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Domestic garden strimmer - differential focus  sharpness on trigger

A strimmer is an asset in any gardener’s arsenal but using one incorrectly can lead to issues in your garden and with the machine itself. If you pay attention to these things your strimmer will run well, and your garden will look great.The biggest mistake people often make in the operation of a strimmer is usually strimming over or around hard objects. If you strim in areas where there are hard objects, you risk hitting them and this can damage your strimmer. Yes, plant guards usually protect against this kind of thing, but it makes sense to avoid impacts where you can. The same goes for tough organic material, if you’re up against brambles you may want to make use of a bladed strimmer rather than one with a line. Overly tough foliage can cause issues with certain types of strimmers because it can overload the engine and damage it. And if you’re using a bladed strimmer, make sure that the blade is properly tightened.In terms of strimmer maintenance, always remember to clean your strimmer thoroughly when you’ve used it. Like it can with mowers, the build-up of cuttings can severely affect strimmer performance. &nbsp;If you have a strimmer with a line, be sure to have a replacement and soak your line for a day before use no matter what.And don’t forget, always wear something to protect your eyes. Happy strimming!

Strimminy Cricket!

3d illustration of hanging plant isolated on white background

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and like five of the other Wonders it is lost to us. The Pyramids of Giza, in fact, is the only one of the Wonders that can be seen in our time. Confused accounts of classical era writers have made it difficult to pinpoint an exact location for the Hanging Gardens and describe its exact appearance. Nevertheless, there are some very interesting theories about how the garden was constructed and what it’s location may have been.&nbsp; One theory, posited by Assyriologist Stephanie Dalley, suggests that the gardens may not have been in ancient Babylon at all and that the writers who associated them with the city may have been referring to some gardens in Nineveh built by a king called Sennacherib. Sennacherib conquered Babylon and famously destroyed it, but he is also noted for commissioning several groundbreaking building projects in Ninevah. The story about Nebuchadnezzar building the gardens for his wife because she was homesick was perhaps a poetic fabrication because Nebuchadnezzar left no records of commissioning such a project. Theories that locate the garden in ancient Babylon suggest that it may have simply been left to go to rack and ruin and that valuable materials that went into the building of the palace may have been repurposed and used in other building projects. There does seem to be agreement between the Ninevah and Babylon camps about what one of the methods of irrigation used in the garden may have been. A screw type system like Archimedes Screw might have been used to push water up to the gardens. But which river the water came from we cannot know.&nbsp;

Wonder

There are millions of bees on earth. Of the 20,000 different species of bees on earth, only a little more than 250 species are native to Britain. Furthermore, most of the species in Britain are the single pringles of the bee world, solitary bees. Solitary bees do not produce honey and tend to be more mild-mannered than other types of bees. Apis mellifera, is the only species of bee that makes honey in Britain and their hives are mostly kept and maintained by beekeepers. Wild hives of honeybees are a rarity.What may surprise you is that honeybees’ ability to produce the sweet and sticky stuff isn’t really correlated with how effective they are as pollinators. Actually, solitary bees bear the buzzing bell when it comes to pollination, so it’s important to give them just as much attention. All species of bees, however, regardless of their characteristics, have been suffering from decline in recent decades due to environmental changes and the use of pesticides.The average gardener can do a lot to support the bee population and reduce some of the effects of bee decline. Bees of course need pollen and nectar to have a healthy diet so filling your garden with plants that can provide them with that like buddleias is the easiest way to support them. Avoiding the use of pesticides is another good thing to do. If you want to go further, you can buy or build a bee nest box for solitary bees to nest in. However you decide to do it every small action helps with the maintenance of our precious pollinators.

Oh What a Glorious Thing to Bee

small tree growing with sunshine in garden. eco concept

With a seed tray you can make almost any garden you desire in minature. These little gardens can make your desk look less drab, or add some joy to your coffee table. Another fun idea might be to create a version of your actual garden in miniature and put it in a prominent place in said garden, as a kind of green mise en abyme, which would likely delight anyone who noticed it.&nbsp;What might you need to get to make your seed tray garden? First things first, you’re going to need to get a seed tray deep enough to contain your creation. And don’t go mixing up plug trays with seed trays. Plug trays have compartments that can hinder the flow of your design. Staples of schoolroom craft, like wooden dowels and lolly sticks are very useful for building little structures like model pagodas and sheds, they also make nice pathways. If you don’t confident building your own structures, there are a number of items for dollhouse gardens to choose from. For grass, a bit of miniature turf can go a long way, this is better than using real grass because it is easier to shape and of course it stays green. Moss is an alternative natural way to make a tiny lawn as well, just remember to keep it under control.&nbsp; Now we’ve covered the lawn and landscaping part, it’s time to look at what plants may be good for small gardens. Mini cactuses can survive with little water and in tough conditions and so can sedums so they're a great bet. Saxifrage is very pretty and works well if you want a splash of floral colour. All you have to do is avoid plants with huge leaves or blooms and use a dash of imagination.&nbsp;

Paradise in a Tray

The Wars of the Roses (the name of which is Walter Scott’s coinage) tore through England during the 15th century and inspired some of Shakespeare’s history plays. To give a potted history of the conclusion of the conflict, Henry VII gained his crown at Bosworth Field and kept it on his head in the Battle of Stoke Field. Here the era of medieval warlordism proper ended and the seeds of a new age where the pen and the sword could be used in tandem to maintain power were sown. But something else came into existence after the bloodshed ended, the Tudor rose. This merging of the red Lancaster rose, and white York rose served as a powerful symbol of the union of the two houses through the marriage of Henry VII a Lancaster, and Elizabeth of York a Yorkist. The then new undivided house of Tudor went on to stand for 118 years.Strangely enough, there is a great deal more evidence for the use of the York rose by Yorkist kings, than there is for Lancaster kings using the Lancaster rose as an emblem before Henry VII. There is a whisper of a suggestion about Margaret Beaufort, the formidable mother of Henry VII, using the red rose as an emblem but nothing particularly conclusive. The Tudors were not above using propaganda to tinker with public opinion. If there were no clear symbol of the red rose, then it would be expedient to create such an emblem because without it there could be no Tudor rose.But what type of rose were the Yorks, Lancasters, and Tudors attempting to depict? Many roses depicted in heraldry are stylised versions of wild roses. So, perhaps next time you see a wild rose you will think of England and the Wars of the Roses.

Going Through the Wars

Aqua Symphony: Dance of Droplets in Automatic Lawn Irrigation

You may think that it’s a good idea to water your lawn at the height of the day when it seems that it will be at its thirstiest, but this is not necessarily the case.Believe it or not the best time to water your lawn is around six in the morning before the sun comes up, but if you don’t fancy waking up with the larks to do your watering, just make sure you do it before ten in the morning. And remember to water only if it hasn’t rained hard as water logging isn’t good for lawns.Doing this should prevent scorching and keep your lawn looking lush for the whole season.Look at these posts for more watering related tips:1. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<a data-mce-href="https://gardensandlawnmowersbyclive.com/blog/waterblogged" href="https://gardensandlawnmowersbyclive.com/blog/waterblogged">Waterblogged</a>2. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<a data-mce-href="https://gardensandlawnmowersbyclive.com/blog/erring-when-watering-is-human" href="https://gardensandlawnmowersbyclive.com/blog/erring-when-watering-is-human">Erring When Watering is Human</a>3. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<a data-mce-href="https://gardensandlawnmowersbyclive.com/blog/the-rime-of-the-ancient-gardener" href="https://gardensandlawnmowersbyclive.com/blog/the-rime-of-the-ancient-gardener">The Rime of the Ancient Gardener</a>

When to Water Your Lawn

Gardens and Mowers by Clive