Planting in chalk
 

I know this is a bit off topic as it concerns a villa my dentist is
building in Cyprus.
He wants to know if he can dig a hoe in the solid chalk and grow trees
or large shrubs in the holes or will they just become sumps? Is there a
way of planting into something like solid chalk and keeping the plants
alive?

How deep, wide etc does it have to be, with what materials should he
fill the hole. There is now shade as yet and the weather is very warm
and dry.

Janet
p.s I got him the two Beth chatto books for some ideas.
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

Janet Tweedy wrote:
I know this is a bit off topic as it concerns a villa my dentist is
building in Cyprus.
He wants to know if he can dig a hoe in the solid chalk and grow
trees
or large shrubs in the holes or will they just become sumps? Is
there
a way of planting into something like solid chalk and keeping the
plants alive?

How deep, wide etc does it have to be, with what materials should
he
fill the hole. There is now shade as yet and the weather is very
warm
and dry.

Janet
p.s I got him the two Beth chatto books for some ideas.

Gosh! Should I have been getting presents for my dentist?

I've never done it, but I'd say chalk would be pretty well drained:
it's a very porous rock, and soluble, so that centuries of weather
will presumably have opened up lots of channels. I do suspect,
though, that he will have been sold a plot which wasn't much use to
the previous owner. He should study carefully what the locals do, of
course: they were growing things when we were trying to terrorise
mammoths.

Mike.

In article , Mike Lyle
writes

Janet
p.s I got him the two Beth chatto books for some ideas.

Gosh! Should I have been getting presents for my dentist?


Good heavens I meant I'd bought the books for him, he paid me the money
:) Though to be fair I've known him for years as we used to be in the
same weightraining and step classes. I think my teeth bills are actually
building the villa



I've never done it, but I'd say chalk would be pretty well drained:
it's a very porous rock, and soluble, so that centuries of weather
will presumably have opened up lots of channels. I do suspect,
though, that he will have been sold a plot which wasn't much use to
the previous owner. He should study carefully what the locals do, of
course: they were growing things when we were trying to terrorise
mammoths.

Well he says that it's open to the sun and looks out over the coast but
gets little rainfall in the area.
Is there a magical formula for deciding how big a hole to dig for a tree
or shrub?
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

In article ,
Janet Tweedy writes:
|
| I've never done it, but I'd say chalk would be pretty well drained:
| it's a very porous rock, and soluble, so that centuries of weather
| will presumably have opened up lots of channels. I do suspect,
| though, that he will have been sold a plot which wasn't much use to
| the previous owner. He should study carefully what the locals do, of
| course: they were growing things when we were trying to terrorise
| mammoths.
|
| Well he says that it's open to the sun and looks out over the coast but
| gets little rainfall in the area.
| Is there a magical formula for deciding how big a hole to dig for a tree
| or shrub?

No, but normal guidelines will be fine. That isn't the issue.

The dryest and (summertime) hottest chalk hills in the UK are
probably just south east of here. By Cyprus standards, they
are cold and wet - in a hot summer. It is not sensible to use
rules adapted to the UK for climates so different.

I would recommend getting some books like the Sunset New Western
Gardening Book, or equivalent ones produced for gardening around
the Mediterranean, in South Africa or Australia, because some
areas in those places have a very similar climate.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article , Nick Maclaren
writes

I would recommend getting some books like the Sunset New Western
Gardening Book, or equivalent ones produced for gardening around
the Mediterranean, in South Africa or Australia, because some
areas in those places have a very similar climate.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.


Thanks Nick, will direct him to those titles.
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk