Gardeners Tips

Moles in your lawn are unfortunate not to say annoying particularly as they are difficult to remove without killing them. Their main diet is earthworms, but, removing these valuable garden creatures is hardly worth while. They are more likely in sandy soils, but, can appear anywhere – especially in more rural areas.

Symptoms of the Problem

• Heaps of soil are thrown up as the mole digs underground. It is unsightly and damages the grass.
• Tunnels close to the surface can cause ridges in the grass.
• One mole can produce many molehills.
• Tunneling can disturb seedlings and other plants

Treatment and Cure for Mole Problems

There are some things that are said to help remove moles, but, they are not guaranteed to work permanently.

You can try these items placed in mole holes or tunnels (But they probably wont work)

• Burning Wood,
• Disinfectant in holes
• Creosote.
• Moth Balls
• Mole smokes are now unavailable

The best method to remove moles is by using a trap. Pictures of trap setting in the above book are very helpful, as it’s easy to get this wrong if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Mole hills are unsightly but at least moles don’t do any real damage to plants, they are more a nuisance value than anything. If you really want to get rid of them, you may be best of employing the services of a professional mole catcher / killer. However, if you live in a   rural environment you may have your work cut out as moles are likely to keep returning.

A simple single colour Petunia gives a good effect.

The typical plants seen in hanging baskets include Lobelia, Petunia, Begonia, Marigolds, Fuchsias and Pelagoniums. The F1 varieties of these plants have a long flowering season making them ideal for summer hanging baskets.

Obviously in any hanging basket, trailing plants add an extra interest. For example a variegated ivy helps to offset and provide a balance to the more colourful varieties.

Plants for the Spring / Autumn Hanging Basket

Try Primulas, Violas, pansies, miniature conifers, ornamental cabbage and cyclamen. All can offer a good season of winter colour at a time when it is most appreciated.

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Fritilliary in damp shade

Previously we looked at plants for shady areas. Damp shade is another more specific problem area. In nature, we are likely to get damp shade in a woodland setting, with a combination of shady tree growth and a peaty soil.There is a combination of low light and potentially wet surfaces. Nevertheless, even if you have some damp shade, the following plants should work quite well.

Japanese Maple – Acer Palmatum. Japanese maples can offer excellent colour in autumn. They also make an excellent small tree / shrub for the small garden. Benefits from some mulch in winter to protect from heavy frosts.

Astilbe – False Goat’s Beard. An easy plant to grow. After flowering it’s deadseed heads are also quite attractive

Bleeding Heart – Dicentra Spectabilis. A lovely plant with delicate shaped flowers in Spring. Dies back in mid summer. Don’t forget where you planted it. Dicentra Spectabilis

Clematis  ‘Kasmu’ Ideal for planting at the base of a shrub of tree. This clematis will grow up through the shrub offering wonderful flowers from July onwards.

Clematis Montana – likes to keep its roots cool, so damp shade helps here.Use a good Foliar feed every 7-10 days and a good root drenching weekly.

Lilly of the Valley – A lovely delicate white carpet flower. The main thing is it likes permanently moist soil

Fritilliary. The fritilliary is another flower which likes and needs a damp soil. Will flower fine in shade. Important it never dries out.

Hydrangea Serrata – a lovely compact Hydrangea

Cowslips / Primulas. Primulas do well in cool damp conditions, flowering in spring and also later in autumn. E.g. Primula viallii is a great plant for damp shade with wonderful purple flowers.

 

Related

• Shade tolerant plants
• Shrubs for dry shade
• Seeds for damp shade at T&M
• Plants for damp shade at Telegraph

After salad crop failures in Spain and shortages of courgettes, broccoli and other ‘long distance’ vegetables gardeners could to worse than focus on traditional and non-traditional root crops.

Chinese artichoke, Stachys affinis was popular in Edwardian times. It is a sprawling plant that produces knobbly roots for baking, mashing, frying or stir frying. Harvest as needed, after a long growing season, as they do not store well

Jicama or Yam bean have crunchy roots similar to dahlia tubers useful for adding to salads.Can only be stored for about a month.

Rampion have a strong taste, knobbly and fiddly roots and would be at the end of our list of experiments.

Hamburg parsley is popular in Germany with edible, evergreen leaves. Roots are upto 8inches long. Roast or use in stew.

Salsify and Scozonera look and taste similar and have been grown in the UK for hundreds of yaers . Salsify or Oyster plant, is biennial Scozonera is a hardy perennial that grows 3ft high.

Mouli or winter Radish cultivars of Raphanus sativus grow to the size of grapefruit. Round black are best for storing and all varieties red and yellow are prone to bolting unless sown after mid-summer.

Sweet potato Beauregard has been cultivated for UK growing and is available from Marshalls, Thompson Morgan and others. Protect from frost. Tubers tend to be smaller Sweet Potato ‘T65’. They have salmon-orange flesh and a sweet  flavour.

Old faithful Root crops

• Potato
• Carrot
• Swede, turnip and rutabaga
• Beet and manglewurzels
• Parsnips
• Jerusalem Artichoke

Root out some Tips

• Root crops are generally heavy feeders.
• Roots will ‘fang’ or fork if the soil has been freshly manured.
• To get the straightest roots avoid stony soil and keep soil light
• Plenty of water and high potash feed will help grow better crops.
• Grow in full sun with adequate space and avoid competition from weeds.
• Look after the leafy tops to get good underground growth