Does anyone know anything about gardening?

Awesome! I posted this vid a while back - it's great to see that you got it to work!

It might be possible to follow the ants back to where they emerge from the ground. I keep sticking my spade in the ground and finding ants' nests, in my allotment. It's getting pretty annoying. Apparently one thing you can do is put borax down - apparently they take it into the nest and it kills them all off. There are also biological treatments for ants - I think it's called 'Nemasys'.

I've just ordered some horticultural liquid soap (natural stuff) which I plan to water down then spray on the aphids.

Got some of this stuff and yeah, it seems to work a treat although it also seems to have damaged the leaves on a chilli plant we have. Not that the plant seems to mind much.

The only ladybird I've seen this year was well-fried and inside some takeaway rice but apparently it's the larvae that are masters at munching aphids anyway.

The tree in my garden was full of ladybird larvae last month, you should all come harvest it next year.

re: aphids, A combination of washing up water and squishing with my fingers seems to work fine

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Our garden is coming along nicely, and because we have dug out some beds we now have two surplus planters, if anyone wants to come and pick them up from Forest Gate:

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Freecycle or I would accept edible things from the garden (not insects) as a trade.

Here's the other:

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Definitely very keen .. can you please measure them? What beer do you drink?

The smaller one is 52cm x 52cm, the larger one 52cm x 100cm.

I drink pale ales and would be very grateful.

How would you get them to far away South London though?

I could possibly bring them to Thundertrack?

if amey does not want them both I will have one can pick up this weekend

Still not heard from Amey, feel free to stop by any time tomorrow to grab one/both.

I have a mature rose that is suffering badly from blackspot. Is there a natural remedy or can anyone recommend a spray for whatever reason? I'd generally like to stay critter-friendly, there are lots of nice little creatures about the place.

Isn't the advice to just cut it all out and burn it?

Yeah I've done that. Should've started much earlier in the year... Rose bush looking rather sparse now.

I've been stripping away the diseased leaves then spraying the rest with Rose Clear every two weeks after sunset. Seems to work but I've hit the maximum recommended applications per year so hopefully it won't be back.

I've just been leaving it mostly. Going to sell them as hipster charcoal roses.

Gladioli - very pretty but do they all normally fall over themselves when they grow too tall?

Yes, I have some small plant supports holding mine up

FAO @amey @Zebra_Cyclist and anyone else:

The planters mentioned and pictured above are still available - let me know if there's any interest, I'm being told they have to go.

I'm interested in the planters Would they fit in the back of an estate car?

I am backing out i am afraid

I've been wrapping my bars, much grippier ....

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marginal gains cs, marginal gains..

Thinking about buying a Bee Hotel for friends with young children. Anyone had any success with one?