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Category: Gardening

General gardening tips and hints

My Plant Partners

My Plant Partners

Combining plants in different ways is one of the joys of successful gardening. Different shapes and textures or bold colour schemes may be the trigger to make a combination work and there are companion plants that encourage growth in others. These wine red and white cyclamen produced a great contrast on their own but combined with the winter heather and the brown fallen leaves they were putting on a regal show in a local churchyard.

Recommended Plant Partnerships

  • A Chinese whitebeam tree, Sorbus hupehensis unfolds sea-green ferny leaves in spring with white flowers in summer. Its beauty can be enhanced by underplanting with the arching Berberis x rubostilla.
  • For autumn contrasts try Acer palmatum’s red leaves with a variegated Holly like Ilex Madame Briot.
  • For a silver leaved collection try Lavender Hidcote, Artemesia Lambrook Silver with Dianthus Mrs Sinkins. To highlight the combination have an old fashioned Gallica red rose as a centre piece.
  • Euonymus radicans and the smaller Eythronium White Beauty have pleasing yellow and white contrasts.
  • A couple of dogwoods can look striking in winter. Try cornus alba Sibirica red and the yellow stemed cornus stolonifera. Prune them hard in spring.
  • A rose like Queen Elizabeth can have its leggy stems surrounded by Rosemary or Lavender or even small violas.
  • Hostas and Primula japoinica or Harlow Carr hybrids both like waterside conditions and thrive together. Hostas with yellow-green leaves also go well in front of smoke bushes Cotinus coggygria
Mildew Autumn Plants

Mildew Autumn Plants

mildew-on-hebe

Mildew is a white powdery fungus that looks unsightly on these leaves. Mildew is a sign of stress in a plant and usually arises from damp air with poor circulation. It is prevalent in my garden now Autumn is here in force. It is of less concern in winter as the cold will take care of the current problem until next year at least.

Some plants are more prone than others. My Phlox, Roses, Michaelmas Daisies and Azaleas have varying amounts of mildew at the moment.

Prevention improves by increasing the air flow and prune to allow that to happen. Water the ground not the leaves and mulch to keep moist.
Treatment by fungicide may not be eco-friendly so try a spray made from a tablespoon of baking soda in a gallon of water with a squirt of washing upo liquid to help it to stay on the leaves.
The fungus will not spread from one species to another but will linger in the soil so destroy infected plant matter or put up with the problem.
Keep roots of susceptible plants very well watered through spring and summer..
Seek out mildew resistant varieties and avoid late feeding of high nitrogen fertilizer creating young sappy growth.

Understand more about mildew in your garden

Hoes for Knomes

Hoes for Knomes

For your amusement or irritation here are some Christmas gifts for your favourite Knome. Hey-Hoe if you want to grow ‘Hey’ then there is this special Hoe.

Seriously there is an Onion Hoe with a swan neck for hoeing and cleaning around your onions. Usually they are sharpened on the sides as well as the bottom edge. Designed to slide under shallow rooted weeds and draw them away from plants, they can also be used of general hoeing work.

Dutch Hoes can be used for pushing or pulling soil and rooting out weeds. They tend to be a deformed sideways D— shape with a hole in the centre.

Other shapes of hoes are designed to make gardening and tilling easier. Hoes help you break up compacted soil or level out uneven surfaces. A good hoeing helps rain and air get into soil whilst keeping weeds under control.

As a final thought you could always buy your knome a pair of knitted hose.

Autumn Lawn Treatment

Autumn Lawn Treatment

Lawns give us many years of loyal service and ask for very little in return. We cut them to within an inch of their lives and walk all over them without a care.

Treat Your Lawn

  • Pick up Autumn leaves before they start to rot on top of your lawn. Compost them separately if you expect a lot of leaves.
  • Apply an Autumn feed which aims to boost healthy root growth to last through winter like Levingtons Evergreen. This is rich in potassium to help roots and lighter on nitrogen.
  • Raise your cutting blades as the soils is wetter and the dew heavier.
  • Apply a moss killer before scarifying if you are troubled with moss
  • Repair any edges or bald patches
  • Aerate your lawn by scarifying, spiking or hollow tining. Scarifying also removes the brown thatch around the roots that has built up during summer
  • Top Dress the lawn with a mixture of two parts sharp sand with one of fine soil.

Tips for New Lawns

Winged Insects in your Garden

Winged Insects in your Garden

This summer has been damp and the plants have grown lush. In some way this has contributed to a dramatic cut in the number of greenfly on my roses and other plants (perhaps they found other feeding grounds or did not mate as prolifically).

By contrast there have been lots of Bees and Flies and last week the Wasps came for my plums and apples. On the bright side it has been easier to get some photographs that would other wise not been practical. The fly wings show up well against the Cystus that if flowering for the second time this year.

Like many gardeners I regard Ladybirds as posative helpers in the garden. It is therefore a concern to be confronted with the aggressive Harlequin Ladybird that is invading  and threatening our 45 native species. Originally from Japan it was introduced to North America 20 years ago as an aphid control and it now out numbers all American species. Log any UK sightings here.

Lobelia Russian Princess Perennials

Lobelia Russian Princess Perennials

Growing Tips

  • Plant in deep fertile soil which is reliably moist in summer.(You can tell this is moist by the moss)
  • Lobelia grow well in sun or partial shade.
  • Some varieties are a bit short lived 3-4 years but as they are so spectacular it is worth splitting clumps or taking cuttings to get re-energised plants at least in alternate years.
  • Perennial Lobelia species make good herbaceous border plants

Lobelia to Grow

  • Lobelia Cardinalis has deep burgundy foliage and rich pinky purple or red flowers for hot coloured planting schemes. RHS is currently offering Russian Princess variety at £15 +  p&p (so the colours need to be rich).
  • A three foot high Lobelia x speciosa Vedraniensis flowers with the traditional 5 lobed blue-indigo flowers.
  • Hadspen Purple is a more compact variety that need to be planted in swathes for best effect.
  • Lobelia tupa has beautifully felted leaves and narrow tubular brick-red to orange flowers which are borne from mid summer on long racemes. It is also called the Devil’s Tobacco.

With hundreds of species, varieties and named cultivars the Lobelia family is large and wide ranging – have a look at the family for yourself.

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

Tulips from Catalogues

Tulips from Catalogues

Tulips grow from bulbs not catalogues but I guess that is obvious. Nevertheless I think the first job is to check over any Tulip bulbs you lifted last spring to dry off. Bin any with mould or soft centers, do not add them to your compost heap.

There are many bulb catalogues now available and they usually supply a lot of information about the Tulips origin, size and flowering characteristics. If you are not on a mailing list you can respond to numerous off the page adverts in the press and magazines.
I like J Parker for the range and wholesale prices on larger volumes.
Bloms bulbs have been around for over 100 years and supply good size bulbs at a price and DeJager is another old established supplier.
Spalding bulbs are over marketed with too many gimmicks and free gifts so personally I tend to avoid them.
Of the many other bulb sources most seed companies supply bulbs by mail order but I particularly like the niche suppliers like Miniature Bulbs.

The big plus from mail order catalogues is that you can browse the pictures and specifications selecting the types and varieties you want. On the down side you are trusting that a good sized bulb will be supplied (a good big one beats a good small one). Remember too complain if you are unhappy with the bulbs you get, most companies value their reputation amongst gardeners.

Uses for Crab Apples

Uses for Crab Apples

Crab apples can be used as food, for ornamental effect, to help pollination, or for the wood. The wild crab apple found individually in woods has green fruit turning golden in Autumn. Cultivated crab apples vary in habit and grow upto 10 feet. Fruiting this year looks like a bumper harvest after the wet weather earlier in the year.

Crab Apples make attractive ornamental trees with their pink or white blossom, followed by colourful autumn fruits that make delicious preserves. Varieties John Downie, Golden Hornet, Laura and Red Sentinel are all self fertile. Crab apples planted near fruiting apple trees make excellent pollinators and will help pollinating bees to increase your crops.

Crab apples are used to make jelly, pickles or can be roasted and served with meat or added to winter ale or cider. Any unpicked fruits will soften after a few frosts and will create a sumptuous food source for wild birds from late January until March. For a jelly recipe with a chillie kick try Cottage Smallholder

The timber of the crab apple is uniform in texture and if dried slowly, is excellent for woodworking. At one time it was used for making set-squares and other drawing instruments. Failing that apple wood burns in your chimenea of fire grate with a nice aroma.

Order now for winter delivery Crab Apples at Thompson & Morgan

Garden Bonfires for Gardeners

Garden Bonfires for Gardeners

Once a regular weekend event, Garden Bonfires are now fewer and further between since recycling, reusing and composting got to the top of the green agenda.
There are still occasions when a fire is the right way to go and I use one of these dustbin burners. The holes at the bottom provide air flow and the chimney restricts the amount of flying debris.
I collect the none compostable (often diseased) wood and brash in the bin until I have a load then set fire to it. After 4-5 years the bin bottom burns through and I need a new bin.
For large chunks of wood I used to have a November 5th fire but now with chimineas and Council recycling they have gone the way of Guy Fawkes.

Burning Tips

  • Avoid excessive smoke by burning dry material not soggy wet compostable stuff.
  • Do not burn plastic, foam, paint, rubber or household rubbish.
  • Be safe by not using oil, methylated spirits, or petrol to light or encourage a fire.
  • Avoid lighting fires in unsuitable weather conditions such as damp, still days or when the wind will blow smoke over roads or into neighbours gardens
  • Try to avoid bonfires when people want to enjoy their gardens such as weekends or Bank Holidays.
  • Wood ash contains potassium and is good for root crops bulbs etc.
Early Seed Sowing

Early Seed Sowing

Victorian gardeners seem to have coped very well with the winter conditions and were able to get seeds off to an early start. The climate was not too different 150 years ago to that which we endure today so how did Victorians cope. Seed was often sown earlier than we do now and the varieties of seed were no different except for some of our softer hybrids. ‘The answer lies in the soil’ and copious amounts of compost.

Soil Condition
Great quantities of manure, ashes, soot and household waste were added to the soil. This made the soil blacker and prone to absorb what heat there was making it warmer.
Ground was deep dug in a methodical and extensive manner and potentially this broke down the frozen soil quicker than on our compacted soils.
Bell cloches walled areas and other protective measures were taken. We could make more use of the cheap cloches now available to us, using lights and cold frames is more in tune with Victorian methods..
Some beds were dressed with straw that heats as it rots away making a fermenting hot bed to get seeds started.
The sweat of the gardeners brow also contributes to a warm garden, the more effort the more you are likely to succeed.

Hotbed Structure
Building a hotbed structure to protect delicate plants involves a lot of fresh manure, details of one method are found on Gardeners Calender