Does anyone know anything about gardening?

Just call it "rustic" and besides re-use is so hot right now! :p

That's not bad looking, will you use it for seating or plop one of those concrete vase things with a plant on?

Is there a good tool to uproot small tree saplings?

We are looking into uprooting Sycamore saplings and putting oak/beech etc. nuts in the holes for Belfast Hills. The sycamore are taking the proverbial a bit in many places and outcompete the slower growing native trees.

We can all bend down and pull them up/use a long spade but was wondering if there's maybe a tool that makes the work a bit lighter/faster.

(Portugese laurel / some rhododendron are getting out of hand too, but those require a cut with a chainsaw and then painting the stumps with glyphosate and plugs...please don't plant those if you are anywhere near a forest...)

Rustic is appropriate as our gates open out onto a field full of sheep! Neither of those things, the point of the stoned area (a choice of words I rather like) is so that we can get from car to house without wading through mud a foot deep!

For perspective, this was 'before'.

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There is a sapling pulling tool available, saw it on Country file and thought I'd like one of them!!

Ah...so Hippo Wallow describes the mud rather than being a special name for that style of coping!

I used one these to remove a load of tree roots. Very little effort if you’ve got the body weight for leverage.

https://www.toolstation.com/roughneck-digging-bar/p48155?store=IP&utm_source=googleshopping&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=googleshoppingfeed&mkwid=_dm&pcrid=&pkw=&pmt=&gclid=Cj0KCQjwpPKiBhDvARIsACn-gzAXZp9PkNIuyZvDc6SNqyP0d7NgUi_qaEqueVxtWvVvZPKMB29FKxMaAkR1EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

I liked your Black Eyed Pearl so much that I've gone and purchased one for myself.
Absolutely tiny but sure it will grow quick :)

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Is there a good tool to uproot small tree saplings?

https://www.terrateck.com/en/outils-a-manches/51-manual-shrub-puller.html

They do grow super quick.

Rhododendron coming out, still my favourite part of the garden.

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You need to get some funding to purchase 'tree poppers'.
£300+, but they never break,
and easily used by volunteers to remove unwanted sapling tap root and all.
'We' have 3 for the Ruislip Woods Midweek volunteers,
who are using them to remove the unwanted species from 30 Acres of woodland
that s being brought up to NNR, (National Nature Reserve) status.

Contact Alan at: http://www.natureconservationservices.com/

Heucheras, Hellebores and ferns all looking super healthy. A nice area indeed.

Thanks everyone!

We have some budget thanks to member subscriptions, will let the rest of the board know about the options.

Here's a shot of a part of the garden.

I had no idea there were daffodils and those are very late blooming ones. With a Geum "Leonard's way" and the climbing Hydrangea (which I need to go tie to a trellis as it is a flopping over Hydrangea now) nearby.

That bit has gone from "2 half dead roses with plastic and some thin soil and just weeds and one hard as nails Geranium" to "flowers and roses all over" with some digging.

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That's the sort of thing I saw on the telly, nobody mentioned the price though!

A tractor jack, a slab to use as a base, an eye bolt and a bit of chain will do the same job better for about £80 the lot.

fibbonaci spacing on those rope edging pieces? :)

It means dragging the slab around I guess?

Quite a few sycamore and pheasant berry sapling to remove in the forest...

Carrying a slab has never been an issue for me, a short length of scaffold board would do the job at a fraction of the weight for the more delicately built. I use the tractor jack to pull out broken fence posts, complete with concrete!

Bay potted.

A few roots trimmed to get it close to centre.

It's a big fucking pot. I'm now not sure about having on the patio. If it survives and we can re-pot it I'd like something a smidge smaller, but equally idk how much smaller it can be. Maybe we'll just have to sell it.

My OH isn't happy with it's location, and would like it more discreet and out the way. However, this is one of the sunniest spots in the garden, fairly flat, and still gives access to the other plants. It's not about garden aesthetics, it's about giving the poor thing the best shot it can. I feel like I've made quite a few compromises over the work we've had done, so I'm sticking to my guns on this.

I'll give an update again in the summer to show how it's getting on. 🤞

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I'm not a gardener...

But might it be better out of full all day sun for now? I'm thinking until its roots grow back it's at increased risk of drying out.

The root ball is pretty intact, and moreover now it's full of soil it can't really be moved.

My thinking was the same as yours, but my folks were pretty adimant about it being in sun to give it the best chance to regrow. I'll keep on top of the watering. So we'll see!

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Anyone else’s Clematis having a late start? Our Mayleen is fine but we also have a couple of Montana which aren’t even sprouting and a beautiful group 2 called H.F. Young which usually flowers in Spring and hasn’t done anything. I’ll be gutted if that one’s dead as it has stunning large blooms :’(

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Tomato plants going out soon, hopefully it won't be like this... Orange skin traps and raised setup will hopefully keep the slugs at bay.

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More pond news… all plants looks very little and new, won’t be long before it all grows up I’m sure.
Should we cover the edge of the liner? If so, what works well. Don’t need it to look neat or pretty, just thinking practical reasons.

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Stones or paving slabs usually. Ideally you want to stop the liner ever working loose and folding in on itself.