General Gardening Discussion

Lime takes quite a while to be washed down into the soil. Thats the reason I do it in Autumn. That way, I can be sure its done its job. I'm sure other members could answer your question regarding Spring liming better than I can, as they are more used to the UK climate than I am now.

That's more or less what I'll do Black Dog, as I wouldn't intend to replace the tree in that position. I did a similar thing with a spruce I had removed in another part of the garden (it was straggly and competing squeezed between a big eucalyptus and a mature chestnut). I left a 3-metre high...

Is it particularly wet where you intend planting? If just heavy soil you can add grit to make it less sticky.

I regard myself as a well informed and knowledgeable person when it comes to the great outdoors(garden). I have to admit I've learned something today with this botrytis tulipae as I'd neve heard of it!! Maybe here on the Sussex chalk, we're immune from curly brown tulips, but I could give you a...

Now is a good time to dig up a trowell sized piece of those geraniums and make new plants if you need them... we usually have to dig up and bin lots as some become too speading.

You can do either, leave them uncut or a very light tidy up will help protect things lower down and if they survive and make buds all down the stems they will make bigger bushes sooner.The more you cut them back the more they will shoot from the base or underground and take a bit longer to...

@pete It's one of the environmentally friendly ones with no phosphates and surfactants that are less resistant to degrading in the environment. Yes it should work as a wetting agent for dried out composts. A small amount of olive oil or any cooking oil can be used instead of WD40 to deal with...

I've only got one type of tree peony, a yellow one , it self seeds and seems to grow and flower in all aspects .I'm guessing yours didn't like the container, I tend to think they prefer a good root run.

Oh botherations!!!......that was next on my list for my dodgy knee Pete.Oh well back to my very strenuous exercise regime I suppose.

Luis I've recently moved down from my hills, am now down at 800ft asl and my new neighbour says hydrangea does well here. Weather a lot softer here, we've only had a few inches of snow whereas my old house had 4ft drifts I could put it in the garden round the back, but I've got a patio/paved...

Never had problems with couriers always in good condition.

I presume they are just coming up to flowering now, so I wouldn't prune now. But after flowering I would think you could cut the stems down. But leave any new growth coming from the base of the plant.

@mazamboYou mean you're going to change it to The Really Total Gardener", mazambo? All that is happening you're like the rest of us Gardeners....we're learning all the time!!

"His" and "Hers" sprayers, what will they think of next.

Hi ricky101. Thank you for your advice and sorry I have not got back to you sooner'. I have chopped strawberries across the tops and this does seem to be the best way forward. The new growth is too small to be damaged by the haircut. Once this was done it opened up space & light to the new...

Had a good look round over the past day or so and my young rhubarb leaves are fine. The recent cold snap was not as cold as the cold snap in 2018, back then Salvia guaranitica and S involuctra were cut back to ground level and the Zanthophylum was defoliated; this time all three still have...

Hi Mike, I love books too, but they do take up a considerable amount of space. Then, our house is very tiny and crammed. So nowadays I buy way less books than I used to. Actually, I often found myself buying in print books which I first read digitally and liked. I think it is fair to the...

It's been over 3 years since I started this thread. The plants in this section are still fairly small but they are coming together nicely.I wanted this section to look good from the house on a winter's day when it's too cold to go outside. I would like to think that I have achieved what I...

You'll need to get the fork into each hole and try and lift them the best you can, it need doing quite quick after the accident for it to work the best. I'd top up the holes with top soil , using just sand may cause a sump. Never use a roller on a clay base soil as flounders has mentioned ....