Does anyone know anything about gardening?

The answer to that question is a simple 'no'. The answer to a permeable base for shingle is crushed concrete with a layer of sharp sand on top. The answer to planting between slabs is concrete and a layer of mortar under each slab and soil in between.

Any area of shingle will inevitably grow all the things you don't want. Leaves will decompose on it, fine soil will blow into it, it will soon become a 'wildflower' bed.

Cheers and the mozi killer is good to know about. My OH is allergic to them, so it's not a great idea to breed them next to where we're going to sit.

I'm not fussed about fish, as I wouldn't want to fuck around with feeding or keep them in something so small.

QQ: when are people moving their chillies outside?

Yesterday. Too soon?

Perhaps more so, it's not gonna be 1 big slab it'll be max 600mm wide strips with 50mm gaps, so the runoff from those steps will be concentrated in the remaining gaps.

Seems like grano is often used for artificial lawns so this is probably the way to go, especially as I already have a bulk bag sitting in the garden, possibly mixed in with some 20mm crushed stone.

I was assuming just soil between the slabs with grass or sedum or something. The runoff would soak away pretty quickly I expect.
If you want gravel between them then yeah, whatever @ColinTheBald says to do

I think it needs some kind of sub base, even if just to get the levels right. My experience of type 1 was that drilling a hole in the bottom of my pond to drain it didn't really work, very slow. I live in the wettest city in the UK apparently so it's top of my mind to get drainage right.

Anyway called a local supplier, they do type 3 but didn't have it on their website. I'll use a couple tons of that.

Think the advice is generally not until night temperatures arent much lower than 10 degrees. 3 degrees forecast tonight in my part of the world.

Mine are still only @ 6 inches tall (windowsill grown from seed, started in Feb) - any chance they will fruit this year?

Mine are still bloody tiny. Thinking about moving them to the shared green house down at the allotment to try and speed them up. Hoping to plant out in a few weeks.

ANTS….Fucking everywhere. All my pots have become ant homes and now they’ve infiltrated my greenhouse pots. I’m not a fan of poisoning stuff in general but I’m definitely losing the battle.

My garden is covered in ants, never found them to cause any problems.

I'm trying to promote moss growth on my tiny patch of "lawn" (there's no grass) which is in the shade of a hedge...
I've been liberally dousing it with buttermilk the last few weeks and it seems to be helping but anyone have any other tips? Am I doing it right?

@Nahguavkire Not what you want to hear perhaps... but I've always found that in shaded areas if I try to grow grass moss always follows and prevails.

I have loads on my allotment for some reason, it’s only a problem with root crops. Don’t seem to cause much ill to anything else.

I think usually a sign that things are too dry? Give all your pots a thorough watering and they should scurry away

Like others have said though, dont think they are usually harmful. Fascinating to watch them farming aphids too

In the process of reshaping my border which used to be a raised planter, the amount of soil I have removed is ridiculous. Hoping I can source a trailer and a day to ship it to the dump 😭

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I have loads of them, don't seem to cause problems for my plants.

Be careful with ant poison, it will also kill beetles and other critters that munch on slugs and snails. It is non selective...

If the problem is that they are in a bad spot, perhaps the soil is super easy for them to dig and there's a way to deal with that?

I see, the old Uno reverse card! Hopefully it will keep spreading anyway as it's such a small patch it's not worth the hassle of grass but I'd also like something soft and green instead of pebbles...

I'm going full steam on ant killer for our bay. I also use it on my rose.

I don't love using it, and keep it limited, but ultimately if there's a risk for certain plants I like ill er on the side of caution.

Using any pesticide is grim, IMO. We're putting enough poison into the environment as a side-effect of day-to-day life, and the last thing it needs is people deliberately adding more.

Asked on the allotment thread but suspect there might be more advice on here..

Chimeneas- do they throw out a bit of heat and worth the faff? Have a grill/fire basket but like the idea of something a bit smaller and more subtle as we’re really not supposed to stay super late at the allotment.

B&Q has a small clay one for £40 with very mixed reviews- seems to be a lot of cracking due to people not curing properly or them being damaged in the packaging.

Anyone on here own a clay Chimenea and gone through the curing process? Aware sand in the bottom is essential and also seen a few suggesting it’s worth painting them with brick/concrete sealant as well prior to use.

https://www.diy.com/departments/la-hacienda-wela-clay-chiminea/5055025672096_BQ.prd
My local b&q has them in stock so might investigate

have you tried REALLY soaking the pots with water? Ants like drier soil, and pots dry out quickly, so they're a common target.

I've got millions of them in my lawn and moved a strawberry plant from near the lawn into a big planter, and some ants hitched a lift, but ultimately they didn't find the big damp planter to their liking, heh, and moved out and back into the lawn.

We have tits and wrens helping out with the roses, if aphids are the problem a bird feeder and a generous spray of watered down fairy liquid may help?

I didn't know ants could do damage, bar the aphid farming but I get those anyway. Ants or no ants, the buggers fly!

(i hope nobody invents a flying slug lol)

These look like something you'd be able to get free cycled or cheap on FBM /similar.