Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2015

GARDENING Three of the best G ardening with poor quality tools is no fun and makes many tasks harder than they need to be. Apart from good gloves three of my best discoveries are geared loppers which tackle hefty branches with ease; a three-tined cultivator which is ideal for loosening soil in crowded borders or between rows of vegetables, and a good quality pair of bypass secateurs. If you have a lot of pruning to do then invest in a model with a rolling handle, this reduces the strain on your hand and wrist dramatically. Too good to be true L eafing through seed catalogues it's easy to become beguiled by the so-perfect images, but do you really need to grow blue roses or purple cauliflowers? Some pictures really are too good to be true! Bean's legacy I discovered ‘W J Bean’s Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles’ is now online. For the past 100 years these books have graced the bookshelf of every serious horticultural institution, including Kew. The eighth and final edition was published in the 1970s before they went out of print. The books describe every tree and shrub that can be grown in the British Isles in considerable detail, and are a valuable resource for any keen gardener. It's now freely available and copyright free thanks to the International Dendrology Society. I recommend you take a look. Home tweet home I t's nesting time again so tempt a few birds to set up home in your garden this year by installing a nesting box or two. Small birds like tits, sparrows and nuthatches like a nesting box with a hole no greater than 32mm in diameter. The box needs to be 12.5cm deep, enough to protect the chicks from predators or falling out of the nest. Robins and wrens prefer open fronte B&

Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2015 | Page 51