Mark McNee

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  • Taking over an established garden – where to begin

    Most people when they buy a new house find they are taking over an existing garden and this will present certain challenges; you have after all bought their house not their tastes. It is therefore inevitable not everything in the garden you are going to like and/or want. It is reasonable to assume on first…

  • Acer palmatum var. dissectum

    Acer palmatum var. dissectum

    Acer palmatum var. dissectumis a much used garden plant where something striking but delicate is wanted. Much loved in “Japanese” style gardens where it mixes well with gravel and boulders, a position which allows it to be ground in isolation so as to show off its dome of draping branches.  They are slow growing bushes…

  • Cutting your new lawn

    Now you have got the garden down to grass you have time to get on with the other pressing jobs about the house while you think about what you are going to do with the garden. Obviously the new lawn will need some attention during the summer and not just cutting it – but we…

  • Soil water

    This is simply the water in the soil, but it is a very important and complex mixture of chemicals dissolved in water.

  • Alkaline

    This is a water based solution which has a Ph above 7. Most alkaline soils (also called basic soils) lie in the range 7 to 9.

  • Acid

    This is a water based solution which has a pH below 7. Most acid soil lie in the range of 7 to 5 though some peat soils may be lower.

  • Turfing a lawn

    Turfing a lawn

    It’s often said that you don’t need to prepare the ground for turfing as well as if it is to be sow. I don’t believe this is the case as in both cases the better the area is prepared the smoother the finished lawn will be. Again the surface needs to be cultivated, raked and…

  • The Gardener’s Guide to Growing Ivies by Peter Q. Rose

    Anyone who dismisses ivies as just green climbers should take the time to look through this book by Peter Rose. The current 1996 edition is still in print and regarded as a standard work on the subject of garden Ivies. Peter Rose (1916 – 1997) gained a National Diploma in Horticulture at Wisley before working…

  • Sowing a lawn

    Measure the area to be made into a lawn, BEFORE you set off and read my post “The great grass seed swindle!” I won’t repeat myself here but I would rate knowledgeable sales staff as being way more important than the prettiness of the packaging the seed comes in. One containing a rye grass cultivar…

  • pH

      In simple terms this is how acid or alkaline something is – only a water based solution can have a pH. A pH of 7 is neutral, below 7 is acidic and above 7 is alkaline. The only way to know the pH of a soil is to measure it, either by adding it…