Following the success of the Nature Notes and Recipes threads, I wondered if anyone would like one about our various gardening projects, progress and problems. We live in so many different areas and climates, each with its own challenges and advantages. Rather like poultry keeping, actually - the type of gardening we choose is the result of space available, time, energy, and what we hope to get out of it. The scale varies from a window box or pot plant, to an allotment, a wildlife area, or a whole croft, in HenGen's case.
My garden is in the South of England, at the top of a hill on chalky soil, so drains fast and suffers drought in summer. Three huge, beautiful birches have spread their roots and tend to get whatever is going under the surface. 48 years of adding compost to the borders has produced decent soil, but plants here have to like alkaline conditions and be resistant to long dry spells. There's a largish pond, topped up by a hose that takes nearly all the water from the house roof. The main aim is wildlife conservation, with mature trees and shrubs and as much trouble-free ground cover as possible.
New Year's Day here has been Springlike, a calm and sunny 11C, and I've been digging out old raspberries, ready to top up with fresh soil and composted manure before planting new autumn-fruiting raspberries. I'm also going to instal a length of perforated hose under the surface, which I could connect to a water butt to give them rainwater when available, or to the tap when the butt is empty. Last summer, we had hardly any fruit on the old canes, mostly my fault for not watering them sufficiently in the heat, but also because the canes were too old and had become strangled by bindweed, impossible to dig out over the years. Primocane raspberries are the easiest and most trouble-free of fruit bushes, and I'm always amazed at the price of them in the shops, when at home they just go on giving for months on end!
My garden is in the South of England, at the top of a hill on chalky soil, so drains fast and suffers drought in summer. Three huge, beautiful birches have spread their roots and tend to get whatever is going under the surface. 48 years of adding compost to the borders has produced decent soil, but plants here have to like alkaline conditions and be resistant to long dry spells. There's a largish pond, topped up by a hose that takes nearly all the water from the house roof. The main aim is wildlife conservation, with mature trees and shrubs and as much trouble-free ground cover as possible.
New Year's Day here has been Springlike, a calm and sunny 11C, and I've been digging out old raspberries, ready to top up with fresh soil and composted manure before planting new autumn-fruiting raspberries. I'm also going to instal a length of perforated hose under the surface, which I could connect to a water butt to give them rainwater when available, or to the tap when the butt is empty. Last summer, we had hardly any fruit on the old canes, mostly my fault for not watering them sufficiently in the heat, but also because the canes were too old and had become strangled by bindweed, impossible to dig out over the years. Primocane raspberries are the easiest and most trouble-free of fruit bushes, and I'm always amazed at the price of them in the shops, when at home they just go on giving for months on end!