Garden Projects and DIY

Improving now with a lot more colour.

I was told that the tubular things in the trees were for detecting dormice.

Wouldn't it be easier to build raised gardens along the fence line and then dig out some of the higher area and deposit in the raised beds? You could have just one long step along the patio to step down to the new grade?

Thanks for the idea, but I think I'll pass when it comes to ponds. We have a large drainage ditch and a water reservoir 20 meters away, and our demand for mosquitoes is already met a few times over.Additionally half of our porch once was a giant pond before the previous owner realised the same...

Hello Ali, welcome to GC. You've got the potential there to make a nice little garden! Definitely go with weed-suppressing membrane. It comes in brown as well as green, which makes it useful for covering a cleared, dug area which you then plant with easy maintenance shrubs. As long as the...

A wonderful problem garden to have, so much more interesting than a flat square of grass. Do you have a must-have and nice-to-have lists? It's essential that any must-haves have a place (BBQ, trampoline, bins, veg patch, football area...).Do you have a style in mind? The gravel patio would...

After all the hassle you went through @Fat Controller, it's good to hear it's been worthwhile.

UPDATE The Magic of Moss! Although confined, it is serving the intended purpose of disguising the end of my bonsai bench which wasn't very awe-inspiring from the kitchen window. It's progressing nicely, with a few Japanese-oriented plants still to go in and a few positional aspects still to...

Perhaps Blackboard Paint, Wilko sell small tins.

A poundland tin pie shell pan might work. They are much tougher than they look?

Thank you Michael, Victoria and Lori for your kind words. Michael, it's only when I post that the thread comes back to the surface. I don't know where it's gone Victoria, but if I'm honest I'll be glad to see the back of the last eighteen months. It's been a difficult time for both...

Unless you are frantic about your lawn, I would encourage you to grow better turf, let it become more resilient, allow the grass to more fully express itself (leave it longer) and feed it with humus as compost dressing. Avoid compacting it when wet,maybe tolerate broadleaf such as clover. Mowing...

We live where the soil is wet sits on top of clay

Meadow home renovation update

Today was the start of something I've been looking forward to for a while; garden electrics!The desire is to have lots of nice ambient lighting in the final garden, but to get that requires a bit of early work to make sure things like power is available (you certainly don't want to be ripping...

As @NigelJ said, since you can lift them, do what I do. I have outdoor rugs and just clip them to the fence and hose down. The water runs off onto the vegetation beneath.I assume from what I've read that you can lift yours too. I have lifted, hosed down, allowed to dry and rolled up mine to...

It may be wrong to lead you towards my inclinations but I would venture into my local 'Recycling' depot (Tip) and ask whether they might be able to furnish the item required. Rarely have they failed me. It would likely need stripping and repainting with Hammerite smooth, two coats,; a worthwhile...

That will depend on where your neighbours had been buying compost from. The likes of supermarkets and discount store will have already emptied the shelves of garden goodies to be replaced by Christmas goodies. They only tend to stock garden goodies from the Easter Bank holiday, maybe a week or...

@Sheps and @Nikolaos , nice looking hotels you have! I'm rather sceptical with these modern fashionable thingies but in essence, a glorified tatty corner can actually look nice and seen the very obvious decline of insects around here it's probably a good thing to try. And it was fun to put it...

I didn’t plant the chokeberry trees - I didn’t even know what they are until @Silver surfer identified them for me. They seem to pop up in the neighbourhood. So someone, a while ago, in a garden not too far away, must have planted one….! The birds love the berries, and so they get distributed....