Ask Gerry

I am a complete garden novice, but recently rotavated a quarter acre of land & am now raking out the weeds...the level of the garden has gone down a couple of inches...As I am on a zero budget, should I sieve out the old soil & bring the level up & then spray with weed killer? The soil is wet, bog soil with about 4-5 hours sun / day...What plants / shrubs can you advise to drink up the excess moisture?

Recently have moved into house with a small garden pond, about 1.5m diameter. As I have absolutely no experience in Pond maintenance, could you help me out please? there already seems to be some algae or other matter formin on the surface. There is some greeenery growing in the pond also.

I am having trouble with moss continually appearing on tarmac & paths even when treated with proprietry brands Are there any more powerful & longlasting chemicals which kill moss and then have the same effect as simazine in stopping moss reappearing.

I'm planning a pond, about 10 x 3 mtr, wha is a bit wide for standard lining sheets. So, I'm thinking of using clay. Where to get the right type of clay, and helpful instructions on how to do that?

The ice was at least 4" thick on my pond (approx size 2m across x 1.5m deep) during the freeze in January. Unfortunately when it thawed out there are lots of dead frogs in it. I never had this happen before and we would get quite a lot of ice most years. I thought frogs usually wintered out of the pond. Do you have any idea why this happened?

I have a small rectangular patch with only soil in a long deep raised bed at the end, dotted near the patio door will be planters, also in a corner a water feature surrounded by planters and logs. with no outdoor tap and being disabled, can you get a simple thread system kit which could give a slow watering to my garden/patch areas and yet not waste precious water as i like to be eco friendly and all that sort of thing.

I have concrete, so a water barrel surrounded with stones and terracotta pots, plus two large bits of tree trunks i want to biodegrade to encourage nature.I would like a small water lily (pink/white) but what nice grass can i also include in the barrel and maybe a third different shaped plant? also in the surrounding pots i hope to plant plants that will 'wander and creep' over all things, including the trunks. I have bought some sedums and also 'golden oats' I love textures so that is what i want to create around this feature.7

Can you please tell me what I should use to remove algae from pebbles I have along paths and driveway ?

What can I do with my back garden (on a slight slope down towards house) after all the rain, snow and ice has left it VERY marshy. There is already a French drain in garden (got job done in garden 6 months ago). Garden feels like a bog when we walk on it. I wouldn't even be able to cut the grass until it has dried up a bit.

I built a house on a sloping site approx 10 years ago. I wanted to raise one section at the base of the site near the road exit. I asked the excavator at the time to strip back the topsoil, increase the depth of the subsoil and replace the same topsoil again. When i got back the job was complete and he said he had to use additional topsoil i had on the site. No problems of course until he is paid and out the gate. Soil settles, rain comes and year after year a person cannot even walk the lawn its so wet and soggy. The surrounding lawn is bone dry except for the raised section. I decided to dig some deep trial holes in the area in question and this confirmed the worst. So now i have a later of topsoil, a layer of subsoil (10") and then the original topsoil again below that. Firstly would this explain the wet ground and secondly have i any option except the obvious and strip back the ground again?

My patio area is small, my ideas BIG, i have learnt a lot through reading and shall chose two flower colours , pinks and whites and varients, plus various green vegetation. But as it stands i feel it will be too cluttered.where can i find a person who is knowledgeable who can just view it to give simple advice to hone down.i am severely disabled and new to gardening but its now a mega passion!

I have bird feeders in my garden (a built up area) but no birds (except magpies) are coming to feed.Is there anything else I can put up to attract small birds? My garden is very small. (Feeders have seeds, fatballs, and nuts).

I live in an estate with a down ward slope into my back garden.my neighbours gardens are paved so any rainwater flows into mine from theirs,leaving mine left waterlogged!Its like marsh ground in the moors,its even full of rushes!I was wondering could you possibly advise me on the most effective way of draining the water or even incorperating it into a pond/water feature of some sort.I have a limited budget but an enthusiastic workforce.

We have a lawn at the back of our house, and one corner can be very wet in winter and spring. Are there plants that i can put in, to soak the water? i want low lying plants that will not block our view from the back window in our kitchen. the area is about 10ft by 5ft approx. i thought about a small pond but the area is too small.

My father is eldery and has decided to lay stone chips down on the grass to save him having to cut the grass in the future. The level of the grass in terms of the pathway is low enough that we don't have to take off the top layer of grass. QUE: Should we kill the grass before we lay the horticultural fleece and if so, what should we use? It would be the intention in the Spring to cut holes in the fleece and plant shrubs.