Does anyone know anything about gardening?

Sycamore tree?

Not the most useful for wildlife either.

I planted two trees but one is a small pear and the other one in the feral corner neighbouring 30 Meyer tall wild trees. Even so, I'll keep it in check.

I inherited a very bland garden with a new house. Going to need some landscaping works to get it in a good place to start growing things, that'll have wait until next year or later, but I'd like to get a head start and reduce eventual costs by growing a lot from seed this year if possible.

Things I'd like to have a crack at:

Hosta:

I understand seed grown will generally not be 'true type' and might look quite bland, so maybe better off waiting for garden centre bargains and trying to divide/nurture through the winter.

Ferns:

Spotted a solitary male fern growing under a hedge. Also would quite like some of those blue/silver ones. Would be interesting to grow from spores but I'm struggling to find a source for anything other than tree ferns. I have time on my side at least

Euronemous Japonica:

We have one mis-shapen shrub at the back, I was planning on taking cuttings and trying to get them to root, if I get enough maybe using them to replace a massive and ugly cherry laurel at the front boundary.

Wisteria:

Always fancied one of these, there are some good ones around here and now I have a with facing property. Again playing the long game, don't plan on moving again. Hoping to get a few cuttings and attempt propagation.

Heuchera:

Had a good display of these at my first flat. Think they were Aldi specials, came really good eventually. Probably a good candidate to grow from seed?

At the moment my biggest challenge is finding enough pots to move things on in to. Anyway, bit of a brain dump there, any additional suggestions for a North facing partially sunny garden appreciated.

Real noob waste of time question here, but it’s hard to google. I’ve got an achillea that’s looking amazing but much wider than I expected, and is encroaching on other stuff around it, like a couple of different achilleas and a sage that I planted too close. Can I just trim off the offending branches to use decoratively indoors? I don’t really want to move anything if I can avoid it.

@pdlouche - that's impressive work. There's something really satisfying about the brick patterned ivy.

One word of caution, you should try and chat to the neighbours where the wall of ivy was. If the ivy on the top and their side is heavy there is a risk it could pull the wall down if the wall isn't in good condition.

If you imagine the forces the ivy stems have been pulling/holding the weight above it. Now you've cut it away.

I say this as for one of our uni houses we cleared the garden, including cutting the ivy on our side. Then while watching neighbours one of my mates said, "I think the wall is falling down". Then it did.

That said the back wall in your garden looks a lot better than our ropey 2nd year house.

Anyone have herb garden planning inspo? Thinking of doing something like this at the allotment, circular hang out area in the middle and then 4 curvy L shaped beds, a rose in each one plus mostly evergreen or perennial herbs and a handful of herb-adjacent perennials (monarda, agastache etc)

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Any recommendations for how to deal with (what appears to be) aphids on my pear tree?

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Bit of a dredge, but did your star jasmine (is yours trachleospermum jasminoides?) need chicken wire to get it started, or are the plant’s suckers enough to hold onto the wall to begin with?

Looking to do something similar on the front of ours as yours looks fantastic

Spray with neem oil & horticultural soap. Also check to see if the aphids are being farmed by ants - if they are then kill the ants (or double sided tape around the trunk so they can’t get up the tree).

A bit of a blast with a hose can do wonders for knocking the little bastards off also.

Buy some ladybirds in the post

I'd add some pollinator plants and winter interest.

Pollinators.ie has lots of great resources for planting inspiration.

Herb wise, mint spreads like a 🤬 and rosemary and bay can get huge, but just go for what grows otherwise?

Or you can do themes, like
Savoury (chives, garlic etc)
Tea (Chamomile, mint,l
Spicy (hot peppers)
Fragrance and soap (lavender, soap verbena, bedstraw...)

Oh thanks - we have plenty of ladybirds, I'll see if they'd like to relocate to the aphid tree.

@Eejit thanks also, yes they do seem to be farming, hopefully ladybirds + tape will do the trick.

The ants will do a number on the ladybirds - they’re like a mafia outfit, they run a militant protection racket. You’ll need to stem the flow of ants before introducing the ladybirds. I had good success with the tape approach but you need to keep reapplying if it rains, as the tape will soon lose its stick.

Colocasia in our pond is definitely showing signs of life. Survived being under ice over the winter

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I AM TRACKING MY PERENNIALS.

did your star jasmine (is yours trachleospermum jasminoides?) need chicken wire to get it started, or are the plant’s suckers enough to hold onto the wall to begin with?

I'm not sure exactly and can't find any records in my email.

No it didn't need the chicken wire to get started, but it does need something - a stick, some string, etc - right at the beginning. Once it's around 1.5m and a bit more established it seems to stick to the brick aok with suckers. It's often not that strong on the new growth, so then once it gets much higher maybe >2m it can flop about.

The main reason for the chicken wire for me, is to direct it. Also compared to something like ivy it's not remotely as strong at adhering to brickwork. Which is probably good, as I've never worried about damage.

it's not remotely as strong at adhering to brickwork

If it reaches the roof, it will try and find its way into any gaps

herb garden planning inspo

I reckon you want to get round the charity shops to look for books and maybe visit some formal gardens.

Ultimately I think the thing that makes it is symmetry if you want something formal, or big swathes for something more cottagey.

Yeah it's weird like that. It loves an airbrick or a door jam.

I really don't get it. It's a plant that needs good light, yet constantly wants to explore the darkness.

Lovely thanks, will have a scour through some garden centres soon 🙂

Don’t kinkshame

My lawn seems to be sprouting loads of mushrooms, no idea why. I put some grass seed down recently but surely that won't have caused it. What's the best way to get rid of them, will pulling them all up stop them coming back? Cheers

I meant to reply to this as well. The wall is the divider between our garden and a small pocket of common land. Kind of a small triangle only a couple of yards long and as wide as ours and next door's tiny garden.

There are a few trees the other side, and shrubs, and it's all as overgrown as our garden was. I'm planning to climb on the wall and dispatch everything on top, and the council was made aware that their side is overgrown but I doubt they will care to do anything now until long after 4th July...!

Why do you need to get rid of them? They aren't doing any harm.

Drainage I’d said. You could give it a trim and put some sand down that will improve the drainage. Also it’s been fucking wet recently.