The Grow Your Own thread for random stuff that doesn't need it's own thread

[Mrs Pingu]

Time we had one of these I think.

I've been meaning to buy an ivy, for the wildlife value, one of those that's trapped in the mature phase, Hedera arborescens, but blow me, £35 for a 3L pot?!! 

[rafletcher]

Time we had one of these I think.

I've been meaning to buy an ivy, for the wildlife value, one of those that's trapped in the mature phase, Hedera arborescens, but blow me, £35 for a 3L pot?!! 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Arborescens-Non-Climbing-Green-White-Thompson-Morgan/dp/B0BMB8679B

[Mrs Pingu]

ooh thanks

[Mrs Pingu]

Some of the bulbs I planted last month are coming up already. It's not time yet! Stupid upside down weather... They really all gonna get frosted next weekend.

[Mrs Pingu]

What's going on with my ceanothus (Californian lilac)?

This one is about 4 feet tall, was here when we moved in in 2021 and is looking decidedly ded, apart from that single green branch you can see there. This bush is against a west facing fence.
PXL_20240222_114441119 by The Pingus, on Flickr

On the other side of the garden (so east facing) this is a bush which I planted in 2022 (I think) so it's smaller. More of it is green but you can see some of it is dead.
PXL_20240222_114519531 by The Pingus, on Flickr

I don't understand why. It's not been particularly cold for here, I would say. There's never been weedkiller used anywhere near the top most pic. I had one of these bushes in our north facing postage stamp of a garden at the previous place for years and it was fine.
I'm guessing the top one is going to be a dead loss and I might as well dig it up?

Any wisdom?

[BrianI]

Along with some seed tatties I have chitting on the living room windowsill awaiting planting, I now have a couple of blackcurrant bush cuttings I'll get planted in large containers! 

[Mrs Pingu]

During autumn/winter 2022/23 I planted a couple of blackthorns at the bottom of the garden in the 'wild' area. They seem to be growing alright but I don't seem to be getting any flowers, which obviously means no sloes, either 
Any ideas why?

[Mrs Pingu]

Apropos of the mostly dead ceanothus 2 posts up, I decided to cut my losses and dig it up.
PXL_20240519_160916211 by The Pingus, on Flickr

Not sure what to put in it's place, I'd like another ceanothus but maybe it's not sheltered enough for them here.

[The Family Cyclist]

I ran out of space to grow leeks, so potted some up in old buckets. Now we have had a lot of rain and although both buckets have leeks it appears only one bucket leaks so the leeks in one had become aquatic. Tipped out some water and put out of rain in wood shelter for now.

[Mrs Pingu]

Is it too cold to do the Chelsea chop? (Never done this before)
I want to do this to my rudbeckia but it's only about 9C today, but I'm going on holiday on Thursday until the end of June when I assume it will be a bit too late.

[Jurek]

Time we had one of these I think.

Good call.

Today, I have taken delivery of 75m x 0.6m roll of corrugated cardboard.
This is for the purpose of smothering my couch grass, once I have sickled its excessive growth to within an inch of its life..
That will be followed by a layer of membrane, which I already have.
Then followed by a layer of new topsoil.
And then the planting of a shedload of annual and perennial wildflowers. (I recon that implementing the above will take me up to Autumn of this year which those in the know inform me is a good time for planting.)
In the hope of having a meadow rather than a lawn.
This kind of thing.

[Jurek]

Time we had one of these I think.

Good call.

Today, I have taken delivery of 75m x 0.6m roll of corrugated cardboard.
This is for the purpose of smothering my couch grass, once I have sickled its excessive growth to within an inch of its life..
That will be followed by a layer of membrane, which I already have.
Then followed by a layer of new topsoil.
And then the planting of a shedload of annual and perennial wildflowers. (I recon that implementing the above will take me up to Autumn of this year which those in the know inform me is a good time for planting.)
In the hope of having a meadow rather than a lawn.
This kind of thing.

Any suggestions as to what sort of depth I should implement the topsoil would be most welcome.

[Mrs Pingu]

Don't know the answer to that, but what sort of topsoil are you using?
Seems like a lot of what are considered UK wildflowers are things that grow on poor fertility ground, like chalk...

[Jurek]

Don't know the answer to that, but what sort of topsoil are you using?
Seems like a lot of what are considered UK wildflowers are things that grow on poor fertility ground, like chalk...

I haven't really considered that yet . I'm reliably informed that wildflowers will flourish in 'any old carp soil'.

[Mrs Pingu]

See https://www.wwf.org.uk/wildflowers/how-to-grow-wildflowers

[Jurek]

See https://www.wwf.org.uk/wildflowers/how-to-grow-wildflowers

That looks most useful.
Ta.

[Mrs Pingu]

From what I have read in various places recently, it seems like having a wildflower lawn/meadow is an awful lot more effort than just 'no mow'.
Approaching 3 years since we moved in here and all we have is a sizeable crop of clover, some creeping buttercup and this year a ginormous thistle.(But we are on heavy clay which is probably too fertile and too wet)
We do have a load of self heal but it's growing in the flower beds rather than in the lawn. We also got our very first daisy, again that's in a bed and not in the lawn. Still, we have a hedgepig so we must be doing something right.

[Jurek]

Don't know the answer to that, but what sort of topsoil are you using?
Seems like a lot of what are considered UK wildflowers are things that grow on poor fertility ground, like chalk...

Alas, I'm on London's finest clay (just try getting insurance for subsidence around here).
I'd have to move south of Croydon before encountering the chalk of the North Downs.

[mrcharly-YHT]

What sort of membrane?

Buried plastic membrane is a curse.


My problem here is trees.

The previous owners planted a load of trees close to the house - less than 3m away.
Large
Blackthorn
Alder
Sycamore.

The sycamore is crowding out the larch, which means the larch is 'leaning' its growth towards the house.

Think the sycamore will have to go. It is a stupidly large tree to have so close to a house.

[Jurek]

Plastic membrane it is.
The sort of stuff you put down to stop weeds growing through it if you are laying gravel or slate chips.

Also, it has been suggested that I mix gravel and sand with the topsoil as without this it has too many nutrients to support wildflower growth.

[Mrs Pingu]

You're going to need A LOT of gravel and sand then...

[Mrs Pingu]

Some advice from the RHS here https://www.rhs.org.uk/lawns/creating-wildflower-meadows
And some wildflowers that like clay https://www.turfonline.co.uk/blog/wildflowers-for-clay-soils/

[Mrs Pingu]

That feeling when 2 pots of basil come back from holiday plant sitting covered in whitefly.   
Am I as well just chucking them now and starting again with a new pot from Sainsbo's?

[hellymedic]

Magnolia tree next door is in leaf and flower.
I’m used to it flowering in winter, before the leaves appear.

[Jurek]

Magnolia tree next door is in leaf and flower.
I’m used to it flowering in winter, before the leaves appear.

That strikes me as a bit late for magnolia - I would've expected some activity late April / early May.