steephill

Duplex

General location?

Pollinating insects will not be attracted to sterile plants or those with double forms of flowers. Basically just read those articles which tell you how to attract insects and choose the other types.

Gauntlet recommendations, please

Welder's gauntlets are very useful for brambles - good thick leather, cheap and they cover most of your forearms too. Try motor factors or screwfix.com. You can really get a grip on bramble stems and rip them out roots and all with gloves like these.

New build house, new build lawn - help to start off the right way.

I would stay off it for a few weeks yet until it has started growing properly. If the bumps are just a result of poor workmanship when laying the turf then you can take remedial action. I am sure a search on this site will give you some good advice like this http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/projects/lawn-care/how-to-repair-a-lawn-patch/188.html.

However the bumps might be the result of rubbish left behind by the builders having been dumped in the garden and just turfed over. This is very common unfortunately and you may need to remove the lawn to get rid of the rubbish first otherwise you won't ever get a good lawn.

best shredder for evergreen shrubs

I use a Bosch machine which has now been superceded by newer models like the ATX25D. It uses a cutter like a sharpened gear wheel which rotates at slow speed against a pressure plate. This means that it is very quiet but isn't suitable for small scale green stuff like hedge clippings. It is designed to deal with larger branches and munches through stuff like laurel very effectively. The resulting mulch is too large for compost bins but makes a great mulch on its own if left for 6/12 months.

Best and worst

Favourite is picking up apples to make cider .

Worst is removing brambles - got blood poisoning from doing this a few years ago which left me on antibiotics for 9 weeks, very nasty .

small bird watch

Siskin and goldfinch at lunch today

My Best Ever Christmas Pressie

Grounds are much less effective than coffee for detering slugs, it is the caffeine that kills them and that has all gone into the brew. Fine for composting though.

Coffee cannot be recommended as a pesticide of course, no matter how effective, as it is not licenced for that application. But you have to dispose of that cheap instant coffee you keep making but never drink somewhere, don't you?

Victorian Teak Glasshouse

Definitely use the teak oil before you start glazing. Whether you can varnish the putty will depend on the type, there should be instructions on the container to guide you.

Grape vine

Next week is a bit early. Leave it until it is fully dormant, late Nov to early December.

Greenhouse

Think about water. You don't want to be carrying cans around and a hosepipe ban might make life very difficult. Siting the greenhouse close to the house where you have water butts and mains water would make sense. You might be able to rig up a syphon system to bring water to the greenhouse in either position though.

It is also much more convenient to nip into the greenhouse for herbs, strawberries, tomatoes etc if it is close by. If it is a long trek to the other end of the garden it will tend to get ignored.

As for orientation it really won't make much difference, after all it is entirely transparent. I think the east-west guidance is more relevant to long commercial greenhouses, domestic one's tend to be nearer square e.g. 10x8. Mine is 8x8 so it makes no difference.

Strange broad bean

Slow worms and roe deer

Air pots

Bean confession