The Louth Cottage Gardener

The Louth Cottage Gardener Professional gardener specialising in Soft Landscaping (Maintenance, strimming, Hedging and Tree work).

This is one way to keep wasps (and birds) off your pears… 🤔
18/08/2026

This is one way to keep wasps (and birds) off your pears… 🤔

It’s the time of year for pruning stone fruit trees at Oxcombe Pottery.This time last year I was attending training with...
31/07/2026

It’s the time of year for pruning stone fruit trees at Oxcombe Pottery.

This time last year I was attending training with East of England Apples and Orchards Project with Magnus Moorhouse…time flies…

A nice job today fan training some peaches and nectarines on an eastern facing wall.

Really nice to see some nectarines on one of them.

Happy to help if anyone needs some doing.

You can also summer prune apples and pears

I love this vintage garden bowser, and if we are going to get hosepipe bans… 😉Had a few interesting conversations recent...
25/07/2026

I love this vintage garden bowser, and if we are going to get hosepipe bans… 😉

Had a few interesting conversations recently from customers wondering aloud if we are going to get more summers like this….

Using more shade, mulches, catching more water and storing it and maybe shifting towards a more Mediterranean mix of planting int the garden…

There’s a reason lavender, nepeta (catmint) and borage….along with echinops, echinacea etc are surviving….guess where they are originally from?

On the native side quasi wildflowers can deal with it too…

Meadow cutting (or rough grass habitat areas)A bit early this year due to the heat. Normally late July/August. It ideall...
13/07/2026

Meadow cutting (or rough grass habitat areas)

A bit early this year due to the heat.

Normally late July/August. It ideally wants doing before grass flips over and forms a ‘thatch’ which is difficult to cut and starts essentially mulching the ground.

I think I’ve just caught this in the Oxcombe Pottery churchyard, some has started to lay down…but not too much…

Strim it, use a scythe or an auto-scythe or for small areas a decent hedge trimmer will do it.

Take it off to lower fertility and help wildflowers compete with the grass…

And ideally leave an area, or cut on a rotation, some butterflies overwinter in the base of grasses.

Beginning to cut garden hedges (which have been checked for nesting birds).Relatively easy in open structured hedging li...
08/07/2026

Beginning to cut garden hedges (which have been checked for nesting birds).

Relatively easy in open structured hedging like laurel. Which I’ve reduced here.

Bush laurel is fairly easy to cut with loppers, you get clean and accurate cutting.

Height reduced and sides pushed back. Laurel can race away.

Had a go with some Niwaki loppers, I like the cutting blades even if the handles were a tad short 👌

So…question. How not to cut hedges…Do you think some husbands do jobs like this on purpose to avoid further work? 😉It co...
06/07/2026

So…question. How not to cut hedges…

Do you think some husbands do jobs like this on purpose to avoid further work? 😉

It could be some sort of repressed anger at ‘the bloody garden’ finding its way out via a hedge trimmer… 😉

The same husbands idea of ‘cutting back the raspberries’ last year involved driving a lawnmower over them…. 😬

It should recover…

A bit of ivy removal today for a relative of J. Shaw & Son.Pretty sure this is a Juneberry…pleasant ornamental tree.Ivy ...
24/06/2026

A bit of ivy removal today for a relative of J. Shaw & Son.

Pretty sure this is a Juneberry…pleasant ornamental tree.

Ivy is a bit of a contentious topic, good for bees and butterflies but on trees and hedges?…... Councils (tree officers) will swear blind it doesn’t affect trees or hedges…

In my opinion it is vigorous and grows till late in the year and will compete for light with the plant it is on…it also increases the weight of the top of the tree…

I’ve cut too many hedges where the original hedge is entombed in ivy…to think it has no effect…

14/06/2026

Infinitely quicker than a brush for feather edge fences.

This is a cheap Wagner plug in sprayer.

Depending on the fence/wood treatment you may need to water it down a bit (or get sprayable treatment). But this was 2 and a half fence panels done in less than 15 mins…

Busy time of year.You know No Mow May?I think for this garden it had been No Mow 2026… 😉I think I essentially have a hay...
13/06/2026

Busy time of year.

You know No Mow May?

I think for this garden it had been No Mow 2026… 😉

I think I essentially have a hay bale in the back of the van…

Anyway, this property is up for sale with viewings today and the owner suddenly realised this last week that the grass might be a little long…. 😬

À smidge…. 😉

The The Garden Shop at KRN is here.The glasshouses on the A16 between fotherby and Utterby.They also do deals for garden...
06/06/2026

The The Garden Shop at KRN is here.

The glasshouses on the A16 between fotherby and Utterby.

They also do deals for gardeners and businesses buying larger amounts.

Address

Sunbeam Works, Eve Street
Louth
LN110JJ

Opening Hours

Monday 8:30am - 5:30am
Tuesday 8:30am - 5:30am
Wednesday 8:30am - 5:30am
Thursday 8:30am - 5:30am
Friday 8:30am - 5:30am
Saturday 8:30am - 5:30am

Telephone

+447950286792

Website

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