[Help] Gardeners Question Time.

[Weststander]

trouble is the ‘lawn’ looks a complete and utter eyesore right now. i appreciate late Aug early Sept would be better but not sure i can live with this mess all summer, plus as it is it’s a great weed seed bed. Also sort of hoping the fleece may help eliminate some of the drying by wind.

Good point.

I'm soon to give up on that particular 'fight'. A few short years ago, after a lot of prep, I made an amazing lawn, lush, flat, with no weeds. Perfect for football.

Gradually, Bird's Foot Trefoil and a long list of other weeds, plus moss have taken over. The spring and autumn weed/feed regimes, scarifying, deep aeration of mossy areas, all made minimal difference. Lawns are unnatural and they suffer in our hot dry summers.

So in the autumn I'm digging up the lot, planting an apple and pear orchard, in the midst of a seeded native species meadow.

 

[A mex eyecan]

Good point.

I'm soon to give up on that particular 'fight'. A few short years ago, after a lot of prep, I made an amazing lawn, lush, flat, with no weeds. Perfect for football.

Gradually, Bird's Foot Trefoil and a long list of other weeds, plus moss have taken over. The spring and autumn weed/feed regimes, scarifying, deep aeration of mossy areas, all made minimal difference. Lawns are unnatural and they suffer in our hot dry summers.

So in the autumn I'm digging up the lot, planting an apple and pear orchard, in the midst of a seeded native species meadow.

yes you do wonder how many more years a lush green lawn will be viable. It’s a bit sad in many ways but hey things move on and like all fights there’s a time to throw the towel in.

Think this years attempt could well be the last shot, Im sort of hoping the work I’ve done/doing will give it some respectability for another 2/3 years, after that well who knows. Expect a lot will be determined by what our robot lords will allow us to do at that time

 

[Weststander]

yes you do wonder how many more years a lush green lawn will be viable. It’s a bit sad in many ways but hey things move on and like all fights there’s a time to throw the towel in.

Think this years attempt could well be the last shot, Im sort of hoping the work I’ve done/doing will give it some respectability for another 2/3 years, after that well who knows. Expect a lot will be determined by what our robot lords will allow us to do at that time

I've um and ah'd for a few years. Really proud of that lawn as it was. The record breaking heat literally killed patches, it was wasn't the old adage of it will bounce back. Fescues and Bents weren't designed for 38c.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

As this is here.
Yesterday I dug out the borders of #1 garden.
This is Mentals Corner

View attachment 161768

Unbelievably the ground here - where everything is growing at an alarming rate, is so rock hard I couldn't get a trowel into it.

I'm interested in the thing almost buried by the fuzzy thing.

View attachment 161769

Not the thing about to flower, the one above it.
Should I move that, if I can dig it out?

The purple leaved thing in there is an Acer. Look after it. I have a big one (15 foot) in my back garden. The local garden centres are selling 5 foot one for £400-600

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

i am quite lucky for some of the time.
i closed a very large koi pool late last year. It left a concrete lined pit 12’x10’x4’6”with a bottom drain. We live in heavy clay area and all of the houses have very old land drains criss crossing the gardens. All old terracotta and many long since cracked. This means that the old pit bottom fills with water from rain and from the drainage and water table. It frequently fills to about 2’ from the top.

when we filled it in I wanted to leave a sump pit and pump so that i could pump it empty when needed to avoid the possibility of water sitting in there and perhaps going stagnant. the rest of the hole filled with old bricks and blocks the topped off with about 9” of compacted MOT.

The outlet pipe i have managed to ‘bodge’ a joint so it can either pump to waste in the hedgerow or be attached to a hose. The latter seems to be working okay at the moment but will remain to be seen if it lasts or ends up getting clogged up.

So for at least some of the time i intend to use this water for the lawn. Appreciate that it will run dry on occasion but even yesterday it had about 18” of water in it.

Still, even if it doesn’t work as it cost nothing just a bit of time and head scratching…

Sounds like you live somewhere really hot - like Mexico.

Hang on....

 

[Jack Straw]

Unlike the pro @Jack Straw , my layman's take is to not seed the lawn anytime soon, wait until consistent rain is first here in the autumn.

I've done what you're planning many a time during a dry spell and it's always a complete waste of money and time.

When you do, a trick I learnt last year is to mix the seed in a large plastic trug with sufficiently damp fine compost or new topsoil, keep in a place not in glaring sunshine and it will germinate. Then overseed with that as soon as you see the grass seeds have germinated. Onto moist lawn or bare soil after a big watering or rain, gently treading it down.

You're absolutely right in saying the autumn is the best time, but if you're able to water heavily every three or four days in the summer, you can get away with it. Wait until autumn and you won't have to water at all to get it going.
The football season has just finished and Clubs have no option but to re-seed now. They will then water like buggery right through the summer, although they will have automatic sprinklers, so no work involved.

 

[Weststander]

You're absolutely right in saying the autumn is the best time, but if you're able to water heavily every three or four days in the summer, you can get away with it. Wait until autumn and you won't have to water at all to get it going.
The football season has just finished and Clubs have no option but to re-seed now. They will then water like buggery right through the summer, although they will have automatic sprinklers, so no work involved.

The unit cost of water is an added issue these days. Running a hose to a sprinkler for hours at a time, then repeated, is expensive.

 

[Weststander]

Three or four years ago I seeded the green manure annual Phacelia Tanacetifolia on a barren area, the first year I later dug the foliage into the soil. But the bees love it so much, I now let it be. Stunning lilac colour too!

 

[WATFORD zero]

Last autumn I worked on the verge outside including seeding chalk land meadow mixes. Chuffed with the results.

After a few years of no-mow, the twats at BHCC then resumed mowing this year, an oaf on a sit down mower scalping every verge to near soil level. I had to pit in a few bits of timber batten to prevent future cuts ruining the mini meadow.

View attachment 161720

Just been past and it looks superb

What exactly did you do and I'll do ours and next door's next season. Maybe we can persuade the whole area

 

[Weststander]

Just been past and it looks superb

What exactly did you do and I'll do ours and next door's next season. Maybe we can persuade the whole area

Thank you.

By say 1st March you'll have to put in some stakes, to prevent the sit down mower oaf destroying your work.

August is the usual time once it gets going, but last Sept I scythed the verge to as low I could (I own a grim reaper type scythe), but you could use a strimmer. Then repeated mows on the same day to very short, half the verge was then bare soil. I also dug out Dandelions with their entire tap roots in tact, as they tend to dominate.

I'd ordered three seed mixes - Cornfield annuals to give the multi coloured effect in summer 1, also a chalk downland perennials/grasses seed mix and Yellow Rattle seeds. I didn't bother mixing with sand to see what I doing. I split the recommended weight into quarters and sowed 4 times. I waited until the soil was properly damp from some rain and rain was forecast. Finally, lightly treading down the lot. I bought from Emorsgate, they've always come up trumps for me.

It will work for you.

Over time the perennials are meant to dominate, but each autumn I'll add annuals seeds again, to help the diversity.

Each subsequent August you scythe, leave the debris on the verge for a week, then compost or brown bin it.

 

[jevs]

How's everyone's fruit/veg doing? It's been a real late start due to the cold NE wind but everything is finally starting to germinate and grow.

 

[Stat Brother]

Am I after the impossible?

A 6ft shrub, preferably colourful, but will live in almost constant shade.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Am I after the impossible?

A 6ft shrub, preferably colourful, but will live in almost constant shade.

Aucuba? Fatsia japonica 'Spider's Web'?

 

[Stat Brother]

Aucuba? Fatsia japonica 'Spider's Web'?

Not a lot of colour there.

I assume they've been inherited, but I have a few clumps of 'grass' type stuff come up in the borders, so la jardin du Stat has gone a bit green.

I'm gonna bung a Ceanothus in one obvious gap, but the other one is predominantly shade/sunshine adjacent!

 

[Dolph Ins]

Not a lot of colour there.

I assume they've been inherited, but I have a few clumps of 'grass' type stuff come up in the borders, so la jardin du Stat has gone a bit green.

I'm gonna bung a Ceanothus in one obvious gap, but the other one is predominantly shade/sunshine adjacent!

I know just the thing. A pheasant Berry and by chance you have 1 you can move in the picture earlier. If you soak it and move it and keep it watered till autumn it should be OK. It can be a big shrub but if you cut out all 2 year old growth each winter you can keep it under control. e

 

[1066familyman]

How's everyone's fruit/veg doing? It's been a real late start due to the cold NE wind but everything is finally starting to germinate and grow.

Terrible.

 

[1066familyman]

Am I after the impossible?

A 6ft shrub, preferably colourful, but will live in almost constant shade.

Not quite six foot, or a shrub, but loves shade. Also needs to be kept in damp moist soil.

Ligularia is your friend.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

Bamboo has suddenly sprouted like mad, despite having a root barrier. Guess there’s not much I can do apart from cutting it back?

 

[MJsGhost]

How's everyone's fruit/veg doing? It's been a real late start due to the cold NE wind but everything is finally starting to germinate and grow.

French and runner beans v slow, but perking up a bit now.
Lots of growth above ground on the spuds (charlotte), but I didn't plant many so will be waiting a little while to dig as I want quantity.
Tomatoes have really come on in the last 2 weeks, but still behind.
I should have a courgette or two worth picking next week and some later variety (florence) strawberries the week after. Raspberries look abundant, but a couple of weeks away from ripening. I have a blueberry bush in a pot that is covered in green fruit, but it's new this year so I don't know how long they will take to plump up and ripen...
All in all, looking WAY better than I was expecting a few weeks ago.

 

[MJsGhost]

Bamboo has suddenly sprouted like mad, despite having a root barrier. Guess there’s not much I can do apart from cutting it back?View attachment 161852

Can you borrow a panda?