Tips Hints and Ideas – Page 23

When you have cut down a tree but can’t dig out the roots what do you do? You can hire a chipper or grinder that will take way some of the root wood by chipping away. If it is a large old tree you may have hired someone to do the job for you but make sure they have agreed to remove the stump.
Some trees are treated by drilling holes and pouring in sodium chlorate or special treatments to encourage rapid rotting but I find them less effective. Cross cuts and chemical treatment may stop regrowth but rotting still takes ages.

Tree Stump Killer Chemicals

Lawn Mowers from Qualcast or Atco

August 12, 2009 hortoris

Lawn mowers by Royal appointment come from Atco who were selling the above mower in 1924. You will now pay more than Â£95 for a 30 inch cut without the suit, pipe or hat. With models named Royale and Balmoral you can see how little effort the marketing people take by letting the grass grow under their feet. (Turf out the sod who is making these grasstuitous comments).

Qualcast made my first push pull mower and it may still be in use on some postage stamp sized lawn. New machines from Amazon cost about Â£32, are retro chic, environmentally very friendly and they help you keep fit. Cylinder mowers give you the stripes in the grass that are the hall mark of a manicured Lawn.

Weed Control Tips

August 10, 2009 hortoris

To prevent weeds from germinating on your vegetable patch mulch with an old carpet, black polythene or even cardboard.
Regular hoeing is the best way of keeping weeds down and stopping annuals weeds from setting seed. Pick dry weather to avoid spreading cuttings or the weeds into damp soil.
Do not compost Elder or other pernicious weeds whose roots may survive.
Dig out deep rooted weeds like Dandelions and Docks, you may be able to fashion a special tool out of apple corer or potato peeler.
Put your plants close together to deprive weeds of light to germinate
Try not to spread weed seeds yourself. Grass clippings may be full of seeds and many seedheads like foxgloves and dandelions will not compost fully.
Beware some ornamental plants can self sow like weeds – I have loads of foxgloves and forget-me-nots that are my weeds.

For weeds in a lawn try a combined weed and feed but wait until April when the grass and weeds are growing strongly.

For persistent weed problems you may have to resort to a chemical weed killer. Beware these weed killers do not know the difference between your prize plants and weeds – they kill that is why they are named killers.

Systemic Roundup kills most garden weeds with a single application, Once dry children and pets need not be excluded from treated areas. Fully degrades in soil by microbial action leaving no harmful residues to allow replanting.

Plugs For Growing Seedlings

August 6, 2009 hortoris

In early Spring I bought some Zinnia plants as very small plugs. They have been a splash of stripy colour for several weeks now and with a bit of deadheading look set to on and on.

Yesterday I saw some ‘plugUgrow’ plants of early spring flowers .Â I thought it would save me time and effort compared to seed sowing buying some Primroses and Violas, to say nothing of the certainty over germination.There was a fair selection of Winter Pansies and Violas but I opted for 24 Plum Velvet F1 Violas that are a deep purple with a mauve center according to the picture. The Primrose Terracotta Shades came in packs of 12 and were larger plugs and better plants.Â I hope the flowers are as seductive as the picture suggests.

Plug Aftercare

If the compost is totally dried out or the gel is no longer supplying water to the plants I would give them a gentle water and leave for a couple of hours. My plugs were damp.
On the day of purchase, with a short stick I pushed through the bottom of the plug to ease the plant out and potted it into a 3″ pot already filled with multipurpose compost.
After a gentle watering at the base of the pot to help bedding in I put 15 pots to a seed tray in shade and shelter and will leave them for a few days to recover from repotting.
When I have space in the garden the plants will be well established with a good root system and they can be planted in their flowering position.
I will plant them close together to make a small mass of blooms of the same variety rather than have a pepper pot approach.
If the colours and plants habits are suitable I may allow them to survive as perennials but if they do not appeal I can compost them after floweringÂ and I am only down Â£2.50 per Plug pack.

Tip – for little more than the price of a packet of seeds, plugs can guarantee 24 plants germinated and ready to pot on or plant out directly. It isÂ a quick and easy way to a patch of glorious colour.

Growing Blinking Big Beetroot

August 5, 2009 hortoris

There are many different kinds of Beet and that is the root of the problem. Beetroot Bulls Blood shown above isÂ ornamental, edible and is a heritage variety worth seeking out. Seakale beet, Chards and Spinach beet are grown for their edible leaves and the young green leaves of all Beetroot can be eaten in a salad. However we want big roots to make our eyes blink.

Growing Big Beetroots

Soil should be deeply cultivated in Autumn with plenty of humus and or peat incorporated. Do not use farmyard manure to avoid canker and aim to keep the ph level below 6 as beetroot do not like lime.
In spring ridge up the soil to about a foot high with 2 feet between rows. Prize plants will eventually need 3 feet spacing.
Sow the seed in groups of 3 at the top of the ridge in late spring keep the ground moist until germination. Expect 4 months growing time for the big beetroots.
When seedlings reach 2 inches thin out to two plants per station. From each seed several plants may have grown as each seed is really a clusters of seed.
Key Tip. One evening when the beetroot are 6″ high carefully scratch away the soil on the ridges away from the roots leaving only the tips of the root in the soil and the plant laying on the ground looking half-dead. Water the plant and soil and next morning they will have recovered and be working extra hard by swelling to survive.
As they swell thin out for a final time to 3 feet apart. Feed with a balance liquid feed from mid-summer and use a heavily dilute foliar feed from summer in addition.
Giant Beetroot are weighed without soil or foliage but may be you are just going to turn them into soup and chutney.

In August 2008 the Times online reported ‘Ian Neale … once grew the world’s biggest beetroot at 51lb 9oz (there is no metric system in the world of giant veg) – gets his monsters off to a good start by feeding them rock dust, essence of pig slurry and a material called â€œdinosaur fertiliserâ€, from a â€œbig pile on the top of a moor in Yorkshireâ€.Â Will August 2009 top that weighty tale and will 2010 be your year to top 50lbs?

Know Your Onions

August 3, 2009 hortoris

The necks of my Onions have just ‘gone over’ a bit earlier than usual but that could be down to the heavy rain we have had during July. Harvesting is a simple affair as I have pulled the Onions away from the soil to break the roots and left them in the sunshine to dry off. Shortly I will tie them to a string (like the old french onion sellers on the bicycles with hooped Breton shirts and berets) and string them from the garage roof to store (the onions not the French).

In ground that had early peas I am going to sow some August Onions such as Ailsa Criag the mild flavoured favourite or Reliance (I may transplant these seedlings or just thin them this year). Since I did well with over wintering Japanese Onion varieties I will also try find some sets of Express Yellow or Kaizuka or sow them where they will crop. Lastly in September I will plant a row of spring onions.

Shallots can wait until early spring around March time as can the smaller ‘Paris Silver Skin’ pickling onions. In spring I will again plant some main crop sets of both red and white onions as they have all earned there place in the veg garden by cropping well this year.

Tips

Onions like firm well prepared soil in the sun. Give the ground chance to settle.
For Autumn sowings rake in 3 oz per square yard of general fertilizer before sowing.
For spring planting rake in 4oz bonemeal & 2 oz of Sulphate of Potash per square yard in February.
Pickling onions do best in light unmanured soil.

Pruning Flowering Shrubs the Easy Way

July 20, 2009 hortoris

Spring Flowering Shrubs that have finished flowering can be pruned in early summer. My Spirea were trimmed of flower heads and pruned of about one third of the old wood down to the ground this weekend. Hopefully also taking out weak growth and crossing branches will provide space for strong new stems to flower next year.

Forsythia was pruned after flowering back in April and other shrubs to now receive this treatment include Philadelphus, Ribes, Deutzia and Weigela. Weigela gets a lighter prune to encourage an Autumn flush of blossom. Rhododendrons (above) do not need pruning but I give them the once over to remove any problems.

Late summer flowering shrubs should be pruned next spring to encourage new flowering wood. Buddleja can be heavily pruned but avoid cutting into really old wood. Dogwoods should be stooled or cut bach toÂ about 10 inches high.Â Choisya I just give a trim after flowering to retain shape and control the size but if they are putting on to much growth I will sacrifce flowers and prune early. Winter flowering Viburnum and Witch Hazel do not need much pruning so I tend to leave well alone.

Pruning Aims to achieve regular production of flowers and to keep a shrub healthy. A balance between old and new wood helps flowering. Creating space for light air and growth helps a plant remain healthy. Cutting back to a leaf or stem joint shapes and trains a shrub to do what the gardener wants.

After pruning care includes a dressing of blood fish and bone and a good mulch of compost. This will help the shrub replace all the wood it has grown and lost to my secateurs.

RHS

BBC Gardening Plant Finder

Hover Mowers & Safety

July 6, 2009 hortoris

Hover mowers are quick and easy to use but they do not leave stripes in your grass. The motor mowers for long grass are an excellent way of clearing space like a hovering scythe. The electric Hover mowers are fine for small lawns and are far lighter than most other lawnmowers but they are unlikely to collect up the cut grass.

Before Using Your Mower

Read the instruction book, it may seem obvious but best to be prepared.
Fill the petrol tank before you start as pouring petrol into a hot engine can be as dangerous as smoking.
Examine the area to be cut for stones, bits of metal, toys or pets.
Set the cutting height, not too short!
When starting the machine keep it still, perhaps by putting your foot on the hood.

While Mowing

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Tips for Annuals

June 21, 2009 hortoris

Whatever annuals you choose to grow there are several ways to get the best from them in your garden.

Control Annual Seeding

Annual plants raison d’Ãªtra (reason for being) is to procreate and help the species survive. Use this to your advantage by stopping your annuals setting seed. If annuals set seed it is a sign the job is done and flowering will stop.
Pick flowers for indoors, Sweet Peas can be picked every day to encourage new flowers and prevent early demise of the plant. Alternatively trim, deadhead or shear off old flowers as they go over but prior to setting seed to get a new flush of flowers.
If you wish to collect seed for next year wait until late August when plants will begin to stop producing new flowers anyway as the days get shorter.
Water and space are probably more important than feed. Some plants like poor soil to encourage flowering, Nasturtiums for example will produce a lot of leaf if the soil is too rich and fewer flowers.
Cut off flower heads of annuals you do not want to crop up everywhere. Teasels, Honesty, Welsh Poppies andÂ Bellis Daisies seem to get everywhere in my garden.
Pull out old plants and compost them when you have finished with them. Replace with some biennials for a quick show next spring or plant up some late flowering Asters or Chrysanthemums.

Remember some plants may be half-hardy perennials, like the AntirrhinumÂ but are best treated as Annuals and should be grown for one flowering year only. Annuals make good cut flowers and have a fast range of colours from which to choose.

Other Resources

Royal Horticultural Society RHS ‘Gardening for All’
National Council for Conservation of Plants and Gardens ‘Conservation through Cultivation.’
Garden Organic National Charity for Organic Gardening.
BBC Gardening
Buy Daisies and other annuals as seeds and plants at Thompson & Morgan

Companion Planting

June 18, 2009 hortoris

‘Good Companions’ by J B Priestley is not a gardening book but it might well have been as it is a tightly observed text on relationships and how one supports the other. Three main reasons for companion planting are mutual feeding, aesthetic considerations and technical or horticultural reasons. Many people will grow Marigolds or Tagetes in close proximity to Tomato plants to distract white fly.

Good Companions

Good companions also act as living mulches suppressing weeds andÂ keeping the roots nice and cool.
Form and texture combinations can work well such as spiky Phormiums with the glaucus leaves of Sedum.
I like to vary the height with companion planting using annuals like Alyssum or ground cover under taller shrubs and trees.
Colour combinations are a whole subject too themselves. Complementary colours or contrasting colours it is your choice but a bit of thought and some serendipity will help.

Companions for Roses.

Garlic bulbs are said to ward off aphids and other members of the onion family such as chives, ornamental alliums are rumored to increase the perfume of roses and prevent black spot.
The purple and blue-grayÂ Nepeta Catmint or the lime green Alchemilla works well with any pale pink roses and the wispy spires gracefully camouflage any blemishes that may occur on the roseâ€™s foliage.
Herbs and other aromatic plants make wonderful rose companions.Â Lavender, scented Geraniums, Feverfew, Parsley and Thyme may suit.
Tomatoes allegedly prevent black spot but not many people will be inclined to combine roses and tomatoes.

Bad Companions

Not all combinations work;Â Beans and Onions do not coexist very well.
Strawberries and Tomato will not do as well with brassicassuch asÂ Cabbage.
Cucumbers are tempremental when planted near Potatoes or strong herbs.
Watch out in your garden and see what ornamental plants make Bad Companions and let us know what you discover.