I rang my log supplier to order a trailer load of logs, but he said all he had was 'wet' wood. I imagine he meant unseasoned wood and as beggars can't be choosers I ordered the wood anyway.
Can I still burn unseasoned wood? If not I am in big stook, and will need to order some more somewhere else!

I though that by playing about with smokeless fuel and brickettes I may be able to keep the woodburner alight, adding unseasoned wood as necessary?

Have I wasted my money do you think?

Hello all, 

Wanting to pick the hive mind, if I may. My house hunting has not been going particularly well (which is probably good as I would have struggled to view much over the past few weeks post-COVID). There aren't many houses with decent gardens coming up on Rightmove right now, so I'm poring over the few that do appear. There was a Victorian detached house that was in need of "a full scheme of modernisation" that had an enormous garden that made me want to weep when I viewed it on the satellite images. The house doesn't look that bad on the surface, but the fact the estate agents comment on the work it needs suggests that there are some hidden horrors! If it weren't on a very busy main road in one of my less-preferred areas and was a three-bed rather than a two, I would definitely be viewing it as a potential forever home with a view to slowly improving it over a number of years. 

Another house has just come up with a very long (but narrow) south facing garden. It's not my ideal location, but not very far from my parents which could come in handy. It's also well under my maximum spend. The house is in good condition (neutrally decorated - other than one very red wall - with a tasteful kitchen and bathroom so rather better than some of the 1950s bathrooms in the houses I've been viewing so far). I wouldn't expect to have to do a lot of work on the house (though there's always scope for the unexpected!) so could focus on the garden right off the bat. The garden is quite overlooked by the other houses, which is a definite negative for me, but I could hope to remedy that with the right planting. However, it is also on quite a slope (away from the house)! There's a flatter area at the top but they've gone and stuck a load of decking on that part (as an aside, I would like to say that I absolutely loathe decking and it wouldn't be staying in any garden I expected to make a forever home). 

I grew up in a house with a long sloping garden, but my parents mostly kept it as either lawn or wild growth (plus ponds, and some beds around the sides of the one flat part) until just recently so I don't have much experience of growing on a slope. I would think drainage might be an issue? And things washing down the slope if I left too much open ground at any given time? I wouldn't really want to have to terrace it, or put in lots of levelled off raised beds (I'm hoping to go with more of a Charles Dowding no-dig no-bed-sides approach) so I'd appreciate any thoughts/experience you may have.

I'll be viewing the house this weekend. Obviously, it may not end up being somewhere I want to put in an offer for (the number of houses overlooking the garden definitely gives me pause, I'd prefer a house that needs a bit more doing up, and it's not my first choice area). However, given the geography where I'm house-hunting, it's very unlikely that I'm going to find a perfect large flat garden so the more I know about slope gardening the better!

Here is a link to the house in question. I'll probably only leave the link up for a few days for privacy reasons (especially if I make an offer!) Would be grateful if you could all avoid naming the location in your comments!

My pal sent me this and had me laughing.  Have you got any to add?

   

Anyone got one of these or used one, also known as a stirrup hoe. I've seen good reviews online and I don't get on too well with the dutch hoe I have so was thinking about investing. Seems like cost is around £30 for a good one which is more than I'd normally spend on allotment tools but worth if it makes the weeding a bit easier.

What do you add to your garden to keep your soil healthy, I mostly use seaweed, which I just throw on to the soil and let it rot down and it seems to work, also recommended is rock dust which adds various minerals and ofcourse garden compost and manure but what would you recommend for a health garden

Most of us know about forcing early rhubarb by covering the plant to exclude light, forcing the stalks to grow long and pale in their search for light.
Chicory is another one - old leaves cur down and plant kept in the dark to grow its pale, sweet chicons.

I've never tried this technique but there must be other plants that can be forced in this way for an early crop? 
I'm experimenting with lovage, covered with a bucket, to see if it will grow longer stalks with a milder taste than the fresh ones - more like celery.

Which reminds me  we wrap celery and cardoons to exclude light and stay pale and interesting, and earth up leeks and  salad onions for longer white stems. 
I've also read about dandelions being grown in the dark for salad leaves. .........and, of course, mung bean sprouts are grown in the dark to stay white.

Any other plants?
Have you tried it? Success or failure?

I have a Victoria Plum that usually gives a large crop. Unfortunately, it had to be uprooted and moved today. It is about 15 to 20 years old so could well not survive. It did retain quite a reasonable amount of roots.

Does anyone have any advice on the best way to prune it and when?

   

A little game!! 
Can you Name the Butterflies in the image?

Don't post your answers until you've identified them all (or most of them) as, I know what you lot are like and you'll cheat.