Your gardening photos

I noticed a sunflower in a street flower tub in Carrick on Suir a couple of days ago, I was very impressed that it had survived to reach a height of around 4 ft, in a public place.

Which chillies are those? Look like reapers.

Delivered today by a neighbour

Will the tunnel be anchored to the ground? Is it being put up for you? The membrane might cause levelling issues? Would there be the thickness of a slab clearance for the door at the entrance? Your site does look level, there is no bit of my garden that is not on a slope of some sort!

Ah, I thought you meant that the membrane was down permanently at this stage, just based on the one I saw being installed they were working on and in the ground. Good luck with it, I would love one but I know I would not get the use out of it - and putting in anything means excavating levels, more trouble than its worth!

I'll have a chat with the local lads see if they can help - I thought as much but wondered if there may have been some kind of "secret handshake" required! The farmers around here seem very personable - but I'll need to recompense them somehow…

The membrane is only down to kill off the grass to give the installers a clearer surface to work off and it'll give me a good start. It was also helpful "visualising" the positioning, particular that slight incline plus a couple of trees (out of shot).

Once the tunnel is up, the membrane will come up and cardboard will go down inside the tunnel. It's too wet and windy here at the mo to do any cardboard anyway and I wouldn't have enough compost to keep it down (hence question on manure). Membrane is only held in with steel pins so will be up in a jiffy.

I saw your wood chip alright - that'd cost a fortune from the garden centre! You definitely know all the right people - I'll have to look up local tree surgeons, it's a great idea.

I split the difference ! Trim back flowers now and dry bunches hanging them upside down indoors in paper bags . Then use the dried flower heads in small nets tied with ribbon as pomanders for bedrooms and wardrobes. Smells lovely , keeps moths at bay and helps you sleep better .

Then cut back the plants leaving a few green leaves and shape before the next growing season . Most people just find it easier to do when tidying back the garden in late autumn and less cold on your fingers ! But if it suits, you can do it before they start to grow in March , up to you .

I've read that too so I'm going to leave it in situ. If I can get a fair bit of woodchip, I can at least make it look a bit more respectable.

I'd prefer to strip the entire perimeter and sow lawn seed - but I'll put that on the long finger. I successfully did this with the perimeter of the house itself. Its not a tennis lawn by any stretch but simply mowing keeps it looking well. The prevention of the ingress of weeds into the polytunel is far more important. And its good to get that first hand experience you've seen yourself - thanks.

Numerous foxes come to grief on the roads around us recently. There is an old fella goes up and down the field outside the window here, seems to have been around for ages.

What happened to foxie's nose? I don't suppose there was a bird in that picture 😁?

This is one of our foxes. We had five a few months back - we seem to be down to two or three now. We're assuming (hoping) the others have found other territories.

Of course, herself has given them all names. This one is Sylvester - hope he's a Fox and not a Vixen…

To keep this marginally on topic, we've noticed all our berries are about a month early - whitethorn, blackthorn (sloes) and blackberries. Need to get the blackberries in soon enough - got about a kilo last year and made a simply gorgeous compote that went perfectly with vanilla ice-cream.