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Cheapest method to clear ground at my allotment
I have an allotment. It's quite large and there's a lot of weeds. I want to kill off as much of the unwanted plant life as I can by covering it and leaving it for a year. I need to use tarp or black plastic or something. What's the cheapest way of doing this without having to worry about plants breaking through the…
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Birds away from garden
How can I get rid of birds to my garden. My garden has trees so birds comes I don’t want them to come because: * They make to much noise and it can be diffult to sleep. * There’s a bluebird who walks up and down the windowsill, lucky the window was closed, what if it comes in are they dangerous…and how can I get rid of…
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Letting the grass grow
We've left out garden to grow wild this year for the birds and bees and we've found all sorts of new wild flowers on the 'lawn'. What do we do come the autumn? Do we buy a scythe and lop it all down or leave the grass to die off over the winter? 😊
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Turf in an old chicken run - help please
We are buying a house that currently has a chicken run with a basic soil floor. Unfortunately we won't be able to keep the chickens so we plan to use the enclosure as a catio. We want to put turf down - is there anything that might stop us? Bacteria from chicken poo etc? I assume we will need to put down some new topsoil,…
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Ladybird larvae
Has anyone introduced so-called beneficial ladybird larvae into their garden. I tend to get loads of aphids attacking my Eucalyptus and recently noticed my prized Pieris is infested by what could be pieris lacebug. This is the sort of thing I'm considering…
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How to make roses bloom at ground level?
Most of my rose blooms are 8 feet from the ground and nothing on the bare stems below. Is there any way to force flowering further down the stem near ground level? Each year I prune them down to a few inches but they just grow long stems with flowers at the very top.
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Tiny standard olive trees?
I've seen some one foot high standard olive trees for 10pounds. Most have dried out in the pots and dropping their leaves but there are a couple that aare ok. It would be really silly to buy one wouldn't it? Just i need some more evergreen in the garden and I'm a little taken with them but something keeps screaming…
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Birds
The below bird and 11 half thumb sized chicks are hiding in the border or under some large steel beams - crows and magpies are very interested. Large concrete yard, 1 small bit of border and 1 small raised (too high for the chicks) border, level access on to a road and also a garden and orchard. Let nature take it's course…
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First time garden-owner - help needed!
Hi all, So we bought our first house in June (yay!) And the front garden looked lovely and the seller had obviously taken some time to make it look nice. I tried to keep on top of the weeding initially but it was all coming back through again so quickly that I kind of gave up! I've since learned that the seller got cheap…
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chilli peppers
i have grown some from seed for the first time, they have multiple leaves on them and i did pinch some of the leaves when they first started growing between the stalks. however, they grow back from where i pinch them. should i stop pinching them now and let them branch out
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Black things on my Clematis
Hi there, I have clumps of what looks like eggs in areas of my clematis plant and there are ants crawling on it too. We gave it a wash down with the hose the other night and got rid of some of it, but it seems to have returned. Does anyone know what it is and the best way to get rid of it please? Thank you in advance.
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Looking for a small tree.
Which must be (a) evergreen, (b) fast growing, (c) ideally bluish, (d) get to 5+m fairly quickly, but ideally not go crazy after that (tho' I could keep it in check). Hi gardening folk.Could anyone help me with the above, please?! It'll be a 'specimen' tree on a raised bank and will provide screening (hence needing to grow…
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Sutton's Perenial plant deal
Same as everyone else-sick of waiting- I placed 3 orders for me and family-keep emailing with estimated delivery dates which shift. Now talking 16/7/21 when I phoned up- spoke to Katie- very nice............but despite complaining would not compensate me for inconvenience! They have had £63 since April. Their system…
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Lawn alternatives (shade)
Our long garden is split into three 'lawn' areas; we started with grass and it looked great for a year but gradually declined. We don't walk on it often so it doesn't need to withstand much traffic. Last year I killed the lawn and planted creeping thyme on the main lawn, and 'mind your own business' for the second. The…
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Self Seeding Garden
My front/back garden are filled with a lot of self seeding plants undispersed by a few core perennials and shrubs. This was how the garden was setup with i arrived and not being much of a gardener i've tried to maintain it. However i suspect I'm over weeding some of the plants out of the garden, the space between plants…
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Berberis (Japanese barberry) under window?
Is it okay to grow Berberis Thundergii under house windows to deter people messing around or intruders etc. I know many don't grow anything next to homes due insurance worries over subsidence but i think these bushes are quite small as i have one in the back yard. The house was built late seventies so quite modern…
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Can anyone recommend some low to the ground flowers/plants?
I'm looking for some low to the ground flowers, eg, ones that don't have long stalks, to put along a boundary. I've seen some before that were very low to the ground but I can't remember what they were like. Can anyone recommend any? I'm looking to plant them in a straight line so I preferably want ones that don't spread…
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grass grows longer by the fence.
whilst cutting the grass yesterday, I notice for some reason the grass grows long and straggly by the fence. so rather than faffing around trying to get it with the strimmer and having to mend the line each time it breaks, best thing to do is pull it down flat on the ground with a garden rake, and then run over it with…
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Rats in garden
I think I have got rats in the garden. I put a trap and caught a mice. Poison bait seem to be disappearing so I decided to set a trap and was surprised that the rat trap has disappeared with the bait. My flower beds are very dense and I think they might be hiding there. I was watering the plants the other day and a black…
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One For The Bird Watchers
We have been watching a male blackbird feeding a young thrush in our garden for the last few days. I have never seen cross feeding like this before in all the years ( 50 ) I have been feeding birds. Very odd behaviour.