Hanging Bra-skets at Flower Show

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) asked visitors to Chelsea Flower Show to donate clean unwanted underwear for its summer Grow Your Own campaign. It was all part of a wider campaign by the RHS to encourage more people to grow their own fruit and vegetables.

Gardeners Going For Plastic Flowers

Sacrilege! True gardeners are throwing their hands up in the air in disgust as they learn that according to figures released by Debenhams recently, sales of plastic flowers, shrubs, and trees, have increased by over 200% the past three months, compared with the same period last year.

Why the rush to buy fake plants? Well, it seems that people are looking for something that will look good all year round, doesn`t catch disease, doesn`t need watering.. need I go on? Prices start at around £6 for a single stem, and up to £150 for a four foot tree.

For those of us who are impatient to see the fruitages of our efforts in an instant, or don`t have the patience to properly care for and nurture our plants, just maybe plastic flowers and trees could be the answer. Don`t tell the die-hard gardener that though, he`ll put my head in a bucket of manure.

Not only was it bad enough to read about the increase in our love for all things plastic, but the Chelsea Flower Show caused quite a rumpus! The organizers controversially allowed the Top Gear presenter James May to build a Plasticine garden, and very nice it looks too. Ardent gardeners complained the `fake` garden lowered the tone of the show, as it didn`t feature living things.

Black Honeybee May Be Solution to Decreasing Bee Population

The native black honeybee, found only in a few remote parts of the country, could help reverse the dramatic decline in honeybees in Britain, say experts.

Around a third of honeybee hives were wiped out across the UK last year. Although no one knows why honeybees are dying in such huge numbers, pesticides, poor weather, parasites, disease and starvation have all been implicated. Native black honeybees are considered by some beekeepers to be more aggressive and poorer at producing honey than foreign strains.

The Co-operative Group has today launched a fund to map locations of the rare, hardy British black variety and to develop a breeding programme to increase their numbers.

Beekeepers who think they have native or near native black honeybees will be asked to send samples to BIBBA (Bee Breeders’ Association), who will carry out tests to determine their origins.

Using the Professionals to Cut my Grass

I`ve always found it a bit of a struggle with the lawn mower my landlord has given me to cut the lawns. Hover mowers are ok when the lawn is really flat, and the ground nice and compact.

But, my lawn is what I`d describe as bumpy, and in places it never really seems to dry out properly (that could be something to do with living in the UK of course).

Anyway, I decided to employ a professional grass cutting service. The guys call once a fortnight, and use a powerful petrol mower to mow the lawns. They do a great job, and to me is worth every penny I pay them.