Hello you lot, xxx In short I've been gardening not many years and landscaping a 2/3 acre field. GW people might recall my nattering on about growing wildflowers and making a lawn. Well I didn't grow wild flowers in the end because I was worried they might jump into my expensive turf. I gave up seeding grass after a disaster at the back and paid loads for turf at the front. I recommend turf if you can. See you around. xxx
Welcome to Gardeners Corner TattyMac. Not off to a good start by the sounds of it but things are looking up for you with the turf now laid.
Ta Sheal, We’ll, maybe soon but I didn’t dig 100m2 of bedding deep enough. A foot of topsoil has to come out of them all remove 2 ft more chalk. Then I need 3 times more topsoil to fill them. The groundsman really likes me. I’ll have to pause the pension. Well I will if I can find a job at my age. Don’t get me started on my lovely ageist country. But I’ll get there.
Thanks Perki. I can only think of chalk to write about at the moment. Lots of it. Hopefully plants will be thing for me soon.
I think I'd grow chalk loving wildflowers and let a few sheep keep the turf to bowling green length. It would be easier and cheaper than trying to dispose of 50 cubic metres of chalk. Is it solid chalk or soil with a lot of chalk in it?
It's solid chalk and expands a lot when taken out. Nice thought, I like sheep but they cheat at croquet by placing their fake balls everywhere. We are in need of windbreaks for back of beds being on a hill 5 miles from the coast. Sheep could do that if we mesmorise them.
To be more accurate the beds have 1 foot of 7.5pH alkaline soil with all the nutrients to grow many plants. Under that is pretty much solid chalk. Being a windy site with shallow soil the planting choice becomes restrictive, and I need shrubs to keep the wind off the garden. Shrubs will need a 3 foot soil depth. £200 of containers smashed on the patio to date due to the wind.
Sorry to hear about the containers, plastic pots do have their advantages, or square/rectangular large containers. I hope you have access to a mini digger at least. Any plants you use as a wind break will take a while to grow, perhaps initially a fence of some form maybe with some plastic windbreak material to supplement it. This would allow your shrubs to establish.
That’s a good idea to have a temporary break. Thanks for that. Funny enough I’m trialling a square container against the wind. Wish I could afford a stone wall instead of shrubs but I’ll dream on. Although it’s all surrounded by hawthorn hedging, it’s old hedging with gaps at the bottom. I know someone with a digger. I couldn’t manage even one bed with a pick at my age. But I’ll pay one way or another.
Just a thought you might be able to rejuvenate the hawthorn hedge, it responds well to hard pruning. It's a bit late for this year, but you could get some hawthorn whips and use those to fill the gaps. You might even be able to take cuttings from the existing hedge.
Thanks for the tip NigelJ. I let it grow whilst the house was being renovated. It looked nice and thick, and impressive with so many berries. Great for wildlife. From an ornamental gardening point of view it looked tatty like me. I'm torn between the two. I might just run with your idea and pop some whips in. Whilst young they will fill out nearer the gound I expect. I guess bushy hedges like Laurel won't get enough nutrients if planted between the gaps, whereas Hawthorn will cope being a tough plant, and free of course.
Well when you get the chalk out you can plant interesting ornamentals in there. I have a number of self seeded hawthorns in one patch of my garden. Also the council insisted I planted one to replace a dead larch I had removed. I moved one from a rough area to where the larch had been, just waiting to see if it shoots this spring.
Start your own business selling all that chalk. Quote: Wish I could afford a stone wall instead of shrubs but I’ll dream on. I've got stone garden walls, but sorry you can't have them.
