Topic: The RAWK Gardening Thread. (All Questions Answered)

[scouseman]

@Gulleysucker I would say that picture is the size of our pear tree but it is more leafy at the moment and as said one biggish branch is in the next doors yard. My main concern is when the time comes how much is reasonable to pay without getting the wool pulled over my eyes. I have been taken advantage of before mate and don't want to be stung. My next door neighbours a few doors down had the same tree in their garden as your picture but 3 tall ones side by side with thick trunks and they had all that rope gear that you describe as well. I think the people who live there are renting and do not own the property otherwise I would ask. I guess it was 2 max 3 years ago now that they had it done. 

[filopastry]

@Gulleysucker I would say that picture is the size of our pear tree but it is more leafy at the moment and as said one biggish branch is in the next doors yard. My main concern is when the time comes how much is reasonable to pay without getting the wool pulled over my eyes. I have been taken advantage of before mate and don't want to be stung. My next door neighbours a few doors down had the same tree in their garden as your picture but 3 tall ones side by side with thick trunks and they had all that rope gear that you describe as well. I think the people who live there are renting and do not own the property otherwise I would ask. I guess it was 2 max 3 years ago now that they had it done. 

My view is that if the neighbour wants the overhanging branch removed they can have it done, but they can pay for it as well, and I believe that is the legal position as well.

My neighbour had a tree that was too close to our house for my liking, so after we moved in I politely asked them if they would mind completely removing it and I would pay for it as it was for my benefit.

That was roughly the height of our 2 storey house and was less than £300, and that was at London prices.

[Tesco tearaway]

Help!!!
I've got Thrips on my Chillies 
How do I get rid of the little bastards?

[royhendo]

What are Thrips (sorry)?

[Tesco tearaway]

What are Thrips (sorry)?

They're like evil Aphids 
I've found that boiling tomato leaves for 10 minutes, then leaving them to seep overnight and draining the water into a spray bottle, is suitably toxic enough to keep them at bay.
My mate has some rhubarb leaves and these are even more toxic; getting some off him tomorrow and preparing a new brew 
 

[WhereAngelsPlay]

Help!!!
I've got Thrips on my Chillies 
How do I get rid of the little bastards?

SB Plant Invigorator is great stuff,used it on my special plants for years now.Buy the concentrate though,you can make 25 litres from the 500ml bottle.

[Tesco tearaway]

SB Plant Invigorator is great stuff,used it on my special plants for years now.Buy the concentrate though,you can make 25 litres from the 500ml bottle.

Cheers mate 
Between the tomato and rhubarb concoctions, and this SB stuff, I'm bound to get rid of the little fuckers...
Or am I? 

[WhereAngelsPlay]

Cheers mate 
Between the tomato and rhubarb concoctions, and this SB stuff, I'm bound to get rid of the little fuckers...
Or am I? 

Hasn't let me down yet but it's bound too now I've said that.

[Tesco tearaway]

Hasn't let me down yet but it's bound too now I've said that.

[ChaChaMooMoo]

Neem oil spray.

I had one of those bastards in my paprika plant. Not the one as you but the 1cm-2cm long white slimy fuckers that stay in the topsoil.

Got myself neem oil (emulsified) that I diluted 1:100 and sprayed on the plants once and once on the soil top.

Never seen those fuckers again. They rotted off and became plant food in the soil directly.

I should've got a 10ml or 5ml bottle. I thought I should do it every day and got myself a 1-litre bottle that should last three generations at its current rate of consumption. But apparently once a month or once in two months is the maximum you should ever do.

[Buck Pete]

Hi Folks

Can anyone recommend a good garden vacuum please for under £100.  Its primarily for leaf sucking really.  Ideally someone who already has one and is happy with their vacuum.

Bit overwhelmed searching on Amazon and the reviews put me off many I looked at

Thought I'd ask good old RAWK.

cheers

[Buck Pete]

Last bump before i take a chance on a Bosch for £75

anyone?

[reddebs]

Last bump before i take a chance on a Bosch for £75

anyone?

Sorry mate can't help you with this one.

[.adam]

Attempting to dig out the Japonica (at least that's the variety I think it is) bamboo in one of our garden borders this weekend.

It's not a huge clump, perhaps only about 30-45cm across so I am hoping it won't be too arduous. I managed to dig out the roots of a 10 foot privet a few weeks back so I've had good practice!

We've been here for five years now and the bamboo has never really spread but the other day I was mowing the lawn and spotted a rhizome had sprung up about six foot away. Not a good sign so it is time for it to go.

[CornerFlag]

Caterpillars seem to like eating the gladioli I stuck in a few months ago.  Trying to pick them out one-by-one but it's not the easiest.  Tend to take them round the front at least where there's a certain type of weed they like to eat and I can't be arsed pulling all that out given I'm the only one who does.  Best just to keep removing them this way or would some sort of bug killer be better?  Really not into killing them though if I can help it but this is the first minor gardening I've done.

Also, how long should it be before re-potting herbs?

[reddebs]

Attempting to dig out the Japonica (at least that's the variety I think it is) bamboo in one of our garden borders this weekend.

It's not a huge clump, perhaps only about 30-45cm across so I am hoping it won't be too arduous. I managed to dig out the roots of a 10 foot privet a few weeks back so I've had good practice!

We've been here for five years now and the bamboo has never really spread but the other day I was mowing the lawn and spotted a rhizome had sprung up about six foot away. Not a good sign so it is time for it to go.

Get a mini digger Adam, those things are bastards that root down to Oz as well as spread like underground blankets.

[Alan_X]

I managed to get a exemption from jury duty so thank you for your help with this matter. My elderly neighbour in her right wisdom decided to get 4 lads without masks or anything not social distancing or anything to cut down some fruit tress in her garden all day today. Then without telling me started saying that a branch of my mums pear tree was over hanging her side. She has not said anything all these years.  I tried to explain that unlike her i was shielding  and would look into it but I felt very pressured by her and the workmen. The quoted me £3,000 for a semi tall pear tree then went down to £1000 I cannot afford those prices and told her I would shop around but she wants me to pay to get rid of the branch on her side of the boundary. I don't really know what much these things cost and I am not willing to allow workmen in at the moment. I don't think the lady realises that there is a pandemic on. No mask or anything.  It looked very shoddy.

We paid £312 including VAT to reduce an Apple tree by 30% as well as trim a small Japanese Maple and a few other bits. They made the applicatino to the council (we're in a conservation area).

We looked for approved contractors Arboricultural Approved Contractors Scheme.

https://www.trees.org.uk/ARB-Approved-Contractor-Directory?postcode=AL8%206SN&radius=15

[BobPaisley3]

Looking for some gardening advice please fellow Rawkites. Just moved into a new place with a decent back garden. Kids want to play footy/cricket, and the lawn is a good size, but at one side the grass goes up into a little hill before dropping down to the standard level again. As a relative gardening novice I’m going to dig the hill out. Any advice on which tools might do the job? Is it a basic spade and fork? If so, I fear it might take weeks. Cheers

[The Gulleysucker]

Looking for some gardening advice please fellow Rawkites. Just moved into a new place with a decent back garden. Kids want to play footy/cricket, and the lawn is a good size, but at one side the grass goes up into a little hill before dropping down to the standard level again. As a relative gardening novice I’m going to dig the hill out. Any advice on which tools might do the job? Is it a basic spade and fork? If so, I fear it might take weeks. Cheers

The only recommendation I can give is that little hill will highly likely be deceptive as to how much soil it is made up of and the amount of time and effort required to shift it.

I dug out our patio area many moons ago by handpower and shovel and pickaxe

It was an area of about 30' x 20' that was sloped from one end to the other and needed digging out from between 2' to 1' depth in order to level the area.

I gave up counting the number of wheelbarrow loads of soil I'd dug out after 50.

It just seemed to go on and on as packed soil when it's dug out takes up a lot more room.

The job took me several weeks all told and I should really have hired a minidigger and would if I ever had to do such a thing again.

[.adam]

Looking for some gardening advice please fellow Rawkites. Just moved into a new place with a decent back garden. Kids want to play footy/cricket, and the lawn is a good size, but at one side the grass goes up into a little hill before dropping down to the standard level again. As a relative gardening novice I’m going to dig the hill out. Any advice on which tools might do the job? Is it a basic spade and fork? If so, I fear it might take weeks. Cheers

You will be able to do it by hand but, as Gulley says, do not underestimate how much earth you will remove to do the job properly. You'll also need to consider where you'll put the earth when you've removed it. I'd probably get a skip.

Try to remove the top layer of sod in good sized 'sheets' leaving a decent amount of earth attached. You should be able to relay this once you've leveled it.

[.adam]

Attempting to dig out the Japonica (at least that's the variety I think it is) bamboo in one of our garden borders this weekend.

It's not a huge clump, perhaps only about 30-45cm across so I am hoping it won't be too arduous. I managed to dig out the roots of a 10 foot privet a few weeks back so I've had good practice!

We've been here for five years now and the bamboo has never really spread but the other day I was mowing the lawn and spotted a rhizome had sprung up about six foot away. Not a good sign so it is time for it to go.

This seemed to go well. I dug out the main root ball with a pickaxe and mattock then found any runners which were going off elsewhere. Dug a couple of them out from under the lawn and a couple running down the bed.

The variety is technically a non-invasive type so the runners were nowhere near as bad as if it would have been a running variety.

Replaced with a nice Photinia Pink Marble variety. Should eventually grow above the fence line and give some nice colour too:

[BobPaisley3]

Thanks Gulleysucker/Adam, appreciate the information/advice. I think you’re right, I dug a few weeds out of it the other day and tried to go a bit deeper but it hardly scratched the surface.

[royhendo]

RIP The Gulleysucker. What an awful bit of news.

https://www.redandwhitekop.com/forum/index.php?topic=345958.0

[.adam]

A question which I am hoping someone can help with.

We have a pretty well established "flamingo" willow tree. Looks like one of these:



We have an extension built last year and a new patio put on the back and the fellas basically patioed right up to the base of the willow tree. In essence, they cut a hole to fit around the base of the tree but then patioed completely around it.

This year, it has really struggled and is twiggy and lacking in foliage. My thoughts are that because it had patio all around it, it couldn't get the moisture it needs (since nothing else has changed, this can be the only explanation).

I've chipped up the patio around its base and built this to help it get more water. I've filled the 'basin' with compost and have been watering it each night and giving it some feed to give it a boost.



Problem is I'm not really seeing any tangible improvement - it's been over about six weeks now since I put that in.

The tree is probably about 7-8 foot so in reality, I probably haven't opened up enough patio to get to all of its roots but I can't open up any more otherwise it'll destroy the usable patio.

Any suggestions on what I can do?

[Tesco tearaway]

A question which I am hoping someone can help with.

We have an extension built last year and a new patio put on the back and the fellas basically patioed right up to the base of the willow tree. In essence, they cut a hole to fit around the base of the tree but then patioed completely around it.

This year, it has really struggled and is twiggy and lacking in foliage. My thoughts are that because it had patio all around it, it couldn't get the moisture it needs (since nothing else has changed, this can be the only explanation).

Any suggestions on what I can do?

Could they have chopped through the roots to make sure the hardcore was deep enough?

[reddebs]

Could they have chopped through the roots to make sure the hardcore was deep enough?

Quite possibly I'd have thought but it should still recover over time.

It's not the best time of year for seeing an improvement regardless of any remedial treatment though if it goes through a normal autumn and winter phase it should be back to its best next spring/summer.

Beautiful tree btw.

[.adam]

Thanks, folks. I don't think they chopped through the roots to lay the sub-base. It actually wasn't that deep when I made the opening.

Think I should just continue to water the shit out of it and hope that it recovers next spring?

[reddebs]

Thanks, folks. I don't think they chopped through the roots to lay the sub-base. It actually wasn't that deep when I made the opening.

Think I should just continue to water the shit out of it and hope that it recovers next spring?

Some trees just dont like being disturbed whilst others can have anything thrown at them and still thrive.

Keep watering for now but it's approaching dormant time so don't overdo it or it could get root rot and drown [emoji16]

[John C]

Trees can be pretty durable adam, I strongly suspect it will revive its next year.

[Sarge]

I posted here the other day, very odd quite a few posts in other threads are go awol?

[John C]

I posted here the other day, very odd quite a few posts in other threads are go awol?

We had to install a new server Sarge mate. The site went down for more than 24 hours and may have took your best tips with it

[Jono69]

I posted here the other day, very odd quite a few posts in other threads are go awol?

Think they have had to prune some of the dead wood

[Sarge]

We had to install a new server Sarge mate. The site went down for more than 24 hours and may have took your best tips with it

Ahh right so Ted, i was pissed on Saturday night so glad i was not imagining it

[Sarge]

Think they have had to prune some of the dead wood

Oh not bad, not bad at all.

[reddebs]

Making a start on the pots and containers today.

Also got some membrane to lay and some old slate tiles to smash up and put down.  I did half a roofs worth the other day, what a workout!!

[Sarge]

Winter clean up today and a bit of cutting back and clearing out, nice day too. I do love Spring.

[Slippers]

Winter clean up today and a bit of cutting back and clearing out, nice day too. I do love Spring.

This was my plan for today,the dog had other ideas.

[Sarge]

This was my plan for today,the dog had other ideas.

Got all my Summer bulbs planted and a good tidy up done, pond cleaned and grass cut back.

[CHOPPER]

Garlic(Picardy Wight) went in the ground yesterday but with a new approach. I got a role of that cheap anti weed mat - laid it over the raised bed and cut equi-distant holes in it and planted each clove in through the hole. Hopefully this will save on the weeding. Did the same for the Red Onions sets, as well, slight risk as its a bit early and they may bolt, but I was on a mission.

Horse manure booked for next weekend and then 5 tonne of topsoil 4 weeks after that. I've took the executive decision and taken over the whole of the bottom of the garden as the new Veg area and am ramping things up and going all Goodlife.

[Sarge]

Carefull with the horse manure, a farmer once told me that cow munure is best, the horse one does not digest as well and can leave you with weeds ya dont want. But both are grant in general.

https://www.allotment-garden.org/composts-fertilisers/horse-or-cow-manure/#:~:text=Because%20cow%20manure%20is%20more,wet%20soils%2C%20like%20heavy%20clays.&text=It%20really%20makes%20no%20difference,well%20aged%20or%20composted%20first.