General Gardening Discussion

Thanks again for your insight, food for thought.

Thanks, @Plantminded .

I had a friend in Belgium whose bulbs were routinely excavated by local pheasants and a couple of peacocks who'd escaped from home.

I have shallow soil in places, most of the rock breaks up if you hit it hard enough with a pick and if you have an edge you can lever it up in sheets, there is also soil and roots between the sheets. In other places there are seams of metamorphic limestone smooth, gloss and absolutely solid and...

Thank you for your advice.

That’s very neighbourly of you @pete . The rate of growth is quite amazing when it’s cut, I’m wondering whether it might be a silent protest! Thanks for the photos, very impressive.

We have Alstromeria in the ground and in pots. They are quite hardy but the pots can be put under cover or sheltered in the winter if they are new. We just cut off the dead flowers and cut back in early Spring. Be careful about transplanting or pulling the stems as the roots tend to be...

It often comes down to experience, and also confidence. If someone asks about what they should do with an acer, and when to prune etc, I'm always wary of what I suggest. Saying to anyone novicey, or inexperienced with them [and that's often why they're asking the question] to do it at any other...

The acer certainly looks miserable. I think it is starved of moisture and nutrients by the willow. If you are not too attached to the acer, dig a circle around it as big as possible, lift the root ball with as little disturbance as possible and give it to a friend or family member. They are...

There are lots of suppliers online who will still have bulbs @Javidr, but as said - you may be limited now if you wanted something specific, especially with hyacinths and tulips. You could look at F. Gracy, as mentioned, plus Nyssens, Avon, GeeTee and Broadleigh.I've often picked up bits and...

I never bothered with faffing with my hornbeam hedging. It just grew well, and I clipped it once a year, usually later on. When it was young, ie newly planted, I don't think I ever touched the top, I just let it thicken up and then topped it at the eventual desired height. Some of mine was in a...

Blimey! Once a Wisteria gets going, one is plenty. Having two or more is asking for Javidr to disappear without trace, strangled in his own personal jungle . Although the natural tendency of climbers is to twine upwards, the shoots of Wisteria are long and flexible enough to tie in to a support....

Yes - a sibirica or an ensata Iris - both are ideal for the side of a pond. Ensata is a water Iris, so is also ideal if it's very wet. Many varieties of both types though. Libertia is a good shout, although I find L. grandiflora a but dull. There are gold varieties, but they can be hard to keep...

I've planted lots of roses in my garden in France and I don't use mycorrhizal fungi because they don't sell it anywhere near me. I dig a large hole and mix in a lot of compost, as I have heavy clay, and blood and bone, French version doesn't have fish. I bury the graft. I've had good results.

Thats about the size of a doubles tennis court. Unless thats your aim I would work on seperate areas to provide an area for ball games, an area for dog purposes, perhaps a trampoline/swing/rope climbing/wendy house/small pet area etc. Consider a weatherproof walkway to link these and maybe...

They will be fine in this mild spell. Most of mine are flowering like there's no tomorrow here!

I used to put a layer of netting or mesh with soil back on top for small bulbs in borders, but it's then a problem if you want to add something else there, so I just accept that I might lose some, no matter what I do. Squirrels will have a go on a regular basis. I use it [mesh/net] for pots...

My compost is always wet, and colder, but if you add plenty of 'browns' that will help - cardboard, paper etc. If you can turn it reasonably regularly , that also helps with keeping it aerated better, which means it's less prone to becoming solid, and will break down a bit more quickly. Mine...

THANK YOU for that!! Oddly, it sort of makes sense, our French teacher was Polish (or Ukrainian) and perhaps told us the story, as it were, ex-curriculum. Clearly, somewhat adapted from the original: How Much Land Does a Man Need? - WikipediaHe had a strong accent but, to our great chagrin and...

The other option is to remove some of the long growth but keep some and train it. We have an enormous specimen on the front of our house and it goes wild where it doesn't matter but where we need to get passed, or want more control, we have trained it so that it stays flat. It's easy to do by...