Lakeland Garden 2012 Catalog – Preview

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

If it hasn't happened already then in the next couple of days or so the Lakeland Garden 2012 Catalog will be dropping through people's letterboxes.

This years catalog is, probably, the best Garden Catalog from Lakeland today and it is full to the brim with interesting products for those wishing to grow and produce their own food, grow a great flower garden and utilize their garden as a outdoor room.

The catalog this Spring comes with a free packet of Basil Sweet Green seeds from Thompson & Morgan and this is definitely one herb I hope will grow and stay with me. I don't seem to have too much luck with growing herbs – don't ask me why – especially those of the woody variety such as sage, etc.

The new and most interesting, in my opinion, additions to the Garden Catalog and those that got my interest are quite a few and, in fact, more really than those that I have listed below.

However, let's get started...

On page 3 we find the ZIGG ZAGG range of planters which even to me are entirely new.

Page 5 presents us with one of the best tools, besides your own hands, for the backyard potato grower during harvest in the form of the Burgon & Ball “Potato Harvester”. This is the same that we have reviewed here on the GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW a while back.

The Easy 2 Grow Kit on page 6 is also another product that is very much a new one to me and one that looks ideal for anyone wishing to grow tomatoes, for instance, in a small space. Not that I will be bothering with tomatoes again as for the last number of years my tomatoes all died of death for some reason or other though mainly due to the blight.

For growing fresh herbs on your window sill in your kitchen the Self-Watering Herb Pot on page 10 appears to be another great product.

And on goes the list with Seed Rolls on page 11 and the Omlet Eglu on page 12. The latter is for anyone considering having some hens for eggs in the back garden. Not that the coop and all are cheap but they are easy care rather than the wooden hen houses which tend to harbor mites and other nasties.

A plant food maker we find on page 16 of the catalog followed immediately by a wormery on the next page. All great for making food for your plants.

This year Lakeland are also offering young plants of all kinds including sweet potatoes and we certainly don't see those, in plant form, very often in catalogs. A number of fruit trees are also available in this catalog including the rather new apple variety “Redlove” which, if I am not mistaken, was only launched in summer last year by Sutton Seeds on the RHS shows in the London area. This can be grown in a container on the patio and is again something for those who do not have a large garden.

This is only a very small selection of what is featured in this years Lakeland Garden Catalog and it is all worth a look at least.

I am sure everyone will find something in their that he or she would wish to acquire.

Right, now it's time to get into the garden and actually do something...

© 2012

Radius® 3-Piece Tool Set from Lakeland – Product Review

Radius® 3-Piece Tool Set
Lakeland Ref 51729
Price: £26.99
not available in store

The set comprises cultivator, weeder and transplanter (trowel).

Curvaceously comfortable, the patented handles are ergonomically designed to work with the natural position of your wrist, maximising power while minimising stress. With aluminium blades that are both lightweight and strong, this set includes everything you’ll need to make tending to your flowerbeds a pleasure rather than a chore.

While I must say that I am not the greatest of friends of aluminium for use with garden tools in this case I may just make and exception. The one problem I can see with aluminium, however, is that that metal wears down faster often in comparison to steel. The other side of the coin, however, is that you can wash the tools and don't have to worry about whether or not they are 100% dry when you hang them up – the best way to store any garden tool – or not, as aluminium does not rust nor in any other way corrode.

The tools perform and handle well, are well balanced, and the half-moon, sort of, shaped handle allows for a much more natural holding and handling of the tools than do the straight handles of ordinary garden hand tools, be they trowels, cultivators, or what have you.

The proof of the pudding as to the strain reduction certainly will be in a prolonged use of the tools, especially in a more-or-less professional setting, but from what I have seen so far using the trowel (transplanter), and the weeder, they handle very well indeed.

The weeder I have found to be a very useful tool for the removal of weeds from the crack in paving. It actually has a lip on the underside designed to get into the groves in the paving and cleanly cut off the weeds.

Oh, did I say that I like the tools? Well, I do and very much so.

© 2011

Gardener's Mate from Lakeland – Product Review

Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

How often do you bring your spade back into the shed or your garden fork and do not clean off the dirt and mud because there is no suitable stick or bit of wood or whatever around at that moment with which to clean the tools and you have no time to go and make a suitable device?

No more excuses now. Meet your new best friend in the garden! The Gardener's Mate will take care of all those cleaning tasks.

This remarkable little tool is perfect for cleaning Wellington boots, and work boots in general, lawn mower blades, your spade, between the tines of a garden fork, and much more, and this all in one convenient package of a plastic tool. The Gardener's Mate could be the most useful little tool you ever buy and own. It's orange red color also makes it stand out and easy to find.

Prices at just below 2 GBP it definitely is not going to break the bank and even most piggy banks contain that much in cash. Well worth getting one – or even more than one. I always believe in backups.

Gardener's Mate is Lakeland Ref # 51217

© 2009
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Lakeland Garden Catalog – Review

by Michael Smith

Recently I received the Garden Catalog from Lakeland, the well-known household goods company in the English Lake District, hence the name “Lakeland”.

While Lakeland have had in their catalogs in the past items and tools for the garden here and there this is the first dedicated Garden Catalog of Lakeland.

The range of tools and products is overwhelming and all look very good and impressive.

With gardening, especially as to growing your own food, being on the in crease, due to environmental green concerns and also the state of the economy, on the in crease this catalog is a great addition to Lakeland's range.

Amongst the items that very much have caught my attention in this catalog are the Patio Garden Range of durable polyethylene sacks on page 22 and 23 of the catalog and which, from the looks in the pages of he catalog are of the same or similar material as the builder's bags in which sand and such items are nowadays delivered, but smaller and specially designed with gardening in mind.

Those should be most interesting to anyone who does not have the facility for digging up a garden for the growing of food crops, not even for raised beds. Those, as far as I can see, could also be used on balconies and not only on the patio.

Another item of great interest to me is the Mini Grow Bed and its accessories on page 21 of the same catalog. This too is ideal for the town dweller and the suburbanite who does not want to dig up his or her garden “for victory” but nevertheless wants to grow food at home.

Obviously there is a lot more in the dedicated Lakeland Garden Catalog for the gardener of whatever kind, from growing food to just – excuse me but – keeping flowers and a great and healthy lawn.

Another great thing for the urbanite and suburbanite with the wish to be more self-reliant as far as fresh vegetables and such are concerned is a Patiogro system on page 24 and 25. I saw the Patiogro for the first time at the Garden Press Event 2008 and it is, in my opinion, a great invention for those that wish to grow lots of salad stuffs and such in a small space.

I hope to be able to review a couple of the items in the pages of the Green (Living) Review (and associated publications) in due course.

© M Smith (Veshengro), 2009
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