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WHATS WRONG WITH MY GARDEN??
detainer
Posts: 25
Things are dying in my garden .
I have a small garden about 40 feet by 25 feet. Its well protected and a reasonably sunny aspect.
About 3 years ago my next door but one neighbour had a small ish tree die quite suddenly
My next door neighbours mature apple tree died within 6 or 8 months. the following year my own mature Rowan tree died. Both trees fruited well immediately before dying.
Both were cut down of course. Both were well established mature trees.
Then about 18 months ago my wife had a stroke and the garden got neglected for quite a while.
Now I see my rhodadendron bush is also dying. It flowered well earlier this year but now the leaves have turned brown and curled and the bark is wrinkled and brittle.
Next to it was a rose bush which has also died.
When i pulled the rose bush up i could see small orange / yellow spheres about 2 or 3 mm in diameter.
All the dead things are almost in a line with each other.
There are other plants and tress in the garden that seem to be fine
So my questions are.......
Whats going on ?
What are these small round balls under the rose bush?
Lastly, the top couple of inches of soil has the constituency of dust almost.
What can i do about it or how can i improve the soil?
Am I panicking over nothing ?
I dont know much about gardening as Im new to it all really and need some advice please.
Any help on this will be gratefully received.
MANY thanks
John
I have a small garden about 40 feet by 25 feet. Its well protected and a reasonably sunny aspect.
About 3 years ago my next door but one neighbour had a small ish tree die quite suddenly
My next door neighbours mature apple tree died within 6 or 8 months. the following year my own mature Rowan tree died. Both trees fruited well immediately before dying.
Both were cut down of course. Both were well established mature trees.
Then about 18 months ago my wife had a stroke and the garden got neglected for quite a while.
Now I see my rhodadendron bush is also dying. It flowered well earlier this year but now the leaves have turned brown and curled and the bark is wrinkled and brittle.
Next to it was a rose bush which has also died.
When i pulled the rose bush up i could see small orange / yellow spheres about 2 or 3 mm in diameter.
All the dead things are almost in a line with each other.
There are other plants and tress in the garden that seem to be fine
So my questions are.......
Whats going on ?
What are these small round balls under the rose bush?
Lastly, the top couple of inches of soil has the constituency of dust almost.
What can i do about it or how can i improve the soil?
Am I panicking over nothing ?
I dont know much about gardening as Im new to it all really and need some advice please.
Any help on this will be gratefully received.
MANY thanks
John
0
Posts
Could you show some photos, also are you in the U.K.
Key things are soil, water and sunlight. Right now your garden will have been gently cooking for a few months so that’s the likely factor in recent deaths.
The small round balls are likely to be granular slow release food.
I'd agree with @JoeX though - lack of water sounds like one of the main problems there, plus a lack of organic matter in various places. Rhododendrons and Rowans won't thrive if they're dry, for example. Rowans thrive in the edges of burns and lochs, or in inhospitable spots if it rains consistently.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I will admit that the garden has been neglected and has been lacking water i suppose.
I will start again if thats all it is.
Any thoughts on improving the soil quality?
Is it just a case of adding mulch or something or should i be adding fresh top soil?
I'm an absolute beginner as far as gardening goes so I hope youll forgive any stupid questions.
I'll try to take some photos see if that helps.
Once again many thanks for taking the trouble to reply.
You can buy it bagged in Garden Centres, and all you need to do is put it down as a mulch. Best to wait until you've had some decent rainfall as it can also help retain that moisture.
When deciduous plants are dormant, the rain also gets into the ground better. The covering of foliage can prevent even quite substantial rainfall getting in where it's needed
You can also mix in good quality compost, but the other great material is leaf mould. That's something you'd need to make yourself but you can look into that later if you want.
Some photos would help - if you click on the little icon that looks like hills, that's the one for photo uploading. Keep the pix smaller if you can as they load better.
No question is stupid - if you don't know, you don't know. At some point all of us 'didn't know'.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Here are a few pix to give you an idea of things if it will help. As you can see the garden is well sheltered and last night it rained heavily but this morning when i looked at the soil it was bone dry under the first inch or so as if it hadn't soaked in much at all.
Do you dig mulch into the ground or lay it over the soil?
Nothing will grow well in the part to the left as that conifer will take all the moisture and goodness out of the soil. If you have to leave it then you will need to water constantly around it, and put lots of manure or compost and chicken pellets there, although that could defeat the object as the conifer will say thank you for the encouragement.
Same goes for the one on the right hand side. They are not really suitable for small gardens.
Apart from those, the bed is looking good.
Unless it rains heavily, and very regularly where you live, a raised bed is always drier than the ground. Rain doesn't get through a canopy of foliage easily. The rhodo will definitely be struggling. Even several hours of rain can still leave ground dry under, and around, a conifer.
A mulch gets laid on top of soil - after watering - to help preserve moisture. It doesn't get dug in.
The balls are just slow release food
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
i think my next move could be to get a shred machine, several bags of compost and some bags of mulch or manure ........... see what the garden centers say?
Once the leaves start to fall I'll try making my own mulch i think.
Again thanks for the advice.