We conducted research* which identified that gardeners continue to look for multi-purpose watering options to help fulfill their gardening needs, quickly and effectively. The Flexi Spray has been designed to perform a range of watering functions, without the need for lots of individual garden products.

Simon Davies, marketing director for Hozelock said, “To be the winner of the RHS Chelsea Flower show Product of the Year 2013 is such an achievement. The Flexi Spray really is a good indication of what innovative products Hozelock offer.”

The 4-in-1 Flexi Spray is the ultimate multi-purpose hose end watering attachment designed to be moulded into an array of shapes you like and perform a wide range of watering functions.

The product was selected from a shortlist of thirteen, and some of the other products shortlisted included the newest and most inventive gardening tools, lighting and gardening accessories. The award was judged by a panel of experts – including Dragon’s Den Deborah Meaden, who were looking for innovative, sustainable and quality garden-related products.

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show Garden Product of the Year award was launched by the RHS in 2011 to celebrate the best new garden product introductions available at the Show. The products are judged on a variety of criteria including innovation, functionality, quality, visual appeal and environmental sustainability.

The Hozelock Flexi Spray is now available to gardeners from DIY stores, leading garden centers and specialist retailers priced RRP: £29.99.

To see the full Hozelock range of tools, equipment and spares to visit www.hozelock.com

*Research by Hozelock 2009 consumer driven innovation project

HOZELOCK CROWNED AT CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW Hozelock Blog

We’ve revealed latest *research that proves physical activity such as gardening, has many health and weight loss benefits which surpass those gained from attending a gym.

So, in a move to get the nation fit and healthy we’ve launched ‘Gardening For Life’ campaign by teaming up with celebrity gardener David Domoney and exercise & health scientist Dr Julie Alexander-Cooper .

Our ‘Gardening For Life’ campaign is all about encouraging people to get outdoors roll up their sleeves and get out into the garden.  Over the next few months we’ll be sharing top tips on how to shape up and feel good – for free – this summer.

David Domoney outlines: “There are so many health benefits to be gained from gardening. From losing weight to improving overall levels of wellbeing. For instance, simply watering your garden will aid relaxation, whereas digging the soil releases bacterium which can help boost a person’s immune system and even ease depression.”

“It’s great to be working with Hozelock on such an important health issue and involved in an activity which is close to my heart.”

As part of the ‘Gardening For Life’ campaign we’ll be working with David Domoney and Dr Julie Alexander-Cooper to release regular gardening tips which will not only help you get fit and healthy but your gardens too.

To help kick start the ‘Gardening For Life’ campaign David Domoney has FIVE easy workout solutions that everyone can try in their own gardens.

1.Undertaking moderate gardening activity two to three hours a week, people can lose up to 1lb of weight in just seven days.

2.Watering a garden will create a sense of tranquility which can help ease stress levels.

3.10-20 minutes of gardening a day will help top up people’s vitamin D, improve their mood and reduce stress. It will also help to maintain bone density, tone up & manage weight.

4.Alternatively, two to three longer sessions of gardening a week will look after the figure whilst having fun at the same time.

5.Become even healthier by growing and eating your own delicious fruit and veg. Carrots, tomatoes and strawberries are all high in beta carotene and are known as the ‘happy’ fruit as these foods naturally boost the immune system and are easy to grow in the back garden. 

*Research conducted by Loughborough University exercise & health scientist Dr Julie Alexander-Cooper.

Forget Gym Membership – Get Gardening Instead Hozelock Blog

So yesterday I followed my own advice and went to a wonderful nursery and plant centre, Simpson’s (www.simpsonsnursery.co.uk) in Cambridgeshire, between Ely and Newmarket. There I found, despite the biting cold wind, the colours that should be lighting up my own garden.

But of course I am taking advantage of these days when I cannot plant to think and plan and decide if I am going to make any changes in the garden. I have decided that I am going to buy a greenhouse. Space and cost are going to be the deciding factors. Because the garden is a small town garden, the greenhouse needs to be a good match in terms of size and style, so it doesn’t look too big for its boots in the available space.

I have started some seeds off indoors in the heated propagator in the garden room. But there is not a great deal of space and, if the weather outside doesn’t show any sign of improving, there will soon be leggy seedlings that have no place to go! Hence the greenhouse decision!

At Simpson’s I found Hebe ‘Champion’, which appealed to me with its bright tip whorls of foliage. I am going to plant it out into a new border area that I have created that is rapidly filling up with lavender, aucuba and now the hebe. Before planting new shrubs and trees I scatter micorrhyzal powder into the planting hole and dust the roots of the plant with it, as well. This dust-like powder helps the plants to establish a good root system so it can find and convert nutrients in the soil for use.

I was also tempted by magenta, blue and white Violas, pansies, daisies and tulips. I can hardly wait for my own tulip extravaganza in containers. So Tulip ‘Johan Strauss’ did lift my spirits.

Photo: Hebe ‘Champion’	Photo: Tulipa ‘Johan Strauss’

Photo: Magenta-coloured Viola odorata	Photo: Pansies make a bright splash of colour

I am hoping that when the weather brightens it will be time to bring my Hozelock Auto-reel out of the shed, where it has been over-wintering and re-install it, ready for use in the garden especially when I plant out new purchases. This spring I will be using Hozelock’s new Flexi Spray with the hose. I am looking forward to seeing it in action, especially as a hand’s free watering device and as a garden sprinkler. And, if I manage to get the new greenhouse installed soon, as a watering spray to cool the greenhouse down in that long sizzling summer I hope we will be having!

Cutting back of border perennials has been on hold in this bad weather, but I am hopeful that I can get this done soon, then I will apply a mulch of compost to the soil surface, something I would have preferred to have done earlier in the season.

So, despite the weather there is still so much to plan and maybe it will be possible to brave the elements and get the tool shed and tools ready for the growing season hits us with a rush. You know that once the weather brightens, it will be action stations and no time to lose.

Images and text copyright Barbara Segall 2013

Longing for spring Hozelock Blog

Some of the plants and bulbs are sold in attractive baskets or metal containers so the lucky recipients don’t have to do any maintenance work on the plants, except to give them regular amounts of water, so that they don’t dry out.

You could go one step further and give your Mother a plant collection that will last much longer than this just this celebratory weekend. Hozelock’s new Flower and Vegetable Planter or its Growbag Waterer would be well-received gifts.

I would use Flower and Vegetable Planter as a mini-border and plant it up with trailing or ground-covering plants, such as ivy or bugle. Take advantage of the arrival on sale of all these small pots of early narcissi, such as ‘Tete-a Tete’, as well as deep blue iris. There seems to be about 3-5 bulbs to each pot. You could leave them in the pots and cover them with compost and plant in other long-season plants around them. Once the bulbs have finished flowering, remove them, pots and all, and dig them into a corner of the garden where they can die down but you will be able to enjoy their colour next year.

I would also use seasonal colour at this time from brightly coloured primroses – in red, yellow, blue and pink – to make a bright splash of colour.  They can be left in place after flowering as their foliage makes a good ground cover, but you may want to treat them similarly to the bulbs, as a moveable feast.

You could also offer packets of seeds of herbs, such as chervil (wonderful in omelettes), coriander and basil, as well as a selection of tomatoes for use in Hozelock’s Growbag Waterer. The sowing would have to wait a while until the weather warms up sufficiently, unless your Mother has a greenhouse she could put the Growbag Waterer into. Alternatively you could wait until there are young plants of vegetables and herbs in garden centres and plant up your Mother’s Day gifts at a later time.

Both products are designed for a long life in the garden or greenhouse and they have water reservoirs with water-absorbing wicks, sufficient to keep the plants watered for up to a fortnight. So if you do all the work, get the growbag ready for the off and/or plant up the Flower and Vegetable Planter, you will have provided your Mother with a gift that goes on giving for a long period during the current growing season and beyond.

Mother’s Day Planters Hozelock Blog

Well-attended by some 250 journalists and editors from print and broadcast media, as well as garden photographers, there were over 95 exhibitors supporting the event in its new venue, the Barbican Centre.

The Hozelock stand was buzzing with activity as members of the company’s marketing and product ideas creation team demonstrated new products including the Grow Bag Waterer, Flexi Spray, the Ultimate Hose and the Bioforce System.

The company generously offered Flexi Spray samples in its goody bag to journalists, who thronged the stand during each of the back-to-back demos that took place throughout the day. Bend it! Flex it! Love It!  – the team behind its creation showed journalists just how useful this hose feature  is and how to use it successfully in a range of gardening situation. True to the Valentine’s Day theme, the Hozelock Flexi-Spray was described as ‘so flexible your garden will love it’.

The Grow Bag Waterer looked as if it had lots of new admirers and it will be interesting to see it in use in gardens as the spring and summer plantings get into full swing.

Photo: Martin Ward demonstrates the Grow Bag Waterer to journalists at the recent Garden Press Event held at the Barbican Exhibition Centre. With him are members of the Hozelock team, Lisa Cattell and Judy Gardner.

After the Garden Press Event Hozelock Blog

The Garden  & Home Press Event is host to over 80 companies bringing their new products and plants to the attention of over 250 garden writers and broadcasters. The event was established several years ago, but this year it is at a new venue in the Barbican Centre.

It is a busy day with so many companies to see and discuss their products. There will be more stories and contacts than at previous events. Naturally I will be visiting the Hozelock exhibit. Hozelock is showcasing its exciting new range of garden watering products.

The Flexi Spray will be there, as will the Grow Bag Waterer and the Flower & Veg Waterer.  The Flexi Spray has become a talking point at my house. I have it sitting on a table in the garden room and everyone wants to have a try at bending it this way and that and most of my visitors say they would like to buy one of these flexi sprays for their gardens. Flexi Spray may yet provide the fizz at the Garden & Home Press Event!

Hoses, including the Ultimate Hose, will be on show too. I am sure all these watering products are coiled and ready to spring into action at the first sign of warmth in our gardens. There will also be a good range of Hozelock’s aquatic products. I wonder how the folk at Hozelock will set their stand up… it will be interesting to see how they demonstrate these new products to the journalists. Hozelock is at Stand G84.

The Garden & Home Press Event Hozelock Blog

The reason they are a mixed blessing is the watering…watering growbags is always a problem. Like all containers they need daily attention or the growing medium will dry out and the plant’s growth will be checked and worse still, the fruit of tomatoes and courgettes may abort or show signs of damage due to drought.

If you let the growing medium dry out, it is always difficult to re-wet it, especially in growbags. And, if the surface is dry, the water will run off the surface rather than be absorbed into the growing medium.

Growbag Waterer

Hozelock’s Growbag Waterer seems to have solved the problem. It has a 15L water reservoir and using the dial on the base you can easily see when you need to add water. It is a bit early in the season to be thinking of planting up growbags, but I thought I would have a practise run, so I bought a couple of colourful tomato-decorated growbags and put the assembly to the test.

It really was simple to assemble the wicks and spikes and after a few hefty pushes and shoves, the spikes penetrated the growbag. It will be a few months before I can use it outdoors, but if you have a heated greenhouse you could use it happily and get a headstart on home-growing your salads.

Photo: Getting the wicks in place on the spikes was simple. Pushing and shoving the growbag onto the spikes needed a little more energy!

The Hozelock team behind this product and all the 2013 innovations are real problem-solvers and product idea-creators. The Growbag Waterer has been tested by a number of professional growers in summer and autumn 2012.

Photo: Both products, Growbag Waterer and the Flower & Vegetable Waterer, have 15L water reservoirs that hold sufficient water for a fortnight… great for holiday watering.

Flower & Vegetable Waterer

Since growbags are not the most attractive of garden containers, I think am glad that Hozelock has produced the Flower & Vegetable Waterer. This is a 30L planter that has the same 15L capacity capillary watering system, but you don’t use it with a growbag. Instead you fill the planter with the growing medium of your choice and sow or transplant seedlings into it. You can grow more plants in it, and it will suit bedding or salads.

Photo: The Flower & Veg Waterer will be great for growing cut and come again salad leaves, as well as for a bright bedding plant display.

Whether you are using a growbag or the flower & vegetable waterer, the bonus is that the water reservoir holds sufficient water for a fortnight, so if you have to be away in the summer, or you are irregular in your frequency of watering, then at least the plants will have enough to survive on for two weeks.

I wonder what sort of spring and summer are ahead of us. Last year a drought was declared just as a period of intense rain and flooding began and we all rushed off to get water butts to store water. I hope that this year we get a wonderful warm summer, but not a drought, so I will be looking forward to using Hozelock’s new Flexi Spray together with one of the new series of hoses in the Hozelock Optimum Hose range.

Photo: The Flexi Spray is a great piece of kit. It is bendy enough to wrap around a fork, or hang off a tree branch for you to leave in place for hands-free watering when you are doing another gardening task.

Flexi Spray

Since there has been no call for using a hose or spray device so far this winter, I have enjoyed twisting it into various shapes. It is bendy, yet strong and will ‘hold the position’ you twist it into.

It is useful in the greenhouse to reach those places that no ordinary hose can get to, and still deliver water accurately, without wastage to where it is wanted.

Optimum Hose Range

Hozelock aim to make purchase of watering equipment simple for beginner and garden pro alike. The Optimum Hose range has three types of hose. The Ultimate Hose is the sort of kit that you have with you for the duration of your adult gardening lift. It is lightweight, so no more grunting and grumbling as you move the hose around the garden. Best of all, it has an anti-crush knitted pipe with a thick flexible outer PVC layer. This gives it its anti-kink and anti-twisting properties. This model has a 30-year guarantee and also offers good UV and frost protection, so it should be with you for a long time. And it comes in two lengths, 30m and 50m.

Photo: I connected the Flexi Spray to my Ultraflex hose. I haven’t unwound it from its packing position yet, but it is good to know that it won’t kink and twist when I need it round the garden in summer.

Next up is the Ultraflex Hose that has similar anti-kink and anti-twist technology, good UV, and frost protection, but carries a shorter guarantee of 20 years. The Hozelock Starter hose, costs less than the other two options in the range, has a ten-year guarantee, but it comes in three lengths (15m.30m and 50m). It will suit a beginner gardener who may have a smaller garden to cover, but it still has the tough features of the other hoses in the Optimum Hose range.

Bioforce Revolution Filter

My garden is too small for a pond that would benefit from Hozelock’s new Bioforce Revolution filter. If you do have a large pond, then this filtration system, with a high-powered UV clarifier, mechanical filtration as well as biological filtration, should guarantee clear and healthy water. It is also easy to get rid of the waste, without getting in a mess yourself, and it can be positioned out of sight at the side of the pond, or buried up to the level of the hose inlets. There are three sizes of filter that will suit ponds ranging in capacity from 6,000 to 14,000L.

New Year, New Garden – New products for 2013 Hozelock Blog

But there is always something to do in a garden, and if you enjoy gardening, then you will feel the need to get out there in all weathers if you can. But remember that on frosty days, like today, and when there has been snowfall, avoid walking on the grass.

All the borders are tidied and most of the perennials trimmed back. I have used spent mushroom compost to mulch and top dress the borders. There wasn’t sufficient of my own compost to use for this. I didn’t cut back the grasses and some of the seedheads, as these always look so good in the frost.

Among the first flowers to give me pleasure in the garden in spring are hellebores. Today their foliage (above) is looking amazing with its frosty edging. Soon the flower stems with their dark buds will push through the ground. My pots of bulbs, mainly tulips, are all in place and some of them have perennials in as well, including the very dark-foliage form of bugle. It is also looking wonderful in the frosty conditions.

Photo: Frosted foliage of a dark form of Ajuga or bugle. This perennial offers ornament in the pots of tulips that are waiting for their spring flowering.

I hope you have been ahead of the weather and taken into shelter of a frost-free shed all your hose reels and other watering equipment. I took my Hozelock Auto Reel in a few weeks ago, as well as the Garden Water Timer that I had set up for the drip irrigation system during the hosepipe ban earlier in the year. This should not be left out over winter. I must not forget to drain down the outside tap and turn the water off under the cupboard in the utility room.

Still to do – I have some pruning of the old apple tree. This is mainly to remove any damaged and diseased wood, as well as some of the crossing branches. It fruited so heavily this year and I have already pruned out some branches that were at eye-level and a bit dangerous.

Photo: A bit of remedial pruning of the old apple tree.	Photo: Although I have started to make a festive wreath with herbs and peppers, I may resort to a traditional bought wreath with cinnamon sticks and orange slices.

Now my thoughts are turning to making a festive wreath for the front door. Fortunately I there a still a few branches on the holly tree with berries. The shiny bright repeller ribbon strips have done their job and kept the pigeons off. And of course this is the time to think about the birds. I have set up my new metal ‘bird tree’ and slowly the birds are getting used to it.

Photo: New ‘bird tree’ may also be used next year as a climbing plant support!

Now I know you might think this a bit sad… but for the first time I am making sowing pots from old newspapers, using a wooden ‘pot former’. I was given the pot former last Christmas, so it is fitting that I am using it this year to make paper pots for the sweet pea seeds that are await me. Somehow I have gathered a multitude of sweet pea packets and there are about 160 seeds need to be sown. Once sown they are going into my plastic plant house. Boxing Day is the day that many gardeners love to get out into their greenhouses to sow sweet peas and also broad bean seeds.

Photo: Pot former and paper ready to roll!	Photo: Once the paper pots are in place standing upright in a tray I will fill them with sowing compost and then sow the seeds.

Over the winter I will be choosing seeds and placing orders, deciding what plant combinations to use in the many containers I have and also thinking about which gardens to visit for inspiration.

I wish you a happy time during the festive season and look forward to meeting up in the New Year. Don’t forget the mistletoe and the tree!

Photo: Mistletoe bunch – ready for action!	Photo: Merry mini Christmas trees

Text and images copyright Barbara Segall 2012

Putting things away; thinking about next year and wishing you well at the year’s end Hozelock Blog

I would like to extend the small frog pond that goes from clear to thick mushy algae very quickly in summer. So I need a little help digging it and laying in a new liner.

I thought I would need to have electricity laid on to supply a pump and/ or a fountain – to keep the water moving and aerated, so it won’t go cloudy and unhealthy. But guess what I – I am hoping that the Hozelock Solar Cascade (3538) or the Solar Air Pump (3537) will do the trick (www.hozelock.com/aquatics).

Photo: Solar Air Pump – 3537	Photo: Solar Cascade 300 – 3538

Ok, so once the pond is extended, the water is moving and clear, then I can plan some marginal plantings, as well as one or two aquatic plants that will give my grass frogs some shelter and shade while they transform from tadpoles into tiny froglets and beyond.  Waterlilies floating on the surface, irises at the water’s edge, the wonderful flowering rush, marsh marigold and water forget-me-knot would be among my choices.

Photo: Telescopic Lance Spray Plus -2644

A gift suggestion for you to put under your tree is the Hozelock Telescopic Lance Spray Plus (2644) . I already have one – Lance, as I call it, is one of my best garden friends. By attaching Lance to the hose end I can reach plants in corners of the borders, watering directly on their roots, rather than the whole plant. I can also stretch across the raised beds to water more accurately into areas that need water, rather than in a haphazard way. Lance is particularly useful for watering my sea of containers in spring and summer. I can get into individual pots, at surface level… and Lance is brilliant for watering high up hanging baskets. Lance has so many different spray patterns that are useful in different garden and container situations. And if turned to the flat spray on the head, then I can use it to clean the patio.

Photo: Car Care Kit- 2626

Of course, if I was as car proud as I am garden proud, then I would be wanting any one of the car brushes (www.hozelock.com/watering/brushes) to really give the car a good clean before or after Christmas.

Photo: Hozelock Watering Starter Set – 2352

And then you never can have enough nozzles and tap connections. They seem to go missing over winter. I always feel that I put them in a safe place in one of my sheds, but come spring when I connect up the hose, can I find them. So a Watering Starter Set (2352) consisting of a hose nozzle, a watering stop connector, a hose end connector and a threaded tap connector, might make things easier to join up in spring.

A few more presents under the tree Hozelock Blog

I bought two varieties: Amaryllis ‘Happy Memories’ on the left and A. ‘Red Lion’, on the right, a much larger bulb. You can buy these gift bulb packs from most garden centres and supermarkets and they are a perfect pack – compost, pot and the bulb all in the box. I potted my two bulbs up, setting them in the pots so that the necks of the bulbs are above the surface of the compost. Labels are important – always write the name of the seed sown or planted on a label… it is so easy to forget. They are now in a warm and light place in my garden room. They thrive in a sunny warm site where temperature is between 21°and 25°C. The compost needs to be kept just moist and once growth starts, I will turn the pot so that there is even growth towards the light.

Photo: Amaryllis bulbs need a warm and sunny position indoors.	Photo: Hot chilli kit

Growing chillis has become a great pastime and this Chilli Kit has solved a Christmas present dilemma for many gardening friends. The pot/package becomes the pot and inside it are the seeds and a sachet of compost – so all you need do is plant and add water. The planting instructions and maintenance advice are on the outside of the pot, so you have no excuse! The chilli seed in the pack is called ‘Basket of Fire’ and is described as medium hot.

For a higher heat experience you might want to try chilli ‘Ember Explosive’, an heirloom chilli, from Chiltern Seeds (www.chilternseeds.co.uk). This has purple foliage and dark purple fruits.

Two friends of mine, Michael and Joy Michaud of Sea Springs Seeds (www.seaspringseeds.co.uk) run chilli growing courses in February and August, led by Michael, who is a chilli expert.  Entitled ‘What’s Hot, What’s Not’, the courses provide the opportunity to discover the the hottest of hot chilli peppers used by Bangladeshis, Mexicans and West Indians, as well as the gentle sweet peppers that are perfect for stuffing and frying.

Both courses give you the expertise to go home and start your chilli crop off, but the August courses have the additional visual impact of the chilli harvest. The courses are at the Michaud’s farm and last for two hours, and cost £20, plus a refundable (on the day) booking fee. A hot present for heat-loving food and garden lovers.

Photo: Give those knees a break!

Getting down to work in the garden usually involves kneeling and there are many kneeling pads and cushions on the market to give your knees a break. The newest of these are Kneelo pads and now Knee Pads. There are numerous suppliers, but mine came from Burgon & Ball (www.burgonandball.com . I know a number of gardeners who hope they might be under the tree this Christmas!

Meantime, I can’t wait to see two new products from Hozelock that will be in garden centres early in January 2013. They are the growbag waterer that can also be used as a container for direct planting of flowers and veg, and the new Flexi Spray attachment for hoses. More about them soon…

Text and images copyright Barbara Segall 2012

Amaryllis, hot presents, Knee Pads Hozelock Blog