Get some feed and weed stuff.

Might be an idea to plant your own herbs or somesuch in one of them Mali?

Today the guy that lives behind me decided to cut his side of the hedge after about 4 years. I am several feet higher than him and as such he was cutting it down from being 6 feet my side to about 3 feet. Until Joans when out and stopped him. It now looks like this: ------|___|--- It's my hedge and he didn't have permission to do it. Idiot.

Has anyone had any experience growing plants and stuff like that in tea chests? There's a bit of the garden, at the back, by the fence, that is paved but is of no real use (no point sticking a bench there as it will only get the sun in the morning) and I think that getting, maybe 4 tea chests and half filling them with some sand, rubble and soil (in layers) and planting plants that don't need much sun there would be a quite funky. I would put, in the furthest corner, one te chest on top of another and then two in front of it. suppose I'd better punch some holes in the bottom, and raise them ever so slightly to prevent damp problems, but I think it's be a gem of a idea and possible.

Work out what you want to put in there, first. Find some plants you like that appreciate shady positions, and then work out what soil you need to grow them in. Adding sand and certainly anything larger (typically you'll just want a few pebbles/crocks at the bottom to help drainage) is only really necessary if you want things that are very intolerant of damp conditions - so in this country that really only means alpines and the like. Definitely don't do layers - plants very much won't appreciate their roots being in a layer of nothing but sand - because it has no nutrients and totally fails to retain water.

I can't help but think that a tea chest would disintegrate in less than a season if you put damp soil in it. It's very thin wood, IIRC. Maybe if you line it with polythene first.

I was thinking varnish to crates and add a liner, yes.

Cool. I need to think about where I could grow more herbs/veg in my garden really.

Oh yeah, any good suggestions for flowering plants/bushes that like shaded spots in clay soil?

'Black Satin' has a semi-erect habit

Had another good trim the other day...

Seriously, though, has anyone seen the advert for that new JML thing? The topsy-turvy or something? You grow your Toms, etc. upside down. It looks... interesting.

Someone at a party last night was saying you're not allowed to use a sprinkler on your lawn in this country. Is he telling lies?

Someone at a party last night was saying you're not allowed to use a sprinkler on your lawn in this country. Is he telling lies?

So far my coriander is surviving admirably outside. I keep shifting slugs away from them at night (don't want pellets down with Baba Z about, and I won't waste 1/3 tin of ale on a beer trap). My mint is sploshuning too.

You can get that copper stuff that slugs can't go over.

Someone at a party last night was saying you're not allowed to use a sprinkler on your lawn in this country. Is he telling lies?

I've only just managed to dig up the fifty miles of mint roots from last year. Bastard stuff. This time round it's going in a pot, not a border.

Mine whole 'herb garden' is in an enclosed 3'x3' border. Won't be able to spread too far, but I'll keep an eye on it.

I'm not covering my garden with Crasters pubes.