Greenfingered MoneySaving

A question about : Urban front garden

I have bought a house in what is a reasonably rough part of South London. It's one of the few places where large Victorian houses are still relatively affordable.

I'd quite like to do something quite nice in the (small) front garden which is reasonably theft/vandalism resistant. At present it's been concreted over but I have plans to change that. I don't however particularly want to spend lots of money on plants only to see them stolen/vandalised.

A question about : Lawn to wildflowers

Hi everyone, probably a random topic to talk about this close to Christmas but as I'm prepared for that, I need something else to do!
I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to gardening but one thing I am really getting into at the moment is making it more wildlife friendly. 2 years ago my concrete rear garden was converted to a lawn, plants and a veg plot. Although I do like a nice lawn, I now really want to change it to a wildflower meadow and here is where my quandary is.

A question about : Greenfly and Garlic Powder

I was watching a TV program today where Alan Titchmarsh was spending time at Buckingham Palace gardens. Seems that the Queen doesn't much care for insectisides and so the gardeners there use a garlic spray to keep the aphids down. They said it was very successful.

Has anyone heard of this method, and if so do you know what the mixture strength should be. A bit of Googling informs me that Garlic POwder can be bought in supermarkets. It's a product I've never noticed!

A question about : Clearing this un-level weed-ridden brick mess!

Hi all

I've just moved into a new (rented) house and I thought I might take on the challenge of tackling this monstrosity that is the back garden. I thought it would be a good project to get in to, I have no gardening experience.

As you can see, there are weeds everywhere, barely any grass, buried brick, stones etc.

A question about : Best spring bulb deal this year.

Called in at 1 of Parkers, the bulb specialists, garden centres yesterday. They always seem to sell of surplus stock just before xmas and I've found that provided they are in good nick and are put in within the next week or so they are fine if a little late the first year.
All spring bulbs were half price.

Just about to grab a few when the manager came over, after a few bulbs?, they have to all go within the next couple of days, here's a carrier bag, (a good sized 1), it's Ј5 for as many as you can get in the bag

A question about : Parsnips in Bottles 2013

I have started lifting this years parsnip that I have grown in 2litre plastic bottles, here is the link to my original post:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4272237&page=1

A question about : Renovating Garden

A question about : Re-using old compost

I'm so dumb that I have always re-used old compost for new plants in outdoor containers. I had no idea there was anything wrong with that!

I currently have a lot of outdoor pots full of compost remaining after dead plants have been removed. When a friend saw that I'd kept the compost, he said you must never re-use it, as it is devoid of all nutrients. Duh!

My questions:

(1) is he right?

(2) can I make any use of this old compost or must it all be thrown away?