Jack Straw
I look nothing like him!
That didn't take long to grow back. You'll need the people who did a good job of cutting it last time, back again in late autumn?
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[Help] Gardeners Question Time.
- Thread starter Stat Brother
- Start date
Another chalkland meadow project coming along. Ten years I made a perfect football pitch for my son, but it was tedious relentlessly fighting moss and Bird’s Foot Trefoil. Now, no more fertiliser, scarifying or aerating, as last autumn I scalped it to soil level and seeded for a meadow including annuals for a nurse crop whilst Yellow-rattle and perennials establish.
Coldeanseagull
Opinionated
The bottom picture is what my manicured lawn looks like
bluenitsuj
Listen to me!!!
- Jul 10, 2003
- 29,361
That is stunning, call me old fashioned (and I really feel it in 2025) but I love a bit of lawn. Mine was dying on it's arse last summer, but has miraculously come back. I'd post a picture, but it's covered in cherry, wisteria and philadelphus petals at the moment
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Coldeanseagull
Opinionated
Mmm, cheesy!That is stunning, call me old fashioned (and I really feel it in 2025) but I love a bit of lawn. Mine was dying on it's arse last summer, but has miraculously come back. I'd post a picture, but it's covered in cherry, wisteria and philadelphia petals at the moment
Jack Straw
I look nothing like him!
Without seeing it, and purely going by the photos, I would ask if there is adequate soil depth? Being against the house, there may be just enough soil depth to plant things, but underneath that could be concrete, meaning there's nowhere for the roots to go, and the possibility of either drought or water-logging.
If you did the planting, maybe you know? Were the plants (if in containers), soaked before they were planted? You must have at least a foot depth of soil with beneath that, the sub-soil broken up to aid drainage.
I would be tempted to remove a dead shrub (sorry, they are
), or two, and have a dig down to see what you've got, and see if the roots have moved out from the original root ball and if the soil they were in originally is bone dry.Another theory is a gas pipe leak. https://garden.org/frogs/view/25925/
Unless someone's sprayed them with weedkiller, or tipped petrol on them, I can't offer any other explanation.
bluenitsuj
Listen to me!!!
Thank you for your reply.Without seeing it, and purely going by the photos, I would ask if there is adequate soil depth? Being against the house, there may be just enough soil depth to plant things, but underneath that could be concrete, meaning there's nowhere for the roots to go, and the possibility of either drought or water-logging.
If you did the planting, maybe you know? Were the plants (if in containers), soaked before they were planted? You must have at least a foot depth of soil with beneath that, the sub-soil broken up to aid drainage.
I would be tempted to remove a dead shrub (sorry, they are
Another theory is a gas pipe leak. https://garden.org/frogs/view/25925/
Unless someone's sprayed them with weedkiller, or tipped petrol on them, I can't offer any other explanation.
These are from a friend so I have not been able to see first hand but I would tend to agree about it possibly being very shallow being right next to the house and with it being a new build you never know what's been buried.
That is stunning, call me old fashioned (and I really feel it in 2025) but I love a bit of lawn. Mine was dying on it's arse last summer, but has miraculously come back. I'd post a picture, but it's covered in cherry, wisteria and philadelphia petals at the moment
I’ve still got one, in another part of the garden.
Without seeing it, and purely going by the photos, I would ask if there is adequate soil depth? Being against the house, there may be just enough soil depth to plant things, but underneath that could be concrete, meaning there's nowhere for the roots to go, and the possibility of either drought or water-logging.
If you did the planting, maybe you know? Were the plants (if in containers), soaked before they were planted? You must have at least a foot depth of soil with beneath that, the sub-soil broken up to aid drainage.
I would be tempted to remove a dead shrub (sorry, they are
Another theory is a gas pipe leak. https://garden.org/frogs/view/25925/
Unless someone's sprayed them with weedkiller, or tipped petrol on them, I can't offer any other explanation.
Roundup crossed my mind .. I know of two separate cases where spiteful locals did this to new hedges!
Jack Straw
I look nothing like him!
A friend gave me some Tetrapanax papyrifer "Rex" pups, (pups are apparently what T-Rex fanatics call the suckers). I've rooted them and potted them up, and yesterday I planted 3 of them in the grounds of the flats opposite where I live.
They don't look much at the moment, but I'll post photos of progress as they hopefully, go berserk!
They don't look much at the moment, but I'll post photos of progress as they hopefully, go berserk!
Coldeanseagull
Opinionated
It's one of my favourite plants, but I'm struggling to get it to establish. I've started them from seed, root cuttings and runners, but after a few months they've all carked it. I've got another one now so we'll see if I can keep the bleedin' thing alive long enough
Jack Straw
I look nothing like him!
That place I planted them must have the worst soil, or lack of it, I've ever encountered - solid chalky subsoil. Only one place I identified as a planting site had any soil of note. The other two holes, I pick-axed out an 18" cube of soil, tried to dig over the bottom, then filled with an equal mix of bagged manure from the Garden Centre, reasonable soil from elsewhere, and the best of what I dug out. Watered the plants in and put an inch or so of manure around as a mulch.
I've lit the blue touch-paper and am now standing well back!
I've lit the blue touch-paper and am now standing well back!
Coldeanseagull
Opinionated
Ah, the joys of chalk and builders rubble.....should've chucked an agave in there
Green Cross Code Man
Wunt be druv
Pups, probably as banana suckers are known as pups too and Musa people tend to like a T Rex as well!
One of my favourite as well. Mine keeps suckering in the pavement the past few years since it was dug up for fibre. It's annoying as I want another in my back garden. The leaves are absolutely huge if you don't let it grow naturally or just keep a single trunk. Mine still has very large leaves and is quite eye catching, I live by a bus stop and I've often struck up conversation with folk who like it or wonder what it is. It's about fifteen feet tall now.
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Jack Straw
I look nothing like him!
I had a feeling you might have one!
Jack Straw
I look nothing like him!
I'll give that some thought, but I'd probably have to spend a lot of time unimpaling dogs, winos and druggies!Ah, the joys of chalk and builders rubble.....should've chucked an agave in there
Coldeanseagull
Opinionated
Add a puya, opuntia and a chamaerops as well. You have to bleed 'em good!(personal experience)
Ah, the joys of chalk and builders rubble.....should've chucked an agave in there
How did you deal with an inch of topsoil over subsoil/flints/solid chalk?
The modern advice is very much ‘no dig’, partly because it doesn’t release carbon, also it doesn’t help germinate countless weed seeds.
I ignore that because it’s literally an inch of poor soil, I did deep, take chalk/flints to the tip and enrich the new hole or trench for planting.