Does anyone know anything about gardening?

We had a fair few leaves last year but no sign of any peppers. Fingers crossed!

By the look of those thorns you'll be wanting welders gauntlets to pick any peppers that do appear.

The Great Wall of Mel with the brick salts washed off, picture courtesy of @ stevo.com.

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my wife is involved with a very small but brilliant community gardening project; please come to their festival if you are in the area

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Oo will pop it on the calendar, can pop to Stormbird or the Pigeon afterwards. Win win.

I've been sorting through my seeds today and have loads I'm probably not going to use, can I donate them to the shop? Or does anyone know of any seed swaps going on?

Deadheaeded the Hydrangeas today (probs be a mega frost tomorrow) and planted a Euphorbia (Albanian Spurge) and some Echinacea Purpurea in the front garden border. Got some Rudbeckia and some first early seed potatoes coming next week. The Japonica Kerria that my neighbour gave me last year is in flower too and adds something nice in the mix.

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Early seed potatoes went in a couple of tubs today. They were supposedly chitting on the windowsill but not showing any signs of extra growth so figured I'd see what happens in the ground. The last time we tried potatoes it was a massive blight fest

@KatBalou'sPhone That’s so nice. our ‘shop’ is actually free and we have some great homemade packs. i’m sure there’ll also be people interested in swaps at the festival

@KatBalou'sPhone also, what about the seed saving network based in highgate?

Any idea how old your Sichuan Pepper tree/bush is?
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/dec/13/szechuan-pepper-chinese-five-spice

Not sure really. It's about 4' tall and just a single stem. We bought it last year but I'm not sure how quickly they grow.

Let's hope those budding shoots give rise to flowers and the desired 'fruits'.

Recent storms destroyed half the fence panels on this side of my garden. Replacing them like Patti LaBelle (on my own) quite rewarding, now for the other chores that remain like cutting the grass, clearing the shingle of weeds, tidying up the trained spiky thorn bushes on the back fence.

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never thought I'd post in this thread; I have a slim patch of soil on the border of our backyard where I want to plant bamboo so we get some privacy from next door here are my questions as a complete and utter n00b:

1. The soil in this patch seems 'dead' how do I revive that?
   
2. Where to buy bamboo to plant?
   
3. on RHS website they say that dig about 2 feet down to plant and use a root restricting membrane, any idea where I can buy this membrane?
   
4. What tools would I need? I have a wheel barrow; if I were to replace the soil how to discard the old soil? A skip?
   

Manure/compost/wormcastings etc. Probably somewhere local, garden centres, although https://www.scottishbamboo.com are a decent outfit, also info on website. Put it in a planter, or make sure the stuff is non-spreading, planted bamboo is the next Japanese knotweed. Get a grab bag type thing, probably cheaper than a skip, although just supplement the soil with the nutrients above and you will not have a problem, or use planters/pots.

you'll upset user colinthebald

1. don't know
   
2. garden centre, or https://www.scottishbamboo.com/
   
3. https://palmcentre.co.uk/products/accessories/other-sundries/bamboo-root-barrier/
   
4. spade technology
   

1: there's not even any grass or weeds in it? If it's that bad you may have to dig it out and replace. No runoff from someone else's garden going in it, no herbicide happy neighbours?

It's possible you have very thin topsoil worth doing a small dig and see what comes up. Dark earthy smelling soil is topsoil that's fertile.

Or get a soil test if you want to be scientific :)

thank you! very helpful for a n00b like me.

This is the patch. I think the soil is dead, no weeds or grass on it, the green stuff towards the bottom are just weeds I pulled from somewhere else.

With regards to to its spreadability etc @small the knotweed equivalence scared me! But I dont think neighbors will give a shit, its an HMO rented out. I wanted to achieve a barrier thats not just a fence plus some greenery so I thought about bamboo, maybe not a good idea then?

Thank you @cozey @JWestland

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can whack in a planter to prevent spread, like we’ve done

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hmm not a bad idea tbh, I thought if we have the soil patch might as well, did you make those yourself?

yes - couldn't source readymade planters which were sufficient size at a decent price so had to make them.

for the bamboo barrier, you need to dig down pretty deep - might be a struggle in that narrow bed

this is a good site with guides about planting, spread, recommended varieties etc
http://www.uk-bamboos.co.uk/Uses%20of%20Bamboos.htm#Hedges%20and%20screens

hmm yeah .. so maybe I will just refresh that as a normal bed to plant something nice and get the fence done, thank you!

How easy/hard was it to make the planters? Are they just made out of decking wood?

Laying turf. Do I need to order a load of topsoil as well?