New gardener in Scotland.

I am new to gardening and new to this forum. In July my wife and I inherited this house with a fair-sized garden. We have lived in flats all our married life but my wife is a keen gardener from her earlier life and I am eager to learn. At 73 I am past digging and getting down to flower beds is a problem (getting back up is even worse) but I have a kneeler which helps immensely.
I was given a bit of garden for my own but it is damp, heavy clay and doesn't get much sun (wonder why she gave me that bit), but I am determined to make it flourish.
We are both into flowers and shrubs so we do not intend growing vegetables We both like wildlife so I have installed a bird table and feeders and we have a rabbit that comes around now and again.
So I just want to say hello and look forward to tips and tricks I glean from these pages.

 

Welcome to the forum @Jocko !

I am not a big fan of trying to dig into hard clay so I mostly have raised gardens.

 

Thanks, Lori. I am trying a generous dressing of horticultural gypsum to try and break it down. That and a top dressing of well-rotted horse manure.

 

Hi @Jocko and welcome to Gardeners Corner !.
Can’t go wrong with liberal dressings of well rotted manure , spread on top as you say , let the worms do the work ! .

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner Jocko. Good luck with the new garden and some pictures along the way will also be welcome please.

 

Thanks to you all for the nice welcome.

 

Sorry it's late but WELCOME !

 

......me too!!

Hi @Jocko and

 

Once again, thank you. Seems like a real friendly forum but there again gardeners are always friendly and eager to help.

 

Welcome @Jocko
With clay soil it's good to keep putting compost on it, then you don't have to dig it in.
Here is some videos, haven't watched them.

 

@Jocko , don't knock clay soil as it's highly nutritious!! We live and garden in the middle of a now non functioning Clay Quarry ( all the local older houses, including ours were built with bricks from it).
You can gradually add bulky organic matter , best is composted tree bark. Too much additions can in fact have a detrimental effect on its workability so have a test area planned and see how it responds.

There are loads of plants that grow well .......so you may well have been given a 1st class spot after all.

Once amended and workable ..look up clay and shade loving plants....and start the exciting stage of experimenting!!! Make your wife envious!!

 

At 73 I am very much a no-dig gardener so I covered all the beds with manure and I just dig holes as I wish to plant an item.

 

@Jocko to Gardener’s Corner