Does anyone know anything about gardening?

Installed my own cat. Allows safe passage of other cat friends whilst deterring loitering.

Any recommendations for 3D garden design software to aid visualizing a split level patio? I'd like to put in the various areas and then create views from different angles.

I think I've seen SketchUp used but I found getting started a bit tricky. Is there something simpler?

trying to achieve something specific

Putting trellis on top of a nice stone wall?

We're going to put up privacy trellis on a section of wall and due to the caps I'll have to build add an extra piece of wood to build out underneath the supporting batten. If I had a welder and the skills I'd be tempted to do that.

Now we've seen the close up it's clear it's actually pretty basic. Would be interesting to know if the sections holding the screens could be 2 box sections welded together with the outerside removed.

Discovered a genius little solution to pot plants indoors. Freezer bags.

• Water tight
  
• can tie/untie easily
  
• handles to safely carry to the idea indoor spots
  
• labels on the front
  
• reusable
  
  

I'm off to license the idea to those YOU WON'T BELIEVE THIS LIFE HACK HOW SAFE IS YOUR PENSION websites.

1 Attachment

I only realised the pre-installed labels after using my own.

Found some ornamental allium bulbs (in the house, forgotten about). Wrong time of year to plant. Is it best to keep them somewhere cool and dark until autumn, or put them in the ground now? They've been forgotten about for a while and want to do whatever gives them best chance of future success...

I'd get them in now. At least they're having some sort of interaction with the earth rather than drying out indoors.
Here's my new patch out the back. 27 at last count into the fresh homemade compost!

1 Attachment

I’d get them in too, nothing to lose. We had a box of tulip bulbs that we missed the window with last year and they were manky as hell when I opened them recently.

We’ve gone a bit OTT this year with the plants, shrubs and trees, I guess the last year of isolation has made us prioritise the garden over the house. We planted three new borders at the weekend, a Buxus topiary project (which I’m very paranoid about blight/moth/all-the-diseases), two lovely acers and my dream Chinese dogwood tree for the front garden. Please god, pretty please, don’t let me kill them.

I planted raspberry canes a couple of months ago (along with other soft fruit) - everything else is starting to wake up (buds, leaves emerging) but the raspberries are still just sticks.

When will they start to grow? Will they start to grow from the ground (new stems), or out of the existing stems? And why can't I find the answer to these questions anywhere on the net?

Eta - Don't think they're dead, as when I scrape the stem it's nice and green underneath.

When will they start to grow?

Idk. Much later than you think.

Will they start to grow from the ground (new stems), or out of the existing stems?

Both.

(based on the rogue ones at the back of our garden)

Hm. Seems implausible that they can grow fast enough to bear fruit before the year is out.

Also I hoped they would grow to cover an ugly wall. I see now that may not come to pass.

My raspberries have just started to grow back, this is their third year. I had 2 fruits last year, think you have to be patient and wait for them to establish if they are young plants.

Some raspberries fruit on the first year growth, some fruit on the second years growth, you either need to wait and see, or know what variety you have so you can check. If they fruit on the first years growth, in Feb each year, you cut back all the canes to about 10cms above the ground. If they haven’t fruited on what grows this year, leave them as they are for next year. Also bear in mind that most raspberries are late fruiting. Expect crops from late summer for most and well into autumn for some.

Rubus idaeus ‘Cascade Delight’ is a highly productive and vigorous late-summer-fruiting raspberry.

I think that means no raspberries until next year?

Inadvertently a great choice, as we have very heavy soil and are in a valley where it has always either just finished raining or it's about to rain.

Are they late spring or late summer raspberries? Either way, it's probably not been warm enough for them yet. Once they start growing, they'll grow from all over the fucking place though.

Edit: Late summer, as you added later, so I wouldn't worry about them at all yet.

Late summer. I'm up north and we haven't had a warm day yet. I hope you're right!

Cascade delight do seem to be what is called 'floricane' meaning they fruit on one year old stems. The best description and advice for growing I found is here - https://www.crocus.co.uk/plants/_/raspberry-cascade-delight/classid.2000017889/

There is still time to get a 'primocane' variety in the ground if you want fruit this year.

https://www.standard.co.uk/homesandproperty/gardening/gardening-for-beginners-from-scratch-summer-lockdown-christian-adams-cartoon-b923344.html

Without a doubt getting a garden full of plants is the biggest spend —
a space the size of mine will cost about £1,000 to fill

Dunno about that. Plants of solid gold maybe.

I've spent hardly anything on mine over the last few years. Seeds, plugs and cuttings and you're sorted! :)

Yeah, once you start telling mates you have a garden you're plugged directly into the gardeners' black market of freebies, cuttings and spare seedlings, plus church sales, the reduced-to-clear shelf down the garden centre.

Down Columbia Road flower market they'll do you 3 trays of bedding for a fiver, enough to fill a garden that size with colour right up to first frost.

Yeah I was thinking clumpers would be safer but mean buying more.

Spend that money!

I researched the shit out of this and we've got this:
http://www.bamboogarden.com/Fargesia%20robusta.html

Has not spread, very happy with it.

you can get decently priced bundles from here:
https://www.scottishbamboo.com/

for example the kind @Fox has:
https://www.scottishbamboo.com/Fargesia+Robusta+Campbell+-+5+Plant+%285+Metre+Length%29+Hedging+Bundle/0_CAAA003/PRAA015.htm

price seems reasonable based on my research

we installed a hedge/screen of fargesia rufa in large planters (75L x 60W x 60H; 110L x 60W x 60H) in autumn last year... I've been very impressed with how robust it has been so far (touch wood). we've had multiple storms up here in scotland with days of 50mph winds, rain, heavy snow, frost down to -7 at one point, and it's taken all of it. only thing that seemed to affect it was the snow, which sat on its leaves and flattened the hedge. was quite a fright coming down in the morning and having a clear line of sight into my (bad and hated) neighbour's garden. as soon as the snow thawed though, it rebounded back to its original position.

looking forward to seeing how it gets on in spring, hope it starts to thicken out even further. the snow day actually gave me a good appreciation of how much screening it actually provides. I just want 0 (zero) lines of sight to my (bad and hated) neighbour

Thanks both

Buying bits for the garden seems to be a challenge in itself this year - lots of places out of stock or massive delays. I’ve got an order for some stuff arriving last week of March ordered a few weeks ago but even that’s had some issues

Places I usually order from often get their plants from the Netherlands so I'm assuming Brexit has buggered things up a bit this year

While it’s hard to see exactly where the money’s gone in those plants I’d always advocate spending as much as one can on large shrubs and trees. They’re the backbone of a garden and I’d rather pay £100 for an established Acer that’s five years down the road compared to a £25 sapling. Ain’t none of us (especially on Lfgss) getting any younger!
Our dogwood tree is our five year wedding anniversary present to each other (wood theme).