Removing ivy from my fences and ground, knowing that before too long it will be back again.

I know many people like ivy but if a new gardener were to ask me which plant should they never buy, ivy would be at the top of my list.

lol, the classical definition of "a weed" is "any plant that's growing where you don't want it to grow."

if i'd been able to use the minimal beds in my garden, I was going to dig a trench and put some plastic sheeting to try to wall off creeping roots; it was only when I went to do that that I found out that the beds are unusuable, being only about eight inches deep.

Ivy's different, beting a climber, I've no idea how one would discourage that.

I've got three or four types of ivy, but all my plants are contained,

ps: I just did a Google on "prevent ivy growing" - there's a whole load of sites, some might have something that could be useful to you - if you can avoid "posion ivy remedy" stuff!

for me, because I don't yet have a gate to close my garden off, it's the neighbours, who bless them keep coming in to look at my flowers and veg in pots. They are like sheep & rabbits, nice to see them but not in my garden.

lol and sigh, they don't understand the concept of "personal space" when applied to other people?

*s* put a notice on the fence with a box labelled "admission £1"

Picking dead leaves and petals off the lawn - I hate doing it , but I hate to see the grass with all bits of stuff on it. Also, digging out ground elder which keeps appearing from next door, also their ivy which keeps trying to get under the fence, over the fence and in between the boards on the fence - grrrrr!

is there any such thing as a paint-on weedkiller that you could cover the fence with? so long as you don't have any plants touching the fence, of course

I think it would be easier for them just to concrete their back garden - or sell their house and move!! I'm no gardener but they haven't got a clue. I've recently had to cut down bindweed (again) coming across from theirs. Oh well, never mind, it keeps me on the ball.

I actually enjoy watering the garden. I takes me about one and half hours if I do all sides of house.

My most aggravating job is removing weeds - couch grass and other types of grass are my biggest problem and I could spend all day doing it. I do not mind other weeds as they tend to come out easily.

I also quite like Ivy, which makes me the odd one out here!

If it only takes you 3 mins to water the garden why not just use a watering can and save all the aggro?

This is the first time I've tried the hose: it can take up to 14 watering cans otherwise, and that's a bit of a drag. but trust me to get a cheap hose that didn't come on a reel, and I've bought four "fit any tap" adaptors and none of them fits my kitchen tap enough that I don't have to wrap a teatowel round the tap to stop it spraying all over the kitchen.

I did yank out all the weeds before finding out that the beds were unusable, so I only did it the once, and the beds are tiny, so it didn't take long. I did plan to put plastic down underground and up the lower part of the fence ti [hopefully] deter weeds from coming in via the ground, and when i found that I could'nt use the beds i covered all the beds with plastic sheets and put soil on top so I could put planters on the ground but still deter weeds.

lol I like ivy too, Kildermorie, and have about four different types - but mine are all in containers, that might make a difference - but I'd like 'em anyway - I'm trying to get as many natural English plants as I can

It takes a lot longer by watering can, Stearagram: the hose can reach the pots at the back a lot easier than I can - I can water twenty plants without having to move my feet! But until and unless I can get the hose proerply fitted, and on a reel, I think using the watering can will be a lot easier on my temper!

i think watering is a good way of inspecting your plants and grasping more of an idea of what keeps each plant happy and strong . as for the tap etc get an outside tap to use installed . there only about £15 - £20 each . there realy easy to install as plumming goes . worse job in the garden is cleaning the cement dog run for obvious reasens . my pet hate is kids/adults flicking dog ends and sweet rappers etc in the garden .

bye the way you either have a garden the size of a postage stamp lol or your not watering the plants enough . bye the way if you cant buy paint on weed killer just spray it into a container and then paint it on or get some old bin liners to cover plants near your "WEEDS" . i suspect there are paint on weed killers myself . take care bye for now .

my garden IS the size of a postage stamp, Noseyplotter - I did a scale plan which is in my photos. Okay, maybe it takes me longer than three minutes to watre, but it doesn't feel long compared to the aggrvation before and after.

An outside tap is on my lit of things to think about, but I live in a council flat and I've only been here a short while - will be a year next week. So I don't want to start putting in serious installatation until I've got evrything else sorted - besides, I'd need persmission from the council - and, given that I need planning permission (@ £150, plus surveryor's drawings @£??) to put a strip of plastic over part of my garden so I've got an all-weather space to dry my washing...

as a bonus, next year I'm 60 and will then qualify for the "country and seaside" scheme where us crinklies can transfer out of London, which I'd love to do - I'm on medication because of the air quality round here - so I don't want to make any major improvements till I'm sure I'm going to stay here!

I maybe the odd one out here but I can't think of anything that aggravates me about my balcony! At this time of the year I have to water my plants at least once a day - in hotter spells the baskets need watering twice a day. The 3 Conifers I have are now so big they need a full 2lt bottle of water every day, except during the colder weather when every other day will do. In winter they only get watered about once a week, if that!

Perhaps the job I least like doing is filling up all the 2lt bottles after using them to water my plants. I've never used a hose. I also prefer the bottles because the water has stood foe at least 24h & loses some of the chemicals used to purify it & it also warms up a little to nearer ambient temps. I don't like to water my plants with the water straight out of the tap, it's too cold & has chlorine in it.

When I was doing the courtyard garden at a local charity office, I put holes in the bottoms of a couuple of 5-litre bottles and buried them to each side of a big plant; I'd fill those, hoping that the plant would get watered from the bottom, so all I needed to do was to keep the bottles filled. Think I made the holes a bit too big, as it seemed they never stayed full up for long! but that was my first go at doing that.

That was in a raised bed: all my bigger pots at home are self-watering, so I bought some transparent plastic tubing and cut it so that the water should run straight down to the reservoir; by the time the plant needs it, it should have stood enough, I hope.

Even when I use a watering can at home, the "cold" is almost warm until it's run for some time; I did'nt think of letting water stand, but I'll give it a go next time.