It's all about the products

I guess all hobbies are the same, but I think gardening attracts more than its fair share. Of what? Of products, gadgets, tools, equipment, paraphernalia and, in some cases, downright tat!

And I should know. When I was the Gardening Editor of Garden News one of my jobs was to write the new products page and for years my garage creaked under the strain of stashed new products that had either had a nice write up or never again saw the light of day. Don't get me wrong, some new products were great and a definite boon to gardeners. But there were some that you just wouldn't want to part with your money for.

And guess what? I'm doing it all again! I've just been contracted to write the product review guides and tried & tested features for - yes, Garden News. At least this time I've set which product groups I'm going to write about and so, in theory, can control which products come in for review/testing. I've just got a nasty feeling that the garage is, yet again, going to be packed to the gunnels with the leftovers. Or I may donate them as raffle prizes to the gardening clubs I give talks to. Lucky them!

If you're interested to know which product groups I'm going to feature and if you're a gardening company that wants to put something forward for destructive testing, you can download a pdf of the list here.