Thinking of treating myself to a set. Always wanted some as I like quality tools and use my current ones quite a bit (got a standard Wilkinson Sword pair and some nice French ratchet ones) and find them miles better than my cheapie spares. Would the Felco's be as good as I hoped?

Looking at some number 2 ones (fairly standard shape) - usually £50, found them on t'web for £30.

Amazon page - £32 there

Thanks for the heads up murf. My Santa List this year will consist of some quality garden tools, especially as I approach the veg project for the first time.

I have been wondering where best to buy decent garden tools, anyone favour the garden centre over the web?

Garden centres are great but for expensive buys if you can save £20 on t'web just use them as a showroom like you would for a camera (OK, not a garden centre, like you'd use a camera shop for a camera....)

Did you ever get those Felco, Murf? I've had mine for years and they are best tool I own.

Yes, excellent tool, well worth the money. Great for 'proper' cutting and also work for finer dead heading etc.

I did manage to drop them on my foot on sunday whilst wearing sandals. Fortunately the 'point' that landed was the anvil side not the sharp side!

I'm glad you are enjoying them. Felco also service your secateurs and replace worn out parts. Never needed it myself though. Regular applications of good ol' WD40.

I've always used Felco's for my gardening business and still have the original pair I bought six years ago - still sharp and going strong. My wife found them to large to use so I bought a pair of Felco Essentiel Secateurs (small) for her as they are plastic based, so lighter to hold but are they crap by comparison - the little plastic clip to hold them closed has worn out after only being used a dozen times, so they are now permanently open - so if you are going to buy some, I'd only recommend the metal ones. They are also easy to take apart for cleaning and maintenance.

The Felco No 2 secateurs are now £26.99 at www.garden4less.co.uk which I clicked through to from Murph's original Amazon link.

Sorry, 'Murf'.

I should think so too!

(and it is actually 'murf' )

26.99 is an absolute steal

What happened to us guys?

I'm sure we used to talk about women, ale, footy and the like ................

£26.99 you say?

Gardening is the new rock 'n' roll dontcha know?

When we start to rock from standing up too long doing pruning we just roll onto our sunloungers to admire our handiwork. It certainly beat watching the World Cup this summer!

i watch the mrs doing the gardening from my sunlounger we're lucky to have a large mature garden but it inevitably needs a lot of work. great for wildlife - recently saw a pair of lesser spotted woodpeckers tapping away at one of our feeders which is positioned on a sycamore. enjoy sitting out in the evening with a glass of wine while toasting marshmallows on the chimenea, watching the bats come out and swirl around above us, enjoying the scents of the jasmine creeping around the gazebo...

...anyway ...how about them reds eh? football football ....grrrrrrr ....ahem

Yeah and birds with big jugs .................... can't even get deactivated around here anymore ........................

OK - go easy on me as I don't really do gardening (too busy drinking and shagging), but if you're 'dead heading' flowers, do you just pull the old dead flower heads off or cut the stem below the flower? And also do you wait until they're really dead or just fading a bit?

All my hanging baskets are dead as no-one in our house has a clue about gardening. Think they're probably beyond the help of anyone (apart from maybe 'miracle max') but would be useful to know for next year.

Usually cut below the flower somewhere on the stem. If not, there could be a seed head form taking away energy from ant new flowers. Chop them as soon as they fade if you can, they are only going to get uglier.....

Cheers murf. Don't think mine could get any uglier to be honest. Might have a quick go to see if i can salvage anything tonight before they go in the bin.

Just got an e-mail offering a Felco sharpening stone for £3.59 (5.34 inc delivery - should be 17.99 ). Sharpening is the sort of thing I never get round to so maybe I should take it as a sign....

http://www.garden4less.co.uk/felco-cera ... ner=EMVFEL