Does anyone know anything about gardening?

Are you in London?
@edmundro works for a firm with a narrow stumpgrinder designed to fit through domestic doorways.
Might be worth pm'ing him for a price.

Aah - nice, I'll take some pictures tonight and do that, thanks.

If not though, I'm not too worried if it takes a couple of years of just being left. I just wondered if there was something cheap and available that I could be topping up / painting on over that time so it took only two years, instead of five if left to itself.

@Sam_w I've heard about the copper before- thanks for the reminder. I'll whack a few of those in too.

If it was a conifer, it's dead anyway...

I’ve got one which I smash with a big axe every so often. It’s therapeutic and the cracks I make help it rot down a bit more. Ants did all the hard work for me though.

If you could induce a fecund stag beetle to lay her grubs into it, they would gradualky eat through it.

If you could induce a fecund stag beetle to lay her grubs into it

This sounds extremely promising. How does one attract a fecund female stag beetle I wonder? Do I have to secrete the correct pheromones?

Nice. This sounds almost as good as the fire method...

I am finding this weather has totally killed my gardening mojo.

Too hot to enjoy pottering. All I do is water and get sad about the stuff that has perished because I haven't watered.

Please rain. Please.

This comment is not in line with the usual Mashton positivity.
I grant you the gift of rain on Friday. In fact, you can have a thunderstorm on me.
Many of my plants are looking worse for wear. Nothing dead yet but plenty of scorched leaves despite correct amount of water.

Hose + sprinkler + kids + outdoors + fun + wetness + heat = soggy garden

win

:)

mashton positivity is in short supply at the moment.

It will return. With rain!

At least this weather means I can find and pull out all the weeds in the lawn. They're the only things that are green. A quick poke down the side with a big flat screwdriver and out they pull.

I've found the best method is live adjacent to a municipal golf course,
and its surrounding aged hedgerows and woodland.
When one flies into you, yes really, they can & do fly,
take her home,
and introduce her to the luxury habitat you have prepared,
sizeable logs dug into the bottom of raised beds with a 'tower' of hardwood mulch leading down from the surface. If Firefox and the 'net play well I will upload a picture of the fine specimen that emerged earlier this Summer.
(F it, tried 3 times nothing uploaded).

A quick poke down the side with a big flat screwdriver and out they pull.

What a good tip, I'm gonna try this...

Amazing detail - thanks! I'm not sure I'll be able to follow through, but I'll keep an eye out for one.

Attracting a fecund Stag Beetle to lay her grubs is very much like making love to a beautiful woman...

So The allotment next door has been abandoned and has a big blackberry tree.. any tips / help for a man looking to take some cuttings and grow them on his allotment? Asking for a friend...

Sharp cutters, cutting hormone power and then try and find a bud and burry that below the soil.

Take a few just in case.

Rogue teasel

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I have a tree in my garden that I've recently identified as a nectarine tree (by trying one of the fruits it bore)
It's suffering from leaf curl, which I believe is caused by a fungus.

Any recommendations for a fungacide that won't damage anything but the spores fucking my tree?

Can anyone ID this tree?

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Perhaps a mallow of some kind?

Hmm, I'm not convinced. The overall shape of the tree doesn't seem to be right for a mallow. Similar flowers though.

Anyone else have any info?

A variety of Magnolia?

hibiscus?
it's gorgeous, even though I'm not much of a fan of severe "standard" training

I think Hibiscus is the one. Thanks!