h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi John, just thought I'd drop by as I've just read through your excellent horticulture entries and if you don't mind, from time to time I'd love to partake of any advice you might like to give me on the old gardening front. I have no books as yet to help me as that would at the moment inevitably lead to clashes with christmas presents I am bound to get (my family have got wind of my recent obsession )

Around 15 months ago I bought my first house and inherited a rather large and spectacular garden, both front and back. When I looked the property over I remarked that I had not the first clue about gardening but was assured that it was pretty low maintenance. I must say I'd hate to have a high maitenance garden! It's already given me three days off work with a bad back - a situation that led to me buying my first spade

Anyway, I thought at first this meant I'd only have to do the odd bit of pruning and weeding but it turned out not to be the case. After a few months of loveliness it turned into a jungle of dandelions and buttercups which threatened to overwhelm me if I did nothing about it. So I bought some tools and set about a major weeding excersise. It quickly became apparent that it would be much easier simple to rip it all out and start again and so that is what I did and a gardening obsession was born. I always thought I'd hate it but it is in fact rather enjoyable.

When I say I ripped it all out, that really means out of two or three borders in fact, the rest of my garden is full of pretty mature perennial bushes and trees that form a nice mix. Or at least they do now. My first lesson was 'don't plant to many things' Not my own mistake, it was that of my predecessors in the house. Halfway through the year it became apparent that there were far too many of these bushes and that they were growing into one another and killing each other. I therefore set about ripping some out (which I did bare handed - hence the bad back prior to buying a good spade), which was a shame as some were very nice trees and bushes, but unfortunately I did not have the space for all.

So, my first question. One particularly attractive tree I had to remove I gave to my girlfriend for her garden as I thought it too much of a shame to kill it. Unfortunately I had to chop two major roots to remove it and after a while in its new home it has almost completely wilted. It is an evergreen fir tree, similar to a christmas tree. It's branches splay out horizontally (almost perfectly horizontal) and its spines are bright green with a white underside , giving it a lovely frosty appearance when in its growth season. Its overall shape is very conical, much like a child would draw a classic christmas tree. Nowadays, as I said it looks virtually dead, however, it does still have, some four months later a few green spines shich suggest to me that it is still alive.
Do you think there is any hope that it will return to its formal glory or should I just remove it as a bad job and give her cutting from one of my hydrangea bushes instead? It would be a shame to kill it, but that may already have been done I fear.

Just in case you're interested, the borders I dug out I experimented with many annual flowers plus in one I planted a peony and in another an Orange Starburst Lily. These turned out a storming success and next year, instead of buying ready made trays of infants I shall try growing them from seeds as I have a greenhouse to help me with this. I'm sure your propogation article will again be consulted at this time .
BTW, my peony seems to have gone brown and wilted in the cold weather we're having now (I'm in the UK BTW) - is this normal?

Anyway, hope you didn't mind reading through this long epistle and I hope you can help.



Orcus-the budding-Gardener

Oh-oh, it looks like the gardening bug has bitten.

Hmmm... your tree could be a fir, balsam fir perhaps. I wouldn't give up on it yet. Generally, the autumn is a good time to transplant conifers, which do most of their growing in the spring. You could give it a little added protection against winter winds by wrapping it in hessian. In any event, I'd be inclined to wait until next spring before taking any drastic action. Where there's life there's hope, after all.

Herbaceous paeonies die back each year, so the brown tops are nothing to be concerned about. It's a good practise to cut them off and discard them though, because paeonies are susceptible to a number of foliage diseases. There are tree paeonies which you would treat pretty much like any other shrub; but I'm guessing that yours is not one of this sort.

From your description your new garden promises a wealth of gardening adventures. I'm sure you will have a lot of fun with the greenhouse. Sifting through stacks of seed catalogues is a great way to pass the dreary winter days. Some catalogues are quite good reference sources too... Cheaper than the book shop. Gardening books can become every bit as as addictive as gardening... perhaps even more so.

Thanks for the kind review of my hort project. I had my doubts as to whether or not I could actually do it; and it was rather a reflief to find the information still there, covered in dust.



JTG

Thankyou

Aha, now I have a name to look up. That is one of the major problems I have, I don't have any idea what half the stuff in my garden is. I'm glad you think it might survive, I received a freezer for my kitchen in exchange for that tree and I would hate for the bargain to be too one sided
I suspected the paeony thing was natural but it's nice to be sure. After the instructions telling me it would take up to three years to flower, it dying in the first winter wouldn't have pleased me too much.

No problem with the review, there is indeed a wealth of information there that I'm sure will be good for other newcomers to gardening here

Balsam Fir...well the shape of the tree from piccies I've seen on the net now isn't quite right but the structure of the spines and branches is so identical that I believe you have correctly identified the tree. I guess the shape depends on how and where it's grown anyhow.

Nice work Sherlock

Thanks. No refunds if it turns out that I'm wrong though.

Most conifers tend to loosen up to some degree as they age, pines especially. They start out as compact cones, and develop charecter as they age, like people... except for the cone part.

JTG