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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…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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,…
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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…
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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.
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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.
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Stopping cats using garden as litter tray - suggestions please?
I have recently put in some raised flower beds and now cats are using them to poop in! 🙈 I've looked at sonic deterrents, pellets etc but most of the reviews I've read are less than positive - has anyone got any tried and tested ideas that actually work but don't harm or deter other creatures?
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Slab or slate?
Shubs, ground cover plants beneath front window have been removed. An area 11ft x40", ideal for seats. Unsure about using slabs (how many?) or slate which covers much of front garden. Cost important.
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Front Garden - Grass or Exposed Aggregate?
My front garden is gravel with some large plant pots. Beside it there are big cherry blossom trees which, although beautiful in bloom, make an awful mess with their leaves. I spend half the year lifting these leaves from the gravel and I’m fed up with it. It can take over an hour each day. Since it’s gravel, I can’t use…
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Senecio Angel Wings....problem
Hi any idea what's happened to my Senecio Angel Wings. The downy stuff has disappeared on about 85% of mine to leave green patchy leaves. Looked all over the net and cannot find any solution.
