Does anyone know anything about gardening?

10/10 post

Thanks

Cheers, should have thought of that really as pretty sure we got some last year.

One potentially silly question: if you mulch heavily twice a year, several centimetres deep, how do you deal with rising levels? I'd spill over retaining garden walls and shed bases if I did that, and cover too much of several tree trunks.

I only do once a year and the level barely rises. The mulch shrinks as it rots down and eventually becomes normal soil. If you are nearly overflowing already I guess it might be an issue.

You could use inorganic mulches (gravel) and then you would only do it once ever so the level wouldn't rise further. It would have the water retention and weed suppression effect but not feed the soil. Gravel gardens are typically used with Mediterranean type plants that don't need much nutrition though.

Still a strulch fan here. I don't find it blows around - if anything it mats down a bit. Local cats haven't seemed to realise it's an ideal litter tray either.

For mulch basically any organic matter as long as it's not full of perennial weed seeds. I'd save high nutrient things like manure for the spring to avoid it leaching away in a wet winter.

Can I light prune a fuchsia now? The recommendation seems to be spring but it's going to look shit for a while if that's the case

This mass of overgrown bushes is growing on the side of a garage that's being demolished next week.

It includes:

• Buddleia
  
• St John's Wort
  
• Privet
  
• Holly
  
• Lavender
  
  

Lots of brambles, and something else that I can't identify.

Would it be possible, or worthwhile, to salvage any of it?

If so, how?

It would have to be dug up and moved somewhere, but it would be a shame to see it all just end up in a skip if there was a chance it could make it.

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Good time of year to dig up stuff and relocate. Get some pots, stick 'em in. They're all quite hardy, tough plants and could also take dividing. Cut them back so they don't have to use all their energy on leaves and put energy into root growth.

Down the side of mum's house I dumped 9 wheelie bin loads of leaves I swept up on the road. The pile was chest level. 12 feet deep 4 feet across. In 2 years it had disappeared, the only clue was the soil was bouncy to walk on. It just decomposes, worms pull it down, turns to dust.

If you can get used ground coffee from local coffee shop can make a very good mulch. Usually they have loads and happy to give it for free. No weeds germinate in it and it will feed the soil over winter.

Only potential issue with this is it's quite acidic. If it's just your own used grounds I doubt the quantity would matter but if you're getting it by the butt load from a commercial operation you might end up changing the ph of your soil considerably. So, perfect for azaleas, camelias etc if you have them, but terrible for brassicas etc

Might be part of why I’m not very good at growing brassicas!

I read somewhere that is actually only very slightly acidic because the water has effectively washed it out already.

The canteen at work used to have bags of it, but they've gone now. I should probably ask them.

Rhubarb. Should I cut and eat this? Or leave it until some point in the future, and if so what month?

Also very pleased with how the hydrangea is progressing. And in terms of introducing winter colour to the front this nandina domestica is great... although I neglected to check how long it takes to get to it's 0.5mx0.5m full size... 10yrs 🤦

Pro tip: buy bigger plants

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Rhubarb won't be very nice to eat this time of year, leave it to die back and emerge next year. Eat before end of July for tastiest stalks.

Not meant to harvest rhubarb in the first year, looks like a young plant.

I bought a couple of tiny ones from wilkos that I left in the car on a hot day. This one made it.

I guess it's 1.5-2yrs old now.

Yeah, unless you're using bucketloads the ph also balances out quickly. I'd be more worried about overdoing it for any nitrogen sensitive plants rather than the acidity.

We were mixing it in with garden waste, and probably best there but now tend to just chuck it in with all our other food waste (Bokashi) as the acidity seems to keep unwanted moulds under control whilst it ferments and does its thing

Probably best to wait, quite close to frost now

Bung a load of manure on it now, then harvest from the spring. If you fancy it, you can put a bin over it and force it, but you can’t do that every year.

So many different threads I could put this in but thought you’d all appreciate this the most

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Didn’t realise I could monetise my problems like that

Blacksmith forging a hori hori for the geeks

(I'm a geek)

https://youtu.be/oxT6rVRtXws?si=bDbZ9MLHpcppJS6L

I have lots of coffee grounds in our compost bin, the worms love it.

I don't use these straight on the soil, I imagine mixed with other greens in the bin the grounds are good once decomposed?

Soil pH is 6 and iron rich.

Neighbour revealed they had a rotorvator yesterday so had a go at seeding the lawn. Too late really, but I've fleeced it and it has more chance in the ground than in the box.

Planted up the new old raised bed and put the water butt back in too.

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