What have you done in the garden today? Part 8

[Jimmyneutronsforehead]

A continuation thread.

Thank you to MereDintOfPandiculation for threads 1 through 6. We wouldn't have built this lovely gardening community without you.

No gardening job is too small or too big to tell us about.

Spring is springing into action, let's get mucky.

Has anyone bought one of the lidl robot lawnmower and if so what are they like?

We've got one, unopened, from years ago. It's very first gen technology, and we have never used it because it needs a lot of boundary wire and our garden is split into 3 parts, so it means it would only be able to do one of the areas.

On paper it seemed like a good idea but in reality it isn't. If the lidl one is good though I would happily have one in each of the 2 front gardens and just manually mow the back as there's so little grass there anyway and soon to all be playground bark.

A mass of weeding! It was very neglected over winter 🙈 DH cut the grass and strimmed. Fed the roses, planted a spring pot and planted crocosmia bulbs. Thoroughly enjoyed getting out into the garden again after the endless rain.

@Agapornis no leaflet. I think because they are such good value they go quickly. You can’t hesitate with the cheap shops either. If it’s in store when you go and you like it you have to buy it!

@Liquoricethyme your cottage garden bed of foxgloves is going to look great. I’ll look forward to pictures when they flower. ( Also there is a name on your picture you might want to remove).

@Tiddlywinks63 must be so satisfying to see your garden looking good.

I confess, I have never mown a lawn. XDH kindly left a mower in the shed - it’s one he was given, because it doesn’t work reliably. I would happily buy a new one, but I am overwhelmed by the range and wouldn’t know where to start. Any suggestions? What factors should I consider when choosing one?

I haven’t done much outside today, but I’ve repotted a few things indoors.

I actually live about 5 mins from a B&M, but the queues are always awful so I don't venture in very often. Their dicentras are looking good (£5) right now. I wasn't sure about their clematis montana as they weren't very big, but maybe I should go back, only £6.50...

Today I put the fence trellis back in its place. Project replace fence post is done! Amusingly the older man next doors came outside (he lives there half the year, I know the rest of his family better), asked me whether I needed help, and where was my husband? Was he at work? Did I want to borrow any tools? 💀😂 Note that I do not have a husband but a male housemate, and am often in the garden using power tools unsupervised. The patriarchy lives on! (He has a lovely son though, we'll have a chuckle about it when I next see him.)

On mowers - I let my 'lawn' (half of it is shitty annual meadow grass + couch grass) grow long, when I remember I do an annual meadow cut in October, with a strimmer. I don't have dogs/kids/sunbathing to cater for, though. It's great for crickets, and the cats love it too.

@MargaretThursday have you tried sharpening the mower blade? Mowers do need a bit of maintenance and cleaning, and with a sharp cut you won't get those dead stringy tops of grass blades.

I'm afraid my process for buying a mower goes something like

Does it mow grass -->yes> is it easy to fuel or does it have an electrical cable> yes>Can I push it?-->yes. Sold. I think most I've had have been cheap ones from Argos all bar the FlyMo.

My ex from a long time ago was obsessed with stripes grass and insisted we bought this specific type of lawnmower, I can't even remember what it was called, but did he ever mow the lawn? No, he didn't.

Not sure why it did so much crossing out!

Lawn mowers.

The best lil mower I bought was from Argos for £99. Rechargeable and so light I used to pop it in the car boot, a fiat 500, after folding the handle down, to do the allotment paths. I'd do the weeding, throw all the weeds onto the lawn, mow them and the grass up and pop it all in the compost.

Here we have a big old beast petrol one, with mulcher, which we use for edges, autumn leaves and after himself has cut the laurel hedge, I mow so that it all gets thrown under the hedge as i go.

And for the main lawn we have a GPS robot. Which is a godsend in the temps we get, 4 months at 40°c all summer. The odd time he gets stuck on the edge but apart from that, lovely straight stripes across the whole garden.

I've got a Flymo Easiglide. Dh used to mow the lawn and I used to do the other gardening. After he died I used the Flymo Easiglide we had until it broke and then bought another. It works fine but it has a cord. If it breaks in future I'll buy a cordless one. It's a bit of a pain having to plug it in through a high window. I'll read reviews to decide which one.

I fed my roses, tied up some new growth on a clematis, and cut back the seed heads on last year’s rudbeckia.

Could anyone recommend a cheap lawnmower? I used to have someone cut mine, but now I can’t afford to! And because of the ‘no money’ thing, it needs to be basic.

My sweet peas have sprouted! Last year I direct sowed them but was not a huge success, think I started a bit late and didn’t water enough. This year I started them earlier in the greenhouse.

cleared and cleaned the greenhouse and shed, weeded some beds. Thought about going to the garden centre but decided it was too dangerous, I always seem to return with my car full to the brim and yet when it’s planted out, only a tiny corner is full.

anenomes de Caen are almost in bloom, the spring lasagne pots are doing nicely and the lawn has been cut. A good day!

I'm watching the beautiful willow tree behind me being cut down, it's huge and has given me a lot of privacy since I moved here 10 years ago. The birds love it and over the past week I've heard both the robin and the blackbird singing from the top of it.

I know it's up to the house owners to cut it down but bloody hell, I feel like crying. 😥

Oh no. You can get fond of trees.
I remember feeling sad when people opposite cut down a tree I used to look at when I was feeding baby dd.

I would cry too. NDN has a big conifer that I know other neighbours would love him to cut down but I’d be devastated for the same reasons.

Another lovely day here, might go out and play with my new pots and compost in a bit.

It's the lack of privacy I'm now going to have right into my utility room through to the kitchen and also on the patio and when I'm in the garden.

My own tree, a Pittisporum, is quite big but it doesn't come over far enough to protect the whole of the back of my house.

I keep hoping they will leave some of the trunk for it to regrow maybe but I think I might be clutching at rather a lot of straws here.

How basic are we talking?

And how big is the lawn to be cut?

As I said a rechargeable £99 one from argos did me, was light, portable and you just took the battery in to charge when it ran out. I used it for around 10 years before I left the UK. Both at home and at the allotment and for chopping up weeds nd mowing leaves for the compost.

Two medium-sized lawns. (Which I don’t want at all, but DS is still at the football playing stage, and I have a lot of garden…) I have an outdoor socket, so can plug a mower in if necessary. I don’t need it to do anything fancy. I just have no idea what the options are!

Thanks everyone for mower advice. I’m tempted to get a cheapo corded one as I do have an outside power socket. Somehow that feels less intimidating than a petrol one.

@Myblueclematissorry to hear about the willow tree, that would make me sad too. Can you ask for a cutting? Even to grow a little one in a pot?

I’m interested in the mulching blade but it does get very wet here (Welsh coast).

@Castlerigg I have a fairly cheap corded electric Black & Decker. I bought it last year for about £125. It isn't heavy, which I love. It has 5 or 6 height settings, can cope with slightly damp grass and cuts nice and cleanly.

Also @Castlerigg what is a moss pole and how do you go about 3D printing one?

SWEATPEAS guidance needed - fellow sweatpea growers, when do you transplant them and do they need sticks to support them? About half of my seeds have germinated and I've topped them out, but I'm not sure what to do next!

I mowed my lawn (after removing the bloody fox shit again - clearly have not stopped the little shitter from coming in, despite blocking the hole). That's the third mow of the year and I went one setting lower. Afterwards, I went through it and dug up more weeds and moved grass plugs from places they shouldn't be into the lawn. All very satisfying.

I spent a lot of time on the hideous bed of stones, clearing all the weeds, leaf debris, moving the stones and then cutting through the layers of weed mesh and wrenching and tearing it out. You'd think I was doing something the size of a football pitch from all the moaning and whining I'm doing, not just a small corner of the garden BUT it is such a hard work and crappy job. Still so much left to do.

Tree has completely gone, am having blinds fitted today which has turned out to be a good move although I didn't know it when I ordered them, they'll help a bit inside but not out in the garden.

A trampoline is now where the tree was, my privacy has gone. I'm so disheartened and sad. 😢😢

I feel your pain. Can you plant to help regain some privacy — something to help out your pittosporum?