Joe's Diary

The other day, while sat in a long line of traffic with the windows rolled down in futile search for a light breeze, I overheard a little boy quizzing his Dad on the usual stuff, things like: Dad, have you ever been a pirate? Dad, in the olden days, was everything black and white? Dad, [read more]

Lawn Turned Brown?! Why? With prolonged high temperatures and low rainfall, many lawns will turn brown. The lawn is putting up its natural defence to protect its root structure. When water is in short supply grass will respond by shutting down and turning brown.   DON’T PANIC  –  It will recover once we have had [read more]

While most people have early memories about riding a bicycle through some sun-filtered forest, getting their first proper taste of real Cornish, clotted-cream ice cream and believing really weird things like “if you eat a watermelon seed, a watermelon grows in your belly”, I have distinct memory of my grandad telling me that: some kinds [read more]

Now, I’m not going to do that quintessentially British thing of wishing the winter away and then complaining that summer is too hot because this is the sort of weather that gets me bouncing around like teeny-tiny-little excited lambs in a field of wildflowers on a crisp morning. It’s my totally favourite time of the [read more]

Believe it or not (and, even for us, this is pretty hard to believe), but the ‘Britain’s Best Lawn’ competition is now in its thirteenth year. Yup. You read that right. There is a nationwide competition that celebrates Britain’s most dedicated gardeners and, yes, it’s been celebrating the very best in manicured turf for over [read more]