Tina5

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Oh,David, that is a beauty! What a fantastic colour! I don't think 'im outdoors (my other half), has got that one. No room for more though I'm afraid. I've been wandering round the garden looking for spaces )or some lawn to dig up and make another bed). I need more space!

Lililouside..your garden is just beautiful!

WILDLIFE PICTURES

I'm not a big fan of magpies, i must admit. Some years ago, I had to rescue a small kitten from a tall tree. The magpies were attacking her. Having said that, I'd be keeping an eye on the baby too, poor little mite has had a rough start! We have a young fledgling blackbird who is living in my garden at present, and every morning he waits for me to go our and give him a few strawberries. I'm not sure who has trained who?

We had a starnded young seagull in our garden last year...I couldn't get near it. As soon as I set foot outside the back door, the mother dive bombed me. The noise is awful, isn't it?

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I love clematis. That's a beauty! My other half is the clematis collector and grower in our garden.

Gardening just grabs you by throat and won't let go. I've been grubbing about in the dirt since I was a toddler..literally. My mother worked at a plant nurseries and used to take me with her (in those days you could). I used to sit under her potting bench and play with the discarded seedlings and make mud pies! It's my earliest memory.

WILDLIFE PICTURES

Yes, it is a teasel. Although we grow fruit and veg as well as flowers, we have a 'wild' area, which sometimes spills over and leaves surprises in odd places. I tend to leave them if they aren't in the way. The goldfinches love the seeds, and I love to watch the birds. I even grew cardoons one year.....never again! LOL!!

B&Q M.Purpose Compost Issues.

Hi all.

I am new to this forum, and went looking for any info on bought compost. I don't buy B&Q, but have had two lots of J Arthur Bowers and it's disgusting! It's full of tiny bits of plastic, flakes of paint, unrotted MDF and unrotted grow blocks. My boss bought some too, and his had broken glass in it. Westland isn't as good as it used to be either. I just buy Miracle Gro now, although it is expensive, I have found it to be the best by far.

I also tried the new Expand and Grow 'dry compost', and was seriously unimpressed. Too much messing about, and the end result isn't that great. It dries out far too fast and feels like dried tea leaves.

Fruit Cages

I would recommend using a fairly small gauge netting too. When we built our first brassica cage, we used netting with too large holes. Waste of time and money. The strong black pond netting plasric works well in our windy garden. It's a bit more expensive, but worth it in the long run.

WILDLIFE PICTURES

Lovely pics! The bird babies are lovely! we have a collared dove nesting in one of our apple trees. I can't get a clear pic, but I

do have some other wildlife pics to share..

Cherry Tree Bugs- Please Help!

Our cherries are a washout this year. The aphid problem you describe is terrible. I've given up, as I don't like to use sprays. The ants are farming them too, which doesn't help. Ant bands made no difference. I try to be philosophical about it, some years things do better than others. The soft fruit is good this year, so there is still something nice to harvest!

strawberry runners

I can recommend Ken Muir's for strawberry plants. They aren't cheap..but they are good. I finally caved in and renewed my plants a couple of years ago, Last year we had over 60lb of fruit from three smallish beds. I got strawberry rash, ia te so many!

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David, that looks beautiful! I live five minutes walk from the coast, and it's often very windy. I only have one hanging basket and I keep it in the apple tree..at least it gets a bit of shelter!