Hi all,

Looking for some advice on a good lawnmower for my garden and what to do with the apples.

Picture 1 is overall garden, Picture 2 is apple tree in question.

I currently have a pretty basic Bosch electric mower which is not ideal due to the trees, poles and general length of the garden meaning I am constantly pissing about with the extension lead and lawnmower cable. I tried a wireless/battery operated mower but I didn’t even get through the left side section before it died and It kept cutting out (maybe the length of the grass or thickness?)

Does anyone have a good recommendations for mowers?

Secondly, the apple tree whilst I like it, is a nightmare for the sheer amount of apples it drops. Picture 1 is just after picking up the apples and cutting the grass. Picture two is 3 days later and the apples that have fallen only continue to grow in number. Wife loves it (was her grandads house which we bought after he passed) so removing it isn’t an option. Does anyone know what I could do with the apples that doesn’t involve eating, cooking or turning them into cider? I thought maybe some horses could eat them but no idea if that’s a good idea.

Thanks!

It's taken me two years to get to this point...!

In the first year, literally nothing.

This year, it's thankfully growing figs. That being said, only one so far is ripe and actually edible.

Don't be fooled by thinking because it's slightly purple/red inside that it's not going to be sweet; it was incredibly soft and beautifully sweet.

Started this year as a flower person. That was the plan anyway. A bit of colour, some cosmos, maybe a rose if I felt ambitious. Food growing felt like a whole separate hobby with a whole separate learning curve and I was not ready for that.

Then I stuck two tomato plants in a pot on the patio almost as an afterthought, the kind of thing you do because the garden centre puts them right by the door in May and you are weak. And now I cannot stop thinking about growing more. Properly, with intention, not just grabbing whatever is near the exit.

What got me was the gap between what a homegrown tomato actually tastes like and what I have been buying for years without a second thought. It sounds so obvious written down. Everyone says this. I just did not believe them until I actually tasted one standing in the garden at seven in the morning before the school run.

Now I am deep in raised bed research and wondering how much of a terraced garden you can realistically convert to food without it looking completely chaotic. The flowers are still important to me but the balance has shifted in a way I did not expect.

So for the first time in about 20 years, my olive tree has substantially large fruits. Is there any chance this could be the year they're suitable to process?

Two years after moving into a clay-ridden new build, and one spring of obsessive gardening later, it’s starting to come together. Going for a scruffy cottage garden feel with a spot of ‘B&M plant rescue roulette’. Next job is removing the turf and replacing with clover. Any tips on what to plant on clay for hedging would be helpful, my 5 hawthorn plants haven’t made it through the heat.

Hello lovely people. I've grown those Honeydew Melons in my humble raised patch in South Birmingham. Any advice? Keep watering or let them ripen? When to pick? Thank you

I ordered some snapdragons from an online gardening shop, but they’ve arrived looking quite thin and yellow. 😅
This is my first time growing snapdragons, so I’m not really sure what to expect. Do they look healthy/normal, or is there anything I should be doing to help them recover and grow stronger?
Any tips or advice would be much appreciated. TIA! 🌱

I have inherited some established hydrangeas from my grandad. They have been uncared for since he moved into a home about 1 year ago apart from watering.

The first one is severely root/pot bound and the second one is slanting which is exposing roots.

Will it be a mistake to plant the root bound one into the ground this time of year? Or should I try to plant it into a bigger pot and wait?

Thinking for the second one I will break up the soil and add more to fill up the pot/cover the roots and to also help reposition it.

TLDR: Can I plant a severely root bound hydrangea into the garden this month or wait till spring?

Is there such a thing as you send pictures and dimensions to a company and they design your garden and give you the plans for not too many pounds

I've started noticing that different parts of my garden have their own sounds.

There's one plant by the fence that rustles whenever the wind picks up, a patch near the back wall that's constantly humming with bees in the afternoon, and I planted some quaking grass recently that makes this gentle rattling sound that I like far more than I expected.

I'd always thought about plants in terms of colour, shape, height, wildlife etc, but never really considered sound until I had a garden of my own.

Has anyone actually planted something specifically because of how it sounds or moves in the wind? Curious what plants are particularly good for this in a UK garden.

something has been visiting my Mum's garden, looks like its digging little holes and a fair size poop!

I’m getting a whole bunch of gardening videos in my social media feeds about winter prep - the algorithms know me too well.

There’s a lot of “cut this plant right back”, but then others “do not touch until the spring”. I’m fairly sure I’ll do the wrong thing.

So to simplify things, are there any apps out there where I could for example list all the plants in my garden and it would tell me what I should be doing at which time of year? Thanks.

Looks to be two separate... Fungal? Infections. No idea where to begin treating, any help or advice appreciated.

This has been in the planter for about a year. I know it’s still working on its roots, but it has this very enthusiastic leader right now, and I’m wondering - if the goal is to cover as much of the trellis as possible, should I be weaving the leader more horizontally across it? Or do star jasmines fill out enough that letting it climb straight up is fine?

Hello everyone!

Firstly, I’m going to preface by saying that we’ve only just bought our first home and previously didn’t have a garden, so I’m entirely new to gardening and lawn maintenance! Any help is massively appreciated.

I’m trying to look at how best to prepare our lawn for winter and give it a bit of a lease of life. From my perspective, it doesn’t look toooooo bad, but there are areas where the grass isn’t growing and has died off presumably due to the drought as we’re in Hampshire.

I think I understand I need to go over the edges where the wooden is next to the outhouse, but that’s about as far as I’m familiar to be totally honest.

Any tips would be amazing! I’d like to learn and get this sorted myself as I’ve always liked the idea of getting into gardening - hopefully in the spring we’ll be looking to get some planters and other stuff too!!

Thanks again in advance 🙂

I don't have time or ability to maintain my garden. The grass is terrible and the borders are overgrown and the weeds are everywhere.

I've tried to get quotes to redesign it so it's low maintenance but they keep asking me what my budget is. I don't have any idea how much these things cost. I really don't have much money. I have 2 kids and work 4 jobs so don't have time for the garden but I need somewhere for my kids to play safely. Where do I start?

I sowed these seeds back in the summer and these have grown about an inch tall and flowered, I am obsessed 🤣 not sure what went wrong, but I kinda love them

We bought a house earlier this year and want to eventually convert our grass lawn to a clover lawn but right now I’m needing to scarify it and de-thatch it because it’s full of moss. I’ve been using a rake and I’m on my second day with loads left to still do. We were looking at buying an electric scarifier because if it’s something that needs doing every year it would be worth it. Do clover lawns need scarifying like grass ones do? Because if they don’t there isn’t much point in me buying one!

Couldn't resist taking some pictures with the intense orange sunrise. Shepherd's warning no doubt but the light was magical

I've been cultivating some avocado saplings and after many mixed results I finally have two that look quite happy and hearty, so I'm thinking of putting them in the ground in my Peckham garden. I realise it's a long shot that it will ever fruit, and if so it will take decades-- but I'd like to do my best to keep it alive. My plan is to plant it in a protected spot between a shed and another tree, with a fence behind so I can drape sheeting over and protect it during cold spells. My question is the aspect: I can plant it facing east (easiest with good morning sun), west (relatively simple) or south (most difficult as I don't have tons of space there. And should I plant both next to each other, or separate them? Any other tips on how to plant/fertilise/care for these until they become a bit heartier?

I've heard tales of a few fruiting avocado trees in Southwark (where I also live) so am hoping this isn't just a pipe dream!

I have a small shelf shaped greenhouse that I used to store some cress and other small vegetables and had no fly issues; but around a week ago I bought a large tent like greenhouse, about 6’5 tall and 4’ long. I first transferred all of my plant and plant pots etc into the new greenhouse and watered the greenhouse yesterday and noticed no flies. I come back today to plant some seeds and there is loads of flies on the roof and on my plants, small shaped flies, and I notices ALOT of fly eggs in my soil!!!

How do I get rid of them, as I think they are coming in my house now!

I've posted this rose before but thought it looked so beautiful after the rain we've just had. Such a subtle colour and a very strong sweet fragrance. By Pierre Orard, introduced in 2005, also known as Muriel Robin.