcutter or Trimmer

By

Follow me

Drew Hardy

Freelance Writer at Mowdirect
A keen allotmenteer with an interest in all things horticultural, Drew has a varied writing background with experience in a number of fields including garden machinery, lawn care and compost. His first experience with gardening was a cultivating a small plot he was given by his house master at school. He grew a decent crop of radishes and lettuce and sold them to a local shop, exhibiting his first, and last, sign of an entrepreneurial spark. Drew lives in North London with his wife, two children and a slightly bonkers cat
Follow me

Latest posts by Drew Hardy (see all)

The sun has got his hat on, but, to be honest, he’d be much safer wearing a helmet, ear defenders and steel-toe-capped boots. Yesterday’s blog by my estimable colleague and multiple wine cork collector Dick Roberts deliberated on the qualities of some pretty tough, wheeled brushcutters. like the DR TR4 PRO-XL (left) But, as ever, … Continued

All Creatures Great & Small – Keep an Eye on Your Garden Wildlife and Save the Hedgehogs

By

Holly Ashcroft

Latest posts by Holly Ashcroft (see all)

Everybody knows I’m a sucker for little birdies,  fluffy bunnies, birds, bees, and small cuddly creatures of all kinds. Show me a kitten, I turn into a simpering child, hand me a baby chick, I turn into Joey Tribiani. So, watching out for our garden wildlife is a subject very close to my big, soft … Continued