Longacres Blog

The title says it all doesn't it.  Could anything really be that easy?  Yes!  Wet and Forget really does do what it says on the pack. If you are struggling to clean your drive of lichen or your patio of moss, this is the solution.  Wet and Forget is non-caustic, non-acidic and contains no bleach.  Just one 5L container makes 30L of product.  Spray onto the surface and....yep, forget!   Not only will it remove moss, algae, lichen and mould, it carries on working for 12 months.  The other great thing about it is that if you don't need to use it all straight away, it has an unlimited shelf life.  Currently on sale for £29.99 at Longacres. See it in action here:

Our good friends from 96.4 Eagle Radio will be joining us on Monday 4th of July as part of The Love Tour 2016! The team will be setting up and broadcasting from 6.30am all the way through until 9.00pm in the Longacres Bagshot car park. It promises to be an amazing day with 10% off purchases* all day, late night opening until 9.00pm, fun, games, the £1,000 minute played live, an outdoor barbecue & summer party (weather permitted) and so much more! Why not pop down and say hello to Peter Gordon, Bev, Adam Morris, Simon Rose and Lewis Mason during their day with us here at Longacres to celebrate the 4th of July in style (yee-haw!) You can keep up to date with all the latest news by joining our Facebook event here. *offer excludes gift vouchers, garden buildings & alcohol

Psst.. Father' Day is on Sunday 19th June! Fear not though, we have everything you will need to make sure Dad has the best day possible with one of our gifts from our Father's Day category! We also have a huge range of barbecues, power tools,lawn mowers, DIY tools, gift vouchers, car care,gardening gifts and so much more! Don't forget, for the perfect finishing touch you can always add a balloon (cause no matter how old you are, balloons are always amazing!)

This weekend we have two different companies coming to our Bagshot branch to show off their products, demonstrate how to use them and of course, provide a free sample or two! Valoriani Fornino Demonstration (Saturday 28th May) Join us on Saturday 28th May 2016 for a day of cooking with the Valoriani Fornino (brand new to Longacres!) This wood burning outdoor oven is perfect for pizzas, chicken, beef, lamb, fish or anything else you can think of. We have Nino from Caffe Amore joining us along with the team from The Green Olive Firewood company to show you what the oven can do and hand out some free freshly baked pizza samples. All the pizza dough will be provided by Caffe Amore; so if you enjoy the sample you can visit them for more. We will be all set up from 10am until 4.30pm on Saturday 28th, so be sure to pop along! Weber Grill Squad Demonstration (Sunday 29th May 2016) We here at Longacres are huge fans of the Weber brand and their amazing products, so we are pleased to welcome them back on Sunday 29th May! The team will be at our Bagshot branch cooking smoked salmon, beer can chicken and meatballs wrapped in bacon in the morning, and preparing perfect steak, pizzas and brownies in the afternoon (yum!) The first demonstration will begin at 10.30am and the second demonstration will begin at 1.30pm (ending around 3.30pm) - be sure to pop along, say hello, learn a few things and of course grab yourself some free grub!

It's still not feeling too warm outside, but at least you can give your garden a splash of colour with our range of bedding plants and hanging baskets.

Isn't it great to get out in the garden again now the sun is shining!  Trouble is, you then tend to notice that your shed could do with a new coat of paint, or your fence needs a treatment to protect it from the weather. Those little garden jobs never go away do they!  At least with the Cuprinol range at Longacres, you can brighten up your wooden garden furniture, and at the same time give it a coat of protection (that sounds like something a modern super-hero would have).   If you're a little fed up with your shed, fence, flower pots and bird box all being a different shade of brown (not that we have anything against brown you understand), you might like to try some Cuprinol Garden Shades.  In a range of amazing colours, the texture of the wood can still seen whilst offering the protection you would expect from Cuprinol products. If you're not quite sure what colour is right for you, there are tester sizes available so you can try a few and see what suits your style. Cuprinol Less Mess Fence Care is quick drying (around an hour) and gives great coverage using just the one coat.  The 6L can covers 30m2 or around 10 fence panels and is great value at £7.99.  If you prefer to spray your fences, try Cuprinol Spray and Brush 2 in 1 Pump Sprayer for £37.99.  The unit fits any Cuprinol sprayable products, as well as the Garden Shades range. Cuprinol Ducksback offers protection for sheds and fences for up to 5 years, is easy applied and shower proof in just 1 hour.  We currently have an offer of 'Buy 2 Cuprinol Ducksback 5L cans and get a free 4" brush'.   Remember to give your garden table and chairs a new lease of life with Cuprinol Naturally Enhancing Team Oil once you've taken the covers off (full range of garden furniture covers here).   If you're changing the colour of your fence or shed, or letting your imagination run wild with multi-coloured wooden flower pots, you might like to post a picture of your newly coloured items on our Facebook page!

We have the very talented Grant Colbrook from La Hacienda joining us this weekend (Saturday May 14th 2016), at our Bagshot branch for a cooking demonstration day with his magical BakerStone Pizza Oven. Join us any time between 9.30am and 4.30pm for a demonstration and some free pizza samples! You can find our BakerStone Pizza ovens online here!

Hooray! Summer is here (well, almost). We’re sure that this weekend was many people's first barbecue of the year and their first opportunity to relax in the garden. However, it’s not all relaxing when it comes to gardening and giving the grass that first mow of the season is always a wonderful feeling (and a wonderful smell as well!) Trouble is, sometimes you then notice the moss to grass ratio is a little higher than you’d like!   If your lawn is looking a little worse for wear (like the one above), now's the time to treat it to some TLC. Viano MO Bacter is a slow release organic lawn fertiliser and moss killer which rids your garden of that pesky moss and improves existing grass. It's a gentle product and will not damage plants, so your border flowers are perfectly safe. There's also no need to scarify afterwards either as MO Bacter 'digests' the moss. It is also stain free, so no more having to worry about your patios and stonework. Once you've treated your lawn, you can make it truly green again with EverGreen Complete 4 in 1 (currently 2 for £36). With a glorious green and weed free lawn, it's time to sit back and relax with a Pimms - you've earned it!

The food hall at Longacres is an attraction in its own right, with daily deliveries of fresh bread, cakes, fruit and vegetables, a selection of American and South African foods, health foods, Cook range of frozen meals, Walkers biscuits, Losely Farm dairy products and a wide range of all your favourite confectionery! We sell quality products at brilliant prices and always have a variety of great offers in store. Our staff are knowledgeable, passionate about food and are always available to help you find exactly what your looking for in the Longacres food hall. Come and see us today! In addition we now also have fresh meat from Bevans Butchers and our very own on site bakery, providing bread, rolls, sandwiches, croissants, cakes, doughnuts, bacon butties, hot soups and so much more. I'm getting hungry just writing this!

Our good friends at Weber will be joining us on three days to help you get the most out of your barbecue (and of course provide yummy free samples along the way!) These free, all day demonstrations will be running on Saturday 23rd April (past event), Sunday 29th May (past event) & Saturday 18th June at Longacres Bagshot. Come along and experience a cooking demonstration like no other! On all three days the Weber team will be cooking smoked salmon, beer can chicken and meatballs wrapped in bacon in the morning, and preparing perfect steak, pizzas and brownies in the afternoon. The first demonstration will begin at 10.30am and the second demonstration will begin at 1.30pm (ending around 3.30pm) Why not pop down and learn something new, grab some free samples and enjoy the beautiful weather (beautiful weather not guaranteed - but keep those fingers crossed!) You can also find out all about our Weber Grill Academy which is being held on Wednesday June 1st at 6.30pm on our Facebook event page here (past event) You can find our range of barbecues online here!

For all you early birds out there, we have an egg-cellent (pun intended) offer running on Good Friday (25th March) and Easter Monday (28th March); you can save a massive 10% off* in store at our Bagshot and Shepperton branches!  To redeem the offer just come into the store (Bagshot or Shepperton only) between 7.30am and 9.00am where you will be given your voucher at the front doors. Then all you need to do is simply hand the voucher over to the till assistant when you go to pay to receive your discount. Don't feel that you have to rush - your voucher will be valid for the duration of the day. Don't worry though, if Good Friday seems like the perfect day for a lie in and Easter Monday you're recovering from too much chocolate, we also have the same amazing offer on the Early May Bank Holiday (2nd May) and Spring Bank Holiday (30th May) *Please be aware that the vouchers are only valid for the duration of the day of issue, and cannot be used towards the purchase of gift vouchers, alcohol or sheds - sorry!

Most people love holly with its rich shiny leaves and bright red berries. There are many other plants with highly ornamental fruit that provide interest, often during autumn and winter when flowers are scarce. The following are a few of the many choices available. Starting small with the summer dormant bulb Arum italicum subsp. italicum 'Marmoratum'. It has short columns of showy red berries in autumn, followed by marbled leaves that last through winter. Plant this with Hellebores and spring bulbs and it will naturalise if happy. Another lowly, often overlooked plant is the Gladwin iris, Iris foetidissima, with informal clusters of red berries in winter and fan-shaped spikes of green leaves. This is useful in difficult shady or dry places, a plant of quiet quality. Finally try Honesty, Lunaria annua. (Also available with showy variegated foliage). The sprays of white or purple flowers are followed by rounded white papery seed pods that appear in summer and which are loved by children. Moving on to compact and medium-sized shrubs there are new ranges of the Tutsan, Hypericum that have been developed with a resistance to the rust disease that had blighted them. Some of these have names prefixed with  ‘Magical’ or ’Miracle’. They are truly eye-candy when the shiny yellow flowers combine with clusters of berries from late summer. The berries are coloured in shades of white, pink, red, and mahogany, all eventually turning black. One example is Hypericum x inodorum Magical Sunshine = 'Kolmasun'. They make attractive shrubs, around a metre in height with pleasing foliage and a neat shape that looks good in the foreground. Try some of the smaller and sometimes prostrate cotoneasters that have white flowers in May and masses of berries from August or September. The low-growing or prostrate Cotoneaster conspicuus 'Decorus' has orange-red autumnal fruits. For a characterful plant, good in a container or enhancing a rockery or raised bed the small but craggy Cotoneaster microphyllus has small red berries that last and last. Many roses have showy hips (don’t deadhead if you want these to develop), they include the prickly Rosa 'Fru Dagmar Hastrup' that has fragrant pink flowers. Finally, the exceptional flagon fruits of red-flowered Rosa 'Sealing Wax' stands around 2.5 metres in height but can have lower shrubs planted in the foreground. Many climbers also have showy fruits. The bold pyracantha is probably the supremo for in-your-face displays of red or orange berries from autumn. Among the number available is Pyracantha Saphyr Orange = 'Cadange'. For something different there are the purple autumn pods of the annual climber Lablab purpureus 'Ruby Moon'. If you are really brave and can handle a 12 metre high climber, there’s the shiny green wall-covering leaves of Celastrus orbiculatus. Its fruits are curious with yellow-lined pods that burst open to show its red berries. For a warm spot the subtle Schisandra rubriflora has dangling red flowers and red fruits, both distinctive and unusual. If you have room for larger shrubs consider the native guelder rose in the beautiful form Viburnum opulus 'Compactum' with clusters of shiny red fruits. The larger Viburnum opulus 'Xanthocarpum' is a beauty with its translucent orange berries. For intrigue, try the blue berries of Clerodendrum trichotomum, the large but delicate sprays of red berries on Nandina domestica ‘Richmond’, that last all through winter, or, finally, the violet fruit of Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii 'Profusion' these have a haunting quality all their own, most effective in late autumn. There are also plenty of ornamental fruits on trees, but these have to wait till next time when ‘Trees for Small Gardens’ will be covered. Enjoy! This blog post was kindly contributed by Susan A Tindall.