Weeding the Web

Gardening – too much of a consuming passion?

My thanks to John Walker for his response to Fairy Front Doors: Kitsch or Cute? As ever, he got powerfully to the point: “Surely,” wrote John, “anyone buying this kind of tat is truly away with the fairies.”

And I rather liked them… But the ornaments are part of a stream of “useless stuff” which he feels is encouraging excess consumption. Gardeners, says John, are the one group who have “real potential to hit the brake of consumption and help slow its symptoms, one of which is climate change.”

Extreme Pumpkins : pumpkin carving at its goriest

I've mentioned Tom Nardone before, in Halloween Parties, but if you’re bored with the usual pumpkin designs, or looking for something “extreme” to do with your Atlantic Giant, then his website has very arresting designs.

Personally, I’m happy with a gap-toothed frown (on the pumpkin, silly), but these, frankly, stomach-churning designs will certainly appeal to small boys.

Tom provides 48 downloadable pumpkin patterns, including Gunshot to the Head, Drowning Pumpkin (nastier than it sounds) and his renowned Puking Pumpkin (pictured). Included are instructions on quick carving (power tools involved), and pumpkin preservation.

Tom has also had two books published: Extreme Pumpkins and Extreme Pumpkins II. You can find them at Amazon.

A DIY Bird Feeder, recycled too.

Autumn’s advancing and if you don’t feed the birds you’re in the minority. According to the RSPB website, over half of adults in the UK feed birds in their garden. They recommend feeding all year round, but if you don’t want to do this, they do say that winter feeding benefits birds most. Bird feeders abound on the web, available in all shapes and sizes. But if you have an urge for DIY, then Dr Ivan Reid has provided straightforward instructions for a simple design using a Pringles tube and a sardine tin.

Gifts for Gardeners : Fairy front doors – kitsch or cute?

One man’s kitsch is another man’s cute, and this (I think) gorgeous piece of nonsense from The Original Gift Company is something that you’ll love or hate. Made of frost-proof stone with a hand-painted finish, the small version measures around 4½ x 3½ x 1 inches, the large around 8 x 6¼ x 1½ inches.

The small front door costs £7.95, the large £21.95. Get both for £17.90. You might want a browse through the rest of the catalogue, as postage and packing is a fairly hefty £4.95.

Can’t you just see one settled in the rockery with a set of tiny steps descending to a little lawn of creeping thyme?

Do click on Comment below and let us know what you think. Or if you’ve already installed your fairy front door, send photos!

NB 2011 These are now on special offer.

Cinderella’s pumpkin coach: Halloween without the horror

Returning to the theme of Halloween, for those of you with a glut of pumpkins who would like to carve a cucurbit but who don’t go for ghoulish, or have religious objections to Halloween, this Cinderella Coach project is cute.

It’s American, but any item unobtainable here is easily substituted. Send us a pic if you make one.

NB The page is no longer available on the BHG website

Artificial grass: can it compete?

Ructions have arisen in Brentwood, Essex, over their Brentwood in Bloom competition, as reported in the Daily Telegraph. Jan Brooker has said she’ll never enter again after a flurry of letters to the local paper complained at the £80 prize for a first-time entrant being awarded to someone who used artificial grass.

Halloween Party Ideas - what to do with all those pumpkins

If you’re planning a Halloween party just now, then Extreme Halloween will certainly give you ideas for decorations and food, not to mention what to do with the pumpkin glut from the garden.

A Halloween party in Britain usually means making toffee and bobbing for apples but this book, by Tom Nardone, is hard-core American Halloweening.

From suggestions for the barbecue (Roasted Human Being, anyone?) to creating a haunted lavatory, Tom provides some pretty ghoulish ideas. Have to admit, though, rigging up a moving ghost in the front garden and scaring the newest batch of trick-or-treaters is rather tempting. But seventeen pumpkins to make a baby-eating yard monster? Makes my harvest of three look pathetic.

Send us pics of anything you do.