The Potting shed

If it's not too late the contractor who relaid our lawn put 2 inches of gravel and then put the top soil (loamy I hope) on top of that. Stamped it down well and turfed it. Oh he made sure it was level or if sloping, sloping flat - string everywhere. A total success, drains very well, compared to the monkeys who did our back lawn, but that's another story....

 

I am not familiar with the phrase "ordering a tonne of top soil". Everything else is clear.

 

Sand is good idea as is gravel. I rotavated 18" of clay/chalk with top soil and sharp sand. Then turfed. In hindsight I wish I'd seeded. But drainage is very good. Hope it goes well.

 

oh well done now ... and no sand put in.... I have read so many guides!!!

I guess I leave it to settle before I seed it? how long?

 

Going to seed is the easy bit - we all do that at some point.

 

Two queries:
The lower leaves on my autumn rapseberries ( just fruitng) are going progessively yellow from the bottom up. They did this a few years back and I gave them lots of feed over the winter and next year they were fine..... however this year they are like tihs even after a lot of feeding. Any ideas? Maybe too dry??

Roses: All my new roses have bloomed like billyo this year in their first season but they have dropped a lot. A david Austin guy said they do this until the stems get strong .... but if I am pruning this year wont they have to grow new stems Any thoughts?

 

You need tramp it down with your feet after which you can seed any time. Make sure its level, alight rake to even out any bumps. If you dont seed soon it might not establish before winter sets in. Keep it watered if we have a dry spell, ha ha.

 

Rasps. Maybe falling light levels and cooler temps at night. Are they dry, really? I would feed and then mulch in spring as if you do it in winter the benefit can be washed away. Too much feed can be as bad as too little.

Roses can you explain what you mean by dropped a lot. Are they shrub, climbers or ramblers? This determines pruning regime.

 

Thanks

They are shrubs with lots of flowers and the weight of the flower causes the stem to droop ...

 

Not a great expert on these, but if you are getting lots of flowers that's good. the David Austin guy may be right as they are newly planted. Are they in the shade, this will cause the stems to grow long & weak looking for light. Yes you should prune every year, cut out any dead, weak or crossing growth and cut the strong stems back to a bud that is facing the way you want it to so you get a good shape. You can trim them a bit in the autumn and do a proper prune in the spring. The strong stems will get stronger as should any new shoots on them. You can be tough on roses, there is a pruning technique which involves a chain saw, slash & burn and they pop back up again. Mme is our rose expert here and she feeds em with rose fertiliser often and if you can get some manure spread some around the base.

We prune our climbers hard in the spring and they look like skeletons when we stand back in horror but the results are amazing when it comes to flowering.

 

Thank you.... I too believe you can prune hard... Mme Yorkie just cuts away a few bits.

 

Get Mme to do it in the autumn and have your turn in the spring

 

I was advised a long time ago to prune roses gently in the autumn so that the roots were not damaged by being rocked by strong winter winds, and then a proper pruning in the new year just when they started showing signs of growth. This has always served me well. Of course feeding and regular spraying against blackspot and green/black fly help as well. I have several sprayers all made up with various things, so I don't have to clean out each sprayer and mix up a new batch of spray each time I need to use it.

 

Thanks Mark.
Will do,,,


Anyone any views on pruning climbers in year one?

 

Your main aim is to build the structure by identifying the main strong stems and tying them to a framework, you should have at least 3 if you bought a good plant. They will grow at an angle usually so just tie them in but if you can bend em a bit and get them more horizontal this helps flowering, they will be quite hard at this time of year so they can snap or crease easily if you try to bend them too much. Cut off weak, crossing (if not main stems) & dying branches. Top the main branches if they get too long. Cut side branches back to 1/2/3 buds in the spring. New growth can be trained and tied in or cut off as you please. New main stems will appear occasionally from the base of the plant, train these in and over time you can cut out the oldest main stem, if the plant gets too big. If a sucker appears from below the graft, pull it off. We prune ours in spring and are quite hard on them, except for the main stems of the structure. It's a pain tying all the bit in though and they keep growing......

 

wow.... thanks... really helpful

 

Further thought, if you get a good strong side shoot from a main stem try and train it horizontally along the framework, get em early so they are pliable.

 

will do

 

Anyone hot on cotoneaster?


I am looking for one to grow up and along a garden fence BUT it must not be too bushy... it needs to be more clematis like in habit.... and I want one with a lot of autumn berries and hopefully some winter leaf... been researching but not sure of what to get. i have several established ones elsewhere but don't know their names sadly...


cheers

 

Not exactly hot on them Yorkie, but I do know that Mme's grandfather who was a professional used to grow the horizontal one that you can use as ground cover. He used to train it up about 3 feet, then take it out on wires rather as you would an espalier apple or other fruit tree. It seemed to work well, but I cannot give you a named variety.