Outdoors Magazine

.../> The magazine is entitled Outdoors and according to the blurb on the opening page it has been created as part of the PlantforLife campaign which aims to help get the most out of your garden. The campaign has been financed with the assistance of the European Community, so I supposed that means we have already indirectly contributed towards it, but the wonderful thing about this magazine is that you can get your own copy absolutely FREE.
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...a copy by writing to Outdoors magazine, Horticultural Trades Association, Horticulture House, 19 High Street, Theale RG7 5AH

It was only a matter of days after subscribing that I became the proud owner of the latest copy and despite its thinness it does manage to pack quite a bit into its pages.

We begin with garden news with a bit about hanging baskets, how to give your lawn some tender loving care during hot dry weather ... more

As there seems to be a trend towards magazines this month I thought I would throw in my two pence worth and tell you about a little gem that I have discovered.

The magazine is entitled Outdoors and according to the blurb on the opening page it has been created as part of the PlantforLife campaign which aims to help get the most out of your garden. The campaign has been financed with the assistance of the European Community, so I supposed that means we have already indirectly contributed towards it, but the wonderful thing about this magazine is that you can get your own copy absolutely FREE.

Isn't that a wonderful word, always makes me sit up and take notice.

It is sent out four times a year to cover each season and the current one which I've just received is issue two, Summer 2004.

It's a glossy magazine containing a mere 27 pages and it does state the price is £1.75 on the front cover. Why this is, I don't know because all you need to do is to log on to their website www.plantforlife.info and subscribe and the magazine will swiftly wing its way to your letter box. You can also request a copy by writing to Outdoors magazine, Horticultural Trades Association, Horticulture House, 19 High Street, Theale RG7 5AH

It was only a matter of days after subscribing that I became the proud owner of the latest copy and despite its thinness it does manage to pack quite a bit into its pages.

We begin with garden news with a bit about hanging baskets, how to give your lawn some tender loving care during hot dry weather and some advice about helping your plants survive if you're away on holiday.

There's a section on Great Summer Gardens giving you some clues as to some gardens you can visit and what they have to offer.

Next is a section on how gardening keeps you fit and tells us that half an hours lawn mowing will burn 165 calories. Doesn't tell us that the cool one we need to drink afterwards will immediately put it back on again. According to PlantforLife's experts we all need at least 20 minutes a day near plants to feel really well and are asking the Government to issue a Recommended Daily Allowance. I should be absolutely in the prime of health the amount of time I spend near plants (wonder if just looking counts).

Next we move to "all summer long" with advice on what to plant to fill gaps in the garden and jazz up your patio which won't just bloom and die but will keep flowering right into autumn. There's a lovely picture, all in glorious technicolour of a summer border which I would give my eye teeth for. If only I didn't live next door to an 80 year old zealot who marches down my drive at the merest hint of a weed and digs all my plants up along with the weeds. As I don't want to get into a battle with an aged person other than pleas to leave it alone, I've given up and let her get on with it, but if this hot weather continues, I may just "turn" and you will be reading about me in the daily papers before long.

We then move on to advice about long-flowering shrubs, plants which really enjoy the hotspots in the garden and advice on how to care for your bedding and patio plants for an extended life expectancy.

Following that we get Plant of the Month which covers July, August and September and gives a few suggestions and where to position them for maximum effect.

The next few pages are devoted to a patio makeover. The pictures are all very lovely but can't see me ever managing to recreate it. In fact one of their suggestions, to paint wood panels bright red and stick to the wall or fence seems positively hideous to me, but each to their own. Can just imagine what a lovely creation my hubby would make with a few panels of wood and some paint. Think we'll skip this one and move quickly on to the next section - 10 reasons to go into the garden.

Could add a further 10 of my own which wouldn't be quite the same, mostly involving looking for things and jungle. Anyway, read their suggestions and feel virtuous.

Turn the page and we come to instant water gardens and a bit of advice about how creating one will encourage wildlife such as dragonflies, blue tailed damsel flies (I wouldn't know what one of these was if it came and bit me), butterflies and ladybirds.

We do have a garden pond with some koi carp swimming around in it and all that seems to attract is mosquitoes.

Next we get front garden focus with some advice on making it more eye catching. The picture of the cottage garden is wonderful and I can but dream, then we have the no garden garden and the car park garden and advice on how to increase the value of your property by improving first impressions.

The next section deals with gardens for kids and gives some ideas for making a spot in the garden as a place of their own - and it doesn't suggest barbed wire fences to keep them out of the rest of it either.

Nearing the end of the magazine we come to Enchanted Evening with some tips about lighting, night scented plants and features.

As you're reaching the end there is a Me and My Garden feature and this time it's Toyah Willcox talking about her garden. Don't think many of us will be having full size sculptures in ours though like she has.

Finally there is a Plant Directory which gives details of all the plants that have been mentioned in the previous pages.

All in all, quite a jam-packed freebie. What are you waiting for. Go and get yours now. 

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