By Mollysheba
South Yorkshire,
United Kingdom 
I would just like to say a very big thank you to everyone who has given advice - much appreciated! I'm afraid although i love pottering in the garden i am rather a novice, but since moving to our new home (with the laburnum tree!) i am trying to make a big effort to keep it tidy and make my 'mark' on it. Sadly, my parents died last year and i had to sell their house but my dad loved his garden and i brought some plants with me to plant at my home and help remember him by. These are the plants i were hoping to put next to the laburnum but i would hate them to die so after all your suggestions i think i will experiment with other plants before i risk it! Two of the plants i brought from dads garden i think are a member of the crysanth family?? - one is pink and one is purple - smaller flowers, very pretty and long lasting, seems to spread quickly, low growing, bushy type spreads outwards. I may try a cutting and see what happens!Im afraid i dont understand soil type - how do i determine that? One suggestion was to mulch -can you tell me with what medium? (I told you i was a novice!)
Thanks again to everyone who has helped. I have never done anything on the internet like this before and im amazed that people want to help!
1 Nov, 2011
Answers
The simplest way to tell what soil you're likely to have is by looking around at other gardens nearby to see what they're growing - if they have blue flowered hydrangeas, healthy Camellia, Pieris, japanese Acers and bright or dark green leaved (rather than pale and yellowish) Skimmias growing happily in the ground, its on the acid side. If you see any hydrangea with murky pinky/lilac flowers, its on the alkaline side. Truly pink flowered hydrangeas aren't much help, so ignore those. You may first have to google pics of the plants I mention so you know what to look for, lol!
On the subject of mulch, depends what you're wanting it for - if you just want to enrich the soil using the no dig method by spreading it out, and the mulch is going to be garden compost, or soil conditioning compost or manure based compost, you can get it down now, but actually, it is best done in spring other than round any not so hardy plants. Laid in spring on soil which has been turned over, weeded and is nice and moist, it helps heat the ground, and to retain moisture once the weather gets dry, and suppresses weeds.
1 Nov, 2011
Could you post a photo of plants you'd like identified Molly? Your pink and purple ones sound like Michaelmas Daisies (Aster family), but it's much easier to ID from a pic. Please show flowers if possible, leaves and the whole plant to show its form. Thanks.
I read on here today that mulching is best done in spring, but I do it anytime, whenever my composter that's been rotting down has to be emptied cos the other one is full. As you can tell, I mulch with garden compost. You can also use spent mushroom compost, bark chippings or other bought in material, but I've never done that.
To work out what sort of soil you have you'll need to have a good look at it and do a few simple tests, like digging it or watering it and observing what it's like. You can find this in lots of books and websites, here's one -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/htbg/module1/soil_types1.shtml
1 Nov, 2011