Nice tablešā¦and garden.
The project of today, a typical mr and mrs ardbeg compromise: a chicken coup (mrs) and a doubling up surrounding fence (mr):
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Thanks @Ardbeg10y for starting this thread, hereās another problem for you keen gardenersā¦
Iāve been living in the same house for over thirty years, and Iāve always had a problem with the lawn under an old pine tree - it usually gets very dry during the summer, whatever I do, but it recovers with the first rains in late summer.
Last year, however, the lawn died altogether, leaving me with a most unnatural-looking star-shaped patch of bare earth around the trunk, which has never happened. I watered that part of the lawn everyday - which in fact may have been a mistake, as I began to think that this wasnāt caused by the drought, but by a fungus - perhaps along the roots of the pine tree.
I canāt find any helpful advice on the web.
This year I sowed new grass around the trunk but very little seems to happenā¦
Has anyone had the same problem before?
You canāt really see it from a distance, but it looks terrible when youāre close to the tree.
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Lovely garden - on a positive note I would embrace the issue by accepting that trees have a whole life of their own, with various fungal growths, associated with their roots (mycelium), essential to their wellbeing.
I would encourage a build up a pine needles around the base. And, you might consider mulching the area with mushroom compost, and, if it appealed, inoculating the area with mushroom spores. The soil might be too acidic for the latter idea.
On the negative side these two sites might be of interest:
This next site is just for information, but it gives one a feeling for the issue.
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Beautiful garden. 
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Very nice garden. A couple of years ago i did not water the lawnā¦we are on a water meter. For what ever reason in the autumn when it rained, it did not come back in some very large patches. I almost was going to returf, but seeded instead. I now give a little waterā¦just to keep it alive.
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Thanks for your replies and your suggestions (@Camphuw: the links are very interesting) - I might also try to find a suitable ground cover. As you can see, forget-me-not thrives in that area. But it is a large areaā¦
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I like the idea of āforget-me-notsā. In a wood near me there is a lot of periwinkle. It escaped from a gentlemanās lodge that was built for his pleasure but within view of his house across the valley. Natural England is trying to eradicate it, but I think itās charming, if invasive.
Nice garden! As for the grass problem, there is likely something in the soil there thatās preventing the seed from germinating. Pine needles may have made the area very acidic and so it would be worth raking in some garden lime, then leaving it to neutralise the acid for a few weeks before reseeding. If that doesnāt work you could simply re-turf the affected area, though it too may not establish if the underlying problem persists.
We used to have a fair bit of periwinkle at the bottom of the garden, looked lovely but very little left now.
The whole garden has had a few years of neglect due to other priorities and frankly ignorance of when/how to prune things tidily.
3rd day of cutting stuff back and getting nowhere.
Thank heavens for this:
A great garden shredder but getting temperamental and I often have to force the motor to start by pushing a stick on the grinding wheel blades to make it turn the right way.
Lidl had a similar looking one for about Ā£100 last year, wish Iād bought it.
Not really noticed much before but the replaceable aluminium plate that the wheel cuts against does leave tiny slivers of aluminium in the waste - wonder what that does to soil/compost?
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Got the same shredder, it after many years had a faulty relay. Normally with these items they get binned, but paid Ā£40 for a new one. Took it to garden repair guy who said its built like a tank, he was impressed anyway.
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I got a replacement ācounter barā (maybe itās not aluminium) in 2014 by the looks of things, and bought the shredder in 2007. Is the relay part of the switch mechanism? I almost picked one up a few years ago.
I think soā¦it just had a thump and went dead?
I got the Lidl one to replace one that drowned when the shed roof was damaged.
So far, I am very pleased. Typical of the cog crusher machine it doesnāt like soft wet leaves. Those I tend to spread on the grass (no way is it a lawn) and run the rotary mower over.
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Thanks, good to know.
Have them most nights, I provide hedgehog food, water and avoid herbicides, pesticides
Best sighting in the last 18 months was five at the same time.
Opposite me is a really wild, scrubby bit of hedgerow about no more than 5 sq metres, I fight hard to stop people cutting it back. If you build or allow habitat you will get wildlife.
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Weāve had at least one for several years, last year I found 3 hoglets in the garden which was great.
Saw a dead hedgehog on the road 50 yards away lat last year, not sure if it was one of āoursā or not, sad but we are not in teh country.
A couple of months ago I noticed one out in the daytime and was a bit concerned, left some water nect to it, a few hours later it had gone. Same thing a few days later, same spot in the garden. Was it getting some sun to warm up?
I had the little BBQ running late night a few weeks ago, and heard a very strange noise, went hunting with the torch and disturbed these two - territorial display or mating grunts I have no idea! They kept moving around the garden ābarkingā at each other.
The garden is very overgrown, Iāve really been hacking things back over the last couple of days, I really hope I wonāt disturb them such that they leave - I think they live behind a pile of old wood our builders neglected to dispose of which has been up against a wall for some time. It really needs to go, but Iām concerned I will be evicting the little critters.
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Itās nice to have wildlife in your garden, we do everything we can to encourage them our neighbours cat discourages them unfortunately.
I have the same shredder, it was my Mumās and I inherited it, must be getting on for fifteen years old now. Itās been absolutely invaluable. It does get jammed up sometimes but as you say, a good push on the cog with a sturdy stick does the trick in all but the most stubborn of jams.
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Yes, I often have to use quick timing and a wooden stick to start mine up in the right direction, but once itās going itās fine unless it gets clogged and that happens less these days as I know what not to put into it.
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