Does anyone know anything about gardening?

Just a note, I was up there last week and they are out of bare rootstock for this year, so everything available now is potted.

Thanks and @mespilus and @Eejit

I think I'm too late for this year for what I want, need to make sure I order in time for next year. An early (Discovery or Beauty of Bath) and a mid-late (Chivers Delight or St Edmunds Pippin/Russet). Kind of want 3 but don't think we have space...

@NorthLondonLight might chime in later.
I helped him plant potted 48 assorted Brogdale apple trees,'late', last year. All but one survived & thrived.

Take a look at the rootstocks on the MM scale, this will give you a good idea of eventual sizes (presuming you prune correctly, most amateurs are scared to prune hard).

Plus one from me. Planted a 50 tree orchard in Kent, April 2021, qat foot of Toys Hill if you'd like to visit. Surprisingly easy and there is plenty of 2022 action already.

Brogdales are very supportive and I'll report further after Mrs NLL has done her winter pruning course on Jan 20th

As posted close by. 50 trees planted with 98% success, so only 1 didn't take. We'll be supplied with a replacement.

Forgot the 4 cherry trees as well!!

Yeah been reading up on rootstocks and flowering times etc. Hoping for two small trees eventually (~3m) and will have to get over my fear of pruning...

Good luck! I have just ordered a Red Falstaff on M27 roots to go in a big pot. If I were you I wouldn't pick Discovery just because that's one you can get in the supermarkets, more fun to have kinds you don't usually see? I tried a Pitmaston Pineapple at an Apple Day a while back and it was a revelation

Found something that looks a bit poo like in my compost, kind of light green / bogey colour and about 1" long + wet - is this most likely to be rat evidence? (I'm in London!)

May need a more secure compost bin / different strategy on what food waste we put in it if so!

Dead slug?

That's what I thought they were to start with but there were loads of them...

Edit: pretty sure it's rat. Seems to be some bits down near the bottom that look like burrowing for entry into the bin. Will revise my plan to keep chucking all our food waste in it

does eucalyptus need a wide border / lots of space ? I'm currently planning the planting for my garden, and we would like some tall, evergreen and architectural screening at the back (which gets full sun in spring and summer.) the problem is that the border is fairly narrow - ~60/70cm deep, though it runs almost the length of the wall. I worry about their roots lifting the patio too, which neighbours the border

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Why Eucalyptus?
Plant an English Yew hedge, resolutely evergreen and plenty of red berries for resident and over-wintering birds after a couple of years.
Easily maintained as a hedge.

I agree with @mespilus. Eucalyptus is problematic, much as I like the juvenile foliage it has to be hard pruned to provide it. Eucalyptus also sheds bark and has shallow disruptive roots. I have twice had to take mature ones down which had fallen onto houses as a consequence of the shallow roots, one was at 8pm on Christmas Eve!

thanks for the tips... eucalyptus idea nixed. as to the suggestion of putting something english in my garden... these days if you do that you'll be arrested and thrown in jail !

Search for Irish Golden Yew.

These are lovely but very slow growing so silly expensive. I've got two but they're about 50cm tall and haven't grown at all in the year I've had them. In a decade they might be decent sized plants.

How tall is tall? Bamboo is the obvious choice. Or you could do magnolias or holm oak, underplanted with something a bit more interesting?

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Bamboo is the obvious choice

Plus cement and good fortune. Absolute fucker of a thing.

On that note, what's the best way to restrict the roots when planting in a row?

(I'll be choosing a non-invasive variety)

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Plant in a solid concrete or similar planter, or preferably someone else's garden.

Do those plastic wall things not work?

How much moss and dead grass is there?

You're absolutely correct, those plastic wall things they not work. Once bamboo gets established little short of nuclear war or a jackhammer works (and I can't guarantee nuclear war 100%).

.

Has anyone tried Niwaki secateurs? My girlfriends birthday is coming up and thought these might make a nice present. Worth the money?