Does anyone know anything about gardening?

Ah ok makes sense - if I hadn't recently bought a new Stihl mower then I would've been up for it. Everyone I speak with rates them for ease.

+1 for robot mower wars

So we've removed the old rotten planters and filled the new ones with something resembling the forum approved mix of sand/grit, topsoil, compost (no manure). The old ones were pretty bad, source of all the snails I think, and also rotten wood and soil sitting against the deck for god knows how long.

The new ones will be raised up off the ground, and I need to clean and re-treat the whole deck, but in the interim, is there anything I can/should do about the slightly rotten boards under one particularly bad spot? I was going to let them dry out a bit before putting the new ones there.

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With that wall behind you have an extended growing season,
as the wall will collect/store/radiate heat both on a daily basis,
and in Spring & Autumn.

If you really want a hedge, Yew is native and a source of berries to
resident and overwintering birds. Not so good if any children will
routinely be in the garden as the leaves and seeds of the fruit are toxic.

If there is no need for a formal hedge,
install some pro-trellis and grow some currants:
black-, red-, white-
and some gooseberries which also come in a variety of colours.

Kill it. Kill it with fire.

We had a load of that in my garden 20+ years ago and I hated it. I dug it all out but I still find new ones growing

Rhizomes innit.

Loving the hellenium in our garden. It's a perennial so dies down in the winter but it grows to about 4 ft high and has masses of flowers in the summer.

The honey bees love it too

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Small child in the garden so want to avoid toxic stuff, like the idea of currants though. How do they grow in shaded spots?

+1 for robot mower wars

Mowbot wars surely

They'll cope. They were developped from woodland edge plants.

Just remember to plant the young currant plants deep
to encourage additional vertical shoots,
and,
really firm down the soil.
Otherwise you'll suffer from 'rootrock' and they seem never to establish/prosper.
Ask me how I know.

And today we played with concrete, lots of concrete..... The retaining wall we built at the end of the garden is nearly a metre high, so 6 tons of concrete and 3 tons of hardcore later we have a level base.

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you'll suffer from 'rootrock'

Tried googling to no avail - what is this? When planting is too shallow and they move in the wind disturbing the roots?

A few plants this year seem to be planted out too shallow with roots exposed near the surface. Mounding up soil just washes away again.

Yes. When I planted a healthy Redcurrant with 4 or 5 foot-long shoots, I assumed that the existing soil level in the pot was my guide.
As the plant leafed up, it presented more of a 'sail' to any wind. It scarcely seemed to grow for a couple of years.
I checked and concluded it was suffering from rootrock, any new tiny roits that tried to grow were broken as the whole plant moved in the wind. Replanted it, ensuring the zone where the vertical shoots joined together was in the soil, and really compacted the soil.
The redcurrant sprinted away. Nowadays it has multiple branches 6ft long attached to pro-trellis and produces much fruit.
Also found a branch will root if it bends down to and touches the soil. Have given away a couple of rooted plants by snipping through the bowed branch.

When do I cut back my wild flower patch - which is basically just nice grass?

I can't remember where I put the packet.

The pack had lots of nice "wild" grasses, so said to expect it to take a couple of years for decent flowers.

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After all the species have seeded?

Picked up in aldi. Let's see if I can keep it alive.

Should I plant out or keep potted?

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Makes sense.

I guess I'm just impatiently wondering if cutting the grass down to a foot would somehow give light for the (supposed) flowers.

Yeah I'm not sure about leaving them. Grasses crowd out wildflowers and I feel like the cutting might help them get established.

Some online guides:
https://www.habitataid.co.uk/blogs/blog/how-to-cut-wildflower-meadow

https://www.gardenninja.co.uk/how-when-to-cut-a-wildflower-meadow/

https://thegrasspeople.com/when-should-i-cut-my-wildflower-meadow/

Cheers.

It's annoying as this is what I want:

But instead have this:

I think I'm just going to AstroTurf that section next year.

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Give it a cut and wait for next year. They change every year anyway.

Yeah this. Won’t get those results first time around. Keep at it, it will come.

Get some yellow rattle seeds, it's parasitic on grass so keeps it in check.

Cheers all.

What sort of length are we thinking?

Edit 7cm

They prefer ericaceous soil - and shade - so that might help your choices

I can do shade with clay soil with lots of compost...