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New to the Gardening board? Start here
💬 Some other boards on the Forum with a similar ethos * Green & ethical MoneySaving * Crafting * Old-style MoneySaving ℹ️ Some relevant guides elsewhere on MoneySavingExpert.com * Gardening on a budget * Home, garden & pets deals 💡 If there's a link you think we should include here, please send me a message!
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arkonite_babe's very useful Gardening Index
MSE update August 2014 Check for any offers, discounts etc on our Home & Garden and Gardening pages. If you have updates to add please PM either arkonite_babe or Pink.. MSE update March 2022 Please note that some of these links are now out of date. Back to the original post... Below is a list of useful links for gardening…
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Caterpillars????
I've never had caterpillars eating my roses before, have I just been lucky for the last 26 years? I'm used to them munching through an all-you-can-eat kale buffet (I swear my kale hating OH smuggles them in), but I've never seen them on roses before. So I'm afraid a pair of kitchen scissors "slipped" repeatedly, and think…
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Scarifying dead lawns after summer drought
When can I scarify my dry brown lawns. A few green shoots showing after a little rain. The dry dead grass is forming a mat and I'm thinking more rain would get into the earth if i remove this. Is this a good idea or too soon?
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Suggestions for shady area
The management company have at last cleared the Ivy and bramble from our communal garden. We can now see that the group of very tall trees at the bottom of the garden actually sit on a raised, almost circular, mound. It would be great (a) to prevent the Ivy and bramble from regrowing (the roots are untouched) and (b) to…
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Cut sprouting grasses on dry lawn?
New turf lawn last autumn. Watered it until hosepipe ban, now mixed green and brown patches with long shoots in many parts. Should I cut these with the mower at a high setting or leave them until the first proper cut - whenever that may be
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Hosepipe ban
I have a medium sized garden pond - no fish but numerous types of the usual pond life. To top it up recently (twice this year) I've used a garden hose to fill a water butt to which I add a conditioner to prepare the water for the pond. I then attach the hose to the butt tap and let it drain into the pond. (I have three…
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Garden buildings
I am moving to a house which has a garden building which looks natural wood but different colours due to the weather. Anyway I was considering painting the decking and summer house grey but worry it may be costly as I need someone to do it? I’m also keen to some sort of decoration and screening. Also it’s likely October so…
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Houseplants
I am new to plants and would like to buy a zz plant and an aspidistra or a cast iron plant, I have found some on amazon that get good reviews and are not too expensive, I'd like them to be quite large at least 60cm, but before I buy I wondered if anyone who knows better than me can suggest somewhere to buy, none of my…
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growing
Hi everyone, I'm looking to save a bit more on my food shopping and was wondering if growing fruit, vegetables or herbs at home is actually worth it financially. For those of you who grow your own, which crops have given you the biggest savings? Are there any that aren't worth the time or money? I'd also love to hear any…
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Appalling service from Sarah Raven
For the second year running I have had a terrible experience ordering plants from Sarah Raven. Last year the bulbs were delayed for weeks for no apparent reason other than 'supply issues'. and when they arrived were in poor condition with some too mouldy to plant. I ordered 5 large potted plants at the beginning of July…
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About bees
I've always deadhead plants to get more flowers or just to tidy up and tried to plant so there's something flowering all year as insects can be woken by a warm winter spell. But there was a bit more about them on the BBC new website https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c141lymnl2yo So watering the plants is important as…
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Thames water hose pipe ban
Coming into force in 23rd. However, not all gloom and doom. You can Use 30cm hose to fill watering cans Water domestic food crops if you can't reasonably use watering cans Water newly planted trees up to 3 years old. So, I think given my current state of health, I'll be ok. Have bought a festival trolley to push cans down…
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rose arbour collapsing
down one side of our garden there is a long arbour over a path. in the flower bed on one side there are 2 very old climbing/rambling roses that have been trained up and over the arbour. the branches had originally been pulled down through the arbour so as to anchor the plants to provide a roof of sorts over the path. in…
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500+ Strawberry Plants, Almost No Fruit – Heatwave Damage or Something I Did Wrong?
Hi everyone, I'm looking for some advice and also wondering how this year's season has been for other strawberry growers. Last year I had fewer than 50 strawberry plants, and they produced an excellent crop. Encouraged by that success, I expanded to more than 500 plants this year. I put in a huge amount of work preparing…
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Cementing over soil
Hi all, Not sure if anyone will be able to help or whether I need to go to a specialist place for advice.. Ive removed our old wooden shed and there is parts of one side where the new metal shed will go that is currently soil and I wanted to cement over the soil but I didn't know if I could just put some normal cement over…
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Help with weeds taking over
Hello everyone, I’m new to the forums and looking for some advice on tackling my overgrown patio. I hope it’s okay to ask here. I’m 30 and this is the first time in my life I’ve ever lived in a home with a garden so I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing. Please be gentle and excuse my ignorance - I am totally winging…
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Dahlias
I'm growing 2 dahlias for the first time. One has produced a flower, the other has buds. Novice question, do they repeat flower or just produce one flush of flowers? At what point should I lift them and pop them in the garage? Can you store them bare, or do they need to be in pots of compost?, if so, do they require any…
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Hose pipe bans
I live in one of the areas that has just introduced a hosepipe ban! Typically the Water Company's FAQs are very ambiguous as to whether this applies to (micro) drip systems and come to that what constitutes such a system? Any idea what is the norm? Apparently there is a seven day delay before the ban (which has started)…
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Lilac suckers, anyone?
i’ve been in my house 25 years and there is a lilac tree that was already well established when I moved in. It’s planted on a little bit of a bank with very dry soil. Various plants also there but also some quite big stones to give a garden edging. The suckers are coming up more often than they did last year and some of…
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Reliable expanding hose brand?
While there currently isn't a hose pipe ban here yet, we need another expanding hose. Like I guess many ours recently split. Looking at the reviews on Amazon, pretty much all brands seem to have issues, even Hozelock, although at least they have a 5 year warranty that might actually work. Any thoughts on whether it is…
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Advice on laying turf
Hello, we had our garden landscaped when we moved here about 5 years ago. Part of the process involved raising the level of the lawn area and laying new turf - this all went well. In subsequent years we have noticed an area (small 'L' shape) where the grass always turns brown in periods of low rainfall.We believe that this…
