How does your garden grow?

[neko]

1 hour ago, Colonel Kurtz said:

Just look at those tarty flowers trying to tempt in bees. They’re not picky, any bee can have a go. Filth. 

I'd lick the pollen off that all day long.

[sir roger]

Guy on GMTV ( Dr Amir ) describing what happens if you put up a bird feeder.

 

' It's like a kebab shop at 2am , eveyone is either trying to eat , mate or kill each other '.

[VladimirIlyich]

On 09/06/2021 at 09:41, sir roger said:

Guy on GMTV ( Dr Amir ) describing what happens if you put up a bird feeder.

 

' It's like a kebab shop at 2am , eveyone is either trying to eat , mate or kill each other '.

They attract rats too. My Mum took hers down after rats appeared,my Dad used to look after the garden before he died,and the old girl next door to us stopped doing the bird feeder for the same reason. It doesn't help that people are dirty scruffy bastards with their litter nowadays but still.

[Karl_b]

The rats wouldn't get a look in in our garden! We've added 4 feeders in the last year, plus a waterer and small raised "pond" and the number of birds is amazing!

[YorkshireRed]

13 hours ago, Colonel Kurtz said:

The allotment is coming along but it’s a daily grind of watering in this weather. Fucking snails have eaten my beans (bottom of the picture). Cunts. 

Confirmation that snails, along with the rest of civilised society, are pro beaners. 

[A Red]

At last the weather makes the garden look nice. I've had to compromise on getting a hot tub.

 

 

 

[A Red]

27 minutes ago, Colonel Kurtz said:

Nice big lawn but you could do decent stripes you scruffy fucker. 

Stripey lawns are for Tories. I'm going to let it all go natural

 

 

[TheHowieLama]

5 hours ago, Karl_b said:

The rats wouldn't get a look in in our garden! We've added 4 feeders in the last year, plus a waterer and small raised "pond" and the number of birds is amazing!

Added a few this season and get loads of cardinals, blue, finch etc.

 

Also have piqued the interest of several squirrels with super human strength.

[TheHowieLama]

Habaneros:

 

 

The world famous Carolina Reaper:

 

 

 

Front walk:

 

[VladimirIlyich]

5 hours ago, TheHowieLama said:

Habaneros:

 

 

The world famous Carolina Reaper:

 

 

 

Front walk:

 

Are you in Florida Howie?

[TheHowieLama]

56 minutes ago, VladimirIlyich said:

Are you in Florida Howie?

Yep.

[VladimirIlyich]

12 hours ago, TheHowieLama said:

Yep.

The architecture and plant life gave a bit of a clue.

[rb14]

I'm torn. Here's my problem. Do I post this in here or start a new thread? And to complicate matters I can't remember whether I've already mentioned it elsewhere on here. Part off me fears I'm getting early onset dementia, (but at 23, that's not very likely) or it could result from that crash I had. Aaaaanyway.... 

 

After a number of weird incidents where doggy-toys began appearing on the lawn, I eventually fitted a camera to the side of the shed to find out what was going on. It worked. I like to think she was communicating with me but I acknowledge that sometimes I'm a bit anthropomorphic. In any event, the result is that now this little princess visits every evening and she's eating us out of house and home. Regular trips to PetsRUs to get the best dog food we can. Her favourite food is leftover Thai takeaway. 

 

It's an absolute joy to see "Foxywoxy" and although she's becoming more daring, I'm trying to avoid too much familiarity because I don't think it'll serve her well. She's deffo got a young family as she often trots off carrying some of the food, comes back a couple of minutes later, rinses and repeats. 

 

 

 

[Gruntfuttock]

Sweetpeas running wild!

 

[TheHowieLama]

Brilliant.

Fox and peas.

 

Erm - Sweet:

 

 

[neko]

great gardening tune.

[neko]

Foxes in England seem to be the equivalent of Racoons (Trash Pandas) here.

 

Quite domesticated, and very cute despite the damage they cause.

 

Here are two turning my pond into an early morning spa...

 

 

 

[rb14]

I love our wild campanula, daisies and sweet peas. And it seems Archie approves as well. 

[neko]

RB 14th - if you ever want to house swap for a week or two, let me know.

 

Cats included - no wives/husbands.

[rb14]

13 hours ago, Gruntfuttock said:

Sweetpeas running wild!

 

Yours are sooooo much further on than ours. Where are you? 

[Gruntfuttock]

Sheffield.

[Carvalho Diablo]

Just spent £70 on flowers to plant in the old pond. Will crack on tomorrow.

[rb14]

4 hours ago, Carvalho Diablo said:

Just spent £70 on flowers to plant in the old pond. Will crack on tomorrow.

Loving the grasses - and the scarlet valerian in the second pic. Valerian is like a cat; it goes where it wants. 

[Carvalho Diablo]

7 hours ago, rb14 said:

Loving the grasses - and the scarlet valerian in the second pic. Valerian is like a cat; it goes where it wants. 

Thanks rb.

 

The pond was there when I bought the house and it's been nowt but a pain in the arse ever since.

 

Final straw was when the pump broke again, tried to fix it but it was completely dead, so instead of buying what would have been a 5th pump in 12 years, I turned the pond into that flowerbed. Less hassle, looks better, smells better already.

 

You got any advice for someone who's completely useless at gardening and brand new to all this flowery stuff? Your garden looks great btw.

[rb14]

2 hours ago, Carvalho Diablo said:

Thanks rb.

 

The pond was there when I bought the house and it's been nowt but a pain in the arse ever since.

 

Final straw was when the pump broke again, tried to fix it but it was completely dead, so instead of buying what would have been a 5th pump in 12 years, I turned the pond into that flowerbed. Less hassle, looks better, smells better already.

 

You got any advice for someone who's completely useless at gardening and brand new to all this flowery stuff? Your garden looks great btw.

When we bought this place, we had an abomination conservatory removed. The builders were reinstating the stone patio. One said "do you want us to clear all these weeds mate?" He was talking about the area where I took the pic (in my post above) with the campanula and sweet peas. Some of the best stuff just arrives. We've never planted a sweet pea, campanula or daisy. Check this out next to the potting shed. We didn't put it there. 

 

 

I just mow the lawns, strim the edges (carefully - we have slow worms here and they're absolutely awesome), shape me bushy stuff and prune (generally too hard) when stuff gets out of control. I'm like a two-stroke engine addict, quelle surprise. 

 

 

Mr rb14 is the "right I'm off to the garden centre" where he'll buy 140 knickers' worth of plants, stuff them into my car - yes even on the leather seats; you've NO idea - dig most, if not all in and then announce he's off to the gym leaving all the tools out for me to find days later. Those that take, happy days. Those that don't, he'll rip out and start again.

 

Nah, we're just happy infrequently faffing around in the garden. We're not any good at it; between us we just kind of firefight our way through. We encourage the stuff we like. 

 

We used to watch Gardeners' World religiously, and that perhaps gave us some decent guidance. Maybe start there? See the poppies currently blooming? When the seed heads mature, going brown and hard, gently snap a few off and store them somewhere dry. As summer turns towards autumn, you can walk round the borders gently shaking the tiny seeds out like a pepper mill. Some will take and you'll have poppies all over before long. Free. Also works with aquilegia and countless other perennials. 

 

Poppy seed heads... 

 

 

One thing you absolutely MUST do, particularly when you're planting out stuff from the nursery/Tesco/the corner shop. WATER WATER WATER. You have to give plants the best possible chance to take in their new home.