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Gardening apps
My husband has been looking at apps which can check plant leaves to advise the name of the plant, or to recognise various diseases. However, the apps he has found, although saying they're free, offer free for 7 days, followed by subscription charge. In true MSE style, he wondered whether there are any which are free, with…
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Squirrel Deterrent
We have 3 squirrels that frequently visit our garden, yes I know they're cute but they are causing damage to many of our smaller plants. I've tried the chilli and other plants options to deter them but with no great success. Has anyone any suggestions how to tackle this problem? Are Ultrasonic repellents worth trying? Look…
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Bargain roadside plants
Stopped at one of those "plants for sale" signs by the roadside. Now I'm not exactly an inexperienced gardener, so I mainly bought these three (£2 each) on the basis that I didn't know what they were so they might be something unusual. I think "? SORRY" is Polemonium pauciflorum "Sulphur Trumpets", and "Lysimanchia White"…
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Any Strawberry Advice?
I have strawberry plant (not sure of variety) in a hanging basket. Before getting too big they are just going mushy and out of shape, Is there a way to protect them from whatever is happening. Not sure what bugs go after strawberry's but I saved my cherries this year using small anti-bug nets stopping the stink bugs from…
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Tasteless beetroot!
My wife has for many years been trying without success to grow a beetroot that still tastes of beetroot. The varieties that she has tried either taste of nothing or they taste of sweetness, and the problem seems to be getting worse as more and more seed production is farmed out to China. Can anyone suggest a beetroot…
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Garden Furniture
Hi all, Any tips for comfortable outdoor seating with good old British weather? I've got an Ikea sofa set and left the cushions over the winter in a plastic storage box, but they've come out covered in mould stains. I don't think it lets water in, probably just due to general damp in the air getting in and staying there. I…
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Paved driveway questions
Hello, We get a huge amount of weeds on our large driveway so I'm trying to do something about it. We've removed them at the root and powerwashed. Once it dries, i intend to spray weedkiller then a few days later brush lots of kiln sand into the spaces. I have a few questions: Have I missed anything? What is a good…
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RHS Level 2 - Practical Certificate in Horticulture
Anyone done the above course and what was your experience of it? Was it worth your time and investment? Potentially, going to an Open Day tomorrow to look around college facilities etc
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B&Q cheap top soil
I’ve noticed a lot of posts on Facebook regarding B&Q allmost
giving away pallets of top soil. It says all you have to do via a
link is answer a few questions and pay a nominal fee of a few pounds
and they will send you a pallet of 60 bags of top soil. Is this too good to
be true, has anyone seen this or even taken up the…
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Rough cost to have a tree removed
Hi all, we've just moved into a house and much as it pains me to say it, there's tree which I think will need to be removed. It's a spruce, about 25ft tall, isn't in the best health and is growing at an odd angle. With the prevailing winds it will take down our fence and land on the area where a neighbour parks their cars…
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Why are my cherries split
As said, half the cherries have split around the stem area. It's been almost constantly dry for months but it's a dwarf established tree so haven't watered. A couple of wet nights but that hardly dampened the soil. Very hot, sunny, small back garden They've been sat the same size and half ripe for some time.
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Blank Canvass Garden - Design Inspiration Needed
Hello everyone, I am an avid reader of this thread and am in need of the collective advice. I moved house last year - downsized to a lovely 1930's semi. I had a large leafy garden in my old home but it is fair to say this new garden is rather bereft of any charisma. I attach a pic of the garden - now this is from the…
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Planting out the tomatoes/ zucchini
1st time wannabe vege gardener here! I'm wanting to try tomato and zucchini plants and due to no existing beds I dug up a section of the soil in the garden up to 12-15 inches depth. Soil was very dense/ compacted and lots of stones- I removed lots but not all. I've got multi purpose compost, the contents of 3 gro bags,…
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Drainage for tomato plant?
Hello peeps I bought a planter to put a tomato plant in but not sure if it needs drainage and whether it has any? There are 3 round raised bits on the bottom pot inside - not sure if they're for the drainage or what they're for...can anyone enlighten me?
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Neglected Lincolnshire garden
I'm going to start a "progress" thread on my garden as well. I've been here three weeks and planted a few of the things I brought with me because they desperately needed to be in the ground, but it's a bit of a drop in the ocean of grass! It's about 20m from the house to the back fence, and about 35m along the back fence,…
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Best time of year to cut a beech hedge down hard to promote new growth?
Hi all. My old but healthy beech hedge, on top of a stone wall, has reached the point where the hedge trimmer cannot cut through the thicker branches. As a result it's become larger - taller and wider - each year, a bit of a 'mare. I've decided to sort this by getting it cut right down in height - achieved - but leaving…
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Foxes leaving clothes and rubbish in my garden
Hi - looking for some advice. I have a small garden in a pretty urban area, and although there've always been a handful of foxes around they've recently got a lot more disruptive (potentially because there are now more of them - I saw a mother with three cubs, and the younger foxes come up towards the house even in the…
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Landscaping Project
We have a landscaping project commencing in a month time. When we gave notice / share our plans to both sides of our neighbor, one side of the neighbor really anxious about it. We would like to keep a good relationship with her but also don’t want to make her interfere our landscaping project. What should we do? Her…
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Weed, tree or plant worth keeping?
I've had 2 of these grow in a discarded pot. I know the little spots of Vervain on the left seeded from elsewhere. But not sure about the 2 larger ones on the right. I did have a couple of Dalia corms that were knocking around, I thought I'd planted and they'd not survived. Could they be or is it one of the random things…
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Shaping plum trees after topping
Hi everyone, Am looking for some advice on shaping two claudia plum trees that I have in my garden. We inherited them along with the garden when we bought this house some 3.5 years ago. They are against our south facing fence and one of them in a corner of our fence and garage - so not like they have lot of space around.…
