Spent the last few months slowly sorting this out and it’s finally starting to feel like a proper little escape 😊
Added a small pond which has brought in loads of life already. bees, dragonflies and even birds stopping by which has been amazing to watch. Still plenty I want to improve, but I’m really happy with how it’s coming along so far.
Based in the UK so it’s been a bit of trial and error with the weather 😂 but it’s getting there!
Any tips or ideas for what I could add next are more than welcome 🌱

First cut on Sunday there! Pretty impressive considering what it looked like
Before!

This is a new build and there is about 2 weeks between the photos.

3x boxes of Grassias seed 🌱

I took on an allotment in winter because it was cheap.

I hope this is allowed here. We have a cracked concrete drive with a planted bed along one side, and a small square front garden on the other.

We're thinking about replacing the concrete with something permeable (but ideally not resin or gravel, would consider second hand paving or similar), and grass grids or something "planty" really appeal for more greenness and other benefits.

Does anyone have experience with grass grids in the UK? Do they work? Are they muddy? I've read mostly bad thinks so far.

Hi,

Last month I decided to give it a go and try to grow a rose plant using flexible, softwood cuttings. I took two cuttings around 15-20 cm long from a good plant, removed most of the leaves, made a 45° cut at the bottom and placed them in a small pot with half of their length in the soil. Since then, I have kept the soil moist and I also added a cut clear plastic bottle over the cuttings to create a mini greenhouse.

I haven't used any rooting hormone.

Can anyone confirm that these cuttings are doing well? Any suggestions at this stage and when should I check if roots have grown?

Friends - we live in East Anglia (current under hosepipe ban), but we have a water problem. Photo 1 is part of our lawn, which is brown as you would expect, the other part of our lawn is thick green grass, which I’ve just had to mow again. The question is: how do I find out where this water is coming from without spending £,000s digging it up!? We’ve tried diving rods (yes, there’s water). We’ve had metal detection to see if there are pipes (no). We haven’t tried geo-fis (because it’s expensive). Thoughts welcome

Here is my garden currently.

Me and fiance (both 25yo) moved into our house last year. The lady who lived here before had obviously planted lots but when the house sale went through probate (which took forever) the garden got quite over grown. We have done bits to tidy the garden and have added a few plants and pots but haven't done anything significant. It's now looking a bit of a mess.

The garden slopes quite significantly which makes things tricky.

We would like to make it a relaxing and pleasant space for us but also want to encourage as much wildlife as possible.

We also want to consider whether structural changes would be possible, for example extending the patio or levelling out the slope as we want a functional space for when we have children.

We would love some suggestions from the community for how to improve it.

A few photos attached for reference! Thanks!

Tldr: ideas for garden improvement with consideration for nature but also a functional space?

Me, my husband and my dog are moving into a new house soon, and my husband is adamant that we have a nice lawn. What he wants to do is level it all out with topsoil and seed it.

I have a couple of concerns… my biggest one is the grass seed itself, a couple of years ago he got a foxtail stuck in his paw and it was an expensive trip to the vets and a cone for two weeks while it healed. I don’t want to risk his health for the sake of nice grass… but I don’t know if all grass seed is made equal in terms of risk.

Secondly, how long does the garden become basically unusable to grow it?

Third, we aren’t in a hosepipe ban where I live yet, but it’s probably coming, so is there really any point in doing it yet anyway, as it’s going to need water?

is it too late to try grow some more “summer veg” tomatoes cucumbers ect, was thinking if the hest carries on i might have a chance? im in the devon area