Plans For Sheds

having just moved to a new house ive noticed the back garden is in a right state, the main problem being weeds, lots of them they are everywhere (in the cracks in the pavement and under the shed and a massive overgrown bit about 10 feet in length and two foot wide). im no gardener but ive got to do it. can ANYBODY PLEASE help me with this, and also gome tips on maintaing my garden so it looks nice.

thanks for any help on this

We’ve just bought our first house.. we’ve never really lived anywhere that we could garden or anything.. so Ive no idea where to start.. i have alot of questions and need alot of suggestions.. We live in western Oklahoma.. Theres a very large mimosa tree in front of our house, and a small garden area along the walk going to the house, which the previous owners filled with rocks.. But id like to put some plants in.. our back yard isn’t huge, but big enough, theres no trees or anything in it right now. theres a nice size Pergola sitting area, and a small barn looking tool shed. Theres not really any garden areas in the back just grass and weeds (goatheads bleh) I’d like to begin making plans for spring, so i don’t decide what plants i want when its already too late to plant them. Everything needs to be dog friendly since they will be spending the most time out there.
I’d like to attract some birds.. my mother in law lives a block over and they have tons of birds in there yard year round..but of course they also have 3 large trees.. They don’t feed them, but we plan on putting up some feeders soon.. A tree that stays smallish or a shrub or something will help attract birds and give them a place to hide would be nice.. maybe something that stays green in the winter, but not like a pine tree..? Plants that don’t need constant tending would be nice as well.
I was told marigolds will help keep bugs/mosquito’s away from the sitting area, is this true? i loved marigolds growing up so i would like some either way, but should i plant them in pots or in the ground? it can be really windy here, would they be ok in hanging pots? i also would like some tulips but i think those should have been planted around October right? My boyfriend would like to cover the pergola in vines of some sort.. but i think that would just invite bugs wouldn’t it?
I’d like some flowering plants but not too many as i don’t want to attract bees if i can help it and i was told they will already be attracted to our mimosa tree. Also we have a pet rabbit so I’m thinking a small vegetable garden would be nice for her, possibly even set up so we could let her loose in it once in awhile.. are raised gardens beds better? i know they would be easier to tend to but what are other benefits/disadvantages? I’m sorry this is really long.. and sorta of all over the place.. Thanks in advance for any suggestions..

Admittedly I am a little confused regarding plants and their soil needs.
I’m hoping someone can shed some light on acid loving vs. alkaline loving plants.
Are there any general rules of thumb?
I’d like to grow the following.
tomatoes, stringbeans, cabbage and maybe some other leafy vegetables. Are these acid or alkaline?
Also, in the flower garden, the annual variety, pansies, hollyhocks, datura, love lies bleeding, etc, are these acid lovers or are they alkaline.
Your knowledge is appreciated, thank you.

i store lawn mower, snow blower, pool supplies, gardening tools, bikes, etc.

I had posted a question about Garden snakes but after looking at pictures of snakes I realized the snake I am talking about is not a garden. It is a garter. I also measured the skin it left behind after its shed and the thing is over 24 inches long. It lives under our porch (which is made of cement) so I have not seen it. However I have his skin so I know he is there. I want to kill this thing or at least scare him off my property. The people we got the house from said snakes have been a big problem here. We keep our grass short, and we have an exterminator come out to spray but he didn’t do anything for snakes. Any ideas on how to kill this thing?

Earlier today, while cleaning out our sheds, I found a narrow-body black spider with a thin white stripe across its back in one of the storage bins.

I saw another answered question saying it could be a garden/jumping spider, but I’ve come across both types of these spiders and this one is not similar.

The main characteristics I noticed was that it ran quite quickly and did not jump at all.

It was similar to this image, but the body was much narrower, and there was only one stripe: http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/philjs/Stengl/images/Rabida.jpg

I recently fitted an electricity meter in my shed as my bills were getting a bit high and I wanted to know what was using it.My shed runs from a spur off the main fuse box through an RCD and then tothe meter followed by the isolator in the shed. The shed has a ring main and then a spur runs from that off to another shed further down the garden. I have noticed that even with everything turned off and unplugged the meter still goes round slowly and is using about 2kw hours per week with nothing turned on. I have tried switching the isolator off and the meter stops turning but when I switch it back on it turns faster for about a minute before settling down to turn slowly again. I thought maybe this is something to do with losses in the cables but with no circuit its hard to see how. Any ideas?
Panic over. I found the drain and it was motion sensor on a security light. They seem to guzzle the juice even when the light is off.

i am looking to buy one of those livable in sheds, so its a shed size with maybe a bed, kitchenette area and an en suite bathroom. i want to put this at the end of my garden for my 16 year old daughter who wants to move out in the hope shel stay at the family home. so if you have any suggestions or anything you might like to tell me about the idea please do. but primarily i would like to know the price of a granny annex style shed and who (what website to go on) i can buy it from.
thanks for your help

I’ve just bought a 12ft pool for the garden and it has a filter pump,salt water system and a heater pump, the filter and salt unit have been running fine on a double socket in the shed but the heater pump lead is to short to reach the shed or the house, can i use an unwound heavy duty extension lead with its own built in RCD and rated at 13A. I understand an extension cable is not waterproof but it will be kept undercover and out of the way of splashing,
many thanks K.

hi, my son is 14 months old and we have a nest in my next door neighbours shed that backs on to my garden, i am really worried that my son will get too close and get attacked by the bees, there are about 20 roaming around outside the nest and i haven’t been able to get near.
please help