yardz

SEE IT GRO!

www.seeitgro.co.uk produce these very handy and enviromentally friendly mini-growbags that are perfect for growing herbs or even just a single tomato plant.

They are available in a range of colours that allow the bags to feel at home in the yard or even on the kitchen worktop. The bags come as a flat pack containing a block of coir compost that expands to fill the bag when water is added - it only takes 15 minutes. Add the See It Gro plant food supplied and its all ready to plant up.

Available through Amazon at present at £3.99

WATERING IN THE PINK WITH ZEE

Just love this 'Mirtoon' hose reel from www.zeedesigns.be. Made from ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) it follows a traditional round design that reflects its internal structure. It comes in 10 and 30 metre versions with the smaller being great for yards. Easily fitted to a handy wall, it swivels 180 degrees to allow easy use of the hose. Best bit though, is the way the hose matches the reel rather than being the traditional green or yellow found in most garden watering fittings.

Available in a small range of colours including pink, green, black and white.

Final touch though is that they come with a very stylish bag to stow your reel away over winter. Love the packaging as well.

EUPHORBIAS

Euphorbias well known as great plants for mixed and herbaceous borders also make great plants for containers.

There are some really good newer varieties that have superb foliage colour especially in spring. Shown here are Euphorbia Tiny Tim, Euphorbia Silver Swan and Euphorbia x martini Ascot Rainbow.

POD FOGPONIC

The Pod is a sytem based on fogponics where a nutrient rich solution is transfered to suspended roots in a vapourised form. It is a clean system for growing without the mess of pots and compost - great for growing herbs indoors.

This concept for indoor gardening was developed by Greenfingers, a group of students from the University of Auckland.

http://indn212greenfingers.tumblr.com/

RENTING AN APPLE TREE

If you only have a small yard, growing apples might not be on the cards.

There is one solution though if you want your own fresh picked apples - rent an apple tree!

There are quite a few farms that do it now and at around £30 per tree a year it is very cost effective. You can enjoy the opportunity to inspect your tree at blossom time and then enjoy a harvest day in the autumn.

http://the-barnyard.com/shops/rent-a-tree/

 

ROOTCUP

What a great idea for rooting cuttings - and so stylish too!

They are molded from flexible elastomen thats UV resistant, nonporous and water proof.

www.rootcup.com



BIRDHOUSES WITH A CONTEMPORARY FEEL

Screenprinted birdhouses by Todd Hubler.

Crafted from plywood with a screen print that mimics natural wood grain. Available in white, green and black. From £21.57

http://www.etsy.com/shop/HublerFurniture?ref=seller_info

EGG GARDENS

The perfect planting job for a wet or snowy March day!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardenprojects/9941135/How-to-make-teeny-tiny-container-gardens.html

NO MOW GRASS

Why bother with a high maintenance, manicured and striped lawn when you can have these wonderful mounds of 'No Mow Grass'?

http://www.studiogblog.com/grow/lawns-turf-grass/korean-no-mow-grass/

MOSS

With our changing climate especially with all the rain in the UK last year, moss is a likely candidate as perfect ground cover in our yards.

This is a display box at Kyoto's Silver Temple in Japan showing a range of mosses that are used in the formal garden there. But I love the format of the display boxes which makes a superb feature in its own right - it would look great with a range of different saxifrages as well.

http://gardenista.com/posts/10-easy-pieces-the-most-magical-mosses