Homeowner Forum / Lawn and Garden / July 2008

In the interests of household economy (eeeeeh, it's just like the
1950s, I'm going to buy shares in spam) we're going over to a water
meter for a 12-month trial run (house distinctly under-occupied). At
the moment the garden, and in particular various pots, planters and

The FlorAppeal drive has begun -- a fundraising effort of globa
magnitude for creating the largest, most unique botanical garden in th
Western Hemisphere. If you would, please take a moment to visit th
FlorAppeal action portal at http://florappeal.blogspot.com t

There is a bark place down the road that sells mushroom compost and steer
compost. Is this stuff good for the garden? Can I use it like compost and
heap it on the ground around plants and trees?

could any help me please no matter which onion variety I grow they al
seem to end up with the same complaint namely a gradual browning of th
foliage from the top gradually going down to the onion itself, I hav
trie ti find out what this but to avail, I have sprayed against milde

I have just cleared a strip of land ( 6 ft x 40 ft ) which has good soi
and is now weed free. It was behind a couple of sheds which I have no
removed.
Can anyone suggest any plants, shrubs etc, that I could plant now, tha

I have had a terrible fungal prioblem in my garden this year. I thin
its mainly powdery mildew that has affected my clematis, of which
have had to cut down about 5. It has also affected my honeysuckle, m
continus coggygria or "smoke bush" my rhododendron, and about 3 of m

Besides eating, what else have you found pineapples are also good
for ?

I recently bought some red and green bell peppers. I can't believe how much
they are costing, about $2 each. So I decided to take seeds from each and
try to grow some of my own. I took many seeds out of a green pepper and many
from a red pepper. I had the separate. I let them dry ...

I bought an oncidium.  According to "Understanding Orchids", it's an
oncidium Pokie "Leuticke's Choice".  It does not say what category of
oncidium it is.  I probably shouldn't have bought it since I've had
problems with oncidium not blooming before.  I just couldn't resist

I have an angel trumpet in a large pot. It is 3-4 feet tall and I have had
it a few months. The leaves were quite large but now they seem to be cupping
under. Kind of like you would cup your hand around something. Even the new
leaves have this odd look. What does this mean? I ...

Would those of you who know something of medicinal herbs please
cast an eye on http://tinypic.com/1r509n5u 
and help me identify some herbs that lost their labels?

Many thanks!
H :
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Why are my runner bean leaves uniformly rather pale green, this is the
first time I have grown them here in France.  I have grown them every
year in England without problem.  The ground was virgin soil that had
been a field so apart from grass, nothing was growing there

You know we were talking about my tomato blight problem - one thing I forget
to mention that may have a bearing on it is that when I potted up the
original plants I added fish blood and bonemeal to the compost - would that
have any bearing on the problem do you think?

I need some advice on improving my lawn.
As you can see from the images the grass is very sparse and thin.  
guess you could describe it as field-type grass.
'[image: http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/2158/dscf1210sq3.th.jpg]