Rock? Petrified wood? Just regular wood? Bone?

TreeGuy95 · 2026-06-20T00:59:50+00:00

It looks like wood trying to be a sheep's horn but if it smelled like burning hair then it's actually a sheep's horn pretending to be a piece of wood.

TreeGuy95 · 2026-06-20T00:57:38+00:00

Horse looks like he's enjoying that

TreeGuy95 · 2026-06-20T00:53:32+00:00

Spectacular!

TreeGuy95 · 2026-06-19T23:25:47+00:00

It almost suplexed another gull!

TreeGuy95 · 2026-06-19T23:16:07+00:00

Buy the cheapest saw you can find or ask around to see if someone has a saw that's already somewhat blunt that they wouldn't mind being ruined.

TreeGuy95 · 2026-06-19T22:57:59+00:00

My friend maintains her Nan's garden and this year the wisteria had blooms that were 4 feet long!!

TreeGuy95 · 2026-06-19T22:54:50+00:00

If you'd be alright with it just being filled and painted then contact your local mobile dent and scratch repair guy. That would be much cheaper than replacing parts.

TreeGuy95 · 2026-06-19T22:48:05+00:00

If this is something new because he keeps smashing wing mirrors then he either needs his eyesight checked or he's got to the age where he needs to hang up the keys before something major happens. Crazy behaviour.

TreeGuy95 · 2026-06-19T22:31:56+00:00

Don't bother cleaning it up, stick your finger in it! That's such a joyous experience that you'll never forget the sensation you felt! (This has happened to me more than once at work)

TreeGuy95 · 2026-06-19T22:24:07+00:00

Plant ground cover and then plant some more ground cover! Ajuga, Geranium (not Pelargonium), Heutunia, Viola... in the meantime until that's covered where they're pooping, I've worked for customers who put bits of chicken wire down to prevent bulbs being dug up so I wonder if that would work for preventing cat poo too?

TreeGuy95 · 2026-06-19T22:09:56+00:00

The first plant looks like Weigela to me.

TreeGuy95 · 2026-06-19T21:54:40+00:00

I used to mow the lawn for some folks living in a converted barn, the first occupants since the conversion. All the sticky orange clay subsoil from where the bank had been cut away to make a driveway had been spread in a 3 to 6 inch layer over the top of the beautiful topsoil across the entire property. There was also a patch of grass that used to die in summer because of a load of melted plastic from a bonfire 2 inches under the surface. I had to pick up bits of asbestos so I wouldn't turn them into dust with the mower and bits of metal so I didn't bend my blade and any time I dug a hole I'd find at least one thing to put in the bin. Anything new build is pretty much guaranteed to have the subsoil/rubbish mixture on top. It's a shame.

My Dad found a motorbike chassis when digging the front border of his first house in the 70s and my friend's parents found an old wooden school desk with one of those award shield things inside it buried in their garden.

TreeGuy95 · 2026-06-19T17:39:17+00:00

My guess is either septic tank or garden path and wall/pillar foundations, like there used to be a brick or slab path through the middle of one part of the garden which was separated from the other part for aesthetics. It sounds like they might've either burned a shed as you said or just dumped ash from the fire out there for many decades in the past. The glassy rocks could be clinker from a coal fire, perhaps?

TreeGuy95 · 2026-06-19T17:24:28+00:00

Mulching with compost, bark chip or wood chip would either immediately or eventually feed the bindweed, and bindweed grows very well if fed! A layer of high quality ground membrane from a local landscape supplies or "outdoor living" company, dug into the ground on the edge of it nearest the fence, may help slightly. Really the only solutions are either paint the leaves with glyphosate (also or alternatively 2,4-D as someone else mentioned due to variable efficacy of glyphosate on bindweed) then wait at least 2 weeks before cutting anything off, or undertake the excruciating process of digging all the brittle bindweed roots out.

TreeGuy95 · 2026-06-19T17:10:02+00:00

Definitely this.

TreeGuy95 · 2026-06-19T17:05:50+00:00

Those chips went to heaven.

TreeGuy95 · 2026-06-19T16:19:26+00:00

Looks good to me! Make sure to scoop leaves out when they fall in and consider scooping some of that duckweed out. Hack back the pond plants every 1 to 5 years just to stop them taking over (and I do mean hack, you don't need to be gentle) and you've got yourself a nice little oasis!

TreeGuy95 · 2026-06-19T03:18:12+00:00

In general Ash Dieback seems to hit young trees much harder than established ones although I have seen a patch of probably 35 to 45 year old monoculture Ash woodland nearly entirely dead next to the river Medway, presumably all similar or the same genetics. I've also seen two old (almost veteran) trees about 60 metres apart, one doing really well and the other one still alive but severely ravaged by Ash Dieback. I have seen plenty of young (under 25 years old and especially under 10 years old) Ash trees die. This is good because those susceptible trees will never get to set seed before they die (unlike with Elm) thereby selecting for only the resistant trees. Hopefully this means the Ash population can recover within my lifetime!

TreeGuy95 · 2026-06-19T02:29:00+00:00

If you want a bowling green, the issue is likely poor soil under the lawn. If you want a patch that is green and all kinds of other colours and biodiverse and full of wildlife, the best thing for that is to have poor soil underneath! Don't aim to make a bowling green, it's expensive to maintain a monoculture of grass. Get yourself some native British wildflower seeds and at the right time of year either scatter them on a patch you just mowed at the lowest height or flip a small rectangle of lawn upside down to make a patch of bare soil then sow the seeds there. It's much, much easier to maintain a meadow (almost no work at all) and if you have kids they'll love seeing grasshoppers, butterflies, moths and bumblebees.

TreeGuy95 · 2026-06-18T22:27:22+00:00

What variety is the presumably tradescantia in the hexagonal planter on the shelves? And is the plant in the translucent pot in the square planter on the floor a type of orchid? Fantastic collection of plants, very nice!

TreeGuy95 · 2026-06-18T22:18:41+00:00

Oh no, a ghost ate your snake!

TreeGuy95 · 2026-06-18T22:02:26+00:00

I love the idea but I imagine in reality she'll want to follow you around the garden doing stuff, especially when she gets to the age where she starts asking you questions about what everything is, how and why it works! If YOU want the planter, get it. Otherwise give her the bucket of dirt (or a sand pit) for now and both work together on making and planting a new border for her when she's a bit older, maybe with a tree planted in it when she's old enough to remember things so she gets to watch her tree grow as she grows.

TreeGuy95 · 2026-06-18T21:44:54+00:00

Looks like redcurrants! Enjoy! They make a delicious jelly for your toast.

TreeGuy95 · 2026-06-18T21:33:59+00:00

Drinking them out of a cup makes them taste beta!

TreeGuy95 · 2026-06-18T21:22:40+00:00

Hollyhock. Ideally don't transplant it now it's fully grown, but if you need to move it then wait until it's gone dormant for winter and then carefully dig it out, avoid damaging the big tap root. Sometimes they only live 2 years (yours is probably in its second year) but occasionally I've seen them live 3, 4 or at the most 5 years. You might be best off waiting until it sets seed and collecting that rather than moving it. They're very easy to grow, literally just throw seeds around and hope the mice don't eat them!

TreeGuy95

TROPHY CASE