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Getting water into a water butt
Hi. I have a shed with a pent roof and would like to collect rain water into a water butt. My simple question is - how do I get the rain water into a water butt? What do I need?
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Growing supermarket beans
I'm not sure if this has been covered in the past. Is it possible to grow the dried supermarket beans in the UK and if so which ones are suitable?
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Holly tree losing leaves
Hi all Could do with some advice please. We bought two holly trees a few months back. One of them has started to lose a lot of its leaves - at least 2 thirds I would say. The tree is about 20 foot high. I'm thinking that perhaps the drainage isn't good enough and the tree has been suffocating. Despite all the hot weather,…
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Neighbour's nightmare tree
Can anyone advise please? I've lived here a couple years. My neighbour has a ridiculous tree - when I viewed before moving in, I knew it was big but it wasn't too bad. I thought it was still in "bushy summer mode" - apparently it was not. OH MY. It is INSANE in spring/summer - blocks out some light to one room and fully to…
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Is this Rhubarb?
Planted out my rhubarb seedlings and this one looks very different to the rest.
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Our first ever allotment harvest today
So chuffed! We picked our first harvest today, mange tout, peas and pak Choi
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Garden Privacy ideas required.
Hi, Next door neighbours changed their kitchen layout so they added a new window opposite where our garden door opens. The wall you see is about 4 foot high. Can anyone suggest how I can block that area, ideally something 6ft high and 4-5ft wide? I know absolutely zero about gardens and as little about DIY so I'm looking…
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Tiny pond and mossie breeding?
I now have a tiny pond in a terracotta pot. It's 18" diameter. Last year as i waited to seal it through rain, drought and more rain there were plenty of mossie lavae. I like all windows and doors open when possible and mossies love me. It will be a while until I can get a little solar fountain, there are frogs about but…
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Long thin worms appeared on soil
Hi all, had a bit of a freak out this worming after discovering a lot of very thin, threadworm type worms on the soil in the flower bed. We had lots of rain last night after a long period of dry weather. I would say they worms are around 1mm in width and approx 2-3 inches long, maybe longer. Any idea what these could be?…
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Aphids Aphids everywhere
A few of my roses are covered in aphids, and I have been spraying them with the low-pressure sprayer (a few drops of dish soap and water). The soap is effective, but I do not like what else might be there in the dish soap. Is that a more gentle or safer soap which can be used for this? I have tried neem oil; they are not…
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Do you recognise this flower in our wildflower patch?
OK, I own up, I'm showing off the result of our 'No-mow May' wildflower patch! But there's one flower we don't recognise - the blue low growing one visible in the third and fourth photo. It's not dissimilar to nigella growing elsewhere in the garden, but much shorter, and the leaves are different. It was a commercial seed…
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Invasive weed or wildflower.
Hello, I cannot stop looking at these in my un-mowed patch of lawn. Can anyone tell me what it is? I have googled it and keep seeing Fox and Cubs but not sure. Invasive weed or wildflower? Either way I do not want to mow it down as it is rather beautiful. When fully open it is a bright orange colour.
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Reusing plastic pots....
I have never washed out used plastic pots before using them again. Should I wash them to reduce the risk of spreading diseases?
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Weather and black spot
Hi everyone i hope you are having the same fabulous weather we are having in Dorset. I have some lovely roses in containers and I’ve noticed they’ve got a bit of black spot. Can anyone recommend the best treatment for it. I know there are commercial sprays but I don’t know enough about it to just buy something or find…
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New allotment, what winter crops can still go in?
I have unexpectedly come to the top of the list for a local allotment and am off to view a plot on Sunday. Assuming we can get some beds prepared quickly (apparently the plot they are splitting is quite overgrown as the previous tenant became unwell), does anyone have suggestions as to what winter crops I can still get in…
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From overgrown bomb site to perfect lawn. Steps needed?
Hi all, I am currently in the process of clearing my very, very overgrown garden, but would like to end up with a nice lawn. I am clearing a lot of ivy, stinging nettles etc, and had to dig out some clumping bamboo (It only took ten hours! : ) and I still need to remove some small trees and stumps etc, but I am slowly…
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Poppies
I used to have poppies - big with gorgeous bright red flowers - that have moved with me several times. This year they are a sort of faded red with even paler, not quite white, margins to the petals. What has happened? If I plant seeds that I saved from last year are they likely to come up true?
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Repointing paving stones
Hi all, I'm currently looking to repoint the flagstones in the back garden. My question is, do I need to get up all of the current pointing, or just the ones that are cracked/gappy? Will just doing certain bits then have a big contrast after repointing? I'd then be looking to paint all paving with a patio paint after if…
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Garden Wildlife - of the larger variety
Not sure if this is the right place to post, please move if not. We are in the suburbs, but right on the edge. So we're next door to a farm (also in the suburbs, but with land behind it) and also back onto one of their fields. I think I saw a rat the other week, which worried me, but no other sightings since. But we did…
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What is this gorgeous flower
I was shopping yesterday evening in Waitrose and there was a vase with some of these in customer services. I asked a member of staff what they were and where could I get one. Sadly he didn’t know. I carried on shopping and the lovely man came up to me with this and presented it to me as a gift. I think it is a peony but…
