Hear, hear! I have just discovered Bunny and what a delightful breath of fresh air she is! I especially admire that her science is sound and that her enthusiasm is in earnest and not over-the-top. Too many KZfaqrs confuse energy and enthusiasm with boisterousness.

I agree!

She is awesome!

🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇!

People are very reluctant to try new techniques and most garden books just rehash old info which does not help. But there is so much great new research it does really pay off to keep an open minded attitude. Also people make money out of selling tree stakes sadly 🐇

Hello Lynda

Similarly I have tried salt on some small cracks and gaps in my gardens hard surfaces that have a tendency to collect impossible to remove weeds and weed seed. I don’t actually mind if these tiny cracks become toxic to plants and it seems to both kill the plants and have a slightly protective effect for a while too, until it gets thoroughly washed out. Had no issues with run off or contamination so as with you and your vinegar - in the right circumstances I’m fine with this as a technique and for this purpose has been better than anything else I have tried - and like you said - not a known carcinogen!

New Scientist is good but many scientist complain is too popularist! I tend to work with a wide range of gardening related disciplines - soil scientists, arboriculturists, plant breeders etc and I am constantly picking their brains. Google Scholar is a brilliant search engine for published scientific papers, which is where I picked up on the new work on Rose Replant Disease . Hope this helps.

@@bunnyguinness Thank you

Irregular shape gravel such shaped like builders gravel is made to compact but there is a stone you can use that is made for drainage it is round, typically used in bonsai. A much larger version is used for pond builds in the wetlands filtration bay.

I usually put one crock or flat stone over the hole for exactly that reason 👍

Thank you.

Just tried this with two identical garden pots. Holy moly. No water at all ran out of the pot with pebbles and shorter column of soil. The one without pebbles, some water ran right through, as you would expect. I think gravel might be a good thing in pots in the heat of summer. Will try this when the time comes.

So sorry this has happened. I do not know what they have laid and it does not seem like a self binding gravel, or if it is I doubt that it has been laid correctly. If I were you I would remove the top 25mm or so and lay some Breedon gravel on the top. But please check with Breedon Enstone that they would agree that this would work. Breedon do 2 colours, I am sure they would send you a sample of each. I always get samples of gravel before purchasing (just as with top soil) as it avoids any disappointments. Hope you get it sorted.

Yes will do, one day! Many thanks for your comment.

@@bunnyguinness i absolutely cannot wait you are my garden design idol, thank you !!

from what I know of the chemistry, sulphate of iron is likely to *increase* the acidity, not decrease it. If your soil is beyond a certain pH, planting acid-loving plants is a losing battle , as you will constantly have to adjust the pH of the soil and the plants won't do as well. A reasonable pH-reducing soil amendment is composted pine bark & needles dug through and as a very thick mulch.

@@marcowen1506 thanks a million Marc. Yes PH reduction was what l meant. That's a good idea with the bark mulch. I'll give it a go! Thanks again for your reply. Happy Gardening 👍💚

I put the spent coffee grounds from my coffee cafetière on the soil as a slug barrier. It certainly helps deter slugs.they quickly rot down and then I add more.🐇

It depends how much rubble and what you want to grow. When I have areas like that I just lift the debris when they get in the way but if I wanted an amazing lawn I would probably too dress with green waste at every opportunity. If it was to be a border I would like green waste/compost on as a mulch 🐇

@@bunnyguinness Thanks for the quick reply. I have been planting some roses in the borders and noticed some debris that I took out. Between the roses will be perennials and seasonal flowers. I am planning to plant some grapes and make two vegetables beds (patches). Still no need to dig? Thanks for your time and consideration.

In uk we have ‘no mow May’ at moment to encourage people to have longer lawns and more wild flowers. We do have lawns, but ones with daisies, self heal, buttercups are growing in popularity. Prince Charles calls his lawns mown green spaces as he likes to pull in insects, butterflies etc. He does cut them with cylinder mowers though but does not add herbicides, fertilisers etc. They look pretty good. I wrote a book with him about Highgrove, his garden, a few years ago. Will maybe do a video on lawns but it is a big subject! Thanks for your comments.🐇

Use an ad-blocker.

@@convinth 💡Ahh, thanks!

Yes, apparently so but I never put very fresh wood chips as a mulch on plants as tannin will leach out and this can harm plants. Leave them in a heap for 3 months before using. Lawn mowers are another good source, although some have weed seeds in. Hope this helps🐇

@@bunnyguinness I put fairly fresh wood chips around my strawberry bed in a path and the strawberries exploded. Went from like five little bushes to a big mass, crawling out into the path itself. The chips might have been sitting for a month or two at the most. It was fall.

Thank you for the 'tannin ' warning. I have just bought some wood chipping and they are indeed a few months old.

Sorry, is my muffly voice! Might not have got pronunciation spot on either. He is Dr Mark Rieger.

Quite agree if the holes clogged the roots will rot. To stop it clogging I put a piece of terracotta crock over the hole, but I don’t put gravel at the bottom as well 🐇

A bit of a complex question! I suppose the first query is why did you want a flat pad for the whole space? Could you have worked more with the existing slopes and created some flat space but not everywhere? Designing with levels gives you great scope. It’s normal to remove the topsoil before you excavate, then you have a pile of decent topsoil to go back later. The subsoil is kept separately. I usually treat the area with glyphosate about 2 weeks before removing the topsoil so that it is much more weed free when it goes back. Before I put the topsoil back having formed the bee levels in the subsoil I check that the subsoil drains. If heavy earth moving machines have tracked over it and its clay based it may be impervious. In which case I use a machine with a deep blade to rip it to create drainage channels or I use a soil aerator such as those from Terrain Aeration which blasts air deep into the soil to break up pans etc. To correct you problem now though if you add green waste or compost to the top you will find you can quick quickly develop good soil. Hope this helps and apologies for long winded answer - am stuck in garage while car is being sorted! 🐇

​@@bunnyguinness Yes, very helpful and interesting, Bunny. The "proper" way to have done the work makes sense, and I appreciate the detailed explanation. Evidently, it behooves families to hire landscape professionals to work with the architect to site the home so the excavation contracts are proper. Lesson taken. Thanks so much, Janet :D

In réponse to your query, of the 12+ acres, this section was deemed best for a building pad and gardens. We still have lots of elevation changes on the rest of the property.

When you put in gravel in the bottom you are effectively changing the shape of the pot to a dumper one, this is what slows the drainage down. Added to which water does not move so well when going from compost to gravel. It does seem counterintuitive but the experiments were carried out methodically and correctly. Try it and see! 🐇

The taller pot has a larger column of water stored in the soil and hence higher hydrostatic pressure at the bottom, and this is what pushes the water out of the pot. By adding a layer of gravel, you reduce column height and pressure, and therefore drainage. Your comment about bonsai is, if you'll pardon me quoting you, a non sequitur as they do not use a layer of gravel underneath a layer of soil, but use a single layer of gravelly growing medium with very different drainage dynamics to soil.

@@marcowen1506 I think her little example raised more questions than it answered about gravel in the pots. If I had a science class, I would show this video to the kids and have them devise experiments to test what she said.

Bonsai growing medium is completely different from regular potting soil and a different style pot as well; that is an apple to orange comparison, you can go ask Peter Chan.

I just put one crock in the bottom to stop the compost dropping out 🐇

@@bunnyguinness well good, if that works, Iwill try it.

You don’t have to have a country estate to have a fountain though!

@@bunnyguinness 😂 so out of touch.

You’ve clearly missed the point

@@Johnnewtongardening above comment is for you

@@Biddybee maybe you could explain then as you are so informed.