Does anyone know anything about gardening?

looks like you've got a natural bogland as well? make the most of it!

Natural in the sense that we have extreme clay soil and having record levels of rain!

I'm working with what I've got, but ultimately it's in an inconvenient spot for anything like a bog garden or pond. It's the shady side of the garden, on the edge of the patio, and has a tree. I did think about a dwarf eucalyptus, but the problem is soaking water in the winter, not the summer.

Normally it's covering in creeping jenny, and something else that's similar with pointy leaves, but less robust. I cleared all that back though for planting up this spring. It'll all be back by next year I'm sure.

I should probably write to GQT. But last time I did they wanted a video with my eldest, so I bailed out of the followup.

I've got a wall (6ft, brick) that I need to make a bit more secure (can't plant anything at the foot of the wall as a large part of it is the side return which gets used for stuff).

Original plan was a bit of trellis that would collapse if anyone tried to climb it but I've not really worked out how to fix that so it doesn't blow down but also doesn't add extra bits to make it easy to climb over (this kind of thing plus uprights seems like it will give a load of handholds https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Erecta-Plate-Support-for-Fence-Posts---75-x-75mm/p/542501 ).

Current thinking is to build a bit of a trough on top of the wall and plant something low lying and spiky (and hopefully decorative too) to dissuade anyone trying to climb over. I'd probably bury a hose pipe with holes in it so it would be easy to water in the summer.

Big question is obviously what to plant in there. Some type of fast growing ground cover with thorns and flowers would be ideal...

Big question is obviously what to plant in there. Some type of fast growing ground cover with thorns and flowers would be ideal...

Pyracantha a traditional choice although I don't love it myself.

Rosa rugosa is tough, low maintenance, beautiful and a thorny bastard

Although just rereading this, you want it to grow in a trough on top of a wall? That is an unusual idea. Suggestion above wont work unless it's a very deep trough

Pyracantha

Had one, lovely but brutal. Was in wrong place and removing it nearly removed me. Would have a row of them as strategic keep folks out hedge in the future if ever the need arose.

Masses of snow on Friday night in Bristol has absolutely crushed my two glorious euphorbia characias, just as they were coming into their prime.

Very much doubt I can prop them up successfully so I think I'll have to cut all the flopped flowering stems back and just let the emerging stems - next year's flowers - take over. Think I probably shouldn't stress the plants further right now though, so I'll leave it a few weeks.

Not sure whether my various salvias have survived, penstemons thankfully have.

I had thought that this year everything would survive the winter as it has been very mild up to now. Previous years have involved the death of many much loved plants that were borderline hardy but should have been fine in a sheltered urban site in the south of England - euphorbia mellifera, pittosporum of various varieties including an entire hedge, melianthus, tree echiums, anisodontea etc - the plants that made up the majority of the interest in this small garden.

Winters are getting warmer but also much, much wetter, and with very warm periods (15 degrees in January) but also cold snaps at unexpected times. The combination seems lethal for lots of plants that in theory can tolerate much colder temperatures.

All very depressing!

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What's particularly difficult is that the winter conditions - the wet especially - and the fact this is quite shady garden, means the grasses and Mediterranean type plants which would cope fine with the increasing summer heat and drought, don't survive.

Yep, the trough part is the tricky bit. I'm sure there must be some type of low lying, spiky thing that doesn't need roots too deep. The garden equivalent of thistle I guess.

Not sure what though

Could my lemon thyme be suffering / slowly dying because cats and foxes keep pissing on it?

Why not razor wire with a nice climber?

Sad times! I absolutely love spurge.

In my experience, thyme does not like lots of rain

I reckon your euphorbias will bounce back, they’re very adaptable. And they grow like heck when they’re that size so will sprout new legs and be flowering by summer.
Sorry to hear your pittosporum’s died, we have a wrinkled blue that’s got some black spots on the leaves (and came with some powdered mildew) which I’m hoping will pull through. It’s a great bit of evergreen.

It's just that it's specifically the tight(?) lemon thyme. One is in a pot which was healthy, the other is a little runt of a cutting which was still surviving but is now looking very sad.

However, there has been a lot of rain, so I guess that should be washing off animal piss.

Mainly as razor wire is pretty ugly. Also, it's a stretch of about 15m with only 5m having a bed down the side of it so growing anything along it isn't really going to work.

Anyone in London with an apple tree have any Blossom on it? I’m a bit worried the expensive cut back we did in October 2022 has sort of ruined it - there was a LOT of fruit from it the summer before, but hardly anything last summer, maybe half a dozen small apples. I can see some buds now at least, I’d really like to make a lot of jam and crumble this summer though…

Pictures would be helpful. Apples can be pruned very hard and fruit quality is generally improved by doing so. It's far too early for blossom, but the flowering and hence fruiting buds can be recognised as they're round as opposed to pointed.

Super, thanks, will take some pictures tomorrow.

No worries, I should have said that the fruiting buds are on little stumpy bits (spurs), the growth of branches from last year (leaders) can be pruned back to a pointy bud or two, these will become this years new growth.

For comparison our neighbours u pruned medium sized apple still looks dormant

Decided that today is unwrapping day. Hope I've timed it right.

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Can I get the thread opinion on cutting down this trachycarpus? Neither of us are a fan of it but I hate the idea of cutting down trees in general. Partner is leaning towards getting rid.

There’s a decent sized apple tree behind it and a cherry plum further down.

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I wouldn't be overly bothered about getting rid of it. Non native, likely to have limited ecological value and it won't last forever in any case.

Plant some better things to compensate.