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Gardening

Gardening help, plant identification tips, and practical MoneySaving insight for your garden, allotment, or indoor plants

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💬 Some other boards on the Forum with a similar ethos * Green & ethical MoneySaving * Crafting * Old-style MoneySaving ℹ️ Some relevant guides elsewhere on MoneySavingExpert.com * Gardening on a budget * Home, garden & pets deals 💡 If there's a link you think we should include here, please send me a message!
arkonite_babe's very useful Gardening Index
MSE update August 2014 Check for any offers, discounts etc on our Home & Garden and Gardening pages. If you have updates to add please PM either arkonite_babe or Pink.. MSE update March 2022 Please note that some of these links are now out of date. Back to the original post... Below is a list of useful links for gardening…
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?
Awful weather - typical Brits talk
Well it's been downright awful here in Somerset for the last couple of days with non-stop rain! Just wondering how committed you lovely peeps are... have you been put off by gardening when it's raining? Are you a shrinking violet or a hardy perennial? Just a light hearted thread ☔🌧️
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…
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
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…
GreenFly - A 'flylady style' gardening thread with weekly tasks to tame your garden
What do we mean by GreenFly? Over on old style there is a long running and supportive community who focus on getting the house clean and tidy in smaller steps. A group of us thought that something similar for taming the garden would be very useful so here it is. The idea is that by doing little and often we can get on top…
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…
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…
The ups, the downs and the insides out of growing your own in 2025!
Welcome to the new ups and downs of growing your own! Everyone is welcome. Come and tell us about your growing shenanigans What do you like to grow? Are you going to try anything different this year? Did you try anything different last year? Did you like it? Would you grow it again? Do you have any tips for growing? Do you…
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.
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.
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…
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?
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…
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…
How To Get Rid Of A Mystery Bush
I've taken over management of my Dads house, and he's allowed 2 of these random plants to grow in places where there should be no plants. We live not far from the countryside, but we've never had actual bushes pop up in the garden. Can anyone recommend the best way to remove them or what they are? If they have deep roots,…
Fuchsia 'Anthea' - Anyone seen any this year yet?
As the title says I'm looking for some of these to plant some baskets for my OH Anthea. It's the one variety that I never seem to be able to overwinter successfully. If anyone spots any in the Devon/Somerset area please let me know. Its in the Buds of May range. TIA
'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…
Dig trench lower or leave
1935 semi-detached Yorkshire. I had raised ground levels and obstructed air bricks which caused damp (image 1). Created a trench but I now found an old brick below new one (image 4) I dug down to get all air bricks to at least ground level. I've removed big stones to just have soil. There's 2 drainage gulleys for my house…
Pond liner
I have a pond with a butyl liner which is too big. I am going to make it smaller. Can I reuse the liner to make a smaller pond?

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NatWest to complete takeover of Sainsbury's Bank this week – here's what it means for savers and borrowers
Sainsbury's Bank's savings, credit cards and loans will be taken over by NatWest from Thursday 1 May. For most, this means little will change for now as the Sainsbury's Bank brand will remain, though it's expected to be phased out towards the end of this year. However, if you've over £85,000 saved across both banks, it's worth considering moving any excess elsewhere to ensure your cash remains protected.
Martin Lewis: Is the £20,000 cash ISA limit about to be killed off? What savers should be doing now
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NatWest to complete takeover of Sainsbury's Bank this week – here's what it means for savers and borrowers
Sainsbury's Bank's savings, credit cards and loans will be taken over by NatWest from 1 May. For most, this means little change for now as the Sainsbury’s brand will remain, though it's expected to be phased out towards the end of this year. However, if you've over £85,000 saved across both banks, you'll need to move any excess elsewhere to ensure your cash remains protected.
NatWest to complete takeover of Sainsbury's Bank this week – here's what it means for savers and borrowers
From Thursday 1 May, Sainsbury's Bank credit cards, loans and savings accounts will be run by NatWest as part of a deal between the two banks. You'll be moved to NatWest in the future, likely towards the end of this year, but for now the Sainsbury's Bank brand will remain and you can continue to use its products and services as before.

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Gardening

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