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Those logs look like they've been drilled for spore plugs

Or for stump killer poison caplets

The lengths people will go to to avoid panniers!

Ours are extremely steep, wooden with no runner. We used Osmo Polyx Anti Slip which makes a big difference, and also installed a handrail on the wall side. The latter is a huge help if you ever have anyone elderly or infirm to stay, regardless of how slippy the stairs are. Don't feel the need for a runner, with those.

Expensive compared to Bristol, where you also have the key distinction between whether you bother to water it yourself or you'd rather pay a municipal drongo

you'll donate either £160 if you water the tree, or £295 if we water the tree

https://www.bristol.gov.uk/residents/museums-parks-sports-and-culture/parks-and-open-spaces/trees-and-meadows/trees-for-bristol

Our floorboards (similar house) were fine under the carpet. Like they look their age and have historic woodworm, all number of scratches and holes etc but I think it adds to the character. Certainly they were fine to walk on without needing any sanding. Carpet is usually just attached with nails (gripper rods) not glue if that's what you mean, and trivially easy to pull up.

You don't need to fill the gaps. Aesthetically you might want to, especially if you're then sanding for a more modern look, but you don't need to. And assuming you heat the ground floor, carpet on the other floors isn't doing any insulating. Our wooden floors are perfectly warm enough to walk on.

The alternative to dispose of the prunings would have been to build a wicker man sized bonfire, this will hopefully make me less unpopular with the neighbours

Probably needs another year's worth of prunings to fill out a bit thicker, by which time it will starting to rot down and in need of fresh material, so in theory it should allow me store coppiced prunings perpetually without growing too tall

^ impressive bed building

Did a lot of pruning of the very overgrown hedge down one side of my plot today. Think 20 foot high in parts. Amazing what you can achieve with a little folding pruning saw. I used this Japanese one, which is lethally sharp and goes through trunks as wide as your forearm in seconds.

Used some of the prunings to make this little dead hedge to demarcate the boundary between my plot and the wilderness beyond. Quite pleased with how it turned out

I only do once a year and the level barely rises. The mulch shrinks as it rots down and eventually becomes normal soil. If you are nearly overflowing already I guess it might be an issue.

You could use inorganic mulches (gravel) and then you would only do it once ever so the level wouldn't rise further. It would have the water retention and weed suppression effect but not feed the soil. Gravel gardens are typically used with Mediterranean type plants that don't need much nutrition though.

I do, anytime from autumn to early spring when I get round to it. If you don't, on my soil at least, by midsummer the soil will be baked dry and cracking/crusty and the plants suffering from lack of water. Mulching makes a dramatic difference - if you lift up a layer of mulch on a hot day when it's not rained for ages, the soil underneath is usually still nice and moist. Also protects against cold damage over winter if you do it now. And if you don't, every year your soil will be slightly less nutritious than the year before (so, slower growth, fewer blooms etc) - with mulching it can improve slightly ever year instead.

Unlikely that most gardens would be able to make enough compost to do your whole garden, as per Monty Don's advice if I can't do the whole thing, I do some beds nice and thickly each year rather than trying to do it all but too thinly.

I've used bark - lasts well, looks nice, doesn't add much goodness to the soil; strulch - expensive, very easy to apply, didn't last very long, doesn't add much goodness to the soil, possibly helps reduce slugs; various bagged composts, soil improvers and mulches (essentially, compost with bigger chunks in) which have more or less varied in quality as you would expect according to their price. Homemade is better than all the above in my experience, possibly something about already being full of the right kind of fungi and bacteria etc for your garden because that's where it got made.

All of them have done a fantastic job at retaining moisture, make the garden look much better, and over time improve the structure of the soil. On my heavy clay I've found homemade garden compost and branded 'soil improver' type compost make the biggest difference to soil structure and help the plants grow best. They all suppress weed growth to some extent by keeping seeds away from the light - but will have the same effect on the self seeding of plants you like as well. In my garden the main weeds are perennials not annuals so this doesn't make much difference to me.

RHS says no less than 2 inches to have the desired effect, but ideally 3. Don't pile it up thickly directly touching tree or shrub stems/trunks as it could encourage rotting. Maybe try and avoid going too thick directly over the top of the crowns of perennials (depending on when you do this, you may not be able to tell). I've never found that bulbs have an issue - it's not like burying them 3 inches deeper in the soil because the mulch won't be anything like as compacted as soil. Most bulbs probably wouldn't care even if they were buried 3 inches deeper in the soil anyway - they 'swim' around a bit to find their preferred depth anyway. Possibly exception of tiny ones like fritillaries.

Just looked it up and for that price you get it fully custom made to your size and geo, any paintjob you like, CK headset throw in...

And I bet they are not selling many in 2024

Three grand for a rim brake bike, not a boutique brand, mechanical group set, tub wheels? In this economy?

What is the real question?

If you haven't got your own compost, you need to buy it.

If you can't get a tonne bag delivered, you need to get it in 40 or 50 litre bags

You can buy compost, soil improver, bark chippings, any kind of mulch you like, online or in garden centres or B&Q etc...

Really need to work out what set of actions gets the right result.

Have you tried waking up early and taking him for say a 5+ mile walk first thing?

It is a cliche and obviously not the only solution for every dog, but in my experience 'a tired dog is a good dog' works pretty well

That appears to mostly be ivy now, I can hardly see any holly leaves.

Holly should be able to take a hard pruning. Lots of evergreens won't grow back at all from bare wood. So you need to work out what the other plants in your hedge are.

Green by Ula Maria is good for this sort of thing if you like her style

Looks great. Gravy?

Correct, plus that variety doesn't grow well in the UK

https://www.orangepippin.com/varieties/apples/pinklady

21 October is apple day. Here in the West Country it's pretty well celebrated, not sure where you're based but if you find an event this weekend you should be able to taste tonnes of locally grown apples. Pick the one you like best. Choosing a variety that will thrive in your climate is probably the first consideration, with taste the second? Otherwise you'll not get many apples anyway

Cabbage white caterpillars.

Your attitude is cool but yeah they will eat it all, and any other brassicas

£16/ltr

Also the price for this organic EVOO direct from the farmer
https://www.crowdfarming.com/en/farmer/campillo-de-julia/up/adopt-an-olive-tree-campillo-de-julia/overharvest

https://www.thekitchn.com/instant-pot-chicken-soup-herbed-matzo-balls-recipe-23213308

Beautiful hound, and great job on the coat

Hard to tell from the photos but he doesn't look particularly skinny, for a sighthound, to me. Can you see all the vertebrae and the hips prominently? I would say visible ribs is normal.

Sorry if that came across overly negative. What I was trying to get at was more in response to others saying that it seemed expensive, and then you talking about moving out of town, that this is almost as premium an area as you can find in Bristol. Obviously you know if that's what you want.

You don't need to move out of town to get far better value than Cotham. For non Bristolians, it's the equivalent of something like Marylebone High Street.

Do you know Cotham/Kingsdown? If you're not a student or working at the hospital, I wouldn't want to live there. As nice as the restaurants are.

Good: tonnes of runner beans

Bad: something (squirrels?) at all our sweetcorn just before they were ripe. Ripped up the plants, destroyed everything but only actually nibbles the cobs. How to prevent this next year I wonder

Aaaand they're all gone - never mind