Gardeners Tips

I was caught by the headline ‘On the Eighth day God Created Allotments

With new interest in researching allotments I came across this fantastic picture with lots of detail. ‘Back garden, spring 2008 by Darkroom Daze’ has been made available under a creative commons license CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. Here is some of the supporting detail but you can find more by clicking the picture thanks to Darkroom Daze.

‘NOTE ON THE GARDEN
The garden was very plain and bare when we arrived in 1985. We have been developing the design gradually since then, but not from a single pre-planned conception. Eventually we developed the overall shape, with a ‘winding river’ effect made by the lawns and path. The shapes of the rockeries, planting and other features are based on the way a small stream winds between ‘interlocking spurs’ in hilly terrain. We did all the planting, and I built many of the features. For further history of our garden, see set description for ‘OUR BACK GARDEN’

FEATURES (also noted on photo if viewed with flickr)
– Arbour – R foreground, only slat-roof visible, assembled from flat-pack.
– Garden railway – L foreground, on Water Rockery, G-scale 45mm gauge.
– Path – of reclaimed York stone laid in ‘crazy’ style by local landscaper, late Mr. Rogers, to our own winding design, shortly after we arrived in 1985.
– Temple of Juno garden shed – centre L, with white portico and shingled roof, built by me in sections out of reclaimed timber (“Rosen Wanted”) at a previous house, brought here and extended with portico, and finished by joiner Steve Cruse.
– Upper Rockery (Railway Rockery) – lower centre, with evergreen and alpine planting, and Upper Loop ofGarden Railway (not visible here), built myself of various kinds of stone in simulated geological structure.
– Valrosa Cabin workshop – centre background, brown, fully insulated, completed earlier in the year by Acer Landscapes.
– Water Rockery – centre L, with pumped water course, upper pools, cascades, and lower loop of garden railway, though only the railway is visible here. Almost all built myself.

PLANTS (also noted on photo)
– Buxus sempervirens – jelly-mould box-hedge, centre L foreground.
– Chamaecyparis, columnar, not sure what species or form – in neighbour’s garden to L, along the fence.
– Chamaecyparis – probably C. lawsoniana, Lawson’s cypress, ‘Stewartii’ or ‘Westermannii’ – neighbours’ tall bright conifer, R centre.
– Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Squarrosa’ – Sawara cypress, centre L immediately in front of Temple of Juno portico.
– Clematis armandii – evergreen climber on fence behind arbour, lower R. Looks reddish because this is colour of new spring shoots.
– Clematis cirrhosa var. balearica – growing over old apple tree stumps. centre L foreground.
– Cotoneaster frigidus – centre L in front of Temple of Juno.
– Escallonia macrantha – two shrubs shaped into an arch over side path, L side only visible here, centre R.
– Juniperus scopulorum ‘Skyrocket’ – pillar juniper, centre R.
– Lonicera japonica – Japanese honeysuckle, evergreen, closest part of R hedge.
– Lonicera nitida ‘Baggesen’s Gold’ – lower centre R, between path and arbour.
– Origanum vulgare ‘Aureum’ – golden marjoram, at front of Upper Rockery along the path, lower centre.
– Phormium tenax probably ‘Rainbow Queen’ – New Zealand flax, the spiky plant just R of centre foreground.
– Picea glauca var. albertiana ‘Conica’ – dwarf white spruce, two of them, one behind the other, lower centre by path.
– Picea glauca var. albertiana ‘Conica’ – dwarf white spruce, two trees one behind the other, lower centre on Upper Rockery.
– Picea mariana ‘Nana’ – dwarf black spruce, lower centre by path.
– Platycladus orientalis ‘Beverleyensis’ – golden form of Eastern Thuja, in shade, L foreground.
– Prunus domesticus (presumably) – the neighbours’ plum tree, upper centre L, to L of Valrosa Cabin.
– Pyracantha, probably P. x watereri – in neighbours’ garden, growing against fence, lower R.
– Pyrus probably P. communis – common pear tree, in neighbours’ garden, top L.
– Quercus – probably Q. robur L., pedunculate oak, growing along fence behind a neighbouring garden, top R.
– Taxus baccata – yew, golden fastigiate form, probably ‘Standishii’ – front L in neighbour’s garden.’

Rosendale Allotments Association

• Established in 1880 the Rosendale Allotments Association RAA has 480 plots on the site with plot holders and sharers from South London.
• RAA is looking for votes in a competition to find a name for their periodic newsletter.
  • The Plot Thickens
  • Green Stuff
  • Hot Off The Plot
  • Green News Digest
• In common with many other allotment sites RAA has had to suspend the waiting list as at current rate of turnover waiting time for an allotment on the site is estimated at twenty years.

Other credits Shed view by coconinoco CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 with London skyline.

Daffodil Blindness occurs when daffodils fail to flower, i.e the green leaves appear, but no flowers. I am updating this post formerly released in 2014 as I have just experienced  annoying blind daffodils. I bought a pot of narcissus supposedly to produce a  ‘generous number of richly scented bicoloured blooms’ . From 5 bulbs I only got one stem with a sparse flower. I should have read this reminder first! I was blind sided when I bought them.

Causes of Daffodil Blindness

• Poor quality bulbs. If it is the first year of planting and your daffodils are blind, it is probably poor quality or new bulbs. If you buy bulbs from a reputable supplier, they really should be flowering in the first year, however you treat them.
• Planting Depth too Shallowly. Many people fail to plant daffodils sufficiently deep. If bulbs are too close to the surface they tend to suffer from a lack of water and food, therefore they fail to flower.
• Crowded Bulbs. If bulbs are planted too closely together, then they will be competing with each other for food and water and more likely to have insufficient food for themselves.
• Drought / Lack of Nutrient. If there is a lack of water in previous year they may come up next year as blind.
• Disease. It is possible disease reduces strength of daffodils.
• Leaves cut off after flowering. Unfortunately, people like to tidy their garden and cut off unsightly leaves. But, this prevents them from gaining enough strength. You can deadhead (so they don’t waste energy producing seed) but you should only cut back leaves when they start turning yellow.
• Aging. Older bulbs can become ‘tired’ and less likely to flower as the years go by.

How To Solve Daffodil Blindness

• Unfortunately, once daffodils come up blind, you may have to be very patient and wait one or two years for them to regain strength to flower. In some cases, you might prefer to dig up and replant new bulbs in the autumn.
• However, if you want you can try to make them reflower. If they were planted too shallow, you can dig up and replant at proper depth (3 times bulb length). E.g. 5 cm big bulb should be planted 15cm below soil surface.
• If blindness is caused by overcrowding, it is definitely worth digging up and trying to split. Planting at proper spacings (2-3 distance of width of bulb)
• Water and Feed. One of the best ways to prevent daffodil blindness is to water with liquid feed when the leaves are green. This helps strengthen bulb for next year.
• Keep weeds at bay. Weeding with hoe prevents weeds competing for water. It also helps to keep daffodil fly ‘narcissus fly’ at bay.
• Keep splitting bulb stock and giving new ‘child’ bulbs chance to grow.

Composting Broad-leaves

• Broad leaved trees produce prodigious volumes of leaves in Autumn.
• Their leaves should be composted or rotted separately to other garden waste. They can take upto 2 years to decompose properly.
• It is worth persevering because they make an excellent soil conditioner.
• The leaves will decompose in punctured plastic bags or a custom made leaf bin.
• Often these custom made leaf composters are made with a simple wire mesh.
• The advantage of using open bins is that they enable worms to enter and help the process of decomposition. It is important to have 2 bins / bags on the go at the same time, as they will not be ready in less than 1 year.

Accelerators for Composting Leaves.

• It is possible to buy a special liquid which helps to speed up the process of decomposition. These accelerators are worth adding as they will speed up the process.
• Basically, these accelerators help add nitrogen to the leaves.
• If you have access to manure adding it to leaves will work very effectively.
• Even accelerated decomposition will not increase the nutritional value.
• Oak Chestnut and conifer leaves take far longer to rot down than others. I keep leaves as separate as is practical as my Acers rot quickly and can be used around my Rhododendrons to good effect.

See composting accelerators.

Digging in Half-composted Leaves.

If you don’t want to wait 2 years to decompose leaves, you can simply add them at the bottom of a trench and then add soil, they will naturally disintegrate over time.
Worms are crucial to the decomposition and are also good for your soil conditioning.
It is far better to collect the leaves than leave them on your lawn.

Tips on Making Leaf Mold Easily

• Rake your leaves together into a pile. Bits of soil, grass and a variety of leaves are not a problem but make the pile predominantly leaves.
• Put the leaves in a wire cage cover and leave to rot. alternatively put the leaves into a large plastic bag and puncture to allow air to enter.
• Leaves should be damp and can be lightly watered but not left soggy. The rotting will not create heat like normal compost and decomposition will be slow.
• The volume of leaf mold will be a tenth of the leaf pile you started with.
• Conifers and evergreen leaves will take three years to compost and are best added in small quantities.
• Shredding leaves or chopping with a lawnmower first helps to speed up composting.
• Do not include nuts or tree seeds
• Burn any diseased leaves and avoid honey fungus