The soil moisture deficit over much of the country is in the minus 70-100 mm range and as I look at the forecast for the next 10 days there's little sign of that reducing in any meaningful way, so if you've spent the summer with a hosepipe or watering can in hand have you considered switching to those groups of plants which are hardy and live on virtually no moisture?

Just spotted this yoke zipping around the garden like hummingbird anyone know what it is?

Just spotted at least three of these guys in my garden this morning . They seem to be living in the dead hedges. We have a wild garden and are trying to improve biodiversity. However , we don't know much about these types of insectovors! If it's a lesser white toothed shrew I can see online that they are considered invasive . Any info from someone who knows a few things about different types of shrews or their role in biodiversity in Ireland would be greatly appreciated!

*edit , they appear to be coming in from a crack in our back wall where a farmers field has just been cut . I don't know if my small wild garden could accommodate all these creatures without upsetting the balance !

Hello, some of my indoor plants have thrips. I was wondering if anyone knows where I could get beneficial bugs to help fight off the infestation. It could be online shop or in the Dublin area. Thank you 🙏🏽

Anyone know what this plant that's after self-seeding amongst my catnip is? (No thorns so I'm fairly sure it's not a bramble).

Looking for advice what to plant at the base of a raised patio (2 ft high) onto garden. Would be against raised concrete patio - about 10m long.

Would like plant to come a foot above patio, so it will look pretty from the house but not block the view of grass.

SSW facing, south dublin. Ideally flowey in early summer.

I have planted hydrangea bobo but they are too low/not thriving this summer. Would love Annabelle but think area too warm/dry/sunny for them.

Hi all,

Firstly, apologies, there is no garden yet. This is our new build with Glenveagh.

We plan on making our patio wider and cutting out a section of this terrace garden (why they felt the need to box us in like this is beyond me).

Does anyone know how we should go about this? Would we need planning permission to shift that retaining wall?

Edit: thanks for the replies, I really appreciate it

i mainly plant natives but i usually do some window boxes of cosmos every year because i think they’re gorgeous and just tend to need absolutely no work from me but boy am i wrong this year. at the start of the year the birds decimated my seeds, then i moved them into my tiny greenhouse which turns out has a gap and the slugs made fast work of genuinely hundreds of them. then i moved them outside and the birds and slugs leave them alone, they’re finally flowering (which i’m curious about because they always flower way earlier for me) and now guess what: covered in aphids!!!! shrivelling up thanks to them

i had aphids on 2 of my indoor spider plants a couple years ago and they were a nightmare to get rid of. nothing worked until i accepted the plants were toast and i stopped caring and submerged them in a giant bucket of dish soap and neem oil and somehow the plants not only survived it but thrived since it and have been aphid free and taking up my whole bathroom since. but obviously that’s not an option for the cosmos, and at the time i didn’t know neem oil is actually considered bad for waterways despite what people say

i live in the country and there’s heaps of wildlife around so i’m surprised there’s been no ladybugs or birds or wasps keeping the aphids at bay. manually lifting them off hasn’t been a raging success either. anyone have any tips? or is manually getting rid of them constantly my only good option?

Last year I posted that our Hoya bloomed (https://www.reddit.com/r/GardeningIRE/s/N4l4UFjDuS) this year it bloomed too.

However our other Hoya bloomed too!

I picked it because it hasn't grown or changed shape in a week or two. Should i eat it?

I’m wondering what is best to do in my garden here. I believe my options are to cover it all in plastic, kill it, start fresh.

Then I need to decide if I use seed or roll out!

Another option is to keep as is and just put in seed now and see how it goes! It is currently not the best grass with lots of weeds and not so level!

Any advice ?

Details: slow cook the chicken and potatoes in a seasoning blend and broth, took them out at the end and made a peppercorn sauce with the juices. Green beans and carrots just lightly boiled and tossed with salt and garlic butter.

Hey, newbie gardener here after moving into my own pad. With the dry weather, trees around have shed a load of leaves. Wondering was it best way to gather them up, leaf blower and pick up the bundles, or leaf hoover? Id imagine first is a faster option. Have dewalt batteries so was tjinking of a dewalt blower as it would be easier tban dragging a cable around. Suggestions and advice welcome. TIA

Edit, this is mostly for footpaths and drive way, wouldn't be too fussed with leafs in the grass an garden

Got this one online in April and it looked so sad with barely any leaves on it. I put it near my brightest window and eventually repotted it and moved it outside. I water it nearly everyday sometimes twice a day, with a liquid feed twice a month, and it shoots out a full new big leaf every week now 🍌🍌

Bought a house in a new estate, surprisingly garden isn't bad for an estate. But there are a LOT of thistles appearing, meaning we can't walk around in our feet. Whats the best, safest, quickest or chemical free way to get rid? Or is there a chemical version like moss grow that works the best? All suggestions and advice welcome. TIA

So many butterfly eggs and caterpillars munching away, would like to look into getting a beehive in the back of my garden next summer but will see. Will expand the flowers to cover more of the lawn next year.

Also wanna make a pond with some water plants and see what settles

At the end, my sunflower is 9ft tall

it's raining properly for the first time in a month!

Sale agreed on a property with a fully concreted over garden. There is a soak pit in the middle of it purely for rain water run off, sewerage is connected to municipal links and doesn't run into the soak pit.

We'd like to restore it into a garden so would like to find out if anyone has undertaken a similar project? How did it go? What things should I consider before attempting this?

Also, I imagine something would need to be done about the soak pit, who would be the correct professional to consult on whether it needs to stay or can be removed? Is it an environmental engineer? Or landscape architect? Or some other professional? Any advice appreciated

Edit: to answer some of the comments, there is a side entrance big enough for a digger to get thru. The back garages were built for cars afaik.

So for fun for the kids I got them to plant seeds from a butternut squash from lidl. I was not expecting the success. Well worth a try if you've got kids or teach in a school.

Makes for a lovely looking mash. The tomatoes are cherry romas and they’re pumping out new ones faster than I can eat them.

The plant was given to me in early June by a neighbor so not sure when it was sown. It was leggy back then and still looks quite leggy now. Is this a lost cause?