As previously posted on this blog, Quality Garden Tools are again teaming up with Ethel Gloves to show their range at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Every now and then I am really surprised by my lords and masters at Quality Garden Tools. Just such an occasion happened this week when I was given a pair of Felco 31 anvil secateurs to try out. The reason for my shock was not that I was asked to test a garden tool (that happens all too frequently), but that I have never seen these particular Felco secateurs before.

Great news for those of you who, like me, love Ethel Gloves. The Victoria & Albert Museum have collaborated with Ethel to launch a really exciting new range of stunning gardening gloves.

In these times of austerity we are all told to ‘make do and mend’, recycling and restoring what we can to try not only to make ends meet, but also to avoid the accusation from our children they we are ‘killing the planet’.

After my last posting (an introspective and slightly insane rant) I thought I would return to the relative safe territory of garden tools!

I am a murderer. I’m not proud of it, but am finally able to talk about my awful guilty secret. It wasn’t a crime of passion and my victims (that run into thousands) were taken when still babies. Although I feel remorse for those I have mercilessly slaughtered I am pretty sure I will kill again - and soon.

For five years Quality Garden Tools have been an official supplier of TINA horticultural knives. Over that period the number of TINA knives available in the UK has fallen to just four items - until now! The breaking news is that Quality Garden Tools have just announced they are relaunching TINA in the UK with nine new products (as well as the existing four). The new thirteen tool range includes general purpose knives, pruning knives, grafting knives, budding knives and even a sharpening stone to keep your TINA knife razor sharp.

Many of you who regularly read this blog will know that I follow many other garden bloggers. Contrary to popular belief we are not loonies locked in darkened offices staring at blank computer screens for hours on end. Rather, we are mostly big enthusiasts for our subjects and love nothing more than passing on our triumphs and disasters to anyone willing to listen (or read)!

The end of February has to be my favouritest(!) part of the year. The Winter is over; bulbs are flowering (or beginning to poke through the soil), days are noticeably longer and lighter and my ‘gardening pangs’ are going into overdrive.

As the Winter starts to soften (allegedly) into Spring you may be about to bring out some of the garden tools that have not been used since October. If you followed my earlier posting on preparing tools for Winter, your garden tools should be in great condition and ready to use.

It’s official! You can now visit Quality Garden Tools on the Facebook website, this means two of the online community’s great success stories are now working together!

Quality Garden Tools’ favourite gardener, Christine Walkden has written a new book showing gardeners how to grow vegetables simply.

Yesterday saw the annual Press Event for the British gardening media at the RHS Lawrence Hall in Vincent Square, London. As usual I attended with our friends from Bulldog Tools who were showing off designs for their first show garden which will be in the Grand Pavilion at The Chelsea Flower Show this year (you can see the designs here).

One of the first books I can remember is The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter. The wonderful illustrations in that book include one of a white cat sitting above a goldfish pond (Peter Rabbit is in the background). Next to the cat is a wonderful, old fashioned watering can with a long, elegant spout and solid metal handle. Because of my rather precocious interest in garden tools, I was much more interested in Mr. McGregor’s watering can than Peter himself!

After our award winning debut at The RHS Chelsea Flower Show in May 2010 I am particularly excited that we have been invited back again for the 2011 show. This year’s show could be even better for the Ethel Gloves brand in the UK with a great new position half way up Eastern Avenue at the junction with the Sweetingham Steps (the route down to the bandstand) and opposite Crossway and Sweetingham Way.

Like many e-commerce companies, Quality Garden Tools is committed to charitable giving as an important part of their business plan. Each year all the staff decide which garden-related charity would benefit most from a gift of garden tools.

Quality Garden Tools have asked me to convey their thanks for all the business you have given them over the last twelve months. Although 2010 was not an easy year for many UK businesses, Quality Garden Tools still managed to increase sales and add new products to their ever expanding range.

A quick posting for those of you whose trees, like mine (see the photo taken chez Fat Gardener this morning) are covered in snow.

After all the excitement of the ‘industry awards’ still reverberating around the horticultural trade, it is time for the latest (and most important!) prizes to be announced. These Fat Gardener Garden Tools Awards aim to reward those tool manufacturers who invest in the highest standards of manufacture, making tools that are up to the job they are designed for and most importantly, liked by me! I test 100s of tools every year and these are the select few that have really impressed me over the last 12 months.

This week saw another change in the line up of the BBC’s flagship garden programme, Gardeners’ World. The new series will begin on BBC2 in the Spring. Back come the king of corduroy, Monty Don and ex-ballerina Rachel De Thame and out go current host Toby Buckland and his flame-haired side kick Alys Fowler.