Over the last few years our lawn only seemed to grow moss, it was always very wet, spongy and a…read morenightmare to push the lawn mower through. We decided to do something about it and talked to a few different gardeners before choosing to go with Robbie from Premier Lawns. We had the lawn scarified and aerated and new seed put in, it took a few weeks, though after that our lawn has never looked so good and is now much easier to maintain. My wife and I cannot recommend Robbie enough.

From the owner: Professional gardening maintenance service | Lawn treatments, weed and feed, moss control,…read moreAeration, Scarification, Hedge cutting, grass cutting

I ordered trees and hedging through Woodcroft Landscapes' online shop and was really impressed with…read morehow easy the process was. The plants arrived healthy, well-packaged, and exactly as described. It's clear their nursery stock is top quality and well cared for. On top of that, I've seen some of the landscaping projects they've completed, and the standard of work looks excellent, professional, tidy, and built to last. You can tell they take real pride in both the plants they grow and the gardens they create. Between the convenience of the online shop and the craftsmanship of their landscaping, Woodcroft Landscapes is a company I'd highly recommend.

From the owner: Whether you are starting from a bare area of earth or are looking for ideas to enhance your…read moreexisting garden, we can provide the inspiration, plants, trees and expertise.

McCune's is a well known DIY shop in Carrickfergus. This is one of the few shops in the town that…read morehas been 'part of the furniture' for as long as I can remember. They sell a range of wallpaper, paint, varnish, in fact, pretty much anything you would need for general DIY. Perfect for someone who has a quick job to do, and doesn't want the hassle of having to go all the way up to Newtownabbey to visit one of the larger DIY stores. They also sell a range of gardening items. As has already been mentioned, the staff are super helpful, especially for someone as clueless as me when I wanted to make my first attempt at wallpapering (it didn't work, but it wasn't due to ill advice, just my poor skills) In addition, McCune's is one of the few places locally that you can get a key cut, so if you ever need a spare key in a hurry, this is the place to go. Nice selection of keyrings too!

We visited Hillside on Saturday past, to have some lunch and take our little boy to see Santa. We…read moredecided to come because it's great to visit and spend a few hours. This is so much more than just a boring garden centre, because I really would not be excited about visiting a garden centre! Hillside really have gone the distance to make this an interesting place to visit, regardless of whether you are into gardening, or not. Aside from the massive range of plants, shrubs and gardening accessories, Hillside also have a large section selling fish from Maidenhead Aquatics, which is lovely to have a look around. They also have a massive indoor shop, selling everything from standard gardening items, to barbecues, water features, and even homeware. They had the place all done up for Christmas and it really got us all in the festive spirit, it looked absolutely magical. The Santa's grotto was in aid of Clic Sargent, so as well as getting a great festive experience, we were also helping to support a great cause. There was a bit of a wait when we arrived, however we simply took our ticket and went off to get some lunch at the on-site tearoom. I had been to Hillside a few times before, however this was my first time visiting the tearoom, and this exceeded our expectations by far. I was expecting tea/coffee, tray-bakes, and potentially some pre-packed sandwiches, however I couldn't believe the fantastic full menu they had on offer, hot foods such as gourmet hotdogs, burgers, pies, quiches, and any type of sub or sandwich you wanted. We had a sandwich and a toastie and the quality of the food was excellent. We had so much fun at Hillside and will look forward to coming back again soon!

My parents are both big green fingers and loving daughter thatI am *ahem* when they need a hand…read moregarden wise I'm often called upon to trek up to Hillside with them to help out with carting all the goods to and fro. (Thankfully aided by those huge trolleys they have!) Hillside is a great garden centre which stocks a massive range of anything and everything you could ever need for your garden. Hillside Nursery is now the biggest garden centre in Northern Ireland. It's located on the Doagh Road, Newtownabbey. It recently underwent a major renovation which saw the premises extending with a new car parking space, a lovely though expensive coffee shop and an indoor covered plant area. They really needed this new parking space as it used to be on a sunny Saturday the whole place would be totally packed out and often put people off visiting but thankfully there's room for everyone now. Happy gardening everyone!

Now I never thought I would be interested in a shop with the word 'timber' in its name, but that…read moretime has come. I must stress that I didn't go to buy actual timber or anything remotely DIY related, no what I was looking for was some lovely new garden furniture. Unfortunately I was 'too early in the season' to be looking for garden furniture. Silly me. So I didn't get what I wanted, but what I did get was fantastic customer service from the manager. He went out of his way to describe what furniture he was expecting in the next few weeks, what it was made of, where it was made and how much it would cost. He spent so much time trying to please me that it was almost funny. He was describing what I couldn't have! Well not for a few weeks anyway. I also enquired about Jungle Gyms and they offer a comprehensive service at competitive prices. There were also some lovely garden features like fountains and decked areas which almost (but not quite) inspired me enough to actually tidy up my own garden.