New but keen to learn!

Hi, Basically Im fascinated with the world of gardening but never had a real chance of getting into it properly, where I live is on top f a hill, beside a mountain so soil and general wind abuse normally kills most things off, plus still at university so parents have rule over their garden, they arent very green fingered as such and it does how it is

Live beside our grandparents and recently was told about my grandas great grandfathers old house and how he gardened, so discussing it decided to get into it and use his, problem is, hasnt been used or looked at since roughly 1952, grown over to say the least, its located in a sheltered little area beside old out buildings under some very old and large trees, but still good light

What I really want to know is opinions on the soil and bedding, I've now cleared a reasonable area this evening and already gathered an awful lot of dead and old shrubs

The soil itself is very loose and covered in leaf litter which I imagine could be good but again nutrients may have been drained from it, so instead my plan is raised beds for the plants, the garden is huge considering in its hay day it was mostly little fields and a large garden patch, found the old chicken wire around the garden and everything is plain stone walls.

Many more questions to come so patience please I can ask a lot of questions

 

Hi and welcome.

There's plenty of knowledgeable friendly folks on here to help you out.

Just picking up on a couple of bits from your post, firstly your parents garden. It may be windswept and suffering all the battering of typical mountainside weather, but there are still things that will grow there.

What country are we talking about here, and what altitude and things apply? Are we talking about the foot of the pennines in the UK, or somewhere else? I know Box will be ok in most places, as will Rowan, two examples of good windbreak shrubs/trees.

As for the the other plot you've taken on, that sounds ace. Nice big site with stone walls, that sounds like it has real potential. If there is a lot of leaf litter, and has been neglected for a long time, then you can bet that the soil is good. If the leaf litter has been left every year for years, then the lower layers will have rotted down well, and been incorporated into the soil, with layers above in various stages of decomposition. Of course the trees that shed those leaves will be casting shade, and taking water and nutrients, but if you can open up the canopy to let light in, it should be perfect soil.

 

I live in Northern Ireland, quite rugged landscape where im from, soil on the land wouldnt be very deep and quite rocky and coarse, but of course this garden has had alot of leaf litter and never been used for anything but a garden in its time

thanks for the reply! dont think i could convince them to do much to their garden ha but the helps appreciated

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner Greecko

 

Thanks, really impressed by everybodies knowledge here and friendliness