Gardening

[Boynegael]

Any advice appreciated from those among you with green thumbs.  With spring in the air, I'm planning on doing some planting.  I have a three tier rock garden, on either side of the steps, at the front of my house.  It's a very old house and all the stoops retaining walls really need to be replaced, but unfortunately I am financially challenged at the moment, so I am going to try and make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. 

I have planted a lot there over the past couple of years with very limited success. I reckon someone in Australia has a lovely garden, coz there is frig all came up on my end...  Last year (by accident) i discovered wave petunias...they were among a box of wildflower seeds i threw down in an attempt to add some color.  I have ordered a few dozen wave petunia plants for this year and am hoping they will hide a lot of imperfections until such times as the walls etc can be replaced...Has anyone had any experience of these.  Also, I have a mother and father of an oak tree in my back yard...any recommendations on fast growing shade plants would be appreciated.
I know there was a previous thread on gardening...but I couldn't find it...so apologies for starting a new thread on this....

[The Real Laoislad]

Spent all day yesterday cultavating the back garden in peperation for sowing a lawn..I had railway sleepers the length of the garden with pebbles in between but everytime it rain it would flood..
So am sowing rass and gonna but slabs down in form of a path to the decking at the end of the garden,Im gonna use the railway sleepers as a border for new flowerbeds..

[dodo]

Also, I have a mother and father of an oak tree in my back yard...any recommendations on fast growing shade plants would be appreciated.
I know there was a previous thread on gardening...but I couldn't find it...so apologies for starting a new thread on this....

Growing under the canopy of a large tree such as a mature oak will always be compromised by the dense shade cast when the tree is in leaf and also possibly the dryness of the soil in dry periods. There are plants that will grow there but will not grow fast due to the reasons mentioned. Plant selection is always about what you want to create, or maybe what you can create in a given space.
Ground cover plants should be something like Pachysandra terminalis or ivy as both will tolerate shade and no other plants will do as well.
If you want something taller then the spotted laurel (Aucuba japonica) or Fatsia japonica will survive but won't thrive or grow anyway rapidly.
Tree surgery is also an option, either cutting off lower branches or cutting down altogether if the tree isn't listed. Cutting off branches on trees will affect the natural shape of the tree and can leave them looking butchered if not done appropriately.
Another approach that can be looked at is to leave the ground below the tree void of plants. This can be a feature rather than a blot. Simplicity is an often overlooked gardening style. It will definitely look a lot better than hungry looking plants that will be growing lobsided in the direction of light.

[Boynegael]

We had an aborist (sic) come last year...he quoted us 4.5k to take it down...the part of the yard around it is all buckled and risen...his job would finish when he cut the trunk to ground level and separated the roots from the trunk...he described it like separating bicycle spokes from the center of the wheel....he also reckons the roots are probably growing up to thirty feet in all directions...under my house, and possibly all the neighbors....to risky to tackle ourselves...this tree has to be 70/80 foot tall...it is also very close to the house.....

We would then have to excavate the roots bit by bit for as much as we could and probably build a retaining wall between us and our nearest neighbor, as the excavation would lower the ground there about 4/5 feet.....it's a big problem....maybe i should just concentrate on the front for now... Thanks for the advice on the plants dodo...i will look into them...but i don't like ivy...

Add to my already listed problems, a six month lab who has dug up all my tulips and daffodils, house side of the invisible fence... I'm fecked...

[dodo]

We had an aborist (sic) come last year...he quoted us 4.5k to take it down...the part of the yard around it is all buckled and risen...his job would finish when he cut the trunk to ground level and separated the roots from the trunk...he described it like separating bicycle spokes from the center of the wheel....he also reckons the roots are probably growing up to thirty feet in all directions...under my house, and possibly all the neighbors....to risky to tackle ourselves...this tree has to be 70/80 foot tall...it is also very close to the house.....

We would then have to excavate the roots bit by bit for as much as we could and probably build a retaining wall between us and our nearest neighbor, as the excavation would lower the ground there about 4/5 feet.....it's a big problem....maybe i should just concentrate on the front for now... Thanks for the advice on the plants dodo...i will look into them...but i don't like ivy...

Add to my already listed problems, a six month lab who has dug up all my tulips and daffodils, house side of the invisible fence... I'm fecked...

You have a decision to make here, keep her or fell her. €4,500 is a lot of dough, and you would then have to get a machine in (if you have access for one) to sort out the root problem and to level the ground. Great care would be essential in taking up the roots if they are going under the house. The arborist would cut your tree to ground level with a chainsaw, there is a machine that many other tree surgeons have that will grind down the remaining stump to a good depth. This will allow you to have a good covering of soil to grow grass etc. If you ever do decide to do this get a few quotes as prices can vary greatly. Also get a fully insured reliable company as there are chancers about like in every industry.
The best motto to have with gardening and all things related is to see every problem as an opportunity. A bit twee I know but it is true.
Best of luck with it.

PS Ivy can look really good if it is controlled and kept from spreading outside its intended area. Treat it like a grass lawn, making sure that it doesn't get too much above ground level etc It's all to do with what each of us prefers I suppose. I just think that planting underneath that tree anything other than the 2 groundcover plants I mentioned will be unsatisfactory.
If you like email on a photo and I'll see if I can give you any more advice.

[Orior]

My garden was bits of green grass growing between the green moss.

So I bought stuff to kill the moss.

Now my garden is bits of green and lots of brown dead moss.

I tried throwing down grass seed, but i think i've just fed the birds.

Does grass seed need planted, or stamped into the soil?

[Tony Baloney]

My garden was bits of green grass growing between the green moss.

So I bought stuff to kill the moss.

Now my garden is bits of green and lots of brown dead moss.

I tried throwing down grass seed, but i think i've just fed the birds.

Does grass seed need planted, or stamped into the soil?

I would scarify it then fertilise, reseed and put a thin coat of soil on top.

[pintsofguinness]

My garden was bits of green grass growing between the green moss.

So I bought stuff to kill the moss.

Now my garden is bits of green and lots of brown dead moss.

I tried throwing down grass seed, but i think i've just fed the birds.

Does grass seed need planted, or stamped into the soil?

I would scarify it then fertilise, reseed and put a thin coat of soil on top.

which is what I done with my garden at home, I'd lovely grass for about 12 months and then the moss was all back.
waste of time.

[Tony Baloney]

My garden was bits of green grass growing between the green moss.

So I bought stuff to kill the moss.

Now my garden is bits of green and lots of brown dead moss.

I tried throwing down grass seed, but i think i've just fed the birds.

Does grass seed need planted, or stamped into the soil?

I would scarify it then fertilise, reseed and put a thin coat of soil on top.

which is what I done with my garden at home, I'd lovely grass for about 12 months and then the moss was all back.
waste of time.

Unfortunately it's not a one time deal. You need to keep spraying moss killer over the autumn to keep it at bay.

[Orior]

My garden was bits of green grass growing between the green moss.

So I bought stuff to kill the moss.

Now my garden is bits of green and lots of brown dead moss.

I tried throwing down grass seed, but i think i've just fed the birds.

Does grass seed need planted, or stamped into the soil?

I would scarify it then fertilise, reseed and put a thin coat of soil on top.

which is what I done with my garden at home, I'd lovely grass for about 12 months and then the moss was all back.
waste of time.

Ditto.

I was even thinking of buying that lawn you just roll out. Expensive, but would the moss still come back I wonder?

[The Gs Man]

Resurrecting an old thread for a bit of advice from you horticulturalists .

New house, new lawn has been in just over a year.

It's patchy enough, with yellow grass but a few bits of green struggling through.

How to sort it?  I've applied a bit of lawn thickener (feed and seed), last weekend.  When should I be seeing results?  I'm an impatient man.

Any other advice on getting the grass in order would be appreciated!

[Owen Brannigan]

The yellow patches after a fairly mild but reasonably wet winter would probably indicate that the grass is struggling in water logged soil.  Not unsurprising with a new house where the ground has been pummelled with heavy equipment or the top soil has been layered thinly over heavier clay.  A drier period will help but the lower soil layers will just harden.  It would be useful to try and get air into the ground especially around the yellow patches. You can hire motorised aerators or you can take a fork to spike the area.  treat it like a football pitch by spiking to aerate the soil and then brush in sand to improve drainage.  Also go for fertiliser which is high in Potash and not too high in Nitrogen to help root development.


A bit of sunshine over the next month will help to warm and dry the soil.

[The Gs Man]

Good man Owen.  I'll get the fork to it tonight.

A bit of rain at all and there's quite a bit of surface water, so the drainage obviously isn't the best.

[guy crouchback]

ya spiking it will help but also its a bit early in the year yet to see much in the way of results from your seed and feed. give it another month and it should start to take off.
fertilizer is your friend, little and often is the key. i would go a bit higher on the nitrogen this time of year and cut back on it coming into the autumn, that's when you want to thicken up the roots.
having said that applying fertilizer and high nitrogen fertilizer in particular will make your grass grow like hell, it will look green  and thick and lovely but you will never be done cutting it. with regular application of fertilizer you will be cutting at least twice a week in the summer so depending on the size of your lawn you need to decide if you have the time.

to get a great looking lawn regular cutting is important, with a new lawn dont cut it too close this year. in the autumn go with a special autumn fertilizer and if you are susceptible to moss apply sulfate of iron over the winter.

there is a new product on the market now called mobacter that is a feed and a moss killer. i used it last year and thought it was pretty good. it thickened up the grass very nicely and provided a good slow release feed but i found it gave the grass quite a bright green color as opposed to the dark green you will get from nitrogen. but it was more user friendly than nitrogen which  if you spill some or apply to heavily in places will burn the grass.

its no harm investing in a good push fertilizer spreader or even hire one from a tool hire to get a good even spread

[The Gs Man]

Good stuff, thanks.  It's a small lawn so it doesn't take much time at all to cut. 

Would you recommend the liquid feed/fertiliser or the spreadable stuff?