We're two aspiring but not successful gardeners in Warwickshire.

My ex-husband used to do all the gardening in the rather large garden we had previously and my current partner uses the excuse that as he previously lived in Scotland, there was no point in him trying to grow anything there.

Anyhow, we are currently renting a house which has lawned gardens to the front and back with borders surrounding. The soil is not particularly good, being full of stones and very heavy and claylike in areas.

My questions are, is there anyway that we can improve the drainage in the bad bits of soil? Also we cleared the borders out this morning from the reamains of the bedding plants my parents gave us for the summer. We would like to plant some bulbs but I'm worried that with the soil being a bit damp at the moment, they will just rot.

I know that these are really basic questions but we really are that useless at the moment!

Thanks,

B&B