Does anyone know anything about gardening?

Oh, I forgot peppermint is sterile.

My alliums have been in the ground for 6 months, I suspect they have been out in all weathers and will be just fine going into the ground straight away.

Is there a hack for finding out how much sun a patch of ground gets?

Even if I remembered, it's not really viable for me to continuously check through out the day.

http://shadowcalculator.eu/

Would this help?

Also thoughts on this...

We've booked our patio in for jubilee week/weekend.

The raised beds are going, but we're keeping the bay inset into the patio.

It'll probably come up a course of bricks on the raised bed as you're looking at it now. And the soil doesn't go all the way up on the inside.

Obviously I don't want to do extra work I'm paying for, but is it worth me knocking out the bit of the bed around the bay now: a. to give more time to adjust. b. to get a better idea of how it'll look in advance?

I think I've answered my own question.

Also is there any extra precautionary stuff I can ask the builders to do to stop slabs getting lifted by roots and shoots etc?

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Put your hand up if you forgot to bring your seedlings in from the greenhouse last night… ✋

Ensure that they're building it on a slab of concrete at least 3"/75mm thick, falling slightly towards wherever you're sending the surface water. If its going right up to the house the finished surface should be a minimum of 4"/150mm below your damp proof course. This way you'll get no root problems OR give your house damp problems.

It's MOT sub base :(

It's a mate's engineer husband and colleague who are looking at setting up some sort of trade business in the next few years. As a result is £3,6k - which is much cheaper than every other quote we've had. He did a full reno and extension of their house and all the finishing is to a high standard.

However, there are a few things like the lawn drainage to drain he doesn't really want to do, and my OH doesn't want to pay more for.

But yeah there are some things I'd of liked. However, I don't really have much say in this anymore.

Once they're here and we see what's what I might suggest concrete around the bay.

The lawn drainage is my main bug bear as based on the solutions he suggested I don't think he appreciates the combination of heavy clay, proximity to a water source, height of water table and the runoff from of uphill adjacent gardens. Or more likely he dgaf.

Also as my OH doesn't spend time in the garden over winter and spring they dgaf either.

I scarified, top dressed and seeded the lawn last week. I wonder if this mornings light frost has killed the seed that is just starting to sprout!

Nah, reckon grass is well tough, I did a patch in October last year that came through fine.

There's a degree of you get what you pay for. Over clay I would definitely use concrete as a base. The general guideline would be to use at least 200mm/8" of type 1, compressing every 2", this will mean digging to 250mm/10" of finished surface, I doubt they will. Is there a clear run left beyond the patio to your mains drainage? If not, insist that they fit a perforated pipe encased by 4"/100mm of shingle to it and run the pipe beneath the new patio out to the lawn, this will allow you to attach lawn drainage at a later date.

It's easy to get a perfect finish over 2" of type 1 it just won't be there in 5 years.

Is there a clear run left beyond the patio to your mains drainage?

This is what we have now.

The pipe under the patio was what I was thinking - that way I could diy.

I think I need to reconfirm what exactly we are doing.

Idk if we'll be here in 5yrs. Ball park what would you expect the cost of 6x7m concrete slap + paving + removal of existing slabs and raised beds to be? (owner supplies slabs)

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Allowing 7 days for 3 people, 2 to dig, 2 to prep and concrete, 2 to lay, 1 to finish. Materials: 8 tons concrete, 1 ton mortar (2 if stone surface), £50 for pipe and shingle, £50 mixer hire (if not local), 1skip @250. Should be about £4700.
Note: that's contingent on what's found in the ground when digging.

Get them to fix into that downpipe with a 3 or 4 degree fall to the edge of the patio, allowing for a 2 degree fall to the far side of the lawn.

Cheers.

Forgot about £60 for 4x2 shuttering.

You're welcome!

Top dressing should act as a nice blanket. And the ground is unlikely to have dropped below freezing.

Just glad now that I was too lazy to plant the sweet peas! Has anyone successfully just stuck some dahlia seeds in a pot outside and hoped for the best at this time of year?

Visited Ballyrobert gardens (they sell and ship plants) a 20 minute busride and a 15 mins walk after away from Belfast.

Not a huge garden, but interesting as it is very much integrated in the landscape with several areas. They kept the old cottage and barn and lots of the planting is near trees.

They have lots of interesting plants that (at least in NI/ROI) are not seen anywhere else, and are an RHS partner. Came back with a Podophyllum spotty dotty, just cos the leaves look pretty cool.

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I really want a spotty dotty!

Podophyllum spotty dotty

Sounds fucking amazing

Will buy

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Cheers! Totally missed this earlier.

https://www.ballyrobertgardens.com/products/podophyllum-versipelle-spotty-dotty-v?_pos=1&_sid=d8809b871&_ss=r

:)

They have lots of cool plants I've never seen before! And cultivars in colours you won't get elsewhere.

They also have a deep purple Hellebore, not in stock or my mum would have gone home with one for sure :D

https://www.ballyrobertgardens.com/products/acanthus-mollis?_pos=819&_sid=d63615391&_ss=r she bought me one of these.

I'd be interested if this is possible.

I just stocked up on pansies and violets for the borders

Random coincidence as I just ordered a bunch of plants from them this afternoon!

Judging from this it's a race against time for them to flower..
https://farmhouseandblooms.com/how-to-plant-dahlia-seeds/

I'm going to germinate some in the house and try some straight into a pot outside.