hypercharleyfarley

watering (i'm new to gardening)

Hello!  It'd help if you could tell us a bit more about what you did in order to make the lawn & borders - e.g. is there rubble or something not far beneath them & if so,  how deep is the soil?  Did you just use what "turned up"(!) or did you use some new topsoil and/or compost?  All these things have an effect on how much moisture the ground will hold.  Is it shaded or sunny?  Would you describe the soil as sandy or clayey?  Did you use turf or did you seed the lawn?  Is it sloping or level?  Any new lawn probably needs some extra watering to help it get properly established.  A good soaking once every ten days or so is probably better than just sprinkling more often than that.  As far as border plants are concerned, it can depend a bit on how big a hole you made to plant into, and whether or not you back-filled it with good compost (which would retain water well) or whether you just used what you'd dug out in the first place.  Any newly planted stuff needs some watering in order to help it grow properly - once plants are established there's less need to do that, unless we get a prolonged heatwave!

I know all that sounds a bit OTT - but there are so many factors which can affect moisture retention. One idea might be to dig down a little bit to see if the subsoil seems at all damp - it'd probably be a bit darker in colour than the soil on the surface. 

Hope this helps a bit - perhaps other people will add their thoughts too.

dying hedge

Hello!  Sorry you've had no replies so far - perhaps it'd help if you could tell us what plant(s) your hedge consists of.  Is it all the same species?  Can you post some photos?  - several diffferent aspects including close-ups too if possible.

Have i been growing a weed? pls help

Hello!  can you remember what the twigs/buds looked like over the winter months?  Ash has smooth grey bark and the little tight buds (which grow on to become leaves) are black.

Toad spawn

Hello again - from your first post I thought your pond was a new venture, but it sounds as though it's really well established.  Provided there's a suitable escape route for anything which falls in and/or wants to get out, everything should be fine!

Toad spawn

Between two and three weeks, depending a bit on weather conditions. 

I have a few questions for you, though!

When did you "start" your pond?

How big is it?

Whereabouts in your garden is it?

What plants are there?

Where did the spawn come from? i.e. did a frog/toad lay it in your pond or did you bring it from somewhere else?

Newly hatched tadpoles eat the remains of their own egg sacs and then eat various algae and some semi-decaying vegetable matter before eventually becoming more-or-less carnivore, though will eat insect larvae.  At a push, you could tie some small pieces of (raw) liver or red meat on a bit of string and suspend this in the pond water, though it wouldn't be a good idea to do this too much as young froglets/toadlets are very susceptible to problems caused by poor water quality.

I bet that if you google for more info as to what you could help with, food-wise, t'internet will probably come up with some ideas for you.

Conference pears

I've been buying British grown conference pears for weeks now and wondered how they are harvested & stored - given that it must be months since they were picked - so I googled a bit & found lots of info, which I'm sure you'd find useful too.  It seems that pears don't in fact ripen on the tree!

Whenever I  buy slightly under-ripe fruit, I put it in a bowl with a ripe banana because that always speeds up the ripening process.  Any over-ripe bananas (I prefer to eat them when they're still a bit green at both ends) are then used to make a cake.

Any help on this please

I think it could be butterbur.

SWALLOWS

Swallows here today!  just a couple of days earlier than their arrival last year.

Windy roof garden destroying everything

Perhaps you could use bamboo (several pots) to make some sort of windbreak which would help the rest of the plants.  Other windbreaks could be made from wooden trellis too - and this would also give you something to use for growing things like the beans you mentioned.

Raising tadpoles in the classroom

Please don't do it!  The whole process from spawn to the stage where any young frog could safely be released is probably about 3 months. During the whole of that time you will have to supervise closely and carefully the whole of the tadpoles'/frogs' environment to ensure their survival, and I feel sure you won't be able to do that successfully, however much you want to.  Not only would there be issues over changing the water in the container as well as providing appropriate food during their various stages of development - but also there's every chance you would encourage disease amongst the developing tadpoles by having too many in a relatively small space. 

The other thing that concerns me is that adult frogs naturally try to make their way back to breed in the pond where they grew up.  I don't think a glass tank in a schoolroom is the right place!