Edit D

Work in Progress

Wow! You're talent is an inspiration, I often wished I could build things like these, and you really inspire me to just give it a go.

Mr Haynes, any chance of seeing a feature about Eddie's work in the magazine? I think it is definitely worth it and a lot of people would be very interested to see what has been achieved.

Keep up the amazing work, I am really looking forward to seeing more pictures!

Inspiration and ideas needed

I'll play devil's advocate. I'd say paint the rest of the wood either the same colour or the same sort of colour just a few shades lighter. Then plant lots of plants with silver variegation - i.e. plants that have silver or white streaks / stripes / blotches in their leaves. And plants with white and light-coloured flowers. What you'll have is an extremely sophisticated black and white garden with plenty of green. Check out these photos I took at the Chelsea flower show a few years ago, this is the sort of effect I mean. Of course, it's not everyone's cup of tea, so just think about what sort of things you like and take it from there.

For the lawn, if you prefer to have one at all, make sure you choose a special seed mixture for shady areas. Geraniums, some roses that tolerate shade, japanese anemones are all great in my north-facing border, and my soil is good enough for pottery it's got so much clay. When in doubt, just check the label, if it says it tolerates shade, give it a go. Check out the plant search feature under the plants tab on the gardenersworld website where you can select plants based on the soil and light conditions, then you can pick the ones you like the look of.

 

 

 

 

Liriope muscari

Liriope muscari

I wonder if anyone has tried growing lilyturf in clay soil? I would really love to have it in my garden, but not sure if it will cope with the soil conditions. Has anyone had any experience with this?

Talkback: Where are the ladybirds?

I have also been wondering what happened to them. Last year I literally couldn't walk across the garden without accidentally stepping on one, this year I can't recall seeing any at all. I never clean up in the autum, preferring to tidy up in the spring, and parts of my garden still need clearing out so they are basically just wild grassy and shrubby bits, so in theory plenty of cover. I had been wondering whether the extremely wet conditions were to blame, it's been raining non-stop from April to July in Colchester where I garden. It's a shame the multitude of spiders in my garden don't seem partial to greenfly :(

Talkback: Growing honeysuckle

I wish my honeysuckle would be doing this well. I have inherited one on the east-facing wall in my garden. It's got two or three very long, bare stems growing all the way up to the top of the wall. Last year it had one flower on it, this year is a huge improvement on that, but still only a handful of clusters. Does anyone know whether it's ok to cut it hard back in the hope that it will bush out? I've not dared to do it in case I kill it, as I'd dearly love to keep it.

Talkback: Growing lupins

I would love to grow them but they seem to really dislike my heavy clay soil. Does anyone know if they do well in pots?

Liriope muscari