Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Is this a good time to move my shrub to another spot?
Can I transplant a shrub in my garden to another place? It’s been there for at least five years.
Kerry, Gravesend, Kent
It’s best to wait until November, after we have had the first good frost. The plant will be dormant and the risks of problems will be lessened. At the moment, there’s a risk of giving it a shock to the system, plus you’ll have to spend a lot more time watering.
Stop the pigeon! Birds are eating up my grass seed
Pigeons are eating my newly laid grass seed. What can I do about them? Philippa Cotton via email
Mix your grass seed with compost before you sow it, which will make the seed look less noticeable and obvious to birds. It will also help the seed to germinate quicker. You can also use garden netting, secured with canes to protect newly laid patches of lawn.
GLASS-IC Crassula ovata
There’s been a massive resurgence in indoor gardening over recent years, with renewed interest reflecting the popularity of plants in our homes.
It’s especially prevalent among young people living in city flats with little outdoor space. But we can all enjoy indoor planting as a way of brightening up our living and working spaces – especially when we’re spending more time than usual at home.
We’ve spent a lot of time outside in the spectacular sunshine. But when a cold, rainy snap appears, it brings the desire for indoor gardening instead.
And this week, I’d like to share the pleasures of bottle gardens and terrariums – both of which will make a classy addition to your home.
Garden centres and online retailers have enjoyed a boom in sales of glass gardens. They were last really popular during the 80s and 90s when hundreds of thousands were sold in garden centres and DIY superstores all over the country. Now they’re definitely enjoying a renaissance.
Glass gardens originated as a means of transporting plants over long distances in ships.
During Victorian times, as it became cheaper and easier to manufacture glass on an industrial scale, growing plants within glass containers quickly became a hugely fashionable occupation.
The good news is that bottle gardens are relatively easy to create and don’t need lots of maintenance.
You can buy a huge variety of bottles online, ranging from small ones that are the size of a jug to larger ones which are almost the size of a bar stool, which you can get from theurbanbotanist.co.uk.
Once you’ve chosen your container, use ordinary houseplant compost. If it’s missing activated charcoal, you can buy it in from your local garden centre or pet store. It sweetens the soil and stops anything getting smelly. It’s a similar material to the ingredient in odour-eaters that you get for your feet, to absorb unwanted smells to keep the bottle fresh.
Quick tip, place the container before you fill it – once the soil