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how to get rid of ants!
yet again a couple of my large plant pots have ants nests in them. I started to prep one to put some seedlings in yesterday and uncovered a huge nest in one with hundreds of ants and ant pods (whatever you call them). Last year I got a young chap to over turn a stone planter to empty out the soil and I poured in boiling…
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Parasol and base
A recent purchase of a £14.99 Lidl parasol and accompanying £17.99
base seemed a bargain, but on reading the instructions, I realised
the base is inadequate for the parasol; will not weigh the required
50kg and using them together could prove dangerous. (Lidl have not
replied to several queries about this!) The search for…
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Lawnmower recommendations pls - mulching/box collecting
Hi there, My viking (stihl) lawnmower has died after 10+ years. We have a big lawn that takes approx 45m-1hr to mow. I don't want a ride on but want something that mulches finely but can also collect grass. What do you recommend pls? Thanks
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Dandelions in Lawn
We have a large number of dandelions in the lawnThey appear overnight - I assume due to seeds blown from a front garden across the road - where they appear to cultivate weeds ! The day after the lawn is cut - they sprout up to 6 inches....What can we do about these yellow pests ?
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FREE VEGETABLES FROM ROOTS AND TOPS
I saw this brilliant idea on YouTube where you can grow free veg from the parts you normally chop off and discard. So celery, lettuce cabbage bases, onion, parsnip, carrot etc tops, parts of a potato with an eye, cut out an inch chunk around it and plant underground with the sprout pointing up. Tomato plants from the seeds…
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Discuss the 'Gardening on a budget' guide
We've written a guide to gardening on the cheap and would appreciate your feedback. How did you find the info? Was it useful? Do you have any other tips you'd add? Thanks for your help! MSE Jenny H
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Solar Charged Water Pump For Hose
Good morning all, Hope this is ok to ask here, as it kind of relates to gardening in the money saving sense. So, I have a few water butts in the garden, which i've never really utilised as the filling of watering cans and walking round the garden is time consuming and also starts to get a bit heavy with the water in the…
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Putting grass seed down and getting of weeds
Hi all, We have a garden that is bare in places and needs grass seed put down. I've bought the grass seed and have taken advice from 2 different people. 1 person said to leave it until September as the conditions are better suites for grass growing and the other person said you can put it down but if there's no rain for 2…
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'Sunny' alternative to Camellia Japonica Brushfield Yellow.
Mil has one of these growing on the north side of her house. I'm very much taken by the colour and shape of the lucious evergreen leaves, and even the white/yellow flowers are pretty. I was all set to buy a couple for the south-facing front of our own house, when I read that it prefers dappled shade, and certainly not full…
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Lawn rescue
Hi gardening gurus, any advice on how to rescue our inherited 'lawn'? It was long when we moved in and has probably been neglected for a couple of years. It looked more like a cow field than a garden. As well as being brown/patchy now, it's also very lumpy. I can see green shoots appearing but I think it needs some help.…
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Soil Prep
I have rotavated without first lifting existing lawn (long story) subsequently removed visible grass and then raked and sieved multiple times to remove all visible grass/weed fragments. Can I now add compost and topsoil and proceed with laying new turf or do I need to wait several weeks and then spray with glyphosphate..?…
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Any idea what this is? Tomato plants
I bought 2 plants of a variety I hadn't heard of but they were sturdy enough. Almost at once something that looked like a leaf miner affected the two proper leaves. I checked regularly but couldn't see anything. Growing apace it is making a real dogs breakfast of the next leaves. Still nothing visible crawler wise, Stood…
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Fence paint.
My garden fences were painted last year but already in some places it's washed off. Is there an additive that can be used in water based paint to make it more hardy?
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Compost bay suggestions which keep out rodents
I will start by noting this is an open field of a couple of acres to trying to manage the population does not seem feasible nor would I want to kill them. I only just came on the scene here so it is their territory. I just want to learn to get along with them side by side without them being too disruptive. So far I had…
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Shrub stub/trunk fungus advice please
I I have this growing in my border, about 3 feet away from where I am growing runner beans. Need I get rid of this fungus? I cannot remove the stump. Thank you.
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Tracing electricity cable in garden
I have a mains cable running underground from house to garden shed whose route I need to trace. There is a plethora of devices on Amazon that will do this (like the NOYAFA 818L) but wondered whether anyone has any experience of using one.
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Poorly Plum?
Hi, I planted 2 x Victoria Plums in March, one from a Garden Centre & one from Morrisons. The one from Morrisons (which was bone dry) when I lifted it out after soaking came out as a bare root. Anyway the one from Morrisons hasn't done anything, not a leaf on it and Im worried it is dead but when I scratched a little bark…
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Planters on balcony
I’m going to buy 3 x 50cm cube zinc planters for my balcony - one will have a climbing rose and the others perennials. To reduce the weight and amount of compost I was thinking of putting some empty plastic water bottles at the bottom - is this a good/bad idea? What type of compost should I put in the planters?
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Hyundai vs. Honda Self-Propelled Petrol Lawnmowers - Need Your Wisdom!
Hi, I'm in the market for a new self-propelled lawnmower and have narrowed it down to two brands: Hyundai and Honda. I'm looking for something reliable and durable. I've been doing some initial research, but I'd really value the real-world experiences and opinions of people who have actually owned or used lawnmowers from…
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Photonic Red Robin leaves
My Photinia is about 3 years old and has finally started growing a bit and had produced lots of new red leaves. However, I have just noticed that a few of the new leaves have dried and curled up almost like they have been scorched. The weather has hardly been warm enough to cause that so am wondering if bugs have got to it…
