Does anyone know anything about gardening?

Hey Tom - if you find yourself in the vicinity of my house before you move I could probably make good use of the compost etc in the see through tub. I'd probably struggle to get down to you in the next week or so, but if you aren't moving for a couple of weeks I can try and pop down. Cheers.

Thanks for all the spray gun advice 👍

Going to try a Gardena one and if that fails go full Monty (approved).

Btw Hozelock sprinklers are also dog shit,
esp this one:

1 Attachment

Just back from this

https://gardenshowireland.com/

I went for the rare plants, they didn't have many rare one, mostly usual stuff.

But one Dutch bulb merchant had loads at good prices, including phlox bareroot and incarvillea which I've not seen here.

There was also a local shop with no import plants, most plants were still imported from the Netherlands and some from France.

Didn't go to the talks but there were lots so for beginners it's probably a great learning show, for rate plants Ballyrobert garden centre is probably better.

The local agriculture college sold great plants 5 for £20! Prices were ok for a show similar to shops.

1 Attachment

I’ve got the karcher version of this and have no complaints.

Garden is at ground 0 currently but nearly ready to start putting things back once I've built a small deck, hoping to get things planted by autumn to establish for next year. I have about 2 tonne of the soil, graded to 10mm so going to have to buy some more.

Should I just be buying in topsoil or thinking about adding other things to the mix: compost (obvs)/grit/sand etc? Soil is clay here and it usually rains a lot so thinking of maintaining good drainage (considering installing a soakaway under the deck for this purpose too)

It's South facing but quite shaded so thinking of growing hostas, ferns, clematis, hucheras and anything else that'll tolerate.

1 Attachment

Paths and raised beds / trees,?

Yes, no, no (except our Acer that'll be finally getting a home in the ground)

Anyway, my question was about soil.

I know, we live in an area of clay soil, there are clay pits around here now fishing lakes. Our new planting areas are in raised beds where I don't have the problems of very clay soil it's possible to make bricks out of.

Ah I see what you mean, but I'm not keen on raised beds and the level needs to come up about 200mm anyway so plenty of capacity for good stuff. I actually heard a bloke on gardeners question time saying how good clay can be if you just add enough organic matter, which chimes with my experience at my allotment where I've much better soil on the half I've added more to and still muddy or rock hard on the half I haven't.

I think the huge oak at the back will soak up a lot in winter if I can move water in that direction.

Personally I would definitely put a soakaway near the deck area and add some extra drainage in the key areas now before you add extra soil. The climate will be more uncertain so I'd prepare for periodic insane levels of rain.

As for what goes ontop once you've done that - I'd just go all topsoil for ease of ordering. If you have a clay base I don't think adding drainage to your top soil will have a meaningful effect.

@ColinTheBald would probably be a good person to ask.

In terms of plants - honeysuckle, kerria(sp?), roses would all be fine and give you some climbing flowers. Fushas and camelia should be OK to and would compliment the other plants on your list.

how good clay can be

There are definitely advantages to it for water retention. We have actual clay in our soil. When we had our patio done I made models and pots with my kids out of lumps in the skip. So in some of my pots I've put some lumps in the bottom to help in dry spells.

think the huge oak at the back will soak up a lot in winter

Dont think deciduous trees use up any water when not in leaf?

Unless it's a holm oak?

Ah right, didn't think of that!

Re hosta: clay is nice and damp and slugs and snails love that and hosta...

Mine is ok and only nibbled on by tiny snails but it'll end up with holes in it for sure.

For shade I believe hellebore can take some shade? They add some early pollinator flowers.

Having recently discovered hellebore, they're fucking great.

Hardy, unfussy, early flowers, etc.

Especially good is that they will live under other plants. So you can stage your planting to have the hellebores giving you interest in the winter, then have other deciduous plants cover them up over summer.

They'd probably look sit well with ferns

oh yeah, I fully expect to be waging a constant war with slugs. Saying that I see people growing good looking ones around here. The slugs seem to have largely gone from the allotment currently - presumably too dry, which tells me that maybe it's more about weather conditions than soil?

Hellebore is a good shout

I bought some mint from a school fair. Best to plant in a bed or a big pot? Stuff in beds seems to stay alive better but I vaguely remember reading that mint is quite invasive.

I've been pulling lettuces that are completely untouched, i think it must be the dry weather. Two days of rain here now so they'll be making up for lost time im sure

Yep they don't like the dry weather very much.

They don't like the tomatoes I have planted, so at least I can grow those in the ground. The peas are also safe. Salad veg though, lol,good luck.

If you have room for a shrub mahonia / forsythia also flower early and help bumblebees, underplanting with snowdrops, alliums etc. also helps.

Some Geranium take shade and are very tough, and attract pollinators and flower later in the year.

Yeah had a little bit of rain yesterday and the snaily bastards have eaten my pak choi seedlings.

forsythia

There was actually a shit ton of forsythia in the garden when we got the place, was wildly out of shape though and had to be hacked out to repair the crumbing wall, which as you can see is still a work in progress.

Mint is very invasive, best kept in a container of some sort

This ^

Cheers. I'll stick it in a big pot.

Wasn't sure we had hedgehogs but we do. This chunky one was asleep, we thought he was dead as he just laid uncovered. Found him at the back of the garden in full view so we picked him up and checked him over and rang the vet.

They said they sleep superdeep and as he's chunky and no fleas or lice jumping or injuries just put him outside. He ate the food we left and is away now.

Exciting! Time for a wee house and feeding station for later so local hogs can fatten up.

1 Attachment