Does anyone know anything about gardening?

Considering getting a gingko tree. Not a huge garden (about 5.5x14m) mostly given over to vegetable patches and paving. Would like a bit more height - have read that you can keep gingko in a big pot to keep it small, does anyone have any experience of this? Or of growing one in general - is it possible to keep it down to say 4m by pruning?

Ginkos in my experience tend to grow straight up and really don’t take well to having the main leader pruned and end up going weird, top heavy and then failing just below the points where they were pruned.

They’ve become popular as a low-maintenance street tree in cities: plant them, let them do their thing for 5-10yrs then replace. Much cheaper than trying to maintain limes and planes long term.
No doubt there are varieties that handle pruning better but all the ones I’ve seen react really poorly to it.
I’d grow one in a bit pot and just replace it when it gets unruly.

Amelanchier lamarckii(and Amelanchier in general) is the tree I always recommended for small gardens for years. Beautiful foliage and blossoms, easily pruned and shaped, available on dwarf root stocks.

Ginkos are cool as fuck tho...

Yeah I can see how it doesn't really work to prune them, it's part of their structure that they only have 1 main branch. I really like them but I'd feel a bit sad binning it when it gets too big.

Amelanchier lamarckii

looks interesting - thanks!

Ginkos are cool as fuck tho...

They smell of shit.

only the fruity ones. get the non-fruity ones, no stinky problem.

Question expecting the answer no.... Does anyone know who makes these secateurs?

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They look a bit like Niwaki Tobisho's, only without the handle covers.

Brilliant, thanks : )

That's kind of what I thought... but the writing looks different and then my lack of Japanese language kicked right in. Although it's a xmas gift and I am basically searching for Monty Don's favourite secateurs, so they will do nicely.

we have a patch of bed that's currently got a mix of wan-looking shrubs and some very vigorous orange bulbs in there. next spring/summer we want it to be a vegetable patch.

do we want to prep it and do anything to it now, do you reckon?

Clear it and spread a layer of organic matter - compost or preferably manure - on it, then cover it with a weed suppressant fabric, or cardboard if you don't have any, and leave it until spring.

is that this "no dig" philosophy?

Not necessarily. I'd turn it over in the spring, but you want quality soil to grow vegetables and giving the worms the job over the winter is free and much less hard work.

How wide do these things grow?

Bit of a late response.

I've recently pruned them, but I'll try and take a recent pic and add one of what it looked like earlier.

Both mine were cuttings from my dad's one that I linked. The stronger cutting in a good sunny location is now x4 fence panels wide - so ~20'(?) after 4½yrs. The weaker one in on the North side is only 1½ fence panels.

Worth pointing out that in that time we had a new born across one of the pruning periods and were away for a year. When we came back to the UK the North side one was a mess shape wise, so was brutally pruned. My guess would be they could be 20% wider with effort.

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Does anyone have good gardening gifts ideas?

(mums not hipsters)

I love my Haws watering can and Okatsune secateurs. Would make excellent gifts. Both as seen on gardeners world.

that is awesome. was just about to come on here to ask for secateurs that are giftable. japanese too makes this perfect

Figure this might be a how longs a piece of string question but how rotted or old does it need to be? Have 10 or so rhododendrons I want to put wood chip around. I have some year old stuff that never got turned or some 2 week old chippings

Fresh woodchip consumes some nitrogen as it begins to age. Unless you can guarantee a reliable source of dilute water soluble nitrogenous compounds, (yes urine is good), use the aged stuff.

Cheers. A fair bit bigger than I expected.

Some very sad looking but heavily reduced ferns in the local garden centre. Are these worth buying in the hope that they'll come good again in the spring or are they a lost cause?

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lol

Our ferns go back to that each winter, then explode into life again in the spring. There’s no guarantee they will of course, but probably worth a punt if the price is right.

Great time of year to buy stuff cos people don't realise plants will burst back into life and new fresh fern fronds look like little emerging monkey fists.

the wind has cleared the leaves off my grass. skill

That was my suspicion. Might go back and make them a silly offer at some point, see if they bite.