Mummy Muddy Paws

Cloche/mini greenhouse made out of bubblewrap

You could try putting a couple of growbags on the bottom bars to hold it in place now, it will also help to warm up the compost in the growbags ready for use in your mini-greenhouse/hanging baskets/pots etc etc.  This is what I do with mine whilst they're up (they're on the patio and I would be in trouble if they were up all summer)

Cloche/mini greenhouse made out of bubblewrap

What about cheap clingfilm from somewhere like Aldi or Poundstretcher.  You'd have to replace it every time you wanted to put something in or take something out!

I'd contact the place you bought it from, as it's obviously old stock and the plastic has gone brittle, the covers generally only last one season.  You could try ebay or amazon and get a replacement cover, they are only normally about a fiver.

I also wouldn't sew it, I'd use something like strong double sided tape or duck tape.

What has happened???

TT made me laugh with the Jester's hat.  I have one of these I keep in Big Blue (our off-road car) for when we go green-laning.  If the ramblers are laughing at me, then they aren't going to bitch at me instead.

Only I forgot to take it off when I was explaining to a copper exactly what we were doing in Bakewell Ford (one of the chaps sort of fell off the causeway, and had to be towed out backwards - he tried throwing a kinetic rope to one of the blokes on the bridge, and forgot to keep hold of one end, so ended up chucking it in the river, so had to swim after it).  Only realised I'd got my jester's hat still on as I was folding up the OS map (with the vehicular right of way marked on the ford on the map.  We'd also checked there were no temporary restriction orders, so we were within our rights.  Luckily one of our number is a solicitor, so explained chapter & verse to the traffic officer, whilst I was showing his mate that we were on a 'road'.

With my ME, off-roading is the only way I can see some of the countryside, one other chap I know quite well now also has ME (he had it really badly, ended up loosing his business and his house as he was self-employed).  One of our number down south somewhere is an ex-squaddie and only has one leg, he threatens the militant ramblers with is 'wooden leg'.  That normally shuts them up!!

Talkback: Slugs

I just chop 'em in half with my weeding knife, if there's lots of small ones I go indoors for a nice cup of tea whilst the blackbird and sparrows fight over them.  There must be at least two nests in the hedge, and sometimes the blackbird chases the sparrows off of 'his' feeding table.  It doesn't matter, there's also a hanging feeding station that the blackbird doesn't use, I make sure there are fat balls or suet blocks in both, so they all get fed.

Advice on my overgrown garden (inc pics!)

Ask your neighbour nicely if you can remove the fence just for the weekend.  Take it down carefully, but be prepared for it to disintegrate - investigate where you can get something similar, as cheaply as possible, just in case.  Then after you've removed the fence, carefully dig out the roots, making sure if you do any damage to neighbour's garden, you make good STRAIGHT AWAY.  You really don't want to be fallling out with neighbours that quickly (normally takes a couple of years to fall out with some neighbours, others I love & would be upset if they moved).  Find out whose responsibility the fence is, if it's yours, it's something to think about - do you want to keep it, or would you prefer something else.  Check your deeds & by-laws, some areas have laws that prevent you building a fence or boundary above so many feet (didn't stop my nasty neighbour planting bloody leylandii that are level with the eaves now).  You don't want to make an expensive mistake.

Good fences make for good neighbours.

keeping mice off pea seeds

You have to move the traps, they get to know one of their mates goes in there & doesn't come out!  I can't use conventional traps any more, we had one that went off in a shared house at Uni, & didn't quite do the job.  I drew the short straw & took it outside in a plastic bag (made sure it wasn't see-through) and a housebrick.  Not nice, but a lot nicer than the mouse dying a slow, agonising death with a broken back.  I was one of two vegetarians in the house (I'm not any more, meat is dinner!), so was really not a happy bunny.

Blackest, peanut butter was the third thing the rentokil man said to use to bait traps.  I remember the first two, as I have them in the house, but never really been a peanut butter fan, so don't  have it in the cupboard.  Tuna and chocolate spread always in the cupboard.

Advice on my overgrown garden (inc pics!)

Rotivation - good way of propogating brambles and other perennial weeds by chopping the roots up and spreading them around.  Mini-digger better idea, as you can grub out most roots.  Works best if you have a helper grabbing the roots as you dig them up.

Rotivation a big no-no - I was hoping to do similar, the experts on here have persuaded me to dig by hand, and not make a big problem into a huge problem.  BTW, the garden isn't that overgrown, I've been dragging out 12ft bramble shoots out of mine over the weekend!

Rip it up and start again....

Trouble is, lots of folk want summat for nowt, and aren't prepared to put in the graft (ie, get in the car with spade and go and dig up stuff they want).  I suppose the other thing you could do is dig them up yourself and car boot them, if you have any other stuff you want rid of, that could net you some money towards your lawned area.

I've seen adverts on freecycle where people are asking for leather recliners in a certain colour, flat-screen TV's (old CRT ones no good, actually specified on the ad), lots of folk out there get a bit fed up of want, want, want, with no stuff offered in return (I have ads where I'd like shed/chicken coop/greenhouse, but I'm prepared to travel to dismantle, and put the graft in, not a single reply - not that I blame them, these things cost lots new, so lots go on ebay.

One chap put in an advert on Freecycle wanting a porshe (not sure of spelling), very tongue in cheek, specifying colour, year, etc, and asking if it could be valeted and have a full tank of petrol before they delivered it to him.  Made me laugh, as lots of very demanding posts, will really bad spelling and grammar from one particular poster the previous week.

When I've advertised, I've given the stuff to the first person that asked nicely, with reasonable spelling.  If I give stuff away, I'd like it to be appreciated, and so far everyone that's picked stuff up have been nice to meet.  I've had some quite rude responses - no thank you, no please could you consider me - one just asked when she could pick stuff up!!!

Maybe I should put this on the rant thread, don't like people being rude when you're trying to do them a favour!

Rip it up and start again....

Crumbs!

Firstly, I'd get a skip and get rid of all of the rubbish you don't want.

I'd also put an ad in freecycle for some of the shrubs you don't want, must be dug up & removed by person collecting.  Make it clear about what you want to keep, & what they're welcome to take.  If no takers, then dig everything up you don't want.

Getting a bit late to grow lawn from seed, you may have to wait until next year, or later on in the year to lay a lawn from turf, as the weather is warming up, it would need a lot of TLC to get the turf to bed in properly, unless it's done by the end of April, other time to do it is September/October, then a sharp frost could kill it all if it's not rooted by then.

I think what I'd do, is a lot of the digging and clearing and levelling now, then cover the lot with weed-supressing membrane, and cover it with bark chips.  That way your LO will have somewhere safe outside where they can play.  Turf is very expensive to buy, so save up for some decent stuff and do it around this time next year.

Gardening is a slow process, so as has been mentioned in some other threads, don't expect an instant transformation.  You look like you have a lot of pots there, so you could maybe grow flowers in some of those this year, and transfer them to flowerbeds next year.  If you intend putting a swing or climbing frame in at some point, I'd keep the bark chips around that, they're a lot more forgiving on hands and knees than falling onto grass with solid ground underneath - grass won't survive directly underneath the swing, so bark chippings look neater.

I will be using the weed membrane/bark chips option later this year, when I've cleared the top part of my new garden of brambles, bindweed and nettles, whilst I get my veg garden started and some money saved for turves next year.

keeping mice off pea seeds

Use mouse traps, the electric ones if in the greenhouse, they are safe to use with cats (I have dogs and children).  You can also buy the conventional traps that are in locked boxes that your cats won't be able to open.  Bait the traps with either tuna (wouldn't recommend as it will drive your cats bonkers) or chocolate spread - nutella or something similar.  Don't use cheese, mice have a sweet tooth.

We occaisionally get refugees from the fields at harvest time or during harsh winters, I like the electric traps, as they are safe & clean, you do need to check daily as they have a light that flashes geen if the batteries need changing, and flashes red when it's caught one of the little buggers.  Pick it up inside a polyethene bag, open the trap door and the corpse will fall into the bag, double bag it and put it in the dustbin.  Reset the trap by flicking the switch off & on again, and off you go.  Most mice are like women, they will go for chocolate over peas every time!

pH meter suggestions, please

Does anyone else..........

Getting rid of Bindweed

Got any 'ose?

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Amateur Weatherman/woman

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Help - Massive Bramble problem

Unidentifed Raptor