Hi from Ramsgate

Hi all I live in Ramsgate Kent and although living in the same house for 20 years have only ever tinkered in the garden not really knowing what i have been doing. Now i would like to do things better so thought it is time to get help and tips from people that will know more. Have added a photo of our garden as it stands at the moment so you be the judge .

 

to GC @Michael Noble

Lovely of you to join us. You have a nice sized garden to play with I'm sure you will get lots of help, advice and tips here. Do you have anything specific in mind that you would like some help with?

Looking forward to getting to know you around the forums

 

I have a list of plants mainly hardy perennials that i will be planting in 1 of the borders to brighten it up ,the other is already full of Day Lillys which i didn't plant but fill that border at the moment with a lot of green but soon with orange so nothing to do there will post some more pics when it brightens up. Dont quite know whether to use membrane or just a good mulch once plants are down any advice to use or not that is the question............Thanks M for the welcome.

 

Depends on what job you want the membrane/mulch to do for you.
A membrane is used as a weed suppressant. Then you cut a few X in the membrane to put your plants into. Of course then all you would see is your membrane and the plants dotted through it (until they grow and cover it), so you might then decide to cover the membrane with something such as say bark chippings (other things could be used). Bark chippings could be used as a mulch which would reduce water evaporation from the soil and go some way toward making it less easy for weed seeds to take hold. So, with that in mind, why go to the expense of a membrane *and* bark if you could get away with just the bark?
Of course a mulch could mean well rotted compost - in which case that would also be adding nutrients to enrich your soil, as well as adding a top layer to help reduce water evaporation.
In addition, much would depend on the type of soil you already have - the quality of it (poor, good or rich), the drainage quality (does it puddle water, or does it drain easily).

So, let's have a think ... have you been adding any nutrients to your soil and if so, what sort? If you haven't, then you need to consider what you will add to improve the quality of your soil
If you have, have you kept on top of weeding? The very last thing you would want to do is enrich the soil if it has lots of weeds because they will steal all the goodness from the soil first.
So, with that in mind, you should have some idea already of what kind of mulch to use
If you have kept on top of weeding, do you really think you *need* a membrane?

I know that's already quite a bit to think about - and it may sound complex but it really, really isn't! I'm just trying to get you to think about what you already have and save you any unnecessary expense/work

 

Thanks for that info M ,well as far as i know my soil is chalky and does drain well so a good bark mulch sounds the way to go as it will add nutrients and helps with the weeds and will look a lot better than membrane until the plants establish

 

Bark won't add nutrients (sorry, my post must have come across a bit confusingly ) But, what you could do is to use some blood, fish and bonemeal which is a slow release fertiliser (follow the advice on the packet) before you put down a bark chipping mulch

 

Cheers M yea get what you mean so a good slow release fertilizer before the mulch well plants then mulch...........................

 

Welcome Michael

 

Hi...welcome to GC

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner Michael.

 

Hallo Michael,
welcome to the friendliest Forum EVER. So much good, helpful advice here on all aspects of gardening. My 2 pennorth - if you have chalk soil, it will virtually rule out acid lovers such as Camellias, Rhododendrons and Azaleas but there are many wonderful lime/ chalk lovers so not a great problem,
Jenny namaste

 

Thanks all for the warm welcome i have a feeling i will be spending a lot of time on here picking peoples brains for advice ..............

 

I wouldn't pick too hard Michael, you never know what you might find LoL

 

Welcome to GC Michael...Enjoy...