Posts by: mondaychild

danny49
A real climbing rose will only need pruning to take out dead wood. They are vigorous and the main problem is stopping them covering too much area. You can cut off leading shoots and it will simply sprout from near the cut. When established they can easily grow a metre per year in all directions. Tie back to the wall when the new shoots are still flexible. If cutting back, do this to just above an inwards facing bud, this will help to keep it to the wall.

No hope of plants in such a restricted space.
You could put your water butts there for rainwater collection but the height is somewhat small.
Roll-out mushroom beds would fit underneath it.

No actual answer but they need rich well fed soil, and soil that drains well so that the roots are not too damp. Grow in full sun if possible.

gardening is just one long adventure, with lots of pleasant surprises.
Live dangerously as well as safely in your choice of plants.

Potentilla. Spirea. Wegelia. Photinia but probably will grow too big too fast.
others later
All will get big and need replacing if you have a limited space.

Starting another tree elsewhere would be a good idea. You could then remove the existing tree over a five year period, while the new one becomes established. Your neighbours would see steady progress towards more light and you would not lose all the lovely blossom at once.

dealbata seems to be rugged and could be pruned without risk of death. Start with cutting a few branches hard back this year, to show your neighbours that you care. The shape will change but there is no way round that. New growth from the cut branches will probably be more vigorous.
Their house is close in water terms so you need to act.

Oil breakdown is a slow process so allow a few years of digging and bringing contaminated soil to the surface.

The leylandii will take moisture and nutrients from the soil, so plants have to struggle. If you have bought lavender then try some at different distances as an experiment. The others you can plant elsewhere, to be moved in next year if the trials survive. If your ground is to the south of the hedge the new plants will get proper light.

I have not done it myself but it is safe to try. Let us know next year how it worked.

The fastest hedge is Leylandii, planted one metre apart BUT you will have a huge workload in the future to control it.
Better to try privet at half metre spacing, and wait a bit longer, although the leaves drop off in winter.
Beech saplings planted half a metre apart will give a slower but very strong hedge and when the leaves die, they stay on the hedge.
If you can wait several years, box is superb and is the posh person's hedge, at half metre spacing.

The cutting back is to get the best coloured leaves next year. If left to grow it just gets less interesting. Has it got enough stems to allow you to cut back some each year, in rotation ?

The oil will not disperse but would break up over a few years. The problem is that only the oil on the surface is exposed to sunlight and it is the UV in sunlight that does the job. There are oil-eating bacteria but they would not be in your garden. If you are near a watercourse you had better have it all dug up and taken away before you get prosecuted.
You could dig a deep hole and hope that the oil runs into it so that you can get it out with cloths or ladle.

the problem is that the conservatory, if of usual design, will get much too hot in the summer.
Seeds will start well and you could plant them out in pots but they would need shade and lots of water ( every day without fail, in max heat). Better to start them in the conservatory then plant out in outdoor pots or in garden.
Seeds are not expensive so try a few varieties.

Should have started but no suggestions apart from wait to next year. Did you buy this or was it a gift, the source should know when it should give fruit.

Along these runners will appear small strawberry plants. If you press these small plants on to the surface of soil in small pots, they will root and grow to new plants. Keep them watered. Next year you can cut the tendrils and plant the new plants somewhere else to grow new fill-sized plants. If you have no space to enlarge your strawberry bed, cut them off.

My neighbour has perennial swet peas and the first flower bud appeared yesterday. perhps the wet spring has slowed them down.

They should produce flowers and fruit without much effort on your part. water is needed in Spring and Summer but this year we have had plenty of rain. Just leave them in and hope for better next year. They should produce runners and these should be rooted ( press down on earth ) to plant out next year, perhaps giving a better plants.

This is odd. Have they enough water ? Are you providing long enough sticks up which they can grow, by twining ther tendrils round the sticks ?
AT 2 feet tall you shpuld be out of range of slug attack but check in darkness to see if anything has climbed to attack the leading shoot.

Indoors is much more drying than outdoors. Try more water next time. They also like light so do not put in dark corner.

The everlasting will produce much more stalk before flowering and then the flowers will be smaller and less glamorous than the decorative varieties. They are everlasting ( but watch out for slug attack when the shoots just appear ) and so you gain some and lose some. They may take a season to settle in, persevere and blooms will appear.

Big chunk then water to separate is good. If you just pull you will damage the roots too much and they will not re-start.

You have a powerful adversary. You will probably have to devastate everything and even then there will be lurking seeds. Try Roundup herbicide on a small patch and then plant new grass seeds about one week later.
Use fescue grass for quality.
Trial and error is what most gardening is about.

Can be planted out if you are careful and try to keep as much root as possible on each plant. They will need watering because this is the hot season and they could dry out because the roots will take time to establish their proper intimate contact with the soil.

Dig out lilac. Weed killer will affect host plant and you may not wish to lose that. Of course you will need to dig each year but be persistant.