Mark McNee

Author: admin

  • Sequestered Iron

    When plants are grown in a soil which is to alkaline for them they suffer from iron deficiency as a result of the effect the pH has on the nutrients which are available to plants growing in it. Sequestered iron is iron in a form which is not affected by the pH and so it…

  • Making a seed/turf bed

    Having selected a suitable machine and made sure you are familiar with how to operate it; the time has come to get our hands dirty. Before you go diving in stop a moment and take time to create a plan of action. Your soil should be moist, too wet and you will destroy the delicate…

  • Betula utilis var. jacquemontii

    Betula utilis var. jacquemontii

    If you are looking for a tree for a small garden this selection of the Himalayan birch would be a good choice. B. jacquemontii differs from the B. utilis in its outstanding white bark. Never making a large tree the light foliage doesn’t cast troublesome dense shade. Betula utilis var. jacquemontii bark The white peeling…

  • Cultivating the ground

    Ok, so we’ve decided to put the garden down to grass and decided if we are going to use seed or turf. Now it time to start. Get your weed killer out and CAREFULLY read the instructions. This will tell you if you need to dilute the chemical, by how much, what to use to…

  • Is lime poisonous to Rhododendrons?

    The pH confusion People get terribly worried about lime near Rhododendrons, to the extent that some people insist that you should never water ericaceous plants with hard water. The problem is the whole soil pH thing courses all sorts of confusion. So let’s ignore all that’s been said before and start from the very beginning.…

  • Ericaceous

    This is a catch all term for plants which need acidic soil to grow in.

  • Botanical Latin

    Botanist quickly found Latin lacked words they needed to describe the parts of a plant, the Romans having never seen any need to do such things, so they modified the language for their own needs. The school Latin you may have learnt  has evolved considerably since the Romans; to the point a Roman would hardly…

  • To drain or not to drain that is the question.

    To drain or not to drain that is the question.

    When faced with an area of waterlogged garden the solution put forward is always to put a drain in, as if digging a trench and putting in a length of perforated pipe will magically make the problem go away. If only life was so easy. If you are going to drain a piece of ground…

  • Soil

    What soil is should at first sight be pretty self evident but to a soil scientist, yes there is such a person (they study soil), soil is a very complex thing. The problem is we all tend to overlook soil; it’s that muddy stuff in the garden. It is though a complex and delicate ecosystem…

  • Brick

    A small regular building unit traditionally made from fired clay but occasionally concrete. They have been used for thousand of years in various sizes and still are available in a range of sizes; with different standard sizes in different countries. In addition to the normal cuboid shape bricks are also many  other shapes available for…