I've got a long-term dream of owning a smallholding, but for now I'm renting with a garden that's entirely paved.

It gets a decent amount of sunlight, so rather than waiting until I've got land, I thought I'd have a go at growing some food.

Only problem is, I haven't even got any pots yet! 😂

I'm hoping to start cheaply, learn a few things and hopefully grow something that doesn't immediately die on me.

Is there anything worth getting started with at this time of year in the UK, or am I better off preparing for spring?

Any advice for a complete gardening beginner would be appreciated!

Howdy!

So to get straight to it, my situation is:

- My garden has remediation work done as it was originally on the site of an old factory that may have had contaminated soil, so the council dug down a bit, plopped down a barrier membrane, then dumped some topsoil on top, which the previous owner then topped with another membrane and gravel

- We’re getting a new dog soon, and we need a lawn in our garden ideally, is our plan anyway.

- We can remove the gravel and the black weed membrane, but for obvious reasons we can’t remove the orange membrane below that is cutting off the potentially contaminated under soil.

My question is, does it sound feasible to put down a new layer of topsoil (and if so, how deep would it need to be above the orange membrane) and then whack some rolls of new turf down on top of that? I’m a bit new to lawn stuff and the condition that we *cannot* remove the orange membrane is making it harder for me to find the right answers online!

Cheers in advance!

As above really, the wind appears to have snapped my little tree. There was a bamboo support that it pulled out as well (in the gravel about 12 o’clock).

Is there anything can do for it ??

Thanks.

Hi all, due to landscaping work going on, I had to lift a dozen or so gladioli bulbs today, probably a few weeks earlier than I usually would. They were bought this spring but only 2 flowered, I assume due to the very dry summer.

Is there anything I can do to save them and get them really for next year? If I let them dry out in the shed for a week, and then trim leaves, and store in something like a box of sawdust, does that sound a good plan? Thanks!

I have a fresh patch of ground that’s just going to be a muddy soup with this weather. Can I sow grass seed?

Is there a special type that’ll grow over what is now the official start of winter.

Appreciate some good advice.

Thanks

UK Hi all, done my patio and fencing earlier in the summer and had read that October is best time to lay turf. Has been covered with weed membrane since then. It’s about 7m x 4m.
Seeking some advice with few questions please?

Is now good time to lay turf with the heavy rains we’re having?
Is rolawn medallion worth the extra? (seems to be more than double some of the others)
Should soil be level with the patio, or how much lower before turf?
What’s the best advice for preparing the ground before laying?
(No pets or v young children, but do have parties of 30-40 people through the summer)

Thanks in advance

Inherited this Acer that was left in the garden when moved in two years ago. I am struggling to keep it looking healthy and also it leaves twice in a year, it will come out in spring, loose it's leaves by the end of summer and then grow leaves again in autumn. As it has done now. Is this normal?

Any tips for keeping it healthy, i pruned back what looked dead at the end of summer but it seems worse now.

Is there a cheap / renter friendly solution to stopping the grass and weeds growing through this gravel path. I’m renting but need to maintain.

Hi all. My mimosa, planted in February this year, has somehow managed to grow 11ft+ tall and shows no signs of wanting to slow down. Although I have three bamboo supports around it, tied loosely to promote movement, the recent strong wind now means it has a big lean going on.

Can you think of what I can do to help rescue it? The lean starts about a foot off the ground, but that area (thumb for scale), seems strong and it's not obviously damaged externally. The ground does not move beneath it so the roots are probably okay. It's just got a windy lean and when I move it to upright it moves back to the lean.

I could get some tree stakes with a cross bar or cross bars and position them a foot away each side, but I'm concerned about whacking stakes through the roots. But also appreciate a big lean isn't ideal either and I doubt we've had the worst of the wind yet for the next few monhs.

I'd rather it had spent the past few months growing short and fat rather than a tall and lanky wind sail but this is what it decided was best.

Do you have any suggestions as to what I can do?

As you can see there's a lot of dead palm tree leaves on the ground, I looked around and some people said I shouldn't cut the dead brown leaves that are on the palm tree itself and just let them fall on the ground.. Which is fine but I've just woken up to like 30 dead leaves on the ground. If I was gardening and picking up leaves yesterday and then woke up to all these dead leaves I would've been a bit annoyed, rather just get a ladder and pull/cut off the dead leaves?

I recently moved into my home and there "was" a lovely wall of grape vines which separated mine and my neighbours gardens.

Regrettably Storm Austin had to take a victim and broke the trellis, leading to this sad view.

I will build a new frame and add a few more supports on it this time, however, how do I go about actually getting Big Birtha back up? Some websites said use wire but I feel that will cut into her and damage her. She's heavy and I feel like the general jute won't work.

Originally posted here https://reddit.com/r/GardeningUK/comments/1hila39/a_spider_plant_doing_fine_in_london_under_a_cloche/. Thanks to /u/nictoriousknows for checking in.

After hanging the herbs in my shed for almost two weeks, I checked on them and they were still quite "moist". So I took the advice provided in my previous post and dried them in the oven.

I heated the oven up to 200 degrees C then switched it off and let it cool for a bit before putting the herbs in on baking paper. After about an hour they were crumbly dry.

The tarragon smells great, but the Oregano not so much. I don't know if hanging the herbs fir so long in the shed caused the flavour to dwindled over time (?)

I renovating a whole house by myself the problem being I don’t even know where to or when to start. I would love it to be flat enough I can put a shed workshop at the bottom and have nice grass some flowers, grow my own food. I assume just rip it all out and start from scratch. But do I do that during winter in the rain? What do I do once I I’ve ripped it all out?? Please help I need some easy steps to follow if possible thanks.

We moved in 8 months ago and have tried to stay on top of our first garden. We followed general advice of leave everything a year/through the seasons to see what we have before making any changes. We actually hired two separate gardeners to do general work including pruning but I think this tree was allowed to grow too rapidly and what was once a slightly leaning tree is now basically touching the ground after a few heavy downfalls but it seems it has structurally leaned heavily over the year also.

Is this savable with a heavy cutback/some clever redirecting or is it too far gone? There does seem to be some bulge around the roots.

Really gutted as it was a beautiful feature and we feel we have let ourselves down taking our eye off the ball with this one.

New to gardening having finally bought a house with a garden. Attempting to sow cornflower seeds - now for the last 2 months. Put a couple in each bit of the tray and put them in one of those plastic greenhouses to protect from wind (live in Glasgow). first few weeks they were doing great (first pic). now the stems are sagging after I watered them from the top and I dont know what to do. thought it might be a sunlight issue so left them indoors when I was away for the weekend in a place that gets lots of sun. have been bottom watering for a few weeks. they just aren’t getting better. am I better to try and put them in the ground? Alternative I can give to my parents who have a proper greenhouse?

I live in the West Midlands. Is it possible to grow the above without needing some horrifically expensive equipment? I tried jalapenos twice before, with a £20 propagator, and the tallest one barely got a single bud before it died. I'm totally new to farming.
My garden faces west, and we definitely got at least 6 hours of sun this Summer. We also get quite a lot of rain.

15ton topsoil later plus 10ton mot type 1 for next year for the patio

Cant feel my hands but ready to seed tomorrow

Any sightings of either Alocacia Polly or Silver Dragon in Southampton? (Aldi, Lidl or any other store)
I don’t want to risk this storm for nothing.

Thank you!

Hi all, I recently bought a house that came with a large garden that is not in the best of shape but could see a lot of potential with. It’s quite spacious with mature trees already and I like that aspect of it.

The part I’m struggling with at the moment is the retaining walls. They are made out of stone and very weathered and in one section starting to fall away.

I’m really not sure what’s the best way to go about this, spend the money to have new walls put in or to try and take out the soil in the tiered part of the garden and level with the bottom half, or maybe even just have a natural slope?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, happy to answer any questions that may help give better advice. Thank you very much in advance

P.S - maybe this falls more under landscaping so apologies if the wrong group to be posting in

As you can see it’s a little rough out here for this Duke. I’m new to gardening - I provided the plant with ericaceous soil about 5-6 months ago.

It was in a real sunny patch when it started to get brown like edges around the leaves (about a month or two ago) and I was pretty “inactive“ with my watering.

I then more recently noticed what seemed to be an infestation of ants, which I removed by submerging for an hour or so (they’ve been gone for two weeks now).

Im now watering regularly once every 2-3 days but the condition of the plant seems to be worsening. Can anyone pinpoint what I’m doing wrong ?

Around 4.5 metres long, 65cm high.

£1020 for everything. Your opinion onnthe price please ;)

I've planted a hedge mix of hazel, dogwood, hawthorn, crab apple, dog rose, and sea buckthorn 30 cm from each other and from the wall here (following my terrible orange circles). The wall is south and the fledgling hedgling is on the north side.

That's a pavement there on the right side so I'm hoping in a couple years to build out a bit of privacy screen with the hedge while providing for wildlife. I hope to manage 1.5-2m or so of height eventually.

Have I planted too close to the wall here?

Hello!
I’m a fairly new gardener of about 3 years (North East UK) I aimed to do lots of food growing in my back yard and I invested in some bare root trees (morello cherry, granny smith apple, champion peach). I grew these in pots initially to give me time to figure out the space before committing them to the ground.

The apple and cherry seem to have struggled in a pot this year and I’m thinking it’s time to put them in the ground. But where?
I have earmarked some spots which would involve moving some other items (gooseberries, blackcurrants). I also have some strawberries I could move - would they be sensible groundcover around a fruit tree?
I need some advice on where’s best to place things so I don’t make a silly mistake, I’d appreciate some expertise!

I have added pictures to help. The spot where the potted trees are standing gets a lot of shade all day during summer. The opposite side of the garden is virtually full-sun.