Specialty Gardening: By special request., 1 by wallaby1

wallaby1 wrote:
Thank you all, a pleasure to share. Edges, they can be pesky things. I go around with the back edge of my hand trowel when undesirables start creeping in, and the grass is only rough stuff with all sorts growing in it, it can be a little bothersome for a while but after doing it for 2 or 3 years they start to behave better. I have a weed which sends out long thin runners and shoots up all over, it loves newly dug soil, and makes red seeds.

I also put my own leaf/grass cuttings compost on the beds, most of them have had one good mulching and some are really due for another but it is needed elsewhere for a while yet. I do have a lot of compost due to tons of Horse Chestnut tree leaves, I keep 2 large bins on the go and leave one to mature/top up while I use the other, no special treatment just time. The compost helps to keep the soil friable, plants love it as it keeps in moisture, provides some food and the plant roots have a good growing medium making for healthy plants. It also plays a large part in keeping down weeds.

Moles can be a nuisance, they tend to go along the edges of beds for their worms which live under grass edges and come out at night to munch on leaves, but I have to live with them eating my healthy worms!

Osteospermums that I have are hardy and multiply, the white one is more rampant but controllable. The purple one has grown really well but some twitch grew through it so much I had to lift it last year and replant, it doesn't have much spread space as it's in the bottom point of the rose bed and some get mowed off the sides.

See if I can find Tradescant, which has been slow to grow but last year I had a nice little 'standard'.