Gardening and Landscaping Stack Exchange
Gardening and Landscaping Stack Exchange

Most Popular

more tags
1500 questions
9
votes
1 answer

How can I determine when to pick a spiny cucumber, without touching it?

We have a friend who occasionally brings us vegetable plants, as she has her own garden/farm thing where she cultivates plants to sell to restaurants. This time around, she brought us some tiny red and yellow tomatoes as well as some cucumbers. The…
Grace Note
  • 395
  • 1
  • 3
  • 7
9
votes
2 answers

What is this succulent weed?

This guy has been growing like gang busters in a newly planted bed of ground covering sedums. It's actually kind of a nice ground cover but based on its rate of spread and the fact that I didn't plant it I'm thinking of yanking it all up. It has…
dkackman
  • 403
  • 1
  • 4
  • 12
9
votes
1 answer

Compost pile and bugs (2 questions)

First insect question: When I turned our compost pile yesterday, there was a lot of very rich smelling black soil, semi composted vegetables/plant/oak leaf matter, and a LOT of pill bugs. My wife said, "They're doing their job well." Are pill bugs…
Mr. Anderson
  • 151
  • 1
  • 3
9
votes
1 answer

Forcing a clover takeover of my lawn

I have weeds in my grass lawn. Not an uncommon situation, I understand. I have a few types of weeds. One type grows like — well, like weeds: quickly and tall. And unsightly. Then there's clover, which is neither tall nor, to my mind, unsightly. I'm…
msh210
  • 242
  • 2
  • 9
9
votes
3 answers

Am I doing the right thing with my chilli plants?

I have four chilli plants (Cayenne F1's) that I bought from a garden centre as seedlings back in April (I am in Scotland). When I say seedlings these plants were in tiny seedling growers and started life in my house as 4-6cm seedlings with a stalk…
Kev
  • 253
  • 2
  • 8
9
votes
2 answers

When is it ok to prune an overgrown apple tree?

I recently bought a new house and I'm trying to get the garden in order. It has an apple tree which has lots of low branches and appears generally neglected. Some of the leaves are silvery and look ill. It blossomed in late May and, now in late…
RobEarl
  • 277
  • 1
  • 2
  • 8
9
votes
5 answers

How can I amend clay soil with soil, without digging?

I live in a USDA hardiness zone 5 temperate area. Our soil is definitely heavy clay. I have bags and bags of dirt that I can use to amend it, but I'm stuck as to how. See, the clay is very heavy, and the temperature is quite hot (25-30° Celsius…
ashes999
  • 2,303
  • 5
  • 27
  • 39
9
votes
2 answers

How viable will 5 year old or 25 year old bush bean seeds be?

My Grandfather bred a bush bean for my Grandma. They've been gone for years, but I would like to try and keep the breed alive for heirloom purposes. I've got two sources of seeds, 1 source is about 5-8 years old, and the other source is 25+. What…
thomasw_lrd
  • 343
  • 1
  • 5
9
votes
2 answers

Is this plant Giant Hogweed?

In getting our spring landscaping underway, we've run into a bush that a family member is sure that this plant (pictured) is Giant Hogweed. Click photo for full size British Columbia considers this plant to be toxic (if it is indeed that species)…
tbonz
  • 93
  • 5
9
votes
1 answer

Removing concrete border around stone patio

My husband and I are buying a portion of our neighbor's property. Currently, our back yard has this ugly brick wall right by the back, which we are going to tear out. I also want to pull up all the stones in the patio and lay them back down,…
Cynthia
  • 91
  • 1
  • 4
9
votes
8 answers

How can I weed trim without damaging a fence?

I keep damaging the bottom of my fence with my gas weed trimmer. What is the best way to prevent damage to my fence while using a gas trimmer?
dpollitt
  • 191
  • 1
  • 1
  • 5
9
votes
2 answers

Is drainage important in Greenhouse beds?

I just finished building my first greenhouse! I built in beds on the shelves along the wall that can have up to 10 inches of soil. (I'm planning on putting 8 inches in.) I lined the bottom of the beds with plastic because I don't want the plywood to…
Biff MaGriff
  • 193
  • 6
9
votes
5 answers

Does Dawn dishwashing detergent kill plants (shrubs & flowers)?

Yesterday I was talking to my neighbor, and he was telling me he was cleaning the trim on his house with Dawn (dishwashing detergent used in the US) mixed in water. I thought I read somewhere that Dawn can damage or kill plants. Is this true? I was…
danludwig
  • 193
  • 1
  • 1
  • 6
9
votes
4 answers

What type of lawn damage is this, and what do I do about it?

I would like to give my front lawn a little TLC this year. I don’t really know a lot about lawn care, (other than mowing it) so I am looking for some general advice. Does this look like a seeding issue, a fertilizer issue or both? I've recently…
Corey
  • 191
  • 3
9
votes
4 answers

Raising soil level around tree

As a side mini project from a bigger patio project, we moved some concrete blocks to create a well around a tree in the front of the house. A conversation over in DIY.SE chat this morning sparked concern about killing the tree by doing this. Is what…
lsiunsuex
  • 275
  • 1
  • 3
  • 7
1 2 3
…
99 100