Berghill

Composting Problem

Talking to SWIAR, she pointed out that to put our grass mowings in the Green bin would fill both of them, 3 times over with no room for any of the other non-compostable material our garden generates.

Our old neighbours used to just throw their grass cuttings over the hedge into the field behind us. I was looking along the boundary not so long ago (missing cat!) and realised that there was a lovely mound of really good material. I told the new neighbours about it and I noticed the other day that they were collecting it and digging it into their Veg patch. Cat turned up 5 days later by the way.

If you ever want to start an argument in gardening circles then ask about Compost making and watch the stamens fly!

Composting Problem

Sorry Frank, I know we have had this discussion before, but all our grass cuttings eventually rot down into usable stuff, even without the fuss of mixing them and turning the heap over. In our previous garden where we did not have room even for a bin, I just did the trench method of composting the grass, across the Vegetable garden and they disappeared  into the soil, no trouble.

For those who do have trouble with grass mowings, when they have gone slimy like that, then the answer is to bury them in the garden.

Composting Problem

Exactly. Even the horrible slimy stuff will eventually turn into good stuff.

Sharp sand drainage properties

?Merseygrit?

Composting Problem

Wish I had the strength to turn mine every 6 weeks. Wow. At the moment  my in preparation heap is 2 metres by 2 metres by 3 metres tall. Cannot  get any more on top. It will get turned over  into the middle heap if and when I can get on to the garden to empty No. 1 heap. No2. heaps goes on to 1 and 3 into 2 if you see what I mean. Thus it gets 2 turns.

The matted stuff is just as good as anything else, it just needs burying a litttle deeper and wetting as you cover it over with soil.

slugs in the kitchen

We had this problem and discovered they were living on the damp wallpaper behind a bookcase. They used to come out to eat the cats food and drink their water. Getting rid is not easy.

what kind of grit do the gardeners use in there potting soil?

No, it tends to fall to pieces when it gets wet and clogs up the compost. The grit is to help drainage not keep moisture in.

s it possible to to exchange seeds between Dutch, English and Scottish gardener

As far as I am aware it is legal to send seeds from anywhere in the EU to anywhere in the Eu, as long as they are not wild collected and restricted by CITES. Check out the Alpine Garden Soc and the Scottish Rock garden sites. They have seed exchanges where things are sent abroad.

Sending to and from America is very different.

what kind of grit do the gardeners use in there potting soil?

For some plants I do use road grit, that is the 7mm. limestone stuff. Only for lime loving plants of course. even that is hard to get hold of though, in smal bags.

underground slugs

I am very sorry to disagree with so many folks, but Slugs do not live underground. They live in the leaf litter on the soil and may appear to come from within the soil but they are surface living creatures. Nor, do they eat roots. Their preferences are for green leaves, decaying leaves and mostly for each other.

Plant id

Photo size

Sheds

A mild annoyance

Helleborus x hybridus

Timber

Silene and Phlox roots

Anyone used this mower

An invitation to View June 2012

A few of our bulbs.