bit of help needed on a few things

Hi im new here,
Just bought our first house and it has a large garden,

Just after some advice onthe follwong Q's,

The Lawn is a bit patchy when you look closly at it what can i do to improve it?

Also the hedge is a little patchy also and can see through to next door any treatment for this too?

And some recommendations for some nice all year shrubs that require minimal maintanance.

Many Thanks

 

Hi Chriz, Welcome to the forum.


There are plenty of things you can do, I`m not a lawn person but aerating the soil and sprinkling some new lawn seed over the patchy bits seems advisable.

What is the hedge made up of? Privet, laurel, roses etc?


To get the best out of shrubs you need to look at what type of soil you have........is it chalky or sandy, clay etc? And it is much better to test what ph your soil is......you can buy a soil testing kit for about £1 from a garden centre. Plants like it either acid, alkali, and even though most plants are ok if it`s neutral, it is a good investment and worth the effort because that way you don`t throw money away on plants that won`t do well in the wrong soil.

 

privet hedge it is ,was thinking about the lawn to use some of that fertiliser that says it greens and thickness the lawn dont know if that any good?

 

They are tonics rather than cures and are used to pep up a lawn rather than improve it-judging from what some of the more knowledgeable peeps on the forum say.


A privet hedge is relatively easy to remedy but it will involve cutting it back and then a general feeding with something like fish, blood and bone. Have you been feeding the garden at all? Privet is quite a greedy plant and needs watering and feeding to really perform. How tall is the hedge at the moment and does it look like a mature hedge ie thick main stems etc?

 

yes it does look thick at the bottom,where would i cut it back then?its around 6 ft high,also when you say feed it fish blood and bone what do you mean?

 

If you trim back the hedge at least once per year, it will thicken up in no time. Shrubs and trees are lazy. They just want the sun on their leaves. If they can achieve that by sending one or two branches out then they will. If you cut back those shoots they will be forced to grow more in an attempt to find the best sunshine, so they thicken up.

 

If you want it to be 6ft high eventually then take it back to 5ft and then with attention it will thicken up nicely, if you can take it back to 4 ft confotably and wait that`s better, feed it in April and see if the soil is dry, it may need a good watering every now and then. It could be worth cutting it back hard on your side aswell. With hedges they often need to look worse before they get better.

Fish, blood and bone is a powdered garden food, they sell it in sealy bags, boxes and the huge tubs in DIY stores and garden centres, it is quite inexpensive-a big tub costs £10 or so-and this tends to last me. This is my food of choice and perhaps a liquid tomato food for any fruit bearing plants I have.

 

also we have a apple tree in the garden,its fruit last year were there but not very nice quite flat if you know what i mean,again i realise i need to trim this back,but which bits of the tree do i need to trim and how many?how much too.

 

is blood fish bone ok to use on the lawn?

 

Growmore fertiliser broadcast sparingly will pep up a patchy lawn. If the hedge is Leylandii Then I would remove it and put up fencing. if it is of a specific species then fill in the gaps with some from a nursery.

 

Yes but it is a slow release fertiliser which is ok for overwintering ie broadcasting in autumn but you need a high nitrogen fertiliser to boost your lawn. Nitrogen produces leaf growth.

 

many thanks will try some bfb the lawns not too bad but could be better so will try that first.

 

Hi
Chris in my experience you need to be cruel to be kind, wait untill the av temp gets to around 10c usually the end of march. Use a fine stiff rake and give your patchy bits a really good working over, it will probably look like the Somme has taken place in your garden (dont worry) you need to buy a product called rootzone, it's a very fine soil compound . Water your now completley bare patches mix your seed into the rootzone spread liberally water in wait 4 weeks cut with shears for the first 2 cuts you will be amazed P/S I have to do this every year at my golf club GOOD LUCK MICKY V

 

thanks very much for the help

 

Sharp sand is cheaper and more organic but I suppose Growmore is a bit chemically so I am contradicting myself a bit. Really the decision is up to you.