obelixx

Chris Beardshaw to join Beechgrove Garden

Things are fine thanks Yakram except that I've been busy having my foot reconstructed so no gardening, dog walking or dancing for some time.   It's going well though and yesterday I had a little potter with a hellebore and a miniature rose and some coriander that all needed potting on.   Should be fit enough to sow seeds in March and start on the weeding and clearing before they do the other foot in April.

Are you still at Tatton?  

Avatars & Profiles

I really dislike smileys so never use them and am not convinced about the need for avatars.   I will certainly not be posting a photo of me.   I like the anonymity of these boards which may seem paradoxical given that I also enjoy close personal friendships with people I met through the Beeb boards and like to think of people on here - with the exception of the troll - as friends or friendly acquaintances.

It Is Not Spring Yet !!!

Absolutely.  Woke up to a sparkling white world.  Brilliant sunshine here at last after days of grey and mist but at the price of a heavy frost over night. 

clematis dieback.

I haven't met this problem myself but I do have some which are bare legged at the base as they are group 1s which are only pruned back if they get untidy and their flowers and foliage tend to be concentrated higher up.   Clematis are very hungry plants so maybe yours are just concentrating energy higher up.   Give them a generous handful of a general feed of blood, fish and bone in late winter or as soon ans new shoots show and then add special clematis or rose food at regular intervals until flowering time or mid July, whichever is later.

Add a mulch of well rotted garden compost or spent planting compost in late autumn and plant something in front to hide the unsightly bits. 

raised beds

It's up to you really.  Lining the insides will redcue the amount of moisture the wood can absorb from the soil so it will alst longer and will also prevent any chemiclas leaching into the soil.   Very easy to attach with a staple gun.

Ants friend or foe

As Verdun says, ants can kill plants if they make their tunnels and nests in the roots which then have no way of taking up food and water from the soil.    You can use proprietary ant killers for a permanent solution but you can also just encourage them to move elsewhere with a solution of one small botthe of essential oil of cloves dissolved in 10 litres of water and poured over the affected plants or pots.   The ants can't stand the smell and move on.

Joys of Spring

i've just been pottering at the back of the house in the work area - rescuing a great tit who'd investigated a piece of unused drainpipe as a nesting site and got stuck.  Anyway, what should I find but signs of growth in some pots I didn't have time to move to shelter before winter - some persicaria and pink hemerocallis divisions.

Feeling very chuffed and proud of them.

Clay soil and boggy lawn

Keep poking holes, every 4 inches if poss and then brush in some sharp sand to aid drainage.   This will take time and effort but will slowly improve drainage.

The other alternative is to rotavate the lot adding plenty of sharp grit and sand as well as some organic matter such as garden compost to the soil then let it settle, rake smooth, go over it with a roller or with your heels to remove air pockets, rake again and then sow new seed in early April when it's warm enough to germinate the seed and moist enough for it to grow.

The very serious alternative is to dig trenches and lay drains then put back the soil and proceed as above.

If you do give up and pave it, make sure you use permeable blocks and joins to allow run off in wet weatther or you'll end up with a more serious drainage problem in the rest of the garden.

Vine Wires

Don't worry.  Once your plants grow up to use the supports the fence will be hidden.

Training climbing rose

If you remove the stems growing away from your fence, energy will automatically be diverted to the others which are where you want them.   Tie these remaining stems in as horizontally as possible as this will encourage the formation of flowers.    Every spring you need to repeat the process to keep the shape and, once they're established, you'll need to remove a main stem occasionally to encourage the plants to renew their vigour.

Encouraging bats in our gardens

Beechgrove this weekend

Weekend 22 March

Good Morning - 21 March

Choosing chillies

Hanging baskets and window boxes

New shed - any tips?