Arthur’s Gardening Blog

Salads are the perfect crop that reward in so many ways.  Children, as well as adults,  will enjoy planting them, watering them, watching their rapid growth and (hopefully) eating them.  Salad crops flourish in the smallest of spaces and so containers perfect.  You can use wooden or timber containers , tin cans of varying sizes, plastic containers or any other recyclable container you can lay your hands on!  The most important thing is to make sure you have drainage holes.  Of course raised beds or beds you have made yourself out of timber or wooden sleepers look fabulous and add ornamental, as well as practical, value.

Once your salad crop is in situ you need to check it every day, particularly in the summer when growth is rapid.  Of course watering is vital as containers dry out quickly.  When the salad is still at seed level or very small do water with a watering can with a rose otherwise the seeds will be washed away in the deluge.  Water in the morning or evening to avoid the midday heat (which we hope we will be having!) as droplets of water on the leaves will dry out too quickly and cause leaf scorch.  Don’t forget to water slowly………gushing water will only pass over the top of the soil and not sink into the compost.

Feeding salad crops does help.  Please do check for the relevant products at your local garden centre.  Next you need to be worrying about weeds. Remove them by hand for risk of damaging your seedlings and growing plants.  Remember to ensure the root fragments are not left behind. Weeding is nice and easy if you have a large raised bed made from garden sleepers as you can sit on the wall of timber.

A lot of salad crops cannot be stored and so you need to plant seeds every couple of weeks to ensure continuous cropping; you need never be without a delicious fresh salad!

Here at Click4Garden we like to use companion plants and have always found them to be successful at keeping the bugs at bay; apart from which they look lovely scattered amongst our vegetables & salads in our raised bed which we made from timber sleepers. We use French marigolds – said to repel green fly from the tomatoes and nasturtiums – these look fantastic and are or course an edible flower which tastes peppery and adds colour to the salad bowl. We have planted rosemary and lavender in the centre of the raised bed.

Have the recent strong winds knocked your fencing for six?  Then now is the time to take action.  Did you know that now is the best time of year to sort out your garden fencing as your borders have not yet grown up and your garden fence line is clear?  As well as providing security and privacy, choosing the right fence can be an investment in your property.

Although you can choose from traditional lap panels, professional lap panels and closeboard panels; perhaps this is the opportunity to be more inventive? Continental style or Elite style fence panels have more creative styling, are of higher quality and longer lasting. They have mortice and tenon corner joints, a smooth planed finish and are pressure treated for longer life. They are also FSC certified – the trademark of the Forest Stewardship Council – thereby ensuring that the timber has come from environmentally approved forests.  Whatever the style you choose, it is worth fixing your fence now and not waiting until you have to struggle with the grown-up flower border and hard summer ground.

If your fence or fence posts have suffered damage but are still serviceable, you may be in need of some Metpost Repair Spurs. The Metpost Repair Spur is the solution to the problem of posts which have broken off at ground level but are in a sound concrete base.

The Metpost Repair Spur is ideal for repairing gale damaged fencing and is available in 3″ and 4″ sizes both have the Wedge Grip fixing design. If the concrete around the old post is not sound, it may be necessary to move or re-stagger your fence post using a Metpost Spike.

The Metpost Spike is the workhorse of the Metpost family. They are manufactured from heavy gauge steel and the rigid construction is finished with a durable, protective red oxide coating which can be painted to match your fence panels and posts. The spike holds fence posts above ground level which helps to protect the base of the wooden post against rot so ensure a longer life

Here at Click4Garden we are celebrating our 7^th year of bringing garden products to your door at competitive prices. We have gone from strength to strength thanks to customers such as you.  Thank you so much for your support.

We are writing to tell you that we have some wonderful CHRISTMAS GIFT OFFERS that would make IDEAL PRESENTS for the gardeners in your life. Potting Tables, Table Troughs, Herb Wheels, Garden Mirrors, Planters and even a Garden Arbour for snuggling up.  These are all reduced in price, flat packed and ready to be home delivered to the recipient. It makes Christmas shopping very easy. Click here to find out more: http://www.click4garden.co.uk/special-offers.html

Whilst writing perhaps we can tell you a little bit about us.  Click4Garden is run by a team: Clare, Sarah, Mel and Hollie. We each have a field of expertise and run our business from a log cabin on a farm in rural Shropshire.  We pride ourselves on our customer service by running a modern online company in an old fashioned way – answering the phone, helping our customers, advising on gardening projects and just being here to help.

Would you like to receive seasonal gardening tips and selective special offers? If so please ‘like’ our Facebook page where you will find all sorts of information, tips, offers and beautiful photographs of our surroundings.  Click here to have a look: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Click4Gardens/162071637163091

If you are signed up to Twitter you can also find us there, search for @click4gardens and follow Clare as she takes you through the gardening year.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  May your garden flourish in 2013.

With best wishes from

The Click4Garden Team

Where did the summer go?  Before you can draw a breath, you will find that the nights are drawing in, and after having lovingly tended your garden over the past few months, you now find yourself faced with the next seasonal task – composting.

Using your own composter is both cost and time effective, and choosing a beautifully crafted wooden composter is a great alternative to the plastic composters that you  generally see hidden from view underneath a decomposing tarpaulin or heavily disguised behind a tree at the farthest reaches of your garden!

Home composting is the most environmentally friendly way of dealing with our garden waste plant material. Composting can be fun and easy and you don’t need a huge garden to accommodate a click4garden timber composter. So how do you get started?   Our wooden composters are available in three different sizes, small, medium and large, they provide insulation and allow the compost within the bin to breathe.   It is also extremely easy to assemble and brilliantly low maintenance.

With regards to the composting process itself the following items are very easily compostable:

 . Fruit and vegetable peelings, seeds and cores

 . Tea bags

 . Coffee grounds and filter papers

 . Paper towels or tissues (not if they have touched meat)

 . Egg shells

Compost is the final leg of an extremely complex feeding pattern which involves an array of different organisms, bugs,worms and fungi to name but a few.  After these organisms are broken down you are left with a rich, earthy mass that of which is your soil’s idea of heaven. 

Have a look at our click4garden composters www.click4garden.co.uk/Compost-Bins-c  and become greener today!

How much time do we actually spend in our favourite, personally designed garden retreat, not enough time we hear you cry! Why not? -   is the answer screaming  right back at you?   Nowhere but nowhere  compares to the peace and tranquility -  not to mention privacy,  afforded to you by your back garden, so don’t  overlook your  garden, unless you’re dashing for cover from yet another heavy down pour!

If we are fortunate enough to be able to savour the day’s offering of sun, which hopefully we can before the summer disappears. Why not Indulge yourself with a  pretty wooden seated Garden Arbour. These charming arbours, which have become popular in recent years,   would without doubt be top of anybody’s list for style, suitability and preference.

Garden Arbours with rounded tops, pointy tops,  solid timber backs and sides for that more intimate, secure feel. Timber Garden Arbours with trellis sides  and topped for the added gardener’s benefit of indulging in your need to plant ,grow and GROW some more.  Colour co-ordinate your Wooden Garden Arbours to blend in and complement your garden’s theme with subtle greens, blues, greys and reds. Take a look at Click4Garden’s colour chart as we can offer all our Arbours prepainted.    Go on -  invest in your very own little garden hideaway – every garden deserves one!

Please visit our  Click4Garden website for details of all Wooden Garden Arbours available and if you have any questions at all don’t hesitate to contact us.

Take a look out of your rear kitchen window at your delightful garden space, can you envisage maximising the aesthetics of your garden, a pergola possibly? Yes!  Friends and family will marvel at your beautifully crafted wooden centre piece making you the envy of those nearest and dearest to you. Click4Garden, an old fashioned, family run business based in the tranquilShropshire countryside  can offer you an array of wooden garden pergolas to make real your garden ambitions.  There are timber pergola kits for sale as well as pergola components so that you can follow your own design.

There are so many permutations with a Pergola, what do you go for?  It really comes down to what purpose you have in mind for the pergola;  if there is one of course!  You may simply want something to admire ie:  an ornate timber centerpiece. Or, alternatively, an extension to the house, one  that can be made use of on a balmy summer’s evening, and not forgetting the ongoing requirement to be able to entertain at the drop of a hat, a carport pergola perhaps?  Or what about a pergola that attaches to brickwork, ideally situated over the rear entrance to your house.

These diverse Pergola products can also look amazing when used as a walkwayover your existing pathway(s) or you can adorn them with climbing roses, clem atis or creepers galore!  Visit  Click4Garden’s pergola and pergola component categories and if you have any questions at all don’t hesitate to contact us.

Here at Click4Garden we have some exciting news to share -  the Grange wooden Apollo Pergola is to be featured in the ever popular current-season showing of Alan Titchmarsh’s  ITV1 gardening show ‘Love Your Garden’.

The delightful Apollo garden pergola is set to take centre stage at 8pm on Tuesday 17th July.

To take advantage of this momentous occasion, we are offering our customers a 2 working day express delivery for the Apollo pergola. Get this pergola delivered before the Olympics (during which time certain areas will experience extended delivery times due to road closures).

This delivery and price  offer is to run WHILE STOCKS LAST. To avoid disappointment place your order sooner rather than later.

Panel Fences which can be used for:

• privacy

• marking boundaries

• screening unsightly areas

Paled Fences which can be used for:

• marking boundaries

• decorative boundaries

Whatever type you choose, the basic installation techniques are the same. Read on…

First of all your posts! INSTALLING POSTS DIRECTLY INTO THE GROUND:

If the posts are to be installed directly into the ground ensure that 1/4 of the total height of the post is below ground level. Hardcore or brick rubble can be used to fill the bottom of the hole. Top off the hole with a concrete mix such as MetCrete.

INSTALLING POSTS USING METPOST POST SUPPORT SPIKES:

Using a Metpost Driving Tool and a sledgehammer, drive the spike into the ground using short firm strokes. Regularly check the vertical alignment using a spirit level. Note: when using spikes take care to avoid underground services.

INSTALLING THE FENCE PANELS:

Attach Metclips to the post using galvanised nails. Locate a panel into the Metclips and attach also using galvanised nails. Install another post at the end of the panel and continue in this way until the fence is complete.

Pergolas can be used in the garden to create a passageway or to frame a seating area. Click4Garden offers a wide range of kits as well as individual pergola components to allow for the creation of your own personal vision.

Preparation of the area for installation of your pergola. Consider the location carefully before proceeding. Where will the sun be at the time of day you use it? What access is required? Determine the footprint required for the pergola proposed. Ensure the area is clear and mark out positions for the posts. Measure diagonally across the area to make sure it is square.

Posts are common to all pergola designs and how you install these will depend on the ground conditions. For soft ground you will have a choice of either installing the pergola posts directly into the ground using MetCrete post fixing concrete or use Metpost Pergola Spikes. For solid ground such as a patio or a concrete hardstand area, install your pergola posts using Metpost Pergola Bolt Downs fixed with Metpost Anchor Bolts. Whichever method is chosen, make regular checks with a spirit level, during the installation, to ensure that the posts remain vertical.

Assembly of your pergola. Site and install the pergola posts using the chosen method of fixing. Use a spirit level during the installation to ensure that the pergola posts are vertical. Drop the pergola rafters into the post cutouts. Ensure that they are horizontal and that there is an equal overhang at either end. Fix each pergola rafter into place with two screws driven through the posts at either end. Mark the centre position of the fixed rafters and fix a Metclip to each rafter. Mark the positions, equally spaced, where the remaining pergola rafters will be situated and fix Metclips at each position. Drop a rafter into the Metclips and adjust to ensure that the overhang at each side is the same. Fix the pergola rafter into position using screws or galvanised nails through the pre drilled holes in the Metclips.

Enjoy your pergola!

Log edging comes in various forms and is used to ‘finish’ and dress a section of garden. Fixed straight board log edging is used for long straight runs and flexible edging rolls suitable for curved areas. Both types come in a variety of forms.

Log roll, as the names suggests, is a flexible form of edging. It takes the form of half round or full round logs, held together with steel wire. Log roll is particularly suitable for curved boards or irregularly shaped garden areas, log roll is supplied in an easy-to-carry roll.

Log board is supplied in rigid shorter lengths and provides a straight edge where a long run is required. They can also be used for small retaining work. All our log boards have integral spikes which mean they can be driven directly into the ground.