Product Review – HOZELOCK Garden Sprayers

Spring is well and truly in the air. As I write this I am looking out my window at the wonderful blue sky with the sun shining down all around. I really do enjoy Spring. With Spring comes flower season and to make sure that your garden has the best display possible this spring you need to make sure that you are regularly feeding your plants. There are many different ways to fertilise plants but my favourite way is to spray them with liquid fertiliser. To do this job you need a good garden sprayer and today I am going to tell you all about the  Hozelock range of Sprayers. According to Adam Woodhams, Hozelock’s high quality range of specialty garden sprayers will set you on the path to a perfect garden.

Before we get into the article, a quick disclaimer. I was provided with a free sample of the two garden sprayers I am about to review. I was not paid or placed under any coercion to provide a specifically positive or negative review, simply to write my own unbiased opinions. As such the below reviews are my thoughts on the Hozelock garden sprayers. Thankfully…I loved them so this is really easy to write!

Sprayer 1 – Hozelock Garden Sprayer – Retails from $36

This is the basic garden sprayer from the Hozelock range. Its features(from media release);

· Lightweight outdoor pressure sprayer with an ergonomic pump handle for easy pressurisation. (available in either 7L or 10L sizes).

· Features a lockable flow control and trigger, as well as a unique easy fill wide neck to ensure no liquids are wasted or spilt on you.

· Easily adjusted spray nozzle allows for simple pattern change – from jet for spot treatment to cone & mist for chemical application of wide areas.

From my testing I would very strongly agree with each of these features. When i received the sprayer it was in pieces but I found it extremely easy to put together, the pieces just made sense. However the instructions provided are ample if you do need some help in setting it up.

With my gardening work I regularly have to cover large area’s. I have found that the 10L variety easily covers pretty much any size space that I would need to which saves me having to continually fill up. The pump mechanism for building pressure is simple to use and moves up and down with ease. It also locks in to the top when you are ready to use the sprayer. Once pressurised I put the sprayer into a lock position so I could see how long it sprayed for without significant loss of pressure. I was astounded to still be timing after 4 minutes of continually spraying with very minimal drop in pressure. After 4 and a half minutes I pumped it a few more times to see how much it took to get it back to full pressure, only 6-10 pumps and it was back.

This sprayer also has a pressure valve built in so that if, for whatever reason, the pressure does become too much, the sprayer allows some pressure out so that you don’t have an exploding sprayer. Though this shouldn’t ever really be an issue, it is good to have that safety mechanism in place.

Score: 8/10

Sprayer 2 – Hozelock Viton® Sprayer – Retails from $30

This particular sprayer is designed specifically for chemicals that require a little more safety in storage. Features include (from the Fiskars media release);

· A range of three sprayers (1.25L, 7L and 10L) specially designed for heavy duty applications, which require resistance to more aggressive chemicals.

· Equipped with a set of Viton® fluoroelastomer seals and stainless steel lance for added protection against harsh chemicals.

· Suitable for chemicals such as: motor oil, turpentine oil, petrol, ink, methylated spirits,
hydraulic fluid, bleach, degreaser and floor wax.

· Viton® is a registered trademark of Dupont

This sprayer is designed for spraying the more nasty garden chemicals. From lower scale insecticides to high end poisons, the Viton® garden sprayer  will do the job with aplomb.

I tested this sprayer using RoundUp®. I got very similar results in terms of pressure and length of use as I did with the garden sprayer. I was able to fill the bottle and then clean it afterward without having to make contact with anything that had come in contact with the insecticide. The controllable nozzle head made it very easy to choose the right spray so that i could focus on smaller area’s when other plants were present but also make it bigger when I wanted to cover weed infested area’s.

Score – 8/10

What i like most about these two sprayers is that, between the two of them, every spraying task I might have in my garden can be completed. Having one of each also means that I can keep my good chemicals (fertilisers etc) completely separate from my bad checmicals (RoundUp® etc). I don’t have to worry when using fertilisers that there may be traces of poison in my sprayer because I won’t have used anything but good fertiliser in it.

I strongly recommend you consider either or, better still both of these products if and when you are looking to buy garden sprayers.

Coming up this month

Just a few posts to look forward to this month

-  I’ll be reviewing the Fiskars Easy Reach Pruning Wand.

-  My plant of the month for September is the Callistemon, commonly known as Bottle Brush.

- I’ll be explaining the gardening terms loam, peat, humus and pH.

- I’ll be discussing some of the plants I grew up growing.

Plus much much more! Stay tuned for all the exciting articles.

If you want to make sure you don’t miss any, why not subscribe to my feed? Not sure what this means, check out my ‘Why Subscribe’ page.

WANTED – Guest Posts

Over the last couple of months I have been able to feature a couple of guest writers and I have really enjoyed what they have had to say. I think one of the strengths of the internet is that we can collaborate different pieces of advice from all over the shop in one place. As such I have actually decided to open up one spot a month for a guest post at AussieGreenThumb.com. For the moment this will just be for the 4 months left in 2010 however I may continue this into next year if it proves to be beneficial.

I am a pretty easy going person by nature so I like to make things as easy as possible. As such I won’t be telling people what to write about, only suggesting that the articles I am most likely to publish will have something to do with Gardening in Australia OR Gardening with Australian Native Plants. So you might be living in California but are growing Australian Natives etc.

Articles need to be 500-700 words in length MAX and all guest bloggers will be entitled to end their article with a short 100-150 word MAX biography, with an accompanying Photo and link to a personal website or blog.  This biography word limit is on top of the 500-700 word article limit.

If you are interest in taking part in this simply contact me. My details are on the ‘hire me’ page of AussieGreenThumb.com. I would love to collaborate with a number of different authors however it is possible that I’d consider posting more than 1 article from a guest blogger. I am looking for a mix of professionals and garden newbies. In fact I’d particularly like to hear from someone who has only recently decided to get into gardening as a lot of my readers are just like that!

Contact me and let me know if you are interested.

Conditions
– Any articles that are posted at AussieGreenThumb.com under this arrangement become the property of AussieGreenThumb and specifically me, James Middleton.

- I am under no obligation to actually post submitted articles.

- I reserve the right to correct any spelling or grammar errors in the final article submission.

- I am under no obligation to provide any sort of payment for your work.

Monthly Gardening Tips – September

It’s September! What a fabulous month September is. Any gardener knows that September marks the beginning of the pay off for all your preparation work throughout winter. If you have worked hard, September and spring will be an absolutely marvellous time in your garden.

What makes September such a good month for gardens is the fact that, in general around Australia, the weather starts to warm up with more sunshine hours and this leads to a slightly warmer soil temperature. However there are still generally occasional showers (and even some storms) which supply much needed moisture so that your plants can make the most of the sunny weather. This is slightly different in tropical regions where the rains will actually be starting in the next month or so after the dry season.

So what do you need to do this month? Well, in my opinion there are two

things you must do during spring, and therefore starting this month;

1. Enjoy the fruit of your labour!
2. Start to prepare for summer.

Enjoy the fruit of your labour
September is a good month to plant some annuals if you have not already. Favoured annuals in Australia tend to be plant like petunia’s, marigolds, vincas and the like. Though these are not Australian natives they can be planted in and around your native plants to spice up your garden with a little colour.

Make sure you spend some time out and about your garden, soaking in the sun (when it is out) and enjoying the spring blossoms. Perhaps even look for a local wildflower show to go to one weekend. I know in Western Australia, Kings Park has a beautiful wildflower festival every September.

As your plants blossom, make sure you trim off the flowers when they die. This encourages your plants to flower again because they really want to produce seeds. If you ‘dead head’(the name of the process of removing dead flowers) your roses you will significantly boost the amount of flowers you get this spring.

September and spring are also great months for growing your own veggies. Plant some peas, lettuce, beetroot, carrots and silver beet and if you have not already it is not too late to plant tomatoes or beans.

Preparing for summer
The second major task for spring is to make sure that you start to prepare your garden and grassed area’s to cope with the summer heat. If you have any dead patches of lawn, dig up a couple of runners from other spots in your grass to replace them with. This is mostly effective with buffalo style grasses though couch grasses will respond as long as you get some roots. I myself like to find runners that have grown in places they were not meant to for use in this way. Anyone who has grass knows that keeping it separate from your garden can be a big task by itself! If you take these troublesome shoots and plant them in dead spots you effectively ‘kill two birds with one stone’ as they say.

I say it pretty much every month but that is because this next piece of advice is so very important. Make sure that your garden beds are sufficiently mulched NOW. Don’t wait for summer because the weeds will pop up in abundance from late winter if you do not have sufficient mulch. Plus if you mulch well now, your soil will be improved so that is it better prepared to handle the heat of summer (and in the case of tropical Australia the wet of summer).

Basically…enjoy September and spring!

Guest Post – The Royal Bluebell

Wahlenbergia gloriosa which is Latin for “glorious” or “superb”, describes this beautiful violet blue wildflower perfectly. The Australian Capital Territory adopted the Royal Bluebell as their floral emblem in 1982 due to it’s striking features, horticultural design and merit and stylish representations.

About the Bluebell

A slight perennial herb, the royal bluebell is found primarily in the sub-alpine woodlands of Australia and is a legally protected plant. The Royal Bluebell can be planted any time of the year excluding the hottest point of summer, but grows best when planted in the spring since natural flowering usually occurs from October through March.

The Beauty of the Bluebell

The Royal Bluebell is 3 centimeters in length on average with five petals that are edible and make great additions to salads. The rich purplish blue colored flower is surrounded by dark green leaves that are oblong in shape with wavy edges.

How to Plant the Bluebell

There are three techniques used in planting the bluebell: cuttings- where portions of the roots and stems are removed from the plant and set, seedlings- seeds are collected and sown in punnets until germination occurs, then the seedlings are transplanted into gardens and division- transplanting small plugs directly into your garden.

A welcomed addition to any garden, the Royal Bluebell compliments all flowers and doesn’t require extensive attention or care making it one awesome Aussie bloom!

Heather Green is a Christian mom, freelance writer, pet lover and the resident blogger for OnlineNursingDegrees.org, a free informational website offering tips and advice on online nursing schools.

Newsletter out this week!

Thank you to everyone who has signed up to my newsletter. I hope you are finding the monthly editions captivating and useful.

This months edition will be out this week. I am just finalising it as we speak.

If you have not yet signed up to receive my monthly newsletter it is not too late to receive the August edition. Simply fill in the form at the top of this page, click ‘sign up’ and then follow the instructions. When you sign up you will receive a *FREE* copy of my ‘buying gardening tools’ report. So sign up today so that you do not miss out.

What to expect this issue

>> First look at my September gardening tips.

>> A BONUS Plant of the Month review – Beaufortia squarrosa.

>> 5 great ways to decoratively show off your Australian Native Plants.

>> Recap of my latest ‘Understanding Gardening Vocabulary’ article.

Plant of the Month – Beaufortia sparsa

Last week I featured the Beaufortia purpurea, this week I am featuring the Beaufortia sparsa.

Genus: Beaufortia
Species: sparsa
Common Name: Southwest bottlebrush
Flower Colour: Red
Foliage Colour: Green
Growth Habit: Shrub 1m
Flowering: Autumn

I haven’t actually grown or seen the sparsa in person but the photo’s I have seen make it look really interesting and definitely is a plant that I’d like to try my hand at growing sometime.

It is not a typical Bottlebrush (which are mostly found in the Callistemon genus) but I can see how its common name includes ‘bottlebrush’ as the flowers do have a distinct similarity with many common bottlebrushes.

This variety grows best in full sun and is very much a bird and wildlife attracting plant. Once it is well established you can trim this plant into the shape and size that you desire.Flowers throughout Autumn and is native to the South West of Western Australia though I have read that it grows well in most of Southern Australia.

Thanks to Lullfitz for much of this information. To read about a fifth variety of Beaufortia sign up to my newsletter. Each month my newsletter subscribers get a ‘members only’ review of a fifth species of my plant of the month. To sign up to my newsletter simply fill in the form above, click on ‘sign up’ and follow the instructions.

Gardening Guru’s in August

As I have said many times before, here at AussieGreenThumb.com I consider it my task to help you cultivate a gardening lifestyle today so that your garden will look good for every tomorrow. I have many different ways of seeking to achieve this goal and one that I am not ashamed to say is to point out other places that you can better your green thumb. I’m not the only ‘garden guru’ and so I like to at least once a month (sometimes more) point our places and resources that you can use to improve your green thumb.

This months garden guru entry is I believe rather surprising. In fact I would say it is just about one of the least likely places that I myself would have expected to come across good gardening advice. I was sitting down at a local coffee shop today, reading the local newspaper, The West Australian (please don’t judge me!), when I came across a new section entitled ‘Green Thumb’. Over the next 5 pages I read a range of gardening advice which ranged from Check-ups for sick plants to ‘How to re-pot a bonsai’. They also had a fascinating cover story about a lady called Ilda Schorer who has run a public garden in the Hills of Perth for the past 46 years. The articles on ‘how to’ and the plant of the week reviews were very well written and sage advice for any would be gardener.

Part of me wonders why I am so surprised but I have read countless articles written in papers before by writers that have clearly been given the task of writing about ‘gardening’ even though they themselves have no interest in the matter. I am pleased to say that the Green Thumb section in The West Australian is not like this. The writer’s show a genuine interest in gardening itself. They gave links to local garden consultants and although the pages were littered with advertising (as you’d expect in a newspaper) all the ads were about quality gardening products which, in this case, is actually a welcome addition to the pages!

If you are a West Australian gardener then I suggest you check out The West Australian Green Thumb section. Sadly the editor does not suggest how often this section will be featured but I would imagine it will be weekly in the Friday edition. The gardening section alone is worth the $1.30 price. If you are not from Western Australia then perhaps check your local paper to see if they have a similar section? A lot of papers share material so, perhaps, the equivalent paper in your region might also be running a similar section.

From the Vault – August

This months ‘From the Vault’ is a short entry responding to a question that i saw posed at another blog back in 2007 – ‘Snails, Pests or Pals?’. Anyway, have a read and let me know what you think in the comment.

Snails, Pests or Pals?

Any one who reads that title will probably have the same initial response that I would have to the question, ‘pest, lets stomp on them’. Apparently, however, this may not be the case. Stuart over at Gardening Tips ‘n’ Idea’s says otherwise. His article ‘How garden snails can tell you which plants are sick’ has made me think a bit more seriously about the question.

I get many customers showing me plants that have OBVIOUSLY been attacked by ‘killer snails’. I also have seen many a vegetable garden that has gone from ‘leafy green’ one night to terribly damaged by morning. I always recommend to people to place baits around the plants to knock out those so and so’s. Perhaps, however, that is not the solution?

If snails mostly eat diseased and dying plants, maybe the appropriate response to snails is not necessarily to kill them, but to thank them for pointing out which plants need some TLC? Maybe they are just part of the overall gardening cycle.

I don’t know, I’ve grown up being taught ’snails are bad’ and I struggle to think otherwise, but until today I hadn’t even considered there was an alternate option! I am still not convinced that snails only eat diseased or damaged plants, but it is an interesting idea! Have a read of Stuarts article and work out for yourself, what do you think? Pest or Pal?

Plant of the Month – Beaufortia purpurea

Last week I featured the Beaufortia elegans, this week I am featuring the Beaufortia purpurea.

Genus: Beaufortia
Species: purpurea
Common Name: N/A
Flower Colour: Red
Foliage Colour: Green
Growth Habit: Shrub 1m
Flowering: Spring to Summer

Though the flower colour is listed as ‘red’ it would be more true to call it a ‘red-purple’ colour, hence why this variety is called purpurea which comes from the latin word for purple, purpureus. This variety is a low growing shrub (maximum height is usually about 1m) which flowers from mid spring to late summer. This variety, like all the Beaufortia that I have featured, is native to Western Australia however like many of the other varieties, this one has been successfully grown in other cool and temperate regions of Australia.

The purpurea prefers a rocky or granite based soil and does well on rocky slopes. A great native plant to try in a sloping garden. Once again you can see why this genus is often confused with the Callistemon genus.

Next Page »