Reader Queries:

Q: My 9ft lawn is situated between a couple of houses and the garage. The soil is sandy, and I reseeded two years ago after removing the existing couch grass. I dug the top to 6in and sowed a general mix of seed, since when it has gone from bad to worse with a bumper crop of moss. Should I deep-dig and then add some topsoil, or is gravel needed — or even sand — before sowing more seed? In layman's lingo, what exactly should I do? - Mrs J. Greener, Poole, Dorset

A: Well, you might want to just get rid of it and replace it with paving or gravel over a weedproof membrane.

A lawn that size is not worth the effort of its maintenance, especially as it sounds starved, damp and shady, and in an unsuitable place to start with. People would say, no doubt, that grass is eco-friendly, but it will have to be cut, and for that you will need a powered mower, unless you have the not-inconsiderable skill to use a push-mower well. They will say this solution stops the land absorbing rainfall, but not if you leave wide, gravel-filled (and plantable) joints set on sand and gravel, surrounded by borders.

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Q: Last year I moved into a new property with a 10ft-high escallonia hedge separating the garden from our field and keeping out the east wind. Unfortunately, it is rather thin lower down, but is still quite bushy at the top. If we are prepared to forego flowers for this year, could it be trimmed at the top in the early spring and, if so, by how much? - D. Gordon, East Knoyle, Wilts

A: The beauty of escallonia is that it seems to sprout whatever you do to it and wherever you have cut it. But if you want the hedge to fill out at the base then you need to cut low down. Even if you were to cut the whole lot down now you will still get flowers later in the year.

If you are afraid to lose the short-term shelter and privacy such a measure would entail, cut down every second one. If that does not give you enough density at the base, cut down the rest next year.

Q: We are intending to grow our own vegetables. The best site for the vegetable plot would be near sycamore trees. Is the sap produced from the trees of any detriment to vegetables? — Mr A. Kaye, Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire

A: When it comes to growing anything near big trees, the greatest problems are shade, drought and starvation. Even wind is less problematic: think of the arable plains of Lincolnshire. Vegetables are factories, making leaf or root as fast as possible, and the whole process depends on turning light into energy, so an open but sheltered position is always best. To put right starvation, you can slap on the manure, compost and fertiliser. For dryness you can water, if it’s available. But shade — even if it only takes away direct sun for 2 or 3 hours a day — you can do nothing about. Grow veg elsewhere if you can. Problems from the roots? Growth inhibitors in the soil, of the kind produced by walnut trees? No. But if your veg patch begins to stretch under the sycamore canopy, then you will get the sticky “honeydew” fall-out from aphids. And that is a problem.

Q: I have a garrya elliptica which had wonderful catkins for about 2-3 years after planting. However, for the past two years it has not had one. I pruned it quite hard in early spring as I believe is recommended. It is on a west-facing wall. — Mr A. Rhodes, King’s Lynn

A: Sounds to me as if you may be cutting off the flower buds! The time to prune garrya is not in early spring but just after that, when the flowers have finished. To be fair, there may have been no flower buds; that’s probably because you were cutting too hard. Heavy pruning always produces vigorous leaf shoots at the expense of less vigorous flowering shoots. Your garrya probably flowered happily while it was filling its allotted space and required little pruning, but now it needs containment and begs for heavier pruning which stops it flowering. The same fate often befalls pyracantha; in that case, lack of flowers means no berries to follow. Prune gently, if necessary, and a little later.

Q: I have just moved to a brand new house and garden. It is very small, a wider garden than it it is deep. At the rear boundary there is a 6ft laurel hedge, facing north, which has been cut back on my side to accommodate a linked fence. The house behind is only about three feet away. Is there anything I can plant on my side of the hedge, as a straight line of green is so boring. — Mrs J. Lynch, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire

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