-
Insulation grant for private tenants - has anyone applied?
Hello,We have been living in a rented house for the last three months, we think it was built in late 1940s and there's no way to keep it warm. We looked at options for insulation and came accross a website. freeinsulation.co.uk/private-tenants/ Our landlord has given us the go ahead to apply. Just wondered if anyone here…
-
Should I buy a 'real' Christmas tree or stick with artificial?
Hi all For many years I've toyed with the idea of buying a 'living' Christmas tree instead of my 20 year old artificial one. Now I know the 'green' thing to do is to stick with my artificial one but is there much of an impact on the environment by buying a real one? A friend of mine grows a tree in a pot outside which he…
-
winter care for half barrel pond
Hi We set up a half barrel pond this year with few oxygenators,dwarf water lily x1 , corkscrew rush x 1, scouring rush x 1 and water salvia.What should be the care I need to provide over the winter? We have no fishes. Thanks
-
Solar Garden Lights
Hi Can anyone recommend some decent solar garden lights ? I bought some earlier this year from Home Bargains but they've stopped working. They were strings of light bulbs and they're filling with water. I did like them so I'm considering replacing them with something a it more robust. Thanks Jen
-
Low maintenance front garden suggestions
We've got a small front garden which goes down in three steps to the road. I did originally plant quite a few bulbs - the crocuses, tulips, hyacinths, and dhalias are reliable and pretty. The 200 lilies were decimated by lily beetle in the first year. It's mostly just a den of weeds at this point as I'm not the biggest…
-
Hedging suggestions
Next spring we're thinking of cutting down our existing hedge (which I think is either a leylandi or closely related species) in the back garden and replacing it with something more visually appealing. The hedge is around 50 feet long and we would like 3 or 4 different types of plant (in blocks, not mixed). We'll trim the…
-
Willow weaving...
After a horrible few months of trying to deal with the lost of my spaniel and my horse within 2 days apart. I've have taken to trying willow weaving well attempting at it. So far I've made a heart with initials of a B and a N . It looks good much better than I thought it would. A dragonfly too. I'm hoping that once…
-
Gardening Tools
My wife likes gardening, in particular, growing veg. She has a habit though, of not putting her tools away, but we have always bought cheap, and when they've rusted, or handles broken, bought new ones. I don't mean spades, and large forks, I mean the small hand tools. What I want to get her, is a good set of tools,…
-
Squirrel and Holly berries
For the last few days I’ve had a squirrel frantically taking berries off the holly tree and burying them in the lawn. Normally I’m battling to keep them off the bird feeders, but this one is ignoring the feeders and going mad with the berries.Much more entertaining than watching the tv.I’ve never seen them do this before,…
-
What do I do with these Azaleas
I have just moved house. When I viewed in the summer there were some beautiful Azalea bushes in the garden all in full bloom and looking gorgeous. Ice spent the last couple of weeks unpacking boxes and have now got round to investigating the garden! I started to rake leaves and got to where the Azaleas were. The beautiful…
-
Willow sticks as garden canes?
I have to severely cut back a very enthusiastic willow in my garden and I was thinking of retaining the trimmed wands to use as garden canes next year. Has anyone done this/ got any tips for drying them? Thanks in advance.
-
Where to buy starter shrubs
Can someone tell me a good place to order Euonimus Fortunei starter shrubs? I don't want really small but don't want to pay much either! Will need about 8 - 10 to put under a Leilandi hedge where there are big gaps.
-
Birds in my garden
Probably not a very exciting post for many, but having only started feeding in the last year or so, I'm very pleased with all the visitors we now get, including: Sparrows, blackbirds, starlings, collared doves, blue tits, great tits, robins, siskins, goldfinches, bullfinches, chaffinches, pied wagtails, yellowhammers,…
-
Double Set of Free Spring Bulbs Due to Website Error - Hurry Before They Fix It!!!
There is a site called freeplants.co.uk which give away a free plant every week - you have to pay £4.99 p&p so I don't usually take the free plant unless I buy some other plants (which are reasonably priced compared to other sites) that I want then the p&p charge is spread and it's a nice deal. This week they've left last…
-
Lavender Angustifolia Dentata care
Got carried away after the first lockdown and the first plants to appear in a supermarket when all was closed were some lovely standard trees of this lavender. I used them as a hedge for a raised path and they're flourishing. The foliage has doubled in size which breaks up the fence and awful expanse of tarmac view from…
-
Bird table and bird feeder (anti predator)
Hi. Can someone recommend me a bird table that's difficult for wildlife killing pests like cats to get on? Unfortunately the bird table we have is only 1 metre off ground level which isn't tall enough as there is a particularly athletic vicious domestic cat (absolutely horrible things) in the area, so we want to try and…
-
Useful stuff from builders skips
Hi The foreman of a local building development is giving me access to their skips this weekend. I'm mainly looking for bricks and planks of wood for my newly acquired allotment plot. As a newbie I thought it would be useful to ask what else I should look out for which might be useful? Thanks
-
Will replace my lawn with hard surface stop cat?
So fed of having to clean cats poo on my lawn everyday. It is disgusting I cannot put my washing to dry outside without stepping on their poos. I have tried everything from sonic etc. Having tried to block their ways with prickly branches do not work, they go around it. I have just bought scaring cat mat sfrom ebay upposed…
-
Dahlias - good for Autumn show?
On one of my recent excursions I noticed an impressive display of Dahlias outside a particular house. Unfortunately the owner was not in as I wanted to ask for a few tips. Living a fair distance away, asking at that door is no longer an option so I thought I'd raise the issue here. Are Dahlias well-known for Autumn…
-
My MSE Deal Gladioli
Back in June this year I got 100 Gladioli bulbs for £10+free postage from an MSE deal. I'm not much of a gardener, but I decided to put them in my flowerbed and see what happened. Pleased to say, about 30 of them came up with most of them blooming. The first one was red, but got got knocked down in a storm. All the others…
