Spring Into Action in Your Garden and Clear Your Garden Shed

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Robin the Garden Shed Man

This time of year with Easter out of the way and the Spring bank holiday been and gone, you should be able to look down the garden and see a delightful array of life. However, if you are like most of us the garden is still looking tired from the winter from the flower beds, to the garden lawn and even down to the garden shed. Now is the time to do something about it and to transform your garden into a pleasant relaxing oasis.

As Spring has arrived the addition of daffodils to the garden is a good choice but rather late for this year. Worth considering for next year. You will find these beautiful flowers which normally mark the start of spring have bloomed and faded and now is the time to start on the garden

First your will need to venture into your garden shed and get the garden tools out, initially the stiff broom and rake will be a good start. Using the rake gather up all the leaves which fell into your garden from your local trees and bag these up for disposal or better still put onto the compost heap situated behind your garden shed. After this work your way around the garden and the flower beds removing any weeds which will thrive and choke your flowers and plants if left to grow. The garden hoe will be a good tool to use against the weeds and will mean less bending down (and less backache)

Also be on the lookout for garden pests such as snails and slugs and deal with them before they get out of hand. Take the opportunity to cut your evergreen shrubs and plants as well as pruning your flowers. The garden hedge can be trimmed and tidied up if you did not do this last Autumn

You can then get your lawn mower out of the garden shed and give the garden lawn a cut. If it’s the first cut of the season then set the blades a little higher than normal. You can then drop the height on later cuts. Again gather up the grass cuttings and put on the compost heap hidden away behind the shed. After you have done this the use of the broom will collect up all the waste and when this is done your garden will look a lot better.

Maybe a trip to a garden centre might be a good idea where you can buy bedding plants in pots ready to be planted in your garden. In no time at all they will be flourishing and producing an array of colour for you. If the plants selected need shade from the wind then planting in front of the garden shed or fence is a good idea. With the brown background of the shed you will find the colours of the flowers will show up really well, also helping to take away some of the plainness of the shed, certainly if your garden is on the small side.

If you are being particularly adventurous you could consider a greenhouse for the garden. People often think a small greenhouse is best to start with, just like some people think when they buy a garden shed, but Alan Titchmarsh recommends that you should always get a greenhouse or shed twice as big as you think as the smaller building will soon be full.

To achieve the above all you need is a little enthusiasm and a little effort. Not a great deal of technical knowledge is needed, just basic common sense. If you achieve the above you will feel proud of your garden and if you include your garden shed in this early spree you will have an outdoor area to relax away from the house.

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Work in Your Garden to Encourage Endorphins and Relaxation

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Robin the Garden Shed Man

We all are keen to keep fit and healthy and can often spend a great deal of money at fitness centres and leisure centres trying to achieve this. But as times are hard these type of activities often have to be cut back and this is where your garden or by taking on an allotment can help. By the consideration of cultivating your garden this can replace these expensive hobbies and can save you money into the bargain.

If you have a garden shed the chances are there are some garden tools in there. What you need to do is to draw up a ‘battle plan’ or diary and make an effort to start planting vegetable or flowers in your garden. If the ground has not been dug over in recent years you need to plan just a small area two or three times a week. The key is to take is steady at first as you will be using muscles you have not used much before and they will need to adjust. Start at a slow pace and build up before finishing at a slow pace. This will give the best and safest results.

Gardening is a superb, healthy and enjoyable activity and with the use of your garden tools from your shed this can also help to reduce depression and stress. Even getting the lawnmower out of your shed and cutting the lawn can help with cardiovascular exercise, or try clipping your garden hedge. This will help to tone muscles in your arms and legs with the stretching required but always remember not to over stretch because this can cause muscle strain.

You don’t have a spend a great of time in your garden each week to give your body a boost, just 2- 3 hours is an ideal minimum and this will ensure that all your body gets a good workout. Also being out in the fresh air and back to nature can improve your mental state and help with headaches and general stuffiness from being in our air-conditioned homes and offices.

A chartered physiotherapist and author, Paula Coates, has written several books in connection with exercise and keeping fit and healthy and she also said that mowing the lawn can help your heart muscle work properly. This will also help to keep blood pressure down and as a bonus will help to burn off fat.

In another initiative children are also being targeted in the fight against obesity. Several charities are encouraging children to get the garden tools out of the family garden shed and to start gardening and this will help with this problem. MIND, the mental health charity also believes that the activity of gardening is very good for mental health issues, for instance, such as depression. Gardening works on the stimulation of endorphins in the brain and this has a positive effect on the mood and general self-esteem.

Besides the above just being in a garden surrounding by flowers and plants can also aid the reduction of stress related hormones. Gardening also aids concentration and relaxation. Can you believe your garden and a few tools from your garden shed could be this good?

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Make the Most of Your Garden Stay Fit and Save Money

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Robin the Garden Shed Man

With the current recession in full swing you need to look at ways of reducing your food bill or cutting back on unnecessary items, such as fitness classes or the coffee on the way to work. If you have a garden and maybe a garden shed full of garden tools then you can utilise the garden and grow some vegetables. Even if you only have the basic garden spade and fork in your shed these are normally enough.

You will need to allocate some of your garden for growing and ideally this needs to be shaded from any wind if you are in an exposed area. This means that in the shadow of the garden fence, garden shed or trees and bushes can be a good place. The shed or fence is probably the best because if you plant your plants near to the bushes of trees you will find that these suck up the moisture in that area of your garden. And due to the low rainfall in many parts of the UK will only make it worse although since the hose pipe ban came into force it does not seem to have stop raining.

You may think that growing fruit and vegetables is hard but there is a lot of information and guidance on the web. You will find that the basic garden shed does help tremendously in many aspects. There is no need to worry about making mistakes as the cost of seeds is very small and this can be a good way to start. You can start the seeds off in trays in your shed and when they have grown to about 2-3 inches you can take them from the protection of the shed and plant them in the garden. The most important thing to remember is to keep the plants watered.

So with a little enthusiasm, a few tools from your garden shed and to be happy not to mind getting your hands dirty you can start growing, even if your do not have green fingers or inclined to be a gardener. If you don’t want to grow vegetables then, James Alexander-Sinclair, writing in the Telegraph, stated that it is really no hardship to create a superb garden with just the smallest amount of effort. Just a small amount of planting and weeding and by selecting sturdy low maintenance plants you can have a delightful garden.

Taking and maintaining a relaxed approach to gardening will mean less time in your garden shed and more time enjoying your floral display. The aims of most people is to have a garden which delights them rather than just a green array which can seem a little boring. But you can have both with only a little effort on your part.

And by selecting plants and flowers in a range of colours you can have a garden full of colour and many different scents. The best advice is to select flowers that are tough and hardy as these will suit many types of soil ensuring they will have the chance of flourishing. These tend to flower for a long time and need very little maintenance so your garden tools can be left in your garden shed, which is the best place for them if you want an easy life.

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Live the High Life in a Country Garden

Posted on May 20, 2012 by Robin the Garden Shed Man

Even though Britain has over 60 million people it is still covered by countryside as the majority of people live in cities, town and villages. And in those towns and villages most people are lucky enough to have some garden where they can relax and generally have a garden shed for storing their garden equipment and garden furniture. In the cities it is quite different as there are many people living in flats and apartments and they don’t have the opportunity to have a garden or any out buildings for their surplus bits and pieces. Even in the house with gardens they tend to be small compact gardens but they still can buy a small shed to fill up an odd corner.

In the countryside you tend to find much larger houses where people with more money tend to live. Their gardens could probably house 10 houses each complete with their own garden and garden shed. In between these houses are miles and miles of fields which is used for growing crops or keeping livestock. This is important for our country as this helps to keep our exports down. The farmhouses attached to these farm estates tend to be quite large as they are essentially working areas. With their large barns for storing straw, hay and crops and the cow sheds you will find the boundary between the fields and the home is quite small. I think these must be very special people who live this life and who work very hard generally speaking.

Farm buildings are quite spacious and when they come up for sale they are very popular. Up in Scotland a while ago a range of farm buildings and a fenced garden came up for sale. This estate, Nether Horsburg, was nearly 1000 acres in size, which is a very substantial size. This estate included a traditional Georgian four bed roomed farmhouse, as well as range of farm and industrial buildings. Also included was a second 3 bed roomed home complete with garden and garden sheds. The actual land varied from arable, permanent grazing and hill grazing.

There were other farm buildings as well and these includes a shepherd’s cottage and farm steadings which were suitable for redevelopment. Within the farm buildings were traditional former byres, sheep sheds, stables and barns. Within the wall garden is an areas suitable for children and as a traditional garden with garden buildings such as garden sheds or summerhouse.

The agents dealing with the property obviously sung the praises for this unique property and in its sales information described it as a most attractive and versatile property which it certainly sounds like it is. As this property had only come on the market for the 1st time in 70 years there was expected to be a great deal of interest in it with offers being in the region of 2 million pounds. I know if I had the money it could certainly tempt me away from my garden shed business so I could live the high life in a very peaceful setting. Well – we can dream, can’t we! .

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Shortage of Garden Plots for Allotments Due to Demand

Posted on May 19, 2012 by Robin the Garden Shed Man

We all seen gardeners toiling away on the allotments as we have gone by on the train complete with a marvellous range of garden sheds. These range from quite presentable sheds to sheds little more that a few pieces of corrugated iron fixed together. However, stricter rules are applied on some allotment insisting that all garden sheds are of a good standard and all looking the same. I think this is over the top as the allotment should be a place for a man to have HIS shed to suit him and provided this is not affecting anyone else what does it matter?

The allotment tends to be small parcels of land which are split up into small plots and rented out, usually, to local residents who tend to have a little garden shed so they can store their garden essentials. These are mainly used for growing food but some gardeners do use the land for growing flowers. The size of the allotment is not strictly fixed but the most common size is 10 rods. This is an old fashioned measurement and is roughly 300 square yards so quite a decent size.

The land where the allotments are is normally owned by the local authority but some are owned by the Church of England. Going back many years the church was a very important part of the lives or the poorer villagers. Thankfully the poor house is a thing of the past. Most allotments are ‘statutory’ but many are deemed temporary as the long term use for that land is planned for some other use in the future. On the statuary sites allotment owners can feel quite comfortable in siting their garden sheds there as they know the shed can stay as long as they choose. Not so, with the temporary sites as gardeners can be asked to leave if is suits the local authority, but they would still expect to have a good deal of notice and this would give them time to move any shed at that time.

Allotments are becoming very popular these days as the need for growing garden produce is on the increase. This is confirmed by the latest data from the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners (NSALG) with waiting lists for allotments raising by over 20 per cent in the last few years. The reason for this is because of the recession which has fuelled the demand for growing space and this has increased the need for more gardening space and garden sheds to go with this land. This is according to the Horticultural Week.

The research has also shown that cash strapped gardeners and home owners are more likely to be getting their garden tools out of the shed and starting to dig. By growing their own food they hope to save money on their ever increasing food bills. The NSALG states that there are 150,000 garden allotment plots and there are over 90,000 people on the waiting lists. This makes for very sad reading for these people trying to make ends meet.

It’s thought that some recent high profile campaigns about allotments and small holdings by people such as Hugh Fearnly- Whittingsall, a celebrity chef, has help with this demand. Margaret Campbell, from the horticultural professionals news site, stated that the figures are what they expected. People appear to want access to a garden or allotment for growing produce and also a garden shed to go on it. The problem is that demand is outstripping supply.

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