Homeowner Forum / Lawn and Garden / July 2008

I have at last reached official grumpy old bat status. i was sent an
email by the daily telegraph today about lavenders on special offer and
it read
"Dear Mrs Tweedy,

My poplars have shed leaves all over the lawn -- 3-4 months early.
We've had some wind in Berkshire but nothing approaching gale force.
Expecting Santa at any minute.

I've moved to a place with a lawn of about 20 x 15 feet and another
smaller lawn elsewhere.  I think thats too much for my cordless
strimmer to cope with so I'm looking at getting a lawnmower.
I was thinking of picking up a cheap hand powered cylinder mower from

Spider here.  It's a long time since I posted here - and I see some new
posters - so I thought I would introduce myself.
I'm a particulary hairy female spider living in SE London and gardening on
London clay .. somewhat improved clay .. but still solid and sticky in

I have what I think is called a Yucca that is in flower. See:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/astral.project/temp/yukka.jpg
I'm never sure what to do with the flower stem once all the flowers have
gone. Are you supposed to cut it off, or leave it to die away naturally?

It's good to know that behind the scenes they're quietly beavering away on
everyone's behalf.  We had a letter from Wisley  asking us to submit some
bits of Lepechinia chamaedryoides so Ray sent them a whole plant.  Perhaps
some queries have been raised over other Lepechinias ...

Besides pulling them off when you see them. what's a good way to keep them
from cominig back?  I don't really want to use any manufactured
insecticides.  Is there something else I can do?
TIA

Hello there , I have a 26" Snapper riding mower I bought used las
month. It works good on my medium sized lawn. It is alittle worn
found a guy selling a 2oo4 28" cut. Is there any improvements on th
newer ones? Also Would anyone know where to get the grass catchin

³For many years, SNiP has provided our customers with free access to
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customers, SNiP will be suspending this service beginning Tuesday, June
24, 2008.

Anybody got any idea how to stop house cats fouling on my lawn?
I have a small strip of grass that is constantly being ruined by cats.
I've tried various anti cat pellets from DIY stores and I also have
sonic cat repellent...nothing has worked.

I found it yesterday on a volunteer dill plant that grew up in the pole
beans.  I thought it was a Monarch; they look very similar.  Today it
has almost doubled in size already, and the dill plant is just about
gone.  I might need to move it to another dill plant, or that 5 foot

Roddy Llewellyn describes the Judith Lea method of killing off bindweed by
either growing it up a support and then spraying it or stuffing its ends
into a plastic bag and spraying them.  He also talks of that wonderful
little plant Erigeron karvinskianus and describes how Prince ...

Greg says he'll move these to a more permanent home in about a week, so I
figure ya'll better look while you can.  All photos copyright Greg Allikas.
I especially like the one of the swamp, and the one of him taking the pic of
the ghost orchid, saying he was standing in ...

So called "SALVAGE and RESTORATION (of a forest) by my good friend critic
from - Texas  Don Staples who keeps taking me to task is addressed here.
As the story goes with respect to the plight of the Koala, humans are
breaking too many connections too fast.  As a result many living ...

I've got a conifer hedge which is about 6m long by 2.5m high
by 2m wide. I'm not sure what type of conifer -- I don't think
it's Leylandii as it doesn't grow that fast -- it only needs
one or occasionally two cuttings per year to keep it very