Evening telegraph

http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/features/news-features/award-for-inspiring-peterborough-gardener-1-5041386

The link above will take you to a piece written in our local newspaper when i won my award for The Sunday Telegraph Gardening Against The Odds award. It was such a brilliant day, meeting the lovely Lindsay from The Conservation trust who are part of the competition too. I was given my award by David Bellamy and spent ages chatting to Alan Titchmarsh!

Now I am going to be on the judges panel next year!! I am very excited and feel very honoured to have asked :)

Garden Gear Online Review

http://www.garden-gear.co.uk/c/news-blog/darlac-snapper-tried-and-tested-by-the-two-fingered-gardener.htm

News & Blog

2013

15 Jul

Darlac Snapper - Tried and Tested by The Two Fingered Gardener

Welcome to the first of our guest blogs that has been written for us by Niki Preston aka The Two Fingered Gardener.  Niki really is a true inspiration to everyone, gardener or not, and she has very kindly agreed to test some of our products and write reviews.  Here is what she had to say about one of our most popular pruning products - The Darlac Snapper ....

My name is Niki Preston, also known as The Two Fingered Gardener. I am a freelance disabled garden writer and garden product tester. I was thrilled to be asked by Emma at Garden Gear to write a blog and carry out some product reviews so here is the first of what I hope will become many reviews.

Having always struggled with deadheading I was really impressed when I tried the Snapper tool. This is a very lightweight pruning tool with varying handle lengths according to the task at hand. I tried out the shortest Snapper as I mostly wanted to use it for deadheading. The amazing thing about this product is the fact that it holds on to the stem once it has been pruned, a total garden boon to me as I am unable to bend, only having two fingers can make picking up thorny rose stems a real prickly painful operation. No more, just snip and pop the waste into a trug. Fantastic! When I first got the tool I did wonder whether I would actually be able to use it as it looked like it needed both hands, one to squeeze the trigger and one to steady the pole. However after a long hard think and a trial run I soon realised that I could hold the handle in both hands and due to the lightweight nature of the pole it didn’t need steadying at all. I can deadhead my verbena hanging baskets now, no more hoping someone else will cut them in the right place. After a bit of deadheading I decided to tackle the lilac which was in need of dire pruning, usually a task left to James, my husband. The Snapper allowed me that extra height and reach to successfully prune several branches and flower heads. James had a go too, he was desperate to give it a try, it has now become his favourite garden tool! This was not meant to happen. I have to keep trying to get it back off him. The gentle squeeze action required to operate the trigger means that this is a perfect tool for weak wrists and is ideal for wheelchair users as it allows a longer reach and the capture system enables more pruning with far less clearing up afterwards. The 360 degree rotating action means that no matter where you nee to prune/deadhead you can always reach no matter where the plant has decided to grow. Truly a useful versatile garden pruning and deadheading tool that any gardener would love to own.

If you would like to know more about Niki and her gardening then please take a look at her Facebook page www.TheTwoFingeredGardener.co.uk or her own Blog page www.nikipreston.com.

The Darlac Snapper is available in various lengths including two telescopic versions.  For more information please take a look at the Darlac Snapper category on our website.

My new blog with Amateur Gardening Magazine

http://www.amateurgardening.com/home/niki%E2%80%99s-blog-the-two-fingered-gardene/


I am so excited as I now have a new blog for Amateur gardening magazine!!! here is the first one below. I am really pleased with how it looks, I hope you enjoy reading it and will take a bit of time to read it. Follow the link above to see it on the webpage :):) nx

The weather for the last few days has certainly kept me on my toes! rain, sun, gales, cloudy and chilly. What ever is a gardener to do? Still my tomatoes, tomatillos, chillies and strawberries, all of which are in the greenhouse are all looking healthy and growing fast. Maybe I should live in there for a bit, see if I grow too!

During the good spells I’ve been tending to my new Forest Garden Accessible Gardening raised beds ( You probably read about the installation in AG 4 May) I’m always happy working with these on the patio just pottering about, pulling up a few weeds, (though you don’t get many growing in a new raised bed!), doing a little deadheading – another job that I used to find hard. James disliked it too as he used to have the glamorous job of following me around and picking up all the debris. Not anymore, now I can deadhead away and pick up the dropped bits as they are now all at my level. No bending, no searching about in the borders – excellent! These raised beds really have changed my ability to garden. Whenever I choose to I can go out on my own and not leave a whole host of havoc behind me. The raise coldframe in the range has been a real boon this year. No more do I have to drop precious seedlings into a floor frame from a standing position – though being only 4 foot 9, I could never drop anything from a that great height but I’d still damage a fair few plants and had to sow more than I needed as I knew some would not survive the drop. Now I can be a careful loving gardener and gently place my trays in the coldframe. A bonus now of course is I no longer have to over sow everything, so I am saving seeds and money too.

Giving these raised beds a trial has set me off down another path too. I have been sent some amazing products for disabled, less mobile, older and any gardener really. I am having the time of my life and it is all down to Kris at Amateur Gardening for taking a chance on me and giving me the opportunity to write for the magazine in the first place. Next week I’ll let you know about a motorised wheeled, garden sprayer that allows me to independently water all my new planters. Stay tuned.

Related Articles:

Product testing for The Guardian continued

Recently I had the great pleasure of writing a blogspot for The Guardian about accessible garden tools and the availability of such products.

After alot of searching I was sent quite a few products from Active hands, SeedSava, and PETA-uk which were included in The Guardian blog, please follow this link to find out all about them:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/gardening-blog/2013/may/10/gardeners-disability-tools

However I was sent so many items, which truly was a great surprise, I did not have enough space to write about them all, so I have decided to write about them here and hopefully lots of you will give some of the great products a go. All the following products were not designed with disability in mind, yet with a little creative thinking and in my case "I will make it work" attitude they have all proved great accessible products for the garden .

Firstly I trialed a great set of cloches from http://www.poshcloche.co.uk/ I was sent four cloches in all, two were a great barn shape for those higher veggies like cabbage and caulies and two really useful seedling tent style cloches. The thing I liked most about these cloches was the lightweight quality. They were easy to lift onto my raised beds, and being made from sturdy acrylic they are almost unbreakable. I really loved the way they look and feel, no sharp edges, easy to see through so you can keep an eye on your plants without having to remove them and they are small enough to be lifted without damaging your crops. A great idea too is that you can place as many as you like together so you can cover as much or as little as necessary. Wheelchair users would be able to lift these easily with one hand which is excellent, and children will love to use them thus being encouraged out into the garden and grow there own seeds. An all round winner that I would highly recommend for any gardener, whether you have a disability, arthritis, back trouble or none of these then these cloches will make your veg garden a better place.

I then gave a superb organic plant food maker a go, available from Lakeland.co.uk

This is a brilliant way to use up those pesky dandelion leaves, grass clippings and any other green garden waste. You simply fill the basket inside the main body, clip it together, add four litres of rain water and off you go. every now and then, about 2 to 4 times a week pump the handle connected to the basket through the lid, this aerates the green waste and adds oxygen. After three weeks all the goodness has been extracted and you have plenty of organic and free plant food. Again this product was not designed with disability in mind but Lakeland were keen to know if it was and how I used it.

The first thing that struck me was the neat and compact design. It can be placed at the perfect height to suit the users needs, mine is on a low table that is just right for small people such as myself. it can be popped at wheelchair height quite easily too. One thing I found a bit tricky was clipping the basket together as it is quite stiff and I did need a bit of help with this and I am yet to open the basket so at this point am unsure if I can open it to refill it. However I am sure my husband James will be able to modify it for me. only having two fingers has made him quite used to adapting most things for me, he is getting ingenious. This said though I loved this product, it looks smart and the fact that you get plenty of plant food and it can used over and over again in ideal if you have thousands of hungry plants like me. The pump action was simple and very easy to pull up and down, I could even do it just with one hand and two fingers, so if I can do it then anyone can! I would definitely advise all you keen and organic gardeners to give this product a try. I have thoroughly enjoyed using it and will continue to do so for many years.

I hope these extra reviews have been helpful, don't forget the have a look at The Guardian gardening blogspot for the other products that I tested.

I have one more review to write up however I only received the goods a day or so ago so have to yet give them a thorough try out yet, but watch this space for a review of the garden dungarees designed by women for women at www.gardengirl.co.uk

Useful Tips revisited

Over the weekend I thought it would be a good idea to take some photographs of the garden tools that I use and show you all how I use them. Hopefully they might help and inspire you :)

These three tools I most definitely could not live without. I can not in any way use secateurs, for years and years I tried but all I could manage was daft cuts that left stems hanging off the plant! Not a good idea.

The small pink deadheaders are just great for snipping off heads and taking cuttings. They are very light and even I can use them one handed, very very unusual for me. The slightly larger pink by-pass snippers are equally useful for those stems that are a little thicker and need a bit more effort. I have to use two hands here but as the blades are nicely pointed I can get them in between the stems easily as I can not hold whatever it is that needs a snip. Trust me I have tried to do this with the cordless electric secateurs in the picture and only just managed to avoid chopping off my little finger, the secateurs went one way and I went the other. With only three fingers I really don't have any to spare! :)

here you can see me in action, one handed  happily snipping the dead heads from my violas :)

Tulips need a bit more force so here I use the by-pass snippers, brilliant 

These cordless secateurs work a treat on those pesky tough branches and I can now prune much bigger trees and shrubs. Something I have always wanted to be able to do but could never manage it until now. My husband, James's face was quite a picture after I had finished pruning for the first time, the whole garden had become me sized!

My newest invention that came into being over the weekend is my new  mobile watering system.

After spending quite some time wondering how I could water the garden without trying to drag a hospeipe round the garden and getting very wet into the bargain I came up with this handy idea after watching James use his fertiliser/weed killer sprayer.
This sprayer holds 10 litres of water and fits neatly inside the shopping trolley. Once filled with water I can wheel the trolley around the garden, even across the grass and water away to my hearts content. I can even reach my beloved hanging baskets that used to wilt in the summer waiting for a water thanks to the handy wand. No heavy lifting of watering cans, not actually possible for me anyway and it also beats the hosepipe ban so it doesn't matter if you have a disability or not, everyone can water their garden easily.


I hope you have found some of my ideas useful


Bye for now

From

The Potting Shed :)

Daily Mirror story 1972, me at 5 years old and my Mum

Lest We Forget

Poppies for Remembrance.

I have wondered for quite a while now why we have the poppy as the symbol of Remembrance. So I decided to do a bit research and this is what I discovered.

A young Canadian medical officer named John McRae was serving in a field hospital in the year 1915 near Ypres. While attending to the wounded and dying soldiers he would look from his window upon masses of Corn poppies growing over graves and through the trenches. These beautiful poppies made him remember a Greek legend that said the poppy was created by the god of sleep and so to McRae the poppy symbolised the everlasting rest of the fallen and he was inspired to right a paoem called "In Flanders Fields" with the final lines being.

"If ye break faith with those who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields"

One his death in 1918, McRae's need for Remembrance remained and he asked that his grave be strewn with poppies in Remembrance not only of his death but those of his fallen brothers.

To this day a poppy wreath is lain on his tombstone in France and in 1921 The British Legion adopted the poppy as the symbol of Remembrance.

We shall remember them.