Topic: love thy neighbours...

[aquilegia]

It pays off.

I got chatting with a new neighbour the other day while hobbling back from the shops with an ice cream. A few days later I saw the two of them clearing out their front garden and bagging up lots of plants. So I asked if I could have it all for the compost.

I have two compost bins - one is full of half rotten stuff. The other, I've only just started filling. Well - by the end of the day, the second bin was full. I had another bag full of weeds and a few new plants that I'd rescued.

A few days later, I hobbled out to the garden and found another 10 black sacks full of plants outside the door. There is enough to fill at least another bin. If not one and a half. But I don't have room for another one, so it all went into old compost bags until I've used the oldest stuff. I've also got a load of thick woody stuff for my insect wood pile, loads more new plants (the ivy with the golden centre, a (I think) varigated wigiella, loads of bluebell and daf bulbs, cuttings of honeysuckle, a tiny oak (squirrels must've burried an acorn which germinated this spring - I figure if I keep it well pruned and in a pot it'll keep small!), and loads more.

Later on, when I was sorting this lot out, they came round again bearing more gifts - this time a bin bag full of big pots and hanging baskets.

I love my neighbours!

[Mimi]

Lucky you.  It always amazes me what people think of as rubbish.  What do you think they are planning to do Aqui..... pave or tarmac over the lot? :(

[Wicker]

Aqui, I'm intrigued - I've never heard of someone having a woodpile specifically for insects - is it as a sort of refuge for them or to keep them concentrated in one place?

[sarahr]

Good Lord, it's like mother always said - "Some people have more money than sense." Not that I'd be complaining if I was the recipient. Note to self - take hanging baskets when you move. I'd already planned on digging up the rose before I put the house up for sale - that bugger cost me eight quid in M&S and is the only rose that hasn't died on me.  ;D

[Gardengirl]

What great neighbours Aqui - it's amazing what you can salvage from other peoples rubbish.  I remember my daughter-in-law throwing out a very tired looking pelargonium. I rescued it, potted it in fresh compost and it grew into the most beautiful plant.  Oh, and Wicker, I have a wood pile for overwintering insects and possibly hedgehogs :)

[Mrs Ava]

Wicker, are you not watching Bill Oddie on his wild about britain program?  :o  I lurve Bill Oddie...don't ask me why.... :o :o.  They were telling us gardeners to get a log pile in the garden for all the creepies to live happily in.  Monday was nesting boxes, (we have one), Tuesday log pile, (we have several), what will tonite bring!?!?!?  ;D

[Wicker]

EJ this is the first Bill Oddie series we haven't managed to watch all of - Mr W especially likes him so if he suggested a log pile then I'm pretty certain we will be giving be setting one up! Just logs and wood bits in a corner then is it?

[Mrs Ava]

That is pretty much it Wicker.  Ooo, and apparently a compost heap is very important for wildlife, so no probs for us lot there then!  Tonites little gem was to give over a patch of your land to a meadow....well, just let a patch get overgrown really - don't be too neat and tidy.  I haven't cut the grass around our willow tree this year, so again, I am there with Kate Humble and Bill!  ;D :P ;D

[aquilegia]

Surprisingly they still have quite a few plants in their garden. It must've been hideously overgrown before, especially as it's a really tiny garden, even smaller than mine.

Wicker - I don't have any logs in my wood pile, it's mostly thick, woody prunings. There are also some really twisty old bits on the top that make it look quite sculptural.

I really must remember to watch Bill Odie tonight - keep forgetting about it.