The Great 'spruce up your garden' Hunt

Joly_Roger

This is a bit obvious, but the best money saving tip I can think of that will improve your garden is to simply tidy it up!


1. Mow the lawn & trim the edges, amazing what a difference this makes!

2. Then get on with some weeding, but IMO, only if you intend to plant something else there instead. A border of weeds (AKA wildflowers) is much better than an empty border of soil. I also only remove the weeds I recognise as ones I don't like, I keep the rest as wildflowers that are beneficial to wildlife. Weeds are particularly beneficial to wildlife as they are native, so our indigenous butterflies and bees have adapted to thrive on them.

3. Tidy away any pots or hanging baskets that aren't in use, emptying the soil into the borders, and then they can be stored out of sight. Of course, if you plan to use them, then pot them up with new plants/ fresh compost.

4. Put away all tools, paintpots or any other items that should also be in the shed.

5. Gather all outdoor toys in to one area. I use a 'pop up' fabric container and keep them in the shed too.

6. Pile up any waste wood that is lying around to make a log pile, perhaps in the far corner of your garden, this will be extra benefical to small wildlife.

7. Sweep the patio, and maybe give it a hose down

8. Bin any rubbish that has accumulated, amazing what the wind brings in.

9. Finally, if this is applicable, get you or your other half to finish off any jobs that are on the 'to do' list. Painting / repairing the fence, putting up the washing line, mounting the hanging basket brackets, etc...

A lot of hard work, but hey presto! Your garden is now clutter free, a lot more attractive and a much more pleasant place to be in. Of course, you haven't spent any money or had to visit any garden centres, so hooray for that. Now you can sit down with a glass of your favourite plonk and put your feet up, you deserve it.

Optimisticpair

alfie_1 wrote: »

also you can get what i call "wibble wobble" tape from nurseries [£3 ish]. you suspend it across the area you want to protect quite tightly and it vibrates in even a breeze ! deters animals as they cant make out exactly where and what it is....doesnt harm them.

I think you can get the same effect from stringing the tape out of old cassettes and videos across if you don't mind it being brown.

Greenways_2

Further to the suggestion of placing large mirrors in gardens. Please be aware that birds don't recognise them as mirrors and tend to fly into them with disasterous results.
Also if placed near ground level they could cause stress to pet cats and dogs, who think the image is another animal on their territory.

Ridersbolt

amcluesent wrote: »

A cheap option is having the man of the house take a whiz on the compost heap to accelerate the production of usable compost.

I have been told that men's wee is far stronger than women's and is more effective on compost heaps

Ridersbolt

SailorSam wrote: »

You say it's a male blackbird ? Are you certain ?
If it's looking in the mirror that much it's probably a woman.

Is it only at the bottom of the mirror? If so, have you planted/placed anything at the base to avoid his headaches?:rotfl:

roddycam

1 Put up birdfeeders. They add life to the garden and the birds eat the bugs.
2 Keep a woodpile. Small birds seem to treat it as a an adventure playground, but maybe because there are insects in there.
3 Stay away from garden centres. Poundland, Lidl, Aldi and Poundstretcher are all much better value.. Aldi has some good deals tomorrow, especially the Japanese acers, which were over £20 even from my local market
http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/offers_week21Thursday10.htm

joantel

Ridersbolt wrote: »

I have been told that men's wee is far stronger than women's and is more effective on compost heaps

I was putting wee in the compost quite frequently but after a while all my lovely worms started to disappear, then i read somewhere not to put too much wee as the worms don't like too much acidity or something,also mens wee contains more nitrogen?.I find if I use 50% wee and water it certainly makes the grass greener,but it has to be Men only.:j

yoy

Hi,


Here is a link to :

10 Ways to save the Bees

http://www.newint.org/issues/2009/09/01/

http://www.newint.org/features/2009/09/01/10-ways-to-help-save-bees/


Yoy

descartesmum

I'm disabled and remembered that I bought a carpet that was supposed to go into the livingroom years ago. I made sure that the grass was short and then 'laid' the carpet in the backyard. It's brilliant and I just have to sweep it once in awhile. It keeps the weeds away.

I use pots for everything, from corn to courgettes.

Thankfully the carpet is green.

I tried making my own fat slabs using a peanut butter recipe from a friend in states and the British birds ignored it.

I wrote to the the BBC digin team (my question was the first in the first newsletter ) and you can reuse last year's pot compost this year. I put some slow release fertiliser (from Poundland) in the compost and add a little new compost to it and it works a treat.

BigMummaF wrote: »

We've gone very upmarket...we've carpeted the back garden :rotfl:

The neighbours are renovating so we've nabbed a room-size cream effort to cover the weeds, but Pup is lording it over his pals & their lawns Thing is..do I still need to hoover?

Fujiko

Greenways wrote: »

Further to the suggestion of placing large mirrors in gardens. Please be aware that birds don't recognise them as mirrors and tend to fly into them with disasterous results.
Also if placed near ground level they could cause stress to pet cats and dogs, who think the image is another animal on their territory.

At last, someone is talking sense about mirrors in gardens! Putting a mirror in such a position is a seriously stupid thing to do for all the reasons mentioned. Please, please DON'T DO IT. For the same commensense reasons, please don't plant lillies - they are poisonous to cats.
My advice to anyone trying to tackle a seriously neglected and overgrown garden like mine is to cut back as much as possible, and then forget all your organic ideals and use strong weedkiller. Most of them now pose no risk to children or pets once they are dry.