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Dont think wisteria will work on a north facing wall.

Some roses will eg.
https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/collections/ideal-for-climbers-for-north-facing-walls

a lovely thing to do

100%, most beautiful decoration you can do for your house

Wisteria can be absolutely huge, pay careful attention to maximum size. And yeah, they're one for the long game

Roses quicker and possibly more charming? A bit less obvious

Assume you are South or West facing?

Vine eyes will need to be very securely attached and strong wire, well tightened. Get the little turnbuckle things to tighten the wire

Well, I think it's a bit of a stretch to say the Tories are officially the 3rd placed party of local government when there are still literally thousands more Tory councillors than Lib Dems, they run 50ish councils against 10ish. They need to continue falling a lot further

This is seats being contested today not seats overall

Nothing says far right Heartland like "ICI" and "failed shipbuilding".

More understandable like that?

This is one of the effects of the Tories moving further and further right

There isn't an exit poll for local elections

Making a neighbourly dispute like this official also means you'll have to declare it when you come to sell, which can put off prospective buyers. Agree that you might try to care less about what the bastard neighbour thinks anyway.

As tester alludes to, I've had a UN55 that's been left out in all weathers and ridden thousands of miles for years and years and is still seemingly good as new

SJS still have some if you need 115 length

Still probably a bargain, but those SP hubs are not serviceable without sending them back to Taiwan

Thanks all, I'll give it some seaweed feed in the meantime to see if that perks it up

Cool. Whatever you go for, definitely include the snakesheads, they are great

Any tips on how to make my rhubarb less floppy?

It's in its 3rd or maybe 4th year now so is putting up quite a few stalks, but they are often thin and almost always floppy. Then when they're lying on the ground, slugs eat the leaves so they don't grow any bigger.

Apart from staking it with supports, which seems silly, what should I do? It's only being fed by whatever's in the soil and a bit of compost mulching, and only being watered by the (very abundant) rain. In semi-shade which isn't ideal but it's meant to be able to cope with that- it does get something like 4 hours decent sun (if the sun ever shines)

Could just be perspective, but haven't you got space for about 3 plants max there?

Stroud's like Whitstable, locals all get priced out with London money.

So for that matter is London

I made custom mounting hardware for the racks and mudguards, and took the opportunityy to colour-match them when I resprayed the frame and forks. The result of these custom mounts is the bike having zero rattles. If you pick it up, a few inches off the ground, and let it drop onto it's tyres, it almost sounds like a basketball bouncing

God, this is the dream

This may well be a good suggestion but that house is not selling it

those bottle brush things in the adjacent bed which my OH loves

This is persicaria bistorta, I love it too, but it certainly does spread. It's a knotweed relative. It loves damp soil too

Either way - dry or wet - I'm going to chalk it down as another climate change casualty, albeit not one I mind that much. To be replaced with more suitable plants

It's on a slope so drainage is usually acceptable despite clay and high rainfall in the west. It's also been fine in the same spot for many years (it was already that size when I moved in 7 years ago). But it was exceptionally wet this winter... so maybe

It has had leaf scorch by about August/September the last two or three years in a row, from such hot dry summers. Possibly it just gave up

The little shoot at the bottom of that pic is actually coming from the amelanchier

Another photo of the possibly dead acer. Looks like possibly it started making buds but they stopped before swelling. It was very shapely of branch, but in leaf a bit of a giant red mound

This leafless stack of sticks is a big Japanese maple. If it's not leafed up or obviously I'm bud by now, it's dead isn't it? Bit mysterious, it has been around forever and I'm not sure what could have killed it over winter - certainly not the cold.

I actually don't love it, it was too majestic to cut down, but doesn't fit the rest of the garden very well at all, so not unhappy if it's spontaneously given up

There are also loads of hybrids, including in the wild

Just spotted a cluster of 3 bluebells growing in a quiet corner. Never planted them and never seen them before in my garden. There are woods nearby, and I'm in the wet west of the country where they are absolutely rampant if you give them an inch.

Immediately did my best to remove everything and try and fish out all the little bulb offsets - there were tonnes.

Still suspect I'm going to be battling these for years now, like the mint that popped up out of nowhere last year. Beautiful little bastards.

You could try calling Burncoose or Norfolk Quality Plants to find out timings. Both showing as out of stock, the reason I suggest those two is I've ordered it from them before and been happy with the plants.

Possible Brexit effect if these are coming from abroad?
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/17/garden-centres-in-uk-stockpile-plants-before-new-brexit-checks

Sarah Raven has it as 'delivery from early June' so could just be a timings issue. It will be propagated from summer/autumn cuttings I think.

Fair enough. To me, cheap garbage tyres would be something like Vittoria zaffiro non folding at £15 RRP. Although I had a pair many years ago and think they were ok