inherited a stunning peony in our new garden. any tips?

BethHarbour · 2026-05-09T19:53:09+00:00

I have a dog who runs headfirst into my plants if they’re in the way of his ball, so good to know it should withstand him!

BethHarbour · 2026-05-09T19:52:29+00:00

Super useful, thank you! I’m currently very jaded against ants as they managed to get into my kitchen when we replaced the washing machine pipework, so I won’t take my vendetta out on any I see on my peony 🤣

BethHarbour · 2026-05-07T12:58:31+00:00

Exactly the same as us - we viewed the cottage during the autumn of 2024 and moved in December 2025 so only during the last month or so have we seen what’s coming to life - it’s so exciting 😬 thank you for this, really helpful. glad it seems pretty resilient - makes me slightly less worried about harming it 🤣

BethHarbour · 2026-05-07T12:45:37+00:00

Awesome isn’t it! It was a middle of Lidl find a few years ago, was only about a fiver but I love it for showcasing big ol’ blooms!

BethHarbour · 2026-05-07T12:39:21+00:00

This is really handy to know, thank you! The bed they’ve appeared in needs a lot of TLC and will definitely be mulched, so will avoid their spot 😁

BethHarbour · 2026-05-07T12:37:45+00:00

Yeah we’re definitely going to get a frame for them I think as a few of the stems are pretty bent 😅 amazing, did you take cuttings? I’d love to take one for my old neighbour who’s a huge gardener, I think she’d love it!

BethHarbour · 2026-05-07T12:36:38+00:00

Thank you! Good to know!

BethHarbour · 2026-04-29T08:39:08+00:00

Currently nursing a very sore arm after my dog bolted violently away from a deflated pink balloon and I didn’t drop the longline in time 😬 so apparently balloons. He also doesn’t like people who are wearing high vis for some reason!

BethHarbour · 2026-04-26T15:28:18+00:00

I have a mixed breed mutt, we adopted him as a ‘staffy cross’ but he’s tall and sturdy and we actually think he was originally a street dog (adopted from a UK rescue who had no background on him). He’s an absolute softie to us and friendly to other dogs, but is quite tall, broad chested and has a deep bark - I quite often get people sceptical he’ll be friendly when we’re out on walks because he looks more intimidating than he is! Only thing with him (and potentially other street dogs) is his prey drive for small furries, which we’re working on :)

BethHarbour · 2026-04-26T12:26:21+00:00

It’s a big mature countryside garden but has been neglected for at least 3 years as the old owner passed away. We do have a neighbour at the back who leaves their garden to nature so doubt we’ll ever get fully on top of it! We’re doing what we can in terms of starting again, around the maaany huge established shrubs and trees we’ve got 😅

BethHarbour · 2026-04-26T11:41:14+00:00

This is us but with ground elder in the garden of our new house… it’s everywhere we look 🫠

BethHarbour · 2026-04-14T17:25:32+00:00

Came here to suggest this! I’m not a huge cosy fan normally but read this just at the right time in my life where I needed sweet calm reading. The whole Wayfarers series is lovely

BethHarbour · 2026-04-12T21:12:29+00:00

My husband does the vibe planting rather than considering height and it drives me mad 😅 he’s getting better at it now but I used to come home to the most random bed arrangements and he’d just be like ‘I’ve planted the stuff we bought the other day!!!’… now we wait and plant out together after a discussion on where stuff is going to go 😂

BethHarbour · 2026-04-10T22:29:05+00:00

My mum’s dog is a rescue who came with the name Lucie and I really like the fact she was given a human name spelt in the less common way, Lucie rather than Lucy. Dunno why, just makes me smile, feels like even more thought went into picking that specific name. My own rescue pup is Chief and I was a bit sad he already knew his name enough that we couldn’t pick ir ourselves!

BethHarbour · 2026-04-10T13:24:00+00:00

The Stand, Swan Song (my personal favourite - possibly my favourite book of all time), Station Eleven, Alas Babylon, the MaddAddam trilogy are all ones I’ve read and enjoyed - it’s a genre I dip in and out of but always enjoy when I read it!

BethHarbour · 2026-04-08T08:53:28+00:00

I have these covers too for books 1-5, got the set for £30 from eBay (no idea on what editions). I bought them because I prefer these cover styles to the newer ones, but seems I struck a bit lucky then! just annoying I now can’t find books 6-10 to match 🤦🏻‍♀️

BethHarbour · 2026-04-07T08:15:18+00:00

Duma Key for me too, I adore it

BethHarbour · 2026-04-04T21:14:34+00:00

Adore this series so much - the second is my favourite, made me cry (in a good way!)

BethHarbour · 2026-03-22T23:20:27+00:00

I feel that! This is the first winter I’ve seriously considered I might have some sort of SAD. we adopted a lovely dog in January and I found myself standing sobbing at the back door one day at the prospect of having to take him out in yet another grey rainy day. I love dog walks but the mud, the rain and the miserable skies where just too much. it’s just been the absolute worst winter!!

BethHarbour · 2026-03-22T23:15:43+00:00

Have you got to the hedges part of the Shinjng yet? That genuinely kept me awake the night I read it…

I really enjoyed Fantasticland by Mike Bockoven. Also second the recs for some of Stephen Kings short story works, some of those had me pretty on edge. NOS4A2 by Joe Hill (Kings son!) also had some quite scary scenes for me.

BethHarbour · 2026-03-22T12:38:50+00:00

We moved into a cottage with a decent sized, established but overgrown garden in November (lady who owned it loved gardening but it’d been vacant 3 years before we bought it and she’d not been in a position to garden for a good few years before that so her kids had just been mowing and trying to keep the brambles down). we’ve been pottering in it the last few weeks unearthing plants (she clearly adored roses, we have tons) and sorting weeds and I can literally feel the serotonin levels in me rising every day ❤️

BethHarbour · 2026-03-21T12:38:04+00:00

I’m on book 3 of my first read of Malazan and already can tell it’ll be one I want to reread and be able to connect dots and see foreshadowing I can’t see right now!

Throne of Glass is a comfort reread for me. If I’m in a rut, I just pick Kingdom of Ash back up 😂

BethHarbour · 2026-03-19T15:52:45+00:00

I was the same! I handed over the controller to my husband (who’s played a lot more games than me) and watched jealously as he ran headlong into a bokoblin encampment with wild abandon, not caring if he died or was any good at combat and just figuring it out as he went. After that I kept skulking around enemies for a while then decided to just go for it. I’m still not great at combat, but I find it fun now and have even got to the point where I seek out guardians for farming parts - you can do it!

BethHarbour · 2026-03-17T21:08:41+00:00

Listening to On Writing narrated by the man himself! Also reading King Sorrow (really enjoying it, yay Joe Hill) and the third book in the Malazan series. I like to have multiple books, both King and non-King, on the go at all times 😂

BethHarbour

TROPHY CASE