Advantages: lasted a long time
Disadvantages: none really

...I am sure this county leaf rake is the one I owned for about 15 years. If not its very similar. Unfortunately it went to that great garden in the sky when it got put in a bonfire! Plastic melts silly girl. This county rake is by Spear and Jackson who make a lot of garden tool. They are a good maker and their equipment usually lasts a long time. This rake has a 10 year guarantee. Let me describe this rake. This rake has a long tubular steel shaft. This has a long soft grip covering for comfort. I seem to remember the shaft was green. The black plastic head fits onto the shaft snuggly ours never came of it. The width of the head is 24 inches. It has 24 black plastic prongs/tines. The plastic tines are slightly flexible. This rake is strong and should last a long time ours would have lasted longer except I left it too near/ in infact (I... Read review

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Advantages: Creative, good exercise, satisfying
Disadvantages: Addictive and can be expensive if you get carried away!

...and what's more the modern day garden centre caters for all, not just the greenfingered. As well as stocking plants and gardening equipment many know have craft sections, cafes, displays so they become a day out in themselves. Open Gardens - there's nothing greater than nosing around other people's gardens whether it be a modest backgarden in the suburbs or the estate of a stately home. Many everyday gardens are opened up for a day or even longer to raise money for charities across the country. National Trust properties often pride themselves as much on their gardens as the buildings; all these places can be a great day out and an inspiration. And don't think you have to stop in your own county or even country! Before you know it you are planning a weekend to Cornwall to visit the Eden Project and Lost Gardens of Heligan, or to London to Kew... Read review

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Advantages: Interesting castle with beautiful gardens and views
Disadvantages: No disabled access to castle

...in these properties the sun is excluded making it hard to see some of the beautiful wall coverings. We were amongst the first to visit the kitchen which had been opened for the first time that day, it felt cold and bleak, but we were assured it would have been sweltering hot as the huge fire would have been on all day. The kitchen was empty except for a table and welsh dresser and we were told they would not be adding kitchen tools etc as it wasn't their policy to buy things in only to use products that belonged there. There were some books and menus to see what was eaten at special functions. It is not suitable for the disabled as the stairs are narrow in places, but wheelchairs are available and there is a route through the beautiful gardens avoiding steps. The Clive Museum ********************* This was set up in 1987 to display collections... Read review

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Advantages: Quality shears that should last and last
Disadvantages: Price may put some people off

...day. Their stated aim is to ‘meet clients expectations fully according to an individuals need’. Great care is taken to strive for excellence in every aspect from design and production through to delivery and after sales service. The company makes sure that their tools undergo rigorous checks and tests. Felco also ensure that only the best materials are used to guarantee a superior quality and their aim is to produce tools which offer complete precision. Phew! After all that praise I’ll tell you about my experience and you can judge the company from that. Cost I paid £20 for my Felco No 5 Pruning Shears. They are available from garden centres and can also be found on various gardening websites such as crocus.co.uk where they are currently priced at £22.95. No 5 is a basic manual pruning tool and is recommended... Read review

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Advantages: Quick, Easy, Useful, Compact
Disadvantages: A little expensive

...The Dymo Letra Tag is highly efficient, inexpensive and easy-to use. It\'s just the right tool for labeling and organizing everything in your home or home office: storage boxes, photo albums, toys, CDs, shelves, light switches, circuit breakers, files, folders, garden supplies, food containers, tool box compartments. even your kids\' clothing. Designed to work comfortably in the palm of your hand, it features a simple ABC keyboard that\'s adult- and child-friendly. It Prints on 1/2\" (12mm) wide paper, plastic and metallic labels in a variety of colors - and on iron-on fabric tape for labeling clothing, towels and more. The overall cost can be a bit offputting, but at about £90 it really is a sound investment for the office environment, and many home situations. Since buying it, I have had many many uses where a label has been... Read review

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Advantages: Light, quick, versatile
Disadvantages: Battery Life (cordless)

...The Black and Decker Scorpion is a reciprocating saw - i.e. it moves the blade back and forward for you ..... It comes in 2 flavours - the corded variety and and the cordless (which is the one I bought). Courtesy of B&Q bargain basement, I picked up this excellent tool for £35 recently (but they are not available in all stores). Uses -------- The cordless freedom allows me to get to places a corded saw could not reach. I needed to saw a number of branches and logs around the bottom of the garden - in this it has been ecellent. I have only used the wood blade at present, but the quick release/change mechanism and metal blades are there for the future.... What Do You Get ------------------------ A hard case, charger, 1 battery, manual, 3 blades and the saw. The battery is the new style sliding Firestorm 14.4v battery - these can... Read review

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Advantages: Neat format, well illustrated, packed with informatio
Disadvantages: Teaching some grannies to suck eggs?

...gardens, certainly gardens which earn their keep by producing fruit and veg. Next follows a useful run-down of garden tools and techniques, including cultivation and propagation techniques, all helpfully illustrated by black and white photographs and line drawings. Chapter 10 is all about ‘Pests and Diseases’. Now every garden will have these, organic or not. The difference lies in the way you decide to treat them and here a mine of information is presented which will enable the organic gardener to maintain the health of his or her garden without resorting to artificial pesticides. One of the main problems when using artificial pesticides is that they are indiscriminate and can’t tell the difference between beneficial insects, which may help pollinate some of your plants, and their nasty cousins which are stripping... Read review

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Advantages: Lovely range of unusual items
Disadvantages: Some of the navigation could be easier

...I don't have a garden, but lots of my friends and family are keen gardeners. I find that Dig-it.co.uk is a wonderful site for unusual gardening presents. As well as the more usual gifts like gardening tools and toiletries (though there are some interesting twists on those), there are really unusual items. I particularly liked the floating jelly candles, sheep and ducks for the garden, and cedarwood mushrooms. For those of you lucky enough to have a garden, the site seems to have a huge range of stylish products: plants (including special selections for borders), pergolas, lighting (the solar lighting is particularly good), furniture and pond pumps. The monthly gardening magazine has a good range of articles - lots of advice as well as reviews and light-hearted features. There's also an email advice service which promises a reply... Read review

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Advantages: Usefull in soil
Disadvantages: Still hard to use in hard soil and clay

...Allthough I take nothing away from the idea of the garden claw, the advertising for it really disgusts me. The Garden claw is a very usefull peice of gardening equipment. The idea of it is to take the strain out of turning up soil. Its claw design means you can twist the fork into the soil rather than have to push into the ground. The idea is sound and I'm sure that it helps out in some situations, but the advert allways shows either soft soil or the fork allready in the hard ground. trying to use the garden claw in very hard and dry soil can be just as hard if not harder than using a normal every day fork. The mini claw on the other hand I think is just useless for the price it would cost against a normal trowel. Churning up the soil in window box's is not that difficult and does not require a special tool like the mini claw. I... Read review

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Advantages: None as far as I can see
Disadvantages: Just as awkward to use as the impliment that it was designed to replace.

...Who ever invented this rediculous contraption wants shooting.. I suffer fron artritis and rather naevley went out and purchased on of these rediculous contraptions...believing (I don't know why) that my troubles were over... It was only after a short time of using the Garden Claw, that I realised why. When using the Claw...I found that I was actually using more muscels and tendons during use...than i would with a normal garden fork. I thought that the idea was that the Garden Claw would make things easier....they obviously went wrong somwhere as far as I am concerned. And how the hell they justify the price I will never know? Ther are less materials used in the production of this garden tool than that of the very garden tool it is designed to replace. If it is half the size...uses half the materials to produce....then how can... Read review

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