Happy New Year to all our of gardening friends – we’re looking forward to spending a little more time with you all this year and sharing some of our experiences with you.

Working off my seasonal excesses, with some time in the garden.

Christmas seems like a long time ago now, then I look at my waistline and realise that the old adage of “a minute on the lips, forever on the hips” could be true!  Well my garden took a battering as 2010 drew to a close; early snows that I wasn’t really prepared for knocked me a little off course and sapped my enthusiasm for the great outdoors for a little while. There’s nothing better than a little gentle labour in the garden to get some fresh air in the lungs and burn off a few excess calories in the process – the garden really needs it.  So it’s on with my boots and to some tasks.

What needs doing in the garden in January.

Coffee in hand I took a stroll around my garden and soon found I had list as long as my arm of things that need attending to, here’s a snippet of things you’ll probably have to be thinking about as well;

• Gently rake your lawn, careful not to rip up the turf too much which can be delicate at this time of year, you want to get some of that leaf fall off the lawn and minimise the chance of bald patches starting, get the leaves in the composter.
• I’ve had a tidy up of the borders and forked between some of the plants, which is good for the earth.
• I’ve had to clear my pathways of some winter berries from a neighbour’s tree that overhangs my fence, took a while, but they were starting to turn rotten and unsightly, this little garden bin is a handy thing for that.
• I need to get my lawnmower serviced, since I value my fingers and am no expert I am taking this to my local repairman for a once over.
• The pond needs a little clearing out too. There’s still a good chance of some cold weather to come, so I’m leaving a soft ball floating in there for the moment as this helps to keep the pond aerated when it’s icy and it also means the ice has something to expand against, rather than fracturing the lining.
• I checked the little greenhouses and had a think about the plants in there – some of them need more ventilation than others, so a little re-arranging can be required.
• I’m thinking about my plans for the patio this Spring so I’ve had a look at a selection of planters.
• I’ve also made a note to replace a couple of brackets for my hanging baskets.
• I’ve tidied up the greenhouse and cleaned my pots now, some varieties will want sowing now if we’re going to get some early flowers.

That kept me busy for a while!

Winter precautions are still in place.

It’s definitely still winter, and there’s still some frost on the odd nights, so it’s worth considering frost proof jackets and small greenhouses for some of your plants, indoor planters for the less hardy.
Don’t forget the birds, it’s been a long and harsh winter for them so far, I’m sure it’s not over yet either, they love a free feed and keep your garden colourful, so do look at our selection of food – they will appreciate it.

Until next month, happy gardening!

Not that we needed an excuse to get outside and in the sun, we just needed a reason to make it during work time

So we decided to try out some outdoor games we have here so that we could create our very own favourite list.

We decided to rate them on three things, how much fun the were to play, how many friends could be involved and which ones gave us the most laughs.

So for our afternoon of work we tested (OK played with) all our games and we were able to come up with our top five favourites;

1. Limbo Set

As long as you are with good friends, or don’t mind making a fool of yourself, this one is a winner. Top for fun to do – the boys like the challenge, the girls loved winning, everybody who wanted to could have a go and any who didn’t could just enjoy the spectacle. Virtually continuous laughing due to interesting limbo dancing attempts and the clever comments inspired by them, so much so it wasn’t just the limbo that caused stomachs to hurt.

Limbo Set

2. Giant Tower

You’ll probably know this better if I mention “Jenga” – a great giant version of it!

We had four of us playing and what felt like hundreds of people advising. At times, as is our nature, just a little too competitive. Everyone there could be invoilved, great to use our brains (what little we have of them) as well as our brilliant coordination! Laughs plentiful, although centred more around mickey take when the unfortunate player removed the brick that causedthe tower fall.

Giant Tower

3. Boules

We loved this. Deciding to play in teams we had a minimum of six friends involved. We were a little serious, mainly due to concentration, yet the six of us played this much longer than the any of the other games. In fact it kept our interest for a significantly longer time. Not much audience participation though and laughs were sporadic.

Boules

4. Hopscotch

Great participation for all, brought back, for some of us, good memories of school days. Great fun to do, especially if like me you need to learn the complicated rules! Many laughs all round for audience and participants alike.

Hopscotch

5. Giant 4 in a row

This crept in to the top five, as I’ve always been good at the indoor version and as I had the casting vote!

Great fun indoors, even better playing this giant outdoor version. Concentration required, audience advice given and welcomed, created excellent banter.

Giant 4 in a row

I have to say the afternoon of testing was one of the funnest I’ve had at work for a long time. I hope you enjoy these games as much as we did.

Thanks for reading

Welcome to GardenXtras. We can fulfil all your garden requirements from garden accessories to garden furniture, patio furniture, plant supports and garden bird care.  We supply garden furniture, garden patio furniture and hardwood garden furniture from top manufacturers around the world. Our garden furniture includes wooden sets, garden benches, garden swings and metal sets.  Also we stock garden furniture cushions and garden furniture covers in various shapes and colours. Our range includes both standard cushions and premium cushions for hardwood garden furniture. These cushions are made in 100% Polyester with zipped removable covers. High quality filling provides a high level of comfort. All our furniture cushions conform to the stringent UK Fire and Safety regulations.

For gardening, we have plant supports, garden planters and home & garden accessories.  The wide range of plant supports we have includes conical supports, support stems, grow through supports, grow bag supports, support hoops, circle supports, support stakes, etc. For garden planters we have arches & obelisks, patio planters, wall & balcony planters, pot caddies, pot holders & stands. For wall or balcony planters we have hanging bracket stands and hanging basket stands.  We also sell a good range of Wellington boot rack, Wellington boot stand, Boot Scrapers, Funky Wellies and garden shoes supplied from our Sussex warehouse in UK and can be used in indoors as well as outside.  We provide grow bags and small green houses to help your seeds, plants and shrubs  grow well.  We also provide compost bags in all sizes for creating compost from garden and household waste and made to a quality construction to withstand long term usage.

Other garden accessories include barrels, trugs & Trug Trolley™, Willow, Folding Bin, Arches & Obelisks, Lanterns, Torches, Garden Stakes, Pot Caddies, Holders & Stands, Outdoor Beanbags, Greenhouses, Grow Bags, etc.

A garden always looks incomplete without birds. So for your birds in the garden we provide bird care products such as bird feeders, bird seed, bird seed mix, black sunflower seeds, straight bird seed, bird nesting boxes and cat repellers.   For Christmas we supply Christmas tree stands, the Christmas tree sleigh and decorative cast iron tree stand which are always in demand at our shop.  Apart from garden products, we also stock picnic equipment like Hawaii Family Cool Bag, Luxury 4 Person Hamper, Padded Chair with High Back, Padded Lounger, Telescopic Adults Chair with arms, Telescopic Table, Tote Cooler Bag.   For the garden we also supply some interesting garden games. Please have look to them.

As we have good experience in selling garden furniture and garden accessories, our stock keeps changing frequently. If you are looking for any particular thing for garden and cannot find it, then please let us know. We can often obtain them for you.

Visit our online shop anytime or call us or visit our factory outlet to view our wide range of garden accessories and garden furniture.

Make your garden look very special.