Does anyone know anything about gardening?

My daughter wants to be a horticulturist and is working at Belsay Hall, we bought her Niwaki secateurs and they are top class :)

Which ones were you thinking of getting?

Edit, checked what we bought, the Kurumi secateurs and snips.

Yeah they're great. The sentei ones are a bit more delicate/refined and the okatsune ones a bit sturdier

Which ones were you thinking if getting?

Crikey, there's a few! Right handed GR pro look like a safe bet but not the most interesting looking. Is the sizing more relevant to blade sizing and not hand sizes? Any recommendations?

So much bamboo hate… I’ve inherited two gardens with it and neither escaped too much (the odd shoot, but easily snipped).

Is it so bad? Should i kill it with fire (i have some now)?

Cheers, would the sentei ones be suitable for house plants or would the scissors be a better option?

On the bamboo front i knocked up a planter about 6 months ago and stuck some bamboo in it hoping it would grow out and provide some privacy for my road facing downstairs window.

It's done nothing, should i be worried?

Regarding bamboo, this house had a patch which I wanted to turn into a bed...... Needed to hire a mini digger, digger bloke and a skip!

Would have nuked from orbit if I owned the Nostromo :)

Kurumi secateurs and snips

Wow, they're lovely. Dees your daughter have any nice (small) gardening glove recommendations?

Echoing the above that they are very nice, and great to use. Garden scissors/snips might be better if only dealing with very small pruning. Sometimes big secateurs are hard to get in and around fiddly houseplants. It depends what you think they’ll be mostly used for.
Can also recommend the crean mate cleaner, blade oil and possibly even the simple sharpening stone - little and often at sharpening is their suggestion. They stuff is so nice, you/she will want to keep them nice as well. Finally be warned, it is quite addictive! I got bought some niwaki secateurs for a birthday, and they weren’t alone for long.

Haha brilliant, thanks for the tips, next 10 birthdays sorted then!

Niwaki forged snips fine for indoor work and light outdoors, and will cope OK with some of the tougher woody stems. Small enough to get in and around leaves.

If you are using them outdoors and have dark handles just put a bit of fluorescent tape on one of the handles so easy to find on the ground.

Scissors or snips for houseplants I'd say. The sentei ones are more delicate but still proper secateurs that can do outdoor, woody stuff

i have these, they are great for light / medium duty gardening:

https://www.woodandmeadow.com/collections/secateurs-snips-scissors/products/okatsune-japanese-secateurs

On the subject of apple tree pruning, I have an apple and a pear tree which were planted a couple of years ago (they were silly cheap in the bargain bin at Morrisons). What pruning should I do?
Edit to add.. both fruiting

6 months ago = june/july - they would have stopped their growing season then. as far as I am aware, they typically have a short growing season in the spring where the culms shoot up very quickly and grow to full height within 4-6 weeks. they don't seem to grow much after that. I'd give them a good feed and wait until march/april - you'll probably find new shoots then

ah that's good to know, cheers.

When i was planting it my neighbour stood there looking very smug and asked me if i had a tall step ladder. Hoping i wont let him down.

On bamboo: I may appear bambooist, but I actually really like the stuff, both the form and the rustle. It can come with significant problems, particularly in large varieties. This year alone I have seen the underground runners destroy a (poorly laid) block driveway and a lawn. I have had to resort to a 3 ton digger and a big breaker to remove the damned stuff. It also dessicates the ground until it is like concrete.

On secateurs: I am certain that the Japanese ones are of excellent quality and work well and like everyone else I like to have nice things. However, Bahco and Felco do the job perfectly, are long lasting and have spares available. They are what pretty much all of us who do this for a living use.

Second that, I use felco secateurs. I have a small gardening business.
However this is my second most useful tool (after my secateurs) and would recommend it to any gardener. https://www.niwaki.com/forged-trowel/

A short treatise on apple/pear pruning:

Do the main pruning when the leaves are off i.e. now.

Firstly remove any stems crossing back into the crown completely. Remove anything spindly, i.e. much thinner than a pencil. Prune back last year's growth by 2/3 to 3/4 to 5mm above an outward facing bud. The direction the bud is pointing is the direction the new growth will go, you can aim the buggers!

If your tree is a whip, i.e. a young tree consisting just of a central trunk, prune at the height you want the main trunk to be eventually, about 4' to 6' normally works. Ensure that you have a few buds below this cut, these will form the main branches in subsequent years. You can then remove any branches which are too low at a later date.

remove any stems crossing back into the crown completely

Like a basket or wine glass if you want a mental image.

Good reminder that I should prune the fruit trees, thanks.

Thanks for the pruning advice.. better get the elderly bahco seceteurs out

Felco no.7 are what I've used for the last 30 years or so. I bought the Okatsune as I felt like trying something different.

csb:
I have accidentally removed small sections from the tips of both my ring finger and index finger whilst pruning things with Felco no.7. The incidents were about 25 years apart. One "lid" got stitched back on, the other didn't. Clearly I'm a slow learner. /csb

I have some from Okatsune. They're lovely!

Daughter with small hands has replied to my text.

Kent and Stowe premium seed and weed (fave)

Showa 451 thermal grip

Gold Leaf dry touch leather gloves, ladies

Briers Comfi gloves

Kent and Stowe flex protect multi use

All in small sizes