This year will be the fifth in a row that visitors to the show have been able to purchase our tools, but the very first year that we will also have a trade stand offering Ethel Gloves to the public.

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show has origins dating back to 1862 when the show was held at the RHS garden in Kensington. The show first moved to the current site at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea in 1913 and was called the Great Spring Show. The showground now extends to 11 acres (45,000 m²) with attendance figures of 157,000 visitors over the week and is very often completely sold out well in advance of the opening day. This year’s show will include feature gardens by top designers Cleve West, Diarmuid Gavin, Joe Swift, Andy Sturgeon and Arne Maynard as well as smaller show gardens and nursery displays.

Last year’s show was a triumph for Bulldog Tools when we were awarded a gold medal for our show garden entitled ‘Self Sufficient Blacksmith’s Garden’ which was designed by our great friends Mary Payne and Jon Wheatley. Not only was the pavilion garden awarded a gold medal and surrounded with crowds each day, but we also received an official visit from Her Majesty the Queen.

Our trade stands this year will carry broad ranges of both Bulldog Tools and Ethel Gloves including some of the more unusual tools we manufacture (but are often not carried in Garden Centres) like bulb planters, spiking forks, ratchet pruners, compost forks and rubber rakes. We will also feature favourites like our stainless steel tools, topiary shears, children’s tools and our ever popular mini pruning sets. On the Ethel Gloves stand we have included the prestigious V&A range and our new sustainable range of Ethel Bamboo Gloves, which we can also confirm have been submitted for the prestigious RHS Chelsea Product of the Year award.

In addition to all the tools and gloves, we are delighted to announce that both stands will have planting designed for us by BBC Radio Essex’s popular garden presenter Ken Crowther. Ken has had his own programme on BBC Essex since 1992, is a past president of the Horticultural Trades Association and also runs an award winning maintenance and landscaping company.

If you are lucky enough to have tickets for the show this year, then why not come and visit our Bulldog Tools Stand at EA74 on the corner of Eastern Avenue and Southern Way and the Ethel Gloves stand at EA26 on Eastern Avenue and the corner of the Sweetingham Steps (down to the bandstand), we would very much like to meet you.

To see the details of the 2012 RHS Chelsea Flower Show, you can visit the official website here.

Originally designed for digging dogs or ferrets out of narrow or collapsed burrows whilst rabbit hunting, the spade has become an essential tool for serious gardeners and landscapers. With its curved, narrow blade the rabbiting spade enables the gardener to dig an accurate, rounded and deep planting hole without disturbing any of the roots of established plants close by. The thick FSC Ash handle and solid forged construction makes it a very strong tool for levering up and lifting existing shrubs for transplanting elsewhere. When renovating old fence posts or putting in new fencing, the narrow, curved head is perfect for digging deep, slender holes for new fence posts.

Like all our solid forged spades, the Bulldog Rabbiting Spade is manufactured in our UK factory in Wigan, heated to 1,100 degrees before our craftsmen mould it into shape and therefore is extremely strong with a long socket that reduces the chances of snapping the handle during use.

And whilst the rabbiting spade has very humble origins as a ‘poacher’s friend’, it continues to surprise us with its versatility! Last month the US version (branded Clarington Forge) was included in a photo shoot for The Wall Street Journal by Marian McEvoy, the former editor of Elle Décor and House Beautiful magazines. You are very welcome to see the original article here.

So if you looking for a great spade for planting, transplanting, fence post digging or even rabbit hunting we would recommend you purchase the Bulldog Rabbiting spade, available with or without boot saving treads, with a 28” ‘T’ or YD handle or in a shorter 26” ‘T’ handled version.

To see the full range of Bulldog Rabbiting Spades, please click here: www.bulldogtools.co.uk/search/?q=rabbiting

British made Bulldog hoes are available in a number of different shapes and styles to suit soil conditions and hoeing techniques, but many gardeners don’t realise that different hoes are designed for use in completely different ways, so here’s a useful guide to how Bulldog Tool’s different hoes can be used:

1. The Dutch hoe has a shallow angled blade with a front cutting edge for keeping weeds down and hoeing between seedlings and established shrubs and plants. 2. The Draw hoe has a wider downward facing blade set at a right angle to the shaft. Designed to be used in a chopping or slicing action the draw hoe is best used in harder ground. 3. The Paxton hoe’s angled blade is used with a push-pull action and gives speedy results when used for weeding and light cultivation. 4. The Warren hoe has a ‘V’ shaped blade without a cutting edge. The blade is set at a right angle to the shaft and is perfect for furrowing or making seed drills as well as grading soil and backfilling. 5. The Onion hoe was especially designed for Bulldog Tools by Fred Walden and is ideal for working between onions. The ‘winged’ style of the head allows the hoe to ‘float’ just under the surface of the soil. 6. The Scotch hoe has large downward facing blade set at a right angle to the shaft. It is perfect for building up soil around vegetables like leeks and onions. 7. The Clarice Flower hoe has a miniature head for delicate work between plants and flowers in tight spaces. This hoe can also be used in rockeries. 8. The Cultivator is not strictly a hoe, but is used in a very similar way. The 3 prongs are designed to break up compacted ground and loosen the soil around trees and shrubs to allow more air and water to get to the roots.

All of these hoes are equipped with either long, FSC certified ash wooden shafts or strong, but lightweight long fibreglass handles to give gardeners a bit of extra ‘reach’.

So next time you choose a new hoe, it is well worth considering what you’re going to use it for and you may decide that acquiring two hoes rather than one will make your gardening much easier.

You can see our range of British made Bulldog hoes here:

http://www.bulldogtools.co.uk/products/gardening/rakes-and-hoes/

The Big Dig is on the weekend of March the 17th and 18th and is open to participation by individuals and teams. Here’s what Capital Growth say about it:

“We are hoping to mobilise thousands of volunteers across London to help community food-growing spaces prepare for the new growing season. Volunteers will only be required to help for one day but we hope some will choose to stay involved throughout the growing season.”

Visit Capital Growth’s website and enter your postcode to find the nearest participating space (it’s also not too late to register as a host).

Capital Growth is a scheme that aims to create 2012 growing spaces by the end of 2012. There are small grants available where community groups can apply for up to £300 to get their projects up and running and new spaces who sign up this year can also enter the ‘Grow for Gold’ competition which will be judged later in the year. The competition will offer prizes ranging from Bulldog Tools to seeds and vouchers for training. We have supported Capital Growth since it’s beginning in 2008.

Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, said ‘In this historic Olympic year, we are challenging Londoners to create a fantastic crop of new food growing gardens at the heart of their communities. Tens of thousands of people have helped us brighten up London in this way, cultivating carrots in Croydon, beetroot in Barnet and lettuce in Lewisham. We now want to inspire even more green-fingered folk to grab their wells and have a go. The Big Dig is all about making it easy to find out more.’

Seb Coe, Chair of LOCOG (London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games), said: ‘The London 2012 Games will showcase the best of British food with regional and local fresh produce to the diversity and choice available. This Spring, we’ll be encouraging communities to come together and Garden for the Games. This could be growing a champion’s feast with London 2012 inspired colours, sprucing up a whole area in your community or even coordinating the window boxes on your street. The Big Dig campaign will provide a great focal point in London for this, enabling green fingered communities to come together and reap the benefits of home growing.’

Since its launch in November 2008, Capital Growth has provided practical and financial support to food growing spaces that are now thriving in a range of diverse places including schools, roofs, canals and even skips. By growing and cultivating food they have greened and improved local neighbourhoods and brought communities together.

The key to effective pruning is using tools with sharp, clean blades which give quick, smooth cuts allowing very little chance for disease to enter the tree or shrub through the cut wound. The two tools which every gardener needs for these tasks are a good pruning saw and a strong pair of loppers.

The Bulldog pruning saw, which recently won the Garden News ‘Best Buy’ for garden saws has an 80 tooth, 300mm curved stainless steel blade and comfortable soft grip. It is designed to cut branches quickly and easily with the minimum of damage to the tree itself and replacement blades are readily available should you need them. Remember that if you are cutting a heavy branch it is advisable to put in an under cut further along the limb to avoid damaging the bark when the branch falls.

Bulldog have a number of great loppers available including some with extending handles for extra reach and some with a ratchet action for extra power. Loppers are ideal for branches that are about an inch wide or smaller as these tend to ‘whip’ around too much if you try and cut them with a saw, leading to unnecessary tears in the bark. Loppers are also equipped with two different types of blade; bypass for cutting soft, green wood and anvil for hard, dead wood which means you should choose your loppers carefully before purchasing. All Bulldog loppers have aluminium handles which are strong, but lightweight to help make pruning easier, even above head height.

Hygiene is critical when pruning, many diseases can be passed around the garden by blunt and dirty blades. So if you are pruning a tree which you know has been affected by disease, make sure you clean your blades with a household disinfectant before using the tools on a healthy tree. It is also preferable to use sharp blades; so change your saw blade regularly and sharpen your loppers with a good quality sharpening stone which, although expensive will make the job much easier and last many years with correct use. If you are unsure of how to use a sharpening stone then there are a number of great tutorial videos available on YouTube.

Finally, please remember when using sharp pruning tools to wear gloves and if you are cutting above your head it is advisable to wear goggles and a hard hat. Bulldog Tools don’t want any of their customers to get hurt whilst using their tools!

You can see all Bulldog’s cutting tools here: http://www.bulldogtools.co.uk/products/gardening/cutting-tools/

Says Ed Philp, MD of Elm Park Garden Centre, Tadley Heath, Basingstoke.

“Our customers want quality and we were delighted to take the Bulldog range on 2 years ago. It’s not just about supporting a British Product, although that gives the customer confidence, it’s about having confidence in the products we sell. We believe it is important to maintain a reputation for quality from the seedlings in spring to the snow shovels in winter and Bulldog quality fits right in there as the brand that won’t break.

“We make sure we have the products to suit the season – this month you will see Bulldog Snow Shovels in Stock, these excellent but economical tools are ideal to scoop up and clear the Snow.”

“We have been involved in horticulture since 1935, first growing roses then in 1975 we opened our garden centre. During that time we have used and sold a host of Garden Tools and in our experience when it comes to durability, Bulldog is in a class of its own – and it’s made in Britain”.

Elm Park Garden Centre Aldermaston  Rd Pamber End Tadley Heath Basingstoke RG 26   5QW

01256 850587

I’ve used that spade for everything from digging, mixing concrete, to lifting trees. I even once used the blade to fry an egg over a bonfire. Now I have a new one and running my hands over the pristine paintwork and shiny handle I feel that same tingle of excitement I used to get as a boy about a new bike. Here is something fit for purpose that’ll last for years but – for now at least – still has its show-room gleam.

It’s a heavy spade with a long handle which, for me – I’m six foot tall in my steel toecaps – is perfect. Choosing tools that fit your frame is really important as it saves your back and makes a big difference to how quickly you can dig.  I hadn’t given much thought to the art of single and double digging since I was an apprentice but now I’ve got a nursery and an apprentice of my own I’ve been passing on the things I’ve picked up.

Most gardeners understand the principle of double digging: excavate a trench of soil at one of the plot and pile it at the other, fork the bottom with compost or manure and then turn the soil from the next trench into the first. My tips for success on a heavy clay soil is to chop the soil into spade–sized chunks and standing sideways to the trench, turn – rather than lift these heavy sods into it with flick of the wrist. On lighter sands it’s infinitely easier to work from the back of the trench, cutting larger 40cm chunks and flipping them over by levering down on the handle of spade.

Whatever your soil type, digging is the garden equivalent of ploughing, turning the soil upside down and so burying weeds and bringing fresh earth to the surface. It takes practice to do well – a trick I learnt was never to touch the soil with my hands to reduce the amount of back- bending and to speed up familiarity with the tools. It also pays to take your time as it’s better to work neatly and methodically than rush and potentially put your back out.

One other thing I’ve learnt in the twenty-plus years since I completed my own apprenticeship is don’t worry if occasionally you leave your spade out in the rain but do always keep the blade nice and clean. You never know when you might want to fry an egg.

Toby Buckland

Our Premier Pruning Saw, was rated ‘Best Buy’ getting 5 stars for its quality of cut and comfort during use. The article read ‘Excellent cutting ability, curved blade, easy and comfortabl to use and very reasonably priced. What more can you say!’

The Bulldog Premier Pruning Saw is available from all good stockists.

Buying almost fully grown plants in early summer ready to plant out in patio pots, hanging baskets and garden borders is not the cheapest way of buying bedding plants.  The trend nowadays is to buy seedlings or plug plants early in the new year and to grow these plants on until they are ready to plant out.  In this way you get a wider choice of colours and various varieties to choose from.  Your garden centre will have plenty of these tiny seedlings and plantlets to choose from in February and March or you can order them from a catalogue or the internet to get an even wider selection and maybe something a bit different.

When buying plug plants, remember they are individual seedlings or rooted cuttings that have been grown for a short time in tiny cells of top quality compost and just need more room and vital nutrients for roots and stems to grow into large plants, ready to flower in pots and hanging baskets.  Kinder Garden Plants are sold in trays of 20 cells all ideal for garden beds, containers and hanging baskets.  You will find single veined pink, red and mauve Petunia called Reflections and frilly double flowers of white and mixed colours in the Petunia Pirouette strain.  Favourite for me are the Hot ‘n’ Spicy Geraniums that come in pink, salmon and red shades.  Last year they flowered till nearly Christmas on my balcony.

This can be a cold month so watch the weather carefully.  You can always tune into my Saturday Gardening Phone-in on BBC Essex as at 9.45am we have the Gardening Weather for 5 days ahead, and if its turning nasty, wrap up delicate patio pots such as fig trees (Brown Turkey) in an extra layer of fleece to protect the fruits that set last year.  Keeping off the worst of the frosts will ensure these swell during the summer to provide tasty fruits.  Remember, before fruit trees and bushes burst into flower, dress the soil around the roots with a Controlled Release Plant Food or Osmocote granules.  Just a few handfuls to cover the area of the spreading branches is sufficient to feed these plants for the rest of the season.  After application, dig the plant food into the top few centimetres of soil and then mulch the area which will retain moisture in the soil and if a sufficient depth is achieved will also help to suppress weed growth.

If you like to try new varieties then Suttons Seeds have a new and exclusive tomato for 2012 called F1 Lizzano ‘The Tomato Bush’.  Not only is it ideal for small gardens and patios, it is great for beginners too as no pinching is required.  In fact this tasty tomato can be left to grow as a bush!  It produces masses of cherry type tomatoes and grows well in containers or borders.  Not only that, it has resistance to Tomato Blight too!!  Definitely sounds like one to try in 2012.  For you keen cooks and Italian food fans, Suttons have launched a seed collection under their Italian Kitchen brand.  It includes Tomato ‘Pomodoro Ciliega’, Melon Rugosa di Cosenza Giallo’ and Pepper ‘Corno di Toro Rosso’.  There are also traditional varieties of several herbs included.  Among them basil, rocket, fennel, mixed salad leaves, and several lettuces.  All very exotic and great to interest kids who delight in growing their own foods.

Ken Crowther

Many gardeners (particularly ladies) struggle to find the right spade and fork to suit them, but the correct tool is often easier to find if you ask yourself the following questions:

1. How tall am I? A standard digging spade is designed for gardeners of between 5′ 6″ and 5′ 11″. If you are between 5′ 2″ and 5′ 6″ try a border spade and if you are shorter than 5′ 2″ use a shrubbery spade. Taller gardeners will find long handled spades more comfortable. 2. How fit and strong am I? A spade full of soil is heavy! If you need a lighter spade try to remember: stainless steel is lighter than solid forged steel and pressed steel is lighter than stainless steel. The smaller the spade, the lighter it will be. So if you find digging spades heavy, a border spade will be lighter. Also a wooden handle is lighter than a steel handle and a fibreglass handle is lighter than a wooden handle. 3. How often do I use them? If you only use a spade occasionally you may want something heavier to get the work done quickly. If you are using your spade on a daily basis for long periods of time you might want a lighter tool to help save your energy. 4. What extras do I want? Do you need boot savers (or treads) on the spade? Do you prefer a ‘YD’ style grip or a traditional ‘T’? Do you prefer an epoxy coated finish or stainless steel? Do you want an open socket, a closed socket or a strapped tool which will affect the strength of the tool?

These questions should lead you to the right tool. It is also worth considering that while stainless steel has been popularised by television gardening shows, it is very hard and inflexible (unlike solid forged steel) and this can lead to the blade snapping if it comes into contact with something hard like a tree root or buried rock.

And finally, try not to be fooled by the style or ‘look’ of the spade – just because it looks like an old fashioned tool doesn’t mean it was made like one.

You can see our range of British made Bulldog spades here: http://www.bulldogtools.co.uk/products/gardening/spades/