Does anyone know anything about gardening?

Thought you might! Just tamp with a suitable length beam between the existing concrete and the shuttering, don't be tempted to smooth the finish over or it will lose all grip when icy.

It's only temporary (until I do the renovations) but I'm planning on a brush finish.

Ok, so you know what you're doing, not everyone on here does!

Yeah I spent the first 2 years of my career shuttering on RC framing sites. I can do finishing but I can think of many other things I'd rather be doing.

Yeah, like knocking large nails into your temples. Not my favourite part of what was until this week my current source of income, but sometimes it has to be done....

The best finisher I ever worked with was this young Irish lad.

He loves being a groundworker, took great pride in his work, is thick as mince and hates waste.

He hates waste so much that one time when he was tarmacing a new site road the trap on the wagon got stuck open and rather than wasting some of the precious tarmac while he went to find a hammer or similar object to persuade it shut again he decided to try and scoop the tarmac up with his hands and put it back in the hopper. We didn't see him on site for about three months while the skin grafts healed but he was damn good at finishing muck, and loved doing it, my mate welcomed him back with open arms because it meant he didn't have to do it anymore. Funnily enough no one let him near tarmac after that.

mispost

Any recommendations for cheapish work/gardening gloves that are up to dealing with big brambles? I've been clearing some and have come to the painful realisation that the ones I've got aren't up to the job.

Toolstation 82526 Welding gauntlets.
Demerits: chromed leather (if Veg/vegan),
Dye sometimes runs when new
Cost has gone up alot to £4.46, (where £3-ish).
Some thorns will still get through.

Where can I salvage some big planters/pots from on my allotated excursion today?

Put a wanted ad on gumtree/local Facebook group? You'll find people have loads in their garden that they can't bothered / don't want to have to pay to get rid of. I know I do.

Before the outbreak I really struggled to find anyone getting rid of them - possibly too early for people to be thinking about a spring clean.

I was banking on car boot sale season, but sadly that is now dead in the water.

If anyone has any smart ideas for aesthetically pleasing DIY pots/containers it would be really useful.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52098436

All the bedding plants will get slung. Titchmarsh says it's bad news for pollinators.

bbc article saying ALL the bedding plants are being binned because there is nobody to buy them, garden centres have loads of stuff they just can't sell, just at the busiest time of the year

doh! too late

Think this may be a question for @ColinTheBald but happy to take anyone elses opinion; bird beak pointing on a patio, how difficult is it to get looking good? Given that I:

1. Have time in my hands.
   
2. Am reasonably proficient at brick laying / pointing.
   
   

Do I need special tools or just a pointing trowel?

A bit fiddly and fairly pointless, normal bucket handle pointing clears water better and doesn't leave a comparatively fragile point for weather to attack. If you must do it, perhaps between uneven stone, keep the mortar dryish.

For normal pointing (without a pointing gun), use a 3:1 mix just damp enough to stick together and karate chop it into the cracks with a trowel edge. Finish with a pointing trowel or lump of hose and brush away the excess with a soft brush. Build up a heap of just damp mix over the cracks, chop in and move the remainder over the next crack with the trowel. This method ensures the mix won't stick to the slabs or stone and stain them. If you screw up and mix it too wet, sit it on a board in a heap for a while. Don't point if there is a chance of an overnight frost, cover overnight if the temperature is likely to fall below 5 degrees.

That advice was for the general hive, not for you, Bobbo!

normal bucket handle pointing clears water better and doesn't leave a comparatively fragile point for weather to attack

I had assumed all this but Mrs Bobbo has had an attack of keeping up with the Joneses.

Bugger the Joneses and a (non-Corona) plague on all their houses and pointing! Let them re-point their patios every 3 years, if they try to re-point the frost damaged areas only, the pointing will never match and the entire patio will look shite!

I should have made it clear to all the normal humans that the mix is 3 building sand to 1 cement.

Sounds like you have some very strong feelings about this!

Not particularly, I have no huge objection to regular (profitable) re-pointing once I have made it clear to the client that this would be the likely outcome.

Quickly back to compost chat. We've had the bin for 6 days now. As the bins getting more waste, it's heating up! It's 4deg outside now and it's a toasty 26deg inside the bin. Some way off the hotbin sweet spot. Absolutely nothing to the council this week. One small step closer to a more sustainable life in 2020.

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Madness. The gardening/nursery places I'm on mailing lists of are super busy, still working, and even recruiting/training up more local people to help!

Spending a lot of time in my garden recently (no shit Sherlock) and have posted before about renovating my fence line.
It was time for another one today, fence panel number 27 in my garden #humblebrag

It was put in a while ago and is looking a bit sorry for itself. It also has a hole in one of the boards and is on the piss I. E. not straight

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