Be Excellent To Each Other

What about some dwarf/patio sweet peas, Kern? They’d smell nice. I got sent some ‘clary’ seeds free with an order the other day, and they look really nice, too, and tallish.

Will take a look, thanks!

What's great is that now this thing is up, I'm starting to get ideas for other parts of the garden too.

Got first cut on the lawn

Edit: Dang that's small

Trying that again

Blimey , nice big garden that!

Aye. Takes a lot of time!

Buy a flock of Guinea Pigs.

I attempted ours for the first time the other day, too. Then decided to buy a new lawnmower blade, so will try again in a few days.

All of my vegetables-to-be are getting some sunshine time.

There’s carrots and parsnips direct sown in the two covered beds, but I’ll wait until the predicted snows next week have passed before putting in the rest.

Another whopper! Looking good.

It looks great - I want to raise a pretty big bed so I priced it up on the site. Uh, maybe smaller raised beds are better

English lawns look so green and lush, and I do like stripes mown.

I'm a bit overwhelmed with our garden already it's a mature garden with lots of trees, plants and hedges that grow very quickly. Just maintaining it is proving tricky, and that's without actually changing anything. I really like the planters that Kern & Mimi have. One of the previous owners here, has used a hot tub as a giant planter. It looks shit, and has a LOT of soil in it, so emptying and then getting rid of a big hot tub would be annoying. At first I thought it was funny but not anymore.

Have our 'lawn' the first cut of the year yesterday and did some tidying up. We've had all of the fence replaced now and I've reported a couple of bits. Just trying to get hold of someone to do a patio for us now.

Just spread those 8x4 ply sheets out and hey presto fashionable "decking"!

That's pretty much what it's acting as at the moment.

Shout out to rubble Daffodil

I suspect your street was built by the same company that built my street as the two house designs on show there are the exact same ones that we have.

I like the grey panels..

For example (not my house)

I've had to order a new mower blade and drive belt cover for my venerable old Flora Best/Gardena petrol mower. I noticed it was a bit choppy* the other day.

* ahahaha

The bungalows (if you convert the loft are they still bungalows?) in most of Ivybridge have the same design.

Like so

Haha! It's not our house either.l!

Right?!

Could well be, it is quite similar to the photo you posted.

I'm hoping that when we've got some flowering plants in it will really make the colours pop.

My street was built by a construction company as a demo street where all the houses/flats/bungalows are different. When south London property developers were planning a new estate they came here to pick which style they wanted to use

That sounds awesome.

That does sound brilliant!

Amazing! What a good way to not live in a street where all of the houses look the same!

They're called Dormer Bungalows.

That's how it starts. And then they reproduce like rabbits.

Bluebells do it as well. You think you've got rid of them, but you miss ONE and then they just come back. Nice when they're flowering, but just like fat grass clumps when they stop.

With similar amounts of rubble in the gardens?

I need to buy a new mower. The old one fell apart last autumn and I'd only had it 20 years. They don't make stuff to last these days.

We have gardeners who cut it every two weeks and feed it and scarify it a couple of times each year, but when it's growing at its fastest I need to do additional cuts.

Unfortunately, our grassed area has deteriorated since we got the dog. Wherever he widdles, it suffers. I guess we need to train him to do it on the path, not the grass.

We've tried reseeding some areas in the past, but we must be doing it wrong because it never seems to work.

I'm becoming so paranoid about cats using my planter as a luxury litter tray that I've started seeing turds that aren't there. This morning I was convinced one had appeared overnight, but when I went out with the trowel I realised it was just a slight depression in the soil and the morning light bouncing off the frame. Wish my plants and seeds would hurry up and establish themselves.

We're finding that putting woodchips on top dissuades them. Next door has 8 of the poop-filled bastards so it's probably approaching statistical evidence instead of just anecdote.

We do however have the advantage that when we need woodchips I can just cut a branch off the nearest tree and shove it through the machine.

I'm not allowed to just cover the entire garden in chips unfortunately, but I've been maintaining holly and hawthorn on the boundary which leaves prickly bits around the place. That also helps.

The neighbours have spikes (just kebab skewers or similar, by the looks) sticking up in a criss cross pattern from their various patches and that seems to do the trick. I've also had some luck growing things up through these / surrounding delicate plants with them - https://www.amazon.co.uk/ZYBUX-Prickle- ... 07ZJRQZ4Z/

Thanks both. Will take a look at those options.

Someone at work suggested lion poo but that'd be a matter of pride.

V.Good

Funny story, my brothers neighbours were annoyed with cats pooing all over the place so they put lion wee spray everywhere. The cats countered this by snipping off a huge turd right in the middle of their white, garage roof.

I tell you what has discouraged my cats from pooing in our veg beds, now that I think about it .... having a massive great labrador puppy dashing all over the place.

I can't recommend this solution

I have no patience or skill for cultivating plants, your set-ups all look great! I bet they will be beautiful when they're established. It'd be really rewarding to have grown your own veg and thigs like that too.

Oh, I forgot about this thread. I have a few pictures of the things that I’ve been growing. I’ll try and add these in order...


Green podded peas.

Purple podded peas.

Carrots.

Broccoli.

Lettuces.

Parsnips.

Broad beans.

Strawberries.

The unimpressive little thing is my first potato.

Peppers, tomatoes and a few other bits on the windowsill. I sowed these when my friend told me to, but next year I’ll sow the seeds later as they are large and take up all my indoor space!

There were other things, but it only let me add ten pics and tea is ready. I started everything from seed, apart from the strawberries, which my friend posted. But it’s coming along.

GIANT PUMPKIN KLAXON

Whoooo whoooooo! Please keep us updated! A friend is growing one and the leaves are HUGE 10 days after germinating.

Still work in progress. But I have stuff growing.