Help

morning all its me again more Monty Python than Monty Don ...I bought yesterday a tray of 6 alpines from Asda (£5) and have a ornamental concrete trough measuring 8 inch by 20 inch by about 5 inch deep , question is how do i plant my plants ??eg all compost or stones in bottom then compost or all compost topped with small sones or stones in bottom then compost then small stones lol any help greatly received

nash

 

With alpines you want lots of drainage so i would put crocks or stones in the bottom then mix grit throughout the compost and then top dress with stones

 

Good info from Dips you also need a soil compost " John inns no 1 or 2.

NOT multi-purpose as this holds too much water around the roots over winter and you will end up loosing plants

 

thanks for info good people and both of you with a tenuous link to me lol firstly my Nan lived nr Solihull (nr robin hood crem) so spent lot of my young yrs in solihull then yrs later I moved to Wales (Carmarthen) ,,,I got some dressing stones this morn and will get some John Innes tomorrow

 

Ah im not far from the crem went to the secondary school near it.

Its where we go for every fam funeral (not a cheery thing to say lol)

 

lol lol hey its only thing that we know will deff happen to us all isnt it lol cant remember name of rd she lived ,,,tbh have more memories of when she moved to Hall Green by Sarehole Mill

 

Lol My nan use to live round the corner from there in yardley wood road so again i know it well

 

small world eh ...my other nan lived in Shirley in Wiseacre Croft (see i remember that one lol )

 

Sorry to disagree, but modern thinking is that you do not put crocks etc at the bottom of the trough. This just gives a wet sump into which any roots which grow, will rot away.
Add the grit to the JI No.2 rather than putting in the bottom. Build up the depth with rocks. Put them about an inch apart you you have to cram the plants between them. That is what alpines love, a deep narrow crevice. I would even go as far as to wash off the compost from the plants before planting, so that they are going straight into the medium in which they are going to grow.

 

I agree about washing the roots off all the compost IF Multipurpose, I had forgotten that one

 

Thanks i will do that