The online garden experts from Love the Garden are delighted to announce the fourth and final vegetable garden competition of 2011 to make sure vegetables won’t be forgotten this December: the Christmas Carrot Competition! The independent guest judge, Niamh Shields from Eat Like a Girl, will be looking for culinary creativity with carrots. The author of the best recipe will receive a £200 restaurant voucher to a UK restaurant of their choice. Three runners up will receive a copy of Niamh Shields’ cookbook Comfort & Spice.

Entering the competition is easy. All bloggers need to do is:

• Share a carrot recipe on their own blog;
• Mention the competition in the post;
• Tell Lovethegarden by emailing the URL of their entry before 21^st December 2011.

The orange root vegetable is a prominent part of traditional Christmas meals, but recipes don’t have to be Christmas themed. Recipes for soups, salads, stir-fries and even cakes with this versatile vegetable are welcomed too.

Lovethegarden launched their first competition to find the best recipes for garden vegetables in February 2011, which encouraged bloggers to be creative with cabbage. The winner was Karolina with her Cabbage & Mushroom Pasties. In August, David Hall won the Potty for Potatoes competition with his Hot potato, bacon and nasturtium salad and the winner of the Taste for Tomatoes competition was Nic from Cherrapeno with her Summer Tomato Tart with Chilli Cheese Pastry. The carrot competition will be the last one for 2011, but in 2012, Lovethegarden will continue to encourage everyone in the UK to eat their five-a-day.

The deadline is 11.59pm (UK time) on 21th December 2011. For more information, please visit the vegetable garden competition page.

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:

LovetheGarden ®, ™ and Miracle-Gro, Plus, Scotts and Pour & Feed are trade marks of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company LLC or its affiliates.

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, Salisbury House, Catteshall Lane, Godalming, Surrey GU7 1XE

For more information please contact Brittany LaGambina, Brittany.LaGambina@arena-media.co.uk

Lovethegarden, your online garden experts, are delighted to announce a brand new competition for 2011 that will help make sure you’re getting your five portions of fruit and vegetables a day! In an effort to encourage our readers to get creative in both the garden and the kitchen, we’re offering fantastic prizes for the winners of our brand new online recipe contest.

It’s very simple – every two months we feature a new vegetable in our vegetable garden competition. If you’ve got a great recipe for the featured vegetable, simply let us know by posting the recipe on your blog and emailing us the link at entries@lovethegarden.com. We’ll then list all the recipes we receive at our vegetable garden competition page and the recipe with the most votes on our blog wins a £200 meal for two at a restaurant of your choice, anywhere in the UK. Then all you’ll need to do is to get your readers to vote for you!

The truth about the humble cabbage:

This month’s featured vegetable is the humble cabbage. Much maligned and misunderstood, we’re making it our mission to bring you a plethora of new and exciting recipes submitted by our readers that’ll make you take a fresh look at this king of the garden vegetable plot. “The poor old cabbage has had a rough press over the years,” says George Hope from the Lovethegarden team. “It’s usually associated with school dinners, or pushed to the side of the plate and ignored as a watery, flavourless mess. The truth is that cabbages are one of the most popular vegetables grown in the UK and are delicious, versatile and incredibly nutritious. We want to showcase not just the cabbage itself, but our reader’s creativity and culinary skills and reward that with a prize that celebrates great food!” he adds.

The closing date for entries is 11th March 2011, so if you’ve got a great cabbage recipe – whether it’s something you’ve created yourself or one that has been handed down through the family – post it up on your blog and let Lovethegarden know. Every two months there’s a new featured vegetable and another opportunity to win that fantastic meal for two worth up to £200, so get blogging!

For more details and terms and conditions of entry, visit the vegetable garden competition page at LovetheGarden.com

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:

LovetheGarden ®, ™ and Miracle-Gro, Plus, Scotts and Pour & Feed are trade marks of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company LLC or its affiliates.

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, Salisbury House, Catteshall Lane, Godalming, Surrey GU7 1XE

For more information please contact George Hope, George.Hope@Scotts.Com or Giulia Ferrari Giulia.Ferrari@arena-quantum.co.uk

Wyedean Hardwood Flooring in the Forest of Dean has helped many landlords with their flooring needs, providing quality wood flooring at very affordable prices.

Gloucestershire, UK, January 27, 2011 – If you are a landlord with a number of properties, then have you considered wooden flooring for your buy to let homes? Wyedean Hardwood Flooring ( http://www.wdhflooring.co.uk ) in the Forest of Dean has helped many landlords with their flooring needs, providing quality wood flooring at very affordable prices.

Wooden flooring is the perfect solution for any landlord or indeed any home owner, as it is durable, cost effective and can be replaced very easily should any damage ever occur, which can be quite frequent when you are renting properties to other people.

Both solid Oak flooring and wood flooring has the warmth and depth of colour to enhance any room, from a modern penthouse suite through to a barn conversion. This means that whether you are renting out a flat in London or a 5 bedroom house in the country, wooden flooring is the perfect solution for your property.

Choosing the right product for you is important, as there are many factors to consider – including colour, board width, engineered or solid, pre-finished or unfinished, the range of oak flooring and wooden flooring, but luckily, Wyedean Hardwood Flooring ( http://www.wdhflooring.co.uk ) are your number one suppliers of everything you could possibly need when it comes to fitting your new floor.

Hardwood flooring gives any home a luxurious look and feel. It has become a really popular choice over the past few years with many people realising the benefits of it, such as increasing the value and attraction of your home to buyers.

Solid wood flooring is the perfect complement to any home from traditional through to contemporary.

If you are looking to make some property improvements to the homes that you own or rent out then look no further than http://www.wdhflooring.co.uk.

Not only will you get the best quality in solid and engineered wood flooring ( http://www.wdhflooring.co.uk ) but you will also get the best prices available, so give them a ring on 01594 810110 or visit the website mentioned above.

Press & Media Contact:
Dave Cole
WyeDean Hardwood Flooring
WyeDean Hardwood Ltd
Unit 5 & 6 Forest Of Dean Business Park, Stepbridge Road
Coleford, Gloucestershire, GL16 8PJ
Tel: 01594 810110
Fax: 01594 810101
wdflooring@clearwebservices.com

http://www.wdhflooring.co.uk

London, England – June 02, 2010 Despite the current economic recession, it appears sales of expensive sheds and summer houses are booming in 2010. Indeed one of the UK’s most respected broadsheets, the Daily Telegraph, recently reported that sales of high end summer houses and garden sheds, are flying off shelves at home and garden retailers.

“Summer houses have traditionally been used for relaxing in the garden in warm and wet weather, providing a cool shady place of tranquility from the pouring rain, or a place to recline and bask in the summer heat,” said Jasmine Bright, Spokesperson for Summer Houses For Sale

“However, not every summer house purchased by shoppers this year will be used in such typical manner. As the UK recession continues to bite and more adult children, discouraged by the high cost of rented property, return home to live with their parents, a number of these constructions will be utilised as guest rooms.”

“Don’t be surprised by this as many wooden cabins and sheds today are not the creaky/damp places Grandad used to keep his rusty rake and hide his home brew kit from Grandma. In 2010 high end sheds and summer houses are often equipped with double glazed windows, brass fittings and boast mortice locks for additional security.”

“When you factor in effortless electricity hook ups and wireless Internet access, no wonder these garden structures are becoming attractive prospects for twenty somethings seeking respite from spiralling rental costs and exorbitant property prices in the UK.”

It seems with UK unemployment figures at their highest level for 15 years, and many of Great Britain’s youth “economically inactive” this trend of summer house purchase could be set to continue long into the future.

About: – http://www.summerhousesforsale.com is a site offering an introduction to garden summer houses. It includes a price comparison feature and the latest UK deals.

Jasmine Bright
Summer Houses For Sale
UK
Telephone: +44 – 07929 12371
Email: info@summerhousesforsale.com
Website: http://www.summerhousesforsale.com

Paragon don’t just provide the highest quality carpet tiles for a whole host of different locations; they also produce them in-house in the lowest carbon producing tile factory in Europe – because we care.

Paragon prides itself on the following criteria:-

• Providing a UK manufactured product that achieves the best quality and performance standards for the commercial carpet tiles market.
• Providing a UK based customer services team with market leading service levels whilst offering quality discounted carpet tiles.
• Delivering not only environmentally friendly products but ensuring throughout our manufacturing chain we act to protect the environment
• Producing an extensive and modern range of design-led carpet tiles to meet any specification

For an efficient and effective method to laying out your office floor, carpet tiles are the best method in ensuring you not only have durable flooring but a finished, professional look too.

Paragon Carpets offer a number of options with regards to carpet tiles which can be requested in a variety of different colours for practically any type of setting. The carpet tiles are made with bitumen backing materials which is used to help tiles stick to the ground permanently.

Another feature of these tiles is that they are designed to handle static. All office carpet tiles from Paragon Carpets undergo static tests to see if they can work next to computers and other electrical equipment – for added safety. The same goes for their industrial carpet tiles too.

Another advantage to buying your carpet tiles online with Paragon is that they allow you to test their products by sending out samples of carpet tiles you like within 48 hours of placing the order.

For more information or to place your order, visit: www.paragon-carpets.co.uk

Address: Farfield Park, Manvers, Wath-upon-Dearne, Rotherham S63 5DB

Phone: 0845 601 0431

Taking our pets to the vets has never been a pleasant experience but we put our trust and faith in the caring veterinary practitioners and hope that they can help. There is usually a simple cure for all common illnesses and injuries associated with animals.

But what happens if you are told the cost of treatment is going to be over a thousand pounds? Many of us simply cannot afford to pay this and even more so since the economic downturn. Keeping our pets is a costly activity as we pay out for food, treatments and accessories on a regular basis.

It may be something that has not crossed our minds in the past but more commonly today vets can perform euthanasia on pets if owners cannot pay the vet bill. If an animal is old and suffering from numerous problems this procedure would be easier to accept. However in most cases people simply seek help for their young and perfectly healthy pets.

When did veterinary surgeons become God? What gives them the right to make a final decision on whether our pets stay alive or die?

If there is nothing we can do to stop this then we at least need to take control of the situation and look at what we can do to prevent this. An option would be to set up a payment plan with your vet if you struggle to pay the fee in one go. This is usually an easy option if you are a regular customer. However, don’t expect a vet you’ve never been to before to agree to such a plan; they wont know you or understand where you are coming from.

Pet insurance is now more essential than ever as it helps loyal pet owners spread the cost of heavy vet bills and provides reassurance that their pet, whether a dog, cat or rabbit, will be saved from an early death. There are many different covers available to owners and some policies are cheaper than others, depending on the age, breed and health of your pet.

It is best to compare policies and check which is best for you, taking into account whether or not it is immediate cover, waiting periods for illnesses and accidents and ongoing treatment cover. You can then be clear on what you are purchasing and how you will benefit from it. By paying a small amount each month, pet insurance could save you from extreme vet costs long term.

Vets have the right to perform euthanasia if owners refuse to pay high vet bills so consider your options, think ahead, plan your finances and buy pet insurance.

Website: www.petpalsdirect.co.uk

Many people have been trying to help out these freezing birdies by throwing them the odd leftover, perhaps, the scraps from a ready meal, or the fat leftover from Sunday’s bacon sarnie. But the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), are urging people to refrain from feeding garden birds leftovers as they could be filled with high contents of salt, which could cause our furry friends a multitude of health problems.

Not only are the birds at risk from eating too much salt, they could be drinking it too. To prevent bird baths from freezing over, some people have started adding salt thinking that they are helping the bids to keep hydrated, but sadly, this is doing them more harm than good.

There are, however, lots of options to keep your garden buddies in tip-top condition. You can still feed them some leftovers, but make sure that they are things like porridge oats, mild grated cheese or cooked rice and potatoes. And, if you do decide to feed them with bacon fat, ensure that it is unsalted, it’s better for you and the birds.

A spokesman from the RSPB said: “Salt can be very dangerous to birds, even in very tiny amounts because their bodies cant process it. Salt can also cause kidney dysfunction, so it is imperative that we leave it out of our feeding efforts.”

And here are a couple of tips to help with a frozen bird bath.

To begin with, try adding lukewarm water, it will help prolong the time it takes to freeze over. Keeping the water moving also helps it from freezing over too quickly, so, try dropping in a ping pong ball, cork or even just a twig in it.

By following these simple guidelines once spring has sprung, your garden will be flourishing with flocks of healthy and happy birds.

Author: Pet Pals Direct provides cheap pet insurance for dogs and cats in the UK. Get a free quote for cat insurance or dog insurance to see why it’s right for you and your pet.

Finding that perfect gardening gift for the enthusiastic gardener has been made easy this year thanks to the range of gardening gifts from Hopeful Gardener.

The team at Hopeful Gardener, a group of garden novices themselves, have found a number of fun and useful products for “the gardener who seems to have it all”; from quirky pink wheelbarrows, featured in Horse and Hounds through to Luxury Gardeners Kneeling Pads and Nubuck Gloves, offering protection to the forearms and finally the gardeners bags for carrying peat and clearing away the leaves and even rubber lined log bags (with matching gardening aprons).

Those looking for something a bit larger – the Globo hanging chairs are simply beautiful, offering indoor and outdoor comfort with thick cushions for those lazy days. If the Globo chair is out of your price range – then the Organic Hanging Chair offers comfort and an affordable price.

Sam Gilson, Marketing Manager at Hopeful Gardener explained, “Hopeful Gardener is about putting the fun back into gardening. Here at Hopeful Gardener, we all love our gardens but are all novices, we are looking for products that offer quality – with that bit of fun, things like our pink wheelbarrow and luxury items such as our wonderful log carriers just give that extra bit of flair to a great pastime.”

For further information on products that are available this Christmas from Hopeful Gardener, visit the website at www.hopefulgardener.co.uk.

-ends-

Notes to Editors
Hopeful Gardener can be found at www.hopefulgardener.co.uk Gardening Gifts for the Gardener Who Has it All and offers a wide range of quality products. The range includes cold frames, garden tools such as spades and forks as well as a growing number of eco products and gift ideas.

Contact Details:

Sam Gilson
sam@hopefulgardener.co.uk
0845 838 1296