Homeowner Forum / Lawn and Garden / July 2008

My lawn has a lot of moss in it so I thought it would be a good idea to have
a go at raking it out. However, I had forgotten what hard work it is with a
grass rake! I was sweating cobs tonight and only did a small part of the
lawn - and then the heavens opened and rescued me  :-)

Just now I pulled up a 4" petty spurge (a frequent and several-times-daily
activity although I usually get them when they're smaller).
I noticed that on the underside of all the leaves were orange/brown slightly
raised and crowded together spots.

Has anybody found an effective way of deterring cats from the garden?
I'm sure somewhere on my property is a sign in cat speak that reads 'Public
Toilet'. A good part of my time gardening is spent clearing up their mess (I
thought they were supposed to bury it).

I am having a reasonably successful first year on my allotment and i a
loving every minute of it! As my crops grow and i use them space i
becoming available.
Can someone give me an indication of what, if anything, i can put in a

Earlier in the spring a motion sensorred water spraying "thing" ( I
can't remember the name) was recommended to keep deer out of the
garden. Has anyone actually used one of them? Did it work?
The deer here have devoured my cucumbers, watermelon, Rose of Sharron

In 2006 I got a female Issai kiwi vine, which is self-fertile and produces
the small, hairless kiwis that are about the size and color of green grapes.
These vines are less vigorous than the fuzzy kiwi varieties, but still
supposed to be quite vigorous.

I have recently had a company edge the pond with stone.
In carrying out this process, five tench I had in the pond have died
After the work was carried out they were initially distressed, an
sadly died towards the end of the day.

I have several different varieties of marrows in the same bed, all
doing very well except for one.
"Tiger Cross" flowers, fruits and then when the marrows are about the
size of a penny they just drop off.

I have 7 phals.  They are thriving in a bay window that faces east.
They get several hours of morning sun, filtered through shear
curtains.  The light is much stronger at this time of year, of course,
but even in the winter several were blooming.

I am look for a place to purchase a Cream Magic Daylily.  Any help would be
appreciated.

Can anyone make suggestions about getting a replacement garden shredder?
I seem to be generating a lot of woody material and I want to shred up
to 1.5" diameter cuttings. Anything larger I use for log fires.
My current shredder is an Atika that has blades in it. These seem to get

I have a Variagated  Euphorbia that is about 4 years old. It's about
3ft high and not a rampant grower. Lately, it has stopped producing
new shoots from the base and I'm afraid I'm going to lose it. What can
I do to encourage new growth, if anything? Many thanks

Bees have taken up residence in an asparagus ridge.   I think they have
eaten most of the asparagus - any idea how to get rid of them?    TIA
Will

I've got a bit of the kikuyu grass
http://www.weeds.org.au/cgi-bin/weedident.cgi?tpl=plant.tpl&ibra=all&card=E27
in my lawn. The council planted it as the common nature strip grass and some
of it has gotten into my garden.

Yes, I know why.  Anyway, there was talk on abpo of setting up a private
server for pictures once the big companies started dropping the .alt
hierarchy.  Please post the server information here when/if it gets done
because many of us can't see abpo anymore.