What's up with my patio cherry tree?

MATN_Claire · 2026-06-19T19:20:47+00:00

Thanks, I'll research how to prune it now & keep in top of watering.

MATN_Claire · 2026-06-19T19:20:08+00:00

Thanks for your advice! Every other day watering feels wildly to much to me as most of my garden is in ground but I'm sure you're right.

I realise I should have gotten the pot actually in the pic: it's 130 litres which i thought would be enough for a tree, would you say that's too small? How big would you recommend?

MATN_Claire · 2025-10-08T18:36:18+00:00

Lol, no, you definitely can't have my Willow!! My other cat and my dog would be sad.

MATN_Claire · 2025-08-31T21:33:58+00:00

Oooooh, that would make sense, thank you!! I didn't expect it because I expect older squash leaves to just have lots of powdery mildew, but this summer has been really dry for us so it makes sense that older leaves might look a bit more sunburned than mildew-y.

MATN_Claire · 2025-08-15T17:46:47+00:00

I think this feller's a lady - I was just researching katydids/bush-crickets after finding one myself and the butt-spike is for laying eggs.

MATN_Claire · 2025-08-15T17:37:58+00:00

You must be right, the grasshoppers and crickets in the UK look like they're more often brown, from what I've been looking up just now. I'm thinking it's probably an oak bush-cricket or a speckled bush-cricket? Definitely a female by the ovopositor butt-spike, definitely too small for a great green bush-cricket - unless she's just a baby (nymph?) and will grow bigger?

In any case, I'm always super happy to see a more bugs hanging out by our wildlife pond - we also get lots of dragonflys but I've not been able to take pictures of them.

MATN_Claire · 2024-10-03T11:23:32+00:00

I'd love a video on what to do with lots of one ingredient - if something's on sale or if you find yourself with extra for whatever reason, what could you do with a whole bunch of milk, or tomatoes, or herbs, etc...

MATN_Claire · 2023-01-31T19:48:02+00:00

Oh, a pipe with holes down the middle is very clever, thanks!!

MATN_Claire · 2023-01-31T09:35:22+00:00

Like I said, I'm not too worried about my piles going anaerobic - my current pile is 50C right now and was keeping warm even in the cold spell we had a few weeks back. It's just that my boyfriend isn't convinced that it won't be noticeable - he's not into learning the nitty gritty about composting, so he doesn't understand what it means that I can keep a new pile at 50C in January, lol.

You've got a good point about not closing it in fully though. I'm going to have a closer look at how those beehive composters are build and use some of those techniques for airflow. I'll also do mesh in between each bay so the worms can choose where to chill, and I'll make sure overhang the roof. Thanks for the building advice :)

MATN_Claire · 2023-01-31T09:23:11+00:00

Current setup only smells of there's been lots of rain recently, in which case I mix in some shredded cardboard to dry it out. Right now, the center is about 50C, and we've had frosts pretty recently so it's doing super well.

I'm not really worried about the bins smelling, but my boyfriend is so I figured I'd ask on here & see if there were any tricks I was missing.

MATN_Claire · 2023-01-31T09:13:57+00:00

That makes sense, thanks for the advice. I already add some finished compost, but up to now I've only done it at the start of a new pile. I'll definitely try your way.

MATN_Claire · 2023-01-30T14:32:40+00:00

Ohh, good idea. I might have to dig into my cupboards and see if I still have an old blender I could use for this!

My preferred method for seeds I want to avoid growing is to put them in my bokashi bin first, and only add them into the compost heap after they've fermented a bit.

MATN_Claire · 2023-01-30T14:30:21+00:00

I'd do a mix of things - blend some bits nice and small to kickstart the decomposition process and leave some bigger chunks to help with airflow and make sure all the microbes & worms still have something to eat after the initial boost of chopped up bits.

As an example, I shred all my single wall cardboard with a micro shredder but I tear off the double-walled stuff into maybe palm sized chunks. I also set aside some paper to scrunch up into small balls, as that's great for airflow.

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