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Category: Gardening

General gardening tips and hints

Lavender to be sniffed at By New Gardeners

Lavender to be sniffed at By New Gardeners

bee lavender

  1. Lavender leaves, flowers and seed heads smell like aunty’s old perfume (and it obviously why she used lavender oil).
  2. The English Lavender is the hardiest of Lavender called angistifolia
  3. Loved by bees they produce stubby spikes on short stems above narrow leaves.
  4. Taller billowing lavender intermedia and French or Spanish tuffted lavender flowerers are less hardy.
  5. Trim or prune lavender after they have flowered. The less hardy the less you should prune.
Let New Gardeners Hear about the Bugle

Let New Gardeners Hear about the Bugle

  1. Bugle is a native wild flower with a posh name Ajuga reptans.
  2. Bugle flowers dark blue or purple and will grow in poor soil. That is why it is often used as ground cover or under shrubs.
  3. It sends out stolons, like adventurous roots, to spread quite quickly.
  4. Good varieties include Burgundy Glow and Caitlins Giant
  5. Plants attract bees and are good fillers and good doers. ( To me a ‘good doer’ is a plant that produces more reward than I invest in time or cost to get it flowering)
Five Foxglove Facts for New Gardeners

Five Foxglove Facts for New Gardeners

foxgloves

A colony of Foxgloves not a skulk or earth as in Foxes

  1. In the first year of growing from seed foxgloves produce a rosette of leaves but no flower as they are a true biennial.
  2. In the second summer they produce a  spike of flowers mainly round three quarters of the circumference. After that they usually die or produce a poor plant in the third year. To compensate they produce a prolific amount of seeds.
  3. Cutting off the first flower spike will encourage several smaller new flowers.
  4. Self sown foxgloves tend to flower in purple shades irrespective of the parent plants.
  5. As woodland plants the leaves can look a bit tatty particularly in dry spots.

For a yellow foxglove: see: Yellow Foxgloves

Relaunch of a Back to Basics Gardener

Relaunch of a Back to Basics Gardener

I am not new to gardening (I have had over 60 years exposure). Yet every year I return with fresh hope and seek out an occasional idea. As we approach 2019 I am looking for the inspiration that will lift me and the garden to new heights.

So I am going back to the basics of an absolute beginner and hope to start afresh on 1st January. Some plans are already in place with seed orders actioned and tools cleaned afresh. But first I am now going to visit our nearby RHS garden at Harlow Carr to walk the talk around a good garden, visit the plant shop with my Christmas present vouchers and return my library book on trees.

Book CoverThe RHS library was closed even though the website said it was open even on bank holidays. Do not believe everything you read on a website – learn by experience!  There were many interesting winter trees but sadly most name plates were missing. How can beginners learn if the RHS can’t be bothered.

This was a crystal clear flower on a Christmas Rose ( Helleborus niger) growing in a 2 foot high pot. The raised pot made it easier to see and photograph as these Hellbores tend to have flower head droop.

So that is one new inspiration – to use height in all manner of ways to enhance my garden experience and reduce my back ache.

I was lucky to get another upright flower although I cheated a bit by lifting it up with a finger.

This tree ‘Platanus orientalis’ did still have a label, it was damaged and growing into the bark. It is a better more impressive specimen than my picture shows.

Silver birch Jackmanii, I think, although I didn’t see a label or sign. The mix of straight lines and ball shaped plants was attractive.

Gardening as A Stress Buster

Gardening as A Stress Buster

Gardening is good for you not just physically but mentally and emotionally acting as a stress buster and promoting optimistic activity.

Book Cover

Meditation

  • A garden can and should be an oasis of calm so a specific quiet area is worth creating.
  • Make paths long and curving  to extend the journey through the garden. If paths are  narrow you will need to concentrate on where you put your feet and hopefully forget your problems.
  • A solitary seat placed with a calm view can help your contemplation.
  • Water helps with it’s light reflective nature and the gentle sound of moving water can be soothing and calming.

Colour

  • Green is a natural neutral colour often found in Hospitals for its therapeutic effects. It is not hard to combine  foliage like Bamboos, Ferns and Mahonia for shape, texture and the green colours.
  • Red is the most stimulating colour and can increase your heart rate and stimulate your appetite.
  • Blue has the opposite effect generating calm and lowering blood pressure.
  • The colour effect can be enhanced by including a small quantity of the complementary colour orange with blue, green with red.

Aromatherapy

  • Stimulating all the senses means you need some good scent. Lavender is calming and not stressful to grow.
  • Herbs like Basil, Rosemary, Mint and Thyme can have a stimulating effect.
  • Relaxing or balancing aroma comes from Camomile, Clary Sage or Marjoram.
  • There is an added bonus from herbs as they can have culinary and medicinal purposes in addition to the scent.
  • Floral scents are a matter of taste but the power of  Lilies, Phlox, Hyacinths and Roses can sweep away all my moody thoughts.

Physical Therapy

  • It may be a cliche to say ‘exercise is the best therapy’ but it may be a cliche because it is true.
  • 10 minutes in the garden can lead to hours disappearing as you find you are drawn to more garden jobs  because you can always make a further impact.
  • Vigorous digging can be as  therapeutic as along walk or run and your garden is improving at the same timedue to your activity.
  • Grass cutting and lawn edge trimming seems to work well for my wife (I am happy to let her do this job as my therapy).
  • My physical therapy is standing over the compost heap chopping down stems and twigs so they rot quicker and more comprehensively.

‘The Healing Garden a Practical Guide’ from Amazon

Top Ten UK Garden Trees

Top Ten UK Garden Trees

homestead Ivy

Trees small enough for your garden can still provide a range of interest. That may be leave shape, blossom, berries, bark or colour changes.
This selection grow 15-50 feet high with a maximum spread of 30 feet.

Top Ten Garden Trees

    1. Sorbus or Mountain Ash make fine specimen trees. Sorbus vilmorinii has creamy white flowers and a typical scent in spring. Clusters of red berries fade to white but the feathery leaf turns a dark red in autumn.
    2. Arbutus andrachne or unedo aka the Strawberry tree has  glossy evergreen leaves and white flowers. The trunk is also a feature on these 20′ trees.
    3. Ornamental cherry trees have stunning displays of spring flowers. Try Prunus x subhirtella Autumnalis

Sorbus

    1. Silver birches Betula jacquemontii Grayswood Ghost has yekllow catkins and good autumn colour.
    2. Ornamental Crab Apples have caught my attention recently and malus floribunda with pale pink flowers followed by golden fruit gives interest through until winter.
    3. Judas Tree, Cercis siliquastrum is covered in pink blossom before the leaves arrive in spring. This is followed by purple pods that can last through winter.
    4. Acers are ever popular and the palmatum varieties offer late season colour changes to the leaves. Osakazuki and sango-kaku are currently on offer.

…

Read More Read More

Trees for Carbon Capture and Global Warming

Trees for Carbon Capture and Global Warming

Church Lane

I am  unsure about all the fuss over carbon emissions and the impact of humans on the environment. There is a finite amount of carbon in our world and it cycles around in solids, dissolved in water or in gaseous forms. Plants helped convert the primordial carbon gasses and  volcanoes eruptions into solid carbons. Trees capture carbon and hold as wood for long periods and historically many trees fossilised into coal.

Other key examples of carbon capture include the stores of hydrocarbons in the form of tar, oil deposits and shale from which gas is now fracked. Less related to tree carbon capture is the vast quantities of limestone deposited from crustaceans and coral.

Many ecologists and scientist now believe we should invent mechanical ways of storing carbon as there is a perceived imbalance in the carbon cycle caused by human activity. I am amused by the idea of sending carbon dioxide down the mines and oil wells to be retained for some future ill defined purpose.

Personal View on Global Warming

  • The above photograph of the Yorkshire Dales including a tree and dry limestone wall contains a substantial amount of captured carbon as does the peat up on the moor.
  • All Yorkshire can’t compare to the Amazon rainforest or the dissolved carbon in the sea. Since I first wrote about carbon capture major advances with shale gas exploration have highlighted again the plants of eons ago that were converted into captured carbon and are now giving up their bounty to modern man.
  • All the hot air about global warming and political influence isn’t going to change me or my gardening approach.
  • I will garden responsibly but I do not think I will take my gardening to extremes. However, I am going to plant some trees, grow some hard carbon and hope these trees have a long and hard carbon producing life, I just regret I won’t be around to carbon date them.

Amazon Rain Forest

  • This resource is often quoted as a shorthand for the ills of global warming. Is it better to use the land freed up by deforestation for human or animal food production? I don’t think there is a perfect answer but avarice and vested interest is a poor driver of policy.
  • If a tree grows 10% each and every year ( at least until adult maturity) then if follows that small young trees will capture less carbon than stately relatives. There is also a potential amenity benefit from large well managed forests so lets encourage the big and beautiful.
  • In National Tree Week we should be celebrating our British heritage of trees and those organisationst and woodland charities that help manage them.
Garden Ghosts of Christmas Past Winterising Tips

Garden Ghosts of Christmas Past Winterising Tips

Eryngium giganteum better known now as ‘Miss Willmott’s ghost’ is my reminder to get ready for colder weather and Christmas. I have disconnected my hose pipes, lagged outside taps and cleaned up at least one water feature.
For some reason one job I procrastinate over is protecting my pots, containers and ornaments from hard frosts. I know it is time to insulate or put them on to legs to provide some protection. At least they are already grouped together, sheltered from high wind and some of the worst weather.

The greenhouse is used through winter as a cold frame and I have moved some succulents and Auriculas into shelter. When the last of the greenhouse Chrysanthemum flowers are finished all the stools will be put under the bench. On a warm day (or less cold day) I will wash down the windows, clean up any debris and try kill off any pathogens.

My spring compost is not as well rotted as I would have hoped to mulch the beds. This is probably due to the dry summer and lack of microbe activity that I belatedly tried to remedy with lashings of Garrota. As extra protection this year I am using some Strulch as a type of thermal blanket.The recently planted trees will get some mulch as root protection before the ground gets really cold, it will be no use sealing in frozen soil.

There is not much I can do to prevent snow other than be like the scouts and ‘be prepared’.

Belated Christmas Lawn Tips

  • Do not walk on the grass when it has been frosted. The leaves will snap and it shows.
  • Walking on soaking grass will compact the soil and drive out the air. It will be prone to moss infestations. Waterlogged soil needs some drainage treatment next spring.
  • A late trim with the blades set very high will pick up some remaining leaves and make the lawn look tidy.
My Climbing Hydrangea

My Climbing Hydrangea

I like the idea of a climbing hydrangea more than the actual experience. Good specimens seem to produce a profusion of frothy, white blossoms particularly when grown by someone else.

My Problem Climbing Hydrangea

  • In my case I planted the sole attempt near a supporting wall. The soil my not be of the best quality, fertility nor humous rich. So what can I expect from Hydrangea petiolaris an Asian woodland native.
  • To compound my sins the wall faces north but in mitigation it is only 2 feet high and the climber now occupies both sides. However flowers are there none or sparse to say the least.
  • Nostrums, potions and plenty of compost have not stimulated leaf or branch growth so what hope of flowers.
  • I expected this Hydrangea to take a while to settle in and start producing but 5 years on and my patience is wearing thin. I guess that is true of the plant which is still keen on revenge for my earlier mistakes over its location.
  • I would prune it after flowering in mid summer but without flowers to set me off I have been a bit too lax. Then again the plant is a bit lax too.
  • In researching this post I discover Hydrangea anomala is a species of vine hydrangea and may be my plant is as confused as I am.
  • I trim the vine to control its height and width or make cuts at leaf nodes to encourage the plant to fill out. However I may be chopping of my buds to spite my face.

 

Where too Now

  • Cut my losses and turf the climbing hydrangea out.
  • Take cuttings and try new locations more in keeping with its needs. A poor strain of plant will not get better after vegetative propagation.
  • Stick with it and be happy there is one plant to have a moan about.
  • Either move to the south of the UK or buy this book about getting Hydrangeas to bloom in the north.

Book Cover

Watering Lessons from a Dry Summer

Watering Lessons from a Dry Summer

After a wet early spring 2018 the UK had a very dry summer. You are never to old to learn and I picked up some new tips and reinforced some old watering tips.

                        water butt but where is the water?

Dealing with Dry Weather

  • Water the plants not the soil in between them. Pay special attention to new plants as their roots are more vulnerable than established plants. Cut back perennials if they look like they might die, be cruel to be kind.
  • A wet spring will not leave the soil wet through summer. Chalky and sandy soils will dry out fastest.
  • Water the right amount at the right time. A good soaking once a week is better than a light sprinkling every day. Water when it has time to soak down to the roots in an evening or early morning.
  • Protect plants from drying wind with a windbreak.
  • Let lawn grass grow a bit longer during dry spells and do not bother watering your lawn.
  • Don’t bother watering fruit trees once the fruit has started to set and swell.
  • Group vegetables together according to their watering needs. Leafy crops, tomatoes, runner beans and potatoes need most water. Courgettes only when they start to swell and asparagus and root crops are more drought tolerant.
  • Patio plants need attention and care. The bigger the pot the more moisture the compost will hold. If they are drying out add a drop of washing up liquid the the water and or create a sump in a saucer or tray.
  • Don’t let clay soil develop cracks for more evaporation to escape. Add organic compost, mulch and sharp grit.

Make Watering Easy and Effective

  • Watering around the base of a plant means some water evaporates before it reaches the roots.Dig a channel between rows and fill with water from a can or use a length of guttering with holes in the sides to channel water where you want it.
  • Sink pots into the ground near plants so roots do not need to come to the surface to get a drink. Larger pots for established plants can have an old dish cloth in the bottom to deter slugs and slow down the seepage.
  • A mulch of grass clippings or Strulch will slow down evaporation .
  • Many contraptions can be created to drip feed or target water to the roots. A half buried plastic pop bottle with holes in the side or try a piece of hose with a funnel.
  • Soaker hoses need to be in the right place but are a simple solution to efficient watering.
  • Turn off your fountains and moving water when practical.

A Word About Recycled Water

  • Adjust water features to minimise splashing and spray drift.
  • Use a pond liner near the water feature to capture excess water and channel it back into the sump or reservoir.
  • Clean household water can be used in water features as any soap or detergent is not aimed at your plants.
  • Rain water is a valuable commodity for watering some plants as it is soft and gently acidic.