The Iceman Cometh

The Iceman Cometh

Norwegian Iceman Sculpture Cardiff

As if all the heavy rain has not been bad enough the icy weather is just around the corner. Jack frost will be nipping into your garden this month and may stick around for 5/6 months or so. It is worth revisiting some of the issues and options gardeners face.

Early Preparations

  • Consider your water features including both still and moving. I start by lagging my outside taps and draining hosepipes.
  • Be prepared for frozen bird baths and ponds with means of breaking the ice.
  • I have cleared moss of the paths and hope to reduce icy slips.
  • Check out hessian wrapping and/or horticultural fleece stock. I always remember to buy it when the frost has bitten.

Plant Protection

  • Every gardeners tip says do not walk on frozen grass the stems become brittle and snap.
  • Give tender plants shelter in a greenhouse, cold frame, window ledge or under some cover.
  • Mulch well to protect roots.
  • Sweep snow falls off the leaves and branches to stop them being permanently damaged.
  • Wrap banana plants, tree ferns and exotics in sacking or other frost prevention measures.
  • Some plants, particularly alpines, suffer more damaged from water than frost . So maintain drainage and don’t panic in the frost
Strulch does well in Pots

Strulch does well in Pots

Widgeon

Strulch is an organic mulch made from straw with embedded minerals. I made use of a lot of Strulch this spring and it has done a good job in several ways most visibly on the plants grown in pots.

Pot Plants With Strulch

  • Strulch mulch reduces weed growth by up to 95% but as you see a couple of weeds poked through. However, they were easy to hand weed the recalcitrants.
  • In the hot dry spring the pots needed a lot of watering but the mulch  helped retain moisture around plants.
  • Enriching the soil and its structure as it slowly decomposes is not critical to pot plants but there are some benefits. I would have added some straw to my homemade compost if it was available.
  • Even with my thin layer it lasts up to two years saving water and fertiliser but next year I will make the layer a bit thicker.
  • As claimed there was no sign of Slugs and Snails so I will try to use it on my dwarf hostas next spring.
  • The light brown appearance was aesthetically pleasing and seemed neat and tidy.
My Tips for Planting Bare Root Trees

My Tips for Planting Bare Root Trees

Capture more carbon with some trees as a contribution to a better environment. Whips, trees, hedging and field grown saplings are available without the excess packaging of plastic pots and gaudy plastic labels. They are also great value.

Quick Tips

  • Bare root trees, as they ‘say on the tin’ (or not the plant pot) are loose and free of a soil ball.
  • Late autumn to early spring are the best time for planting trees that are supplied from free grown ground.
  • Select a suitable site bearing in mind sun/shade wind direction and visual expectations.
  • Prepare a hole larger than the full extent of the roots so they can be spread out.
  • Break up the soil at the bottom so no hard pan can form a sump for excess water.

More Tips

  • Soak the roots in a bucket of water for an hour then water well after planting.
  • Trim off any broken or damaged roots with a sharp knife
  • Prior to planting place a support stake in the hole and firm the soil around the tree progressively to avoid large pockets of air.
  • Mulch with organic matter and water regularly as the tree is established.
  • Try planting some fruit trees, ornamentals or extensive hedges using bare root stock.

Learn more by watching You Tube videos

 

Planning for Next Year

Planning for Next Year

I have made a list in my garden note book of what has performed successfully this summer. The multi-headed sunflowers have done exceptionally well and take up little space in proportion to the amount of flowers I obtained. I will definitely be growing them again despite trying to cut down on annuals from seed. The note book also records the failures of crops and in greater number my horticultural inadequacies. First and most distressing has been my tomato failures. Gardeners Delight and small cherry toms have produce in number but other varieties have let me down (or vice versus).

October Plans for a better 2020

  • Spread the rotted compost heaps to improve the soil texture and moisture retention around young shrubs, rhubarb and fruit trees.
  • Prune out and destroy fungally infected stems, twigs and wood as soon as leaves drop. Collect these leaves for destruction.
  • Label and store delicate tubers of begonia, dahlia etc.
  • Keep clean and tidy all around the garden, greenhouse and shed.
  • Keep to the plan of low, low maintenance gardening (as if).

 

Crab Apples to make Your Knees Go To Jelly

Crab Apples to make Your Knees Go To Jelly

Feeling grouchy and ill-tempered then perhaps you should plant a crab apple and that way you won’t feel crabby much longer.

Key Facts about Crab Apples.

  • Common apples and crab apples are related. They are both members of the malus genus.
  • They are grown for their lavish display of spring blossom.
  • After the blossom a copious amount of small fruit are generally produced suitable for jelly or jam making.
  • The right variety can make an ideal specimen tree for a small or medium sized garden.
  • Original European crab apples have short spines and can be found growing wild in hedgerows.
  • Horticulturally they are often used in orchards inter-planted with apples to assist pollination. They themselves are self fertile.
  • Fruit may be red, green or yellow.
  • Plant new trees grafted on to semi-dwarfing stock during winter.

AGM Varieties

RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM) are designed to helps you choose the best crab apples to grow and include Butterball producing butter coloured fruit. Jelly King has large fruit and guess what they can be used for. Laura is a registered variety that is naturally dwarf yet a good all rounder. Red Sentinel and Sun Rival have upright and weeping shapes respectively. Other awarded crabs include Evereste, Comtesse de Paris, Admiration, Cardinal,  Malus transitoria, Scarlett and the Japanese Crab Malus floribunda.

Other pictures from Google

 

 

 

Stepover Fruit to Save Space

Stepover Fruit to Save Space

Take a new step in your garden this autumn by planting some step-over fruit trees.

Growing Stepover Fruit Trees

  • These fruit trees are effectively one tier espaliers
  • They are kept low enough to step over when necessary. 18-25″ will normally suit.
  • Starting with a Y shape with two main shoots train them horizontally in opposite directions. Aim for a spread of 10 feet. Prune out the vertical leader
  • Support with low wire on a ‘gripple system’.

Benefits of Stepover Fruit Trees

  • Ideal for planting in front of ornamental borders
  • Form a low edging for vegetable plots.
  • Increases the yield from small spaces particularly in smaller gardens. Larger fruit and often less numerous on stepovers.
  • There are a growing number of species now available from specialist suppliers particularly of apples and pears. Select spur-fruited varieties on dwarf stock.
  • They can become attractive conversation pieces.
Growing Curmudgeons

Growing Curmudgeons

To me a curmudgeon is not something to plant or see growing in your garden. That is because a curmudgeon is great, galumphing, gormless gardener a bit like me.

Other Definitions of Curmudgeon

  • Curmudgeons who garden with bitterness are a symptom rather than a disease and should be treated like weeds.
  • A cantankerous naysayers acting as self appointed gadflies to be insecticided.
  • A crusty, ill-tempered or difficult and often elderly gardener potentially from Yorkshire.
  • Lest we forget the many female versions of curmudgeonliness  would be battle axes with a few choice synonyms added.
  • ‘National Curmudgeons Day, celebrated on January 29, is growing in popularity. That particular date was selected to honor the ornery among us because it is the birthday of comedian, writer, and self-professed curmudgeon W.C. Fields’.

 

Fine Ferns and Damp Moss

Fine Ferns and Damp Moss

I am not a great fan of ferns as I live too near moorland that shares its bounty with gay abandon and I spend significant time removing uninvited guests. These are usually Bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) or  Buckler-fern (Dryopteris
dilatata) with fronds that are arranged like a shuttlecock. There are some exceptions such as the Hart’s tongue (Asplenium scolopendrium) and the  Maidenhair Spleenwort (Asplenium trichomanes) shown in this wall. The strap like fronds  and pinnate rectangular leaflet fronds make a simple  feature on this mossy wall.

Ferns Favourite Locations

  • Due to the microscopic airborne spores British species of ferns can grow in many unusual places such as rocky habitats.
  • Woodland ferns such as Dryopteris species are easy and accommodating in the garden.
  • The striking Osmunda regalis aka The Royal Fern prefers a wetland area.
  • There are several ferns suitable for ground cover and a selection can be found  on the native fern website

 

 

 

Mast Year 2019

Mast Year 2019

As I walked past a line of trees the beech nut husks crunched under foot. The pavement was strewn with copious quantities of this crunchy produce from the venerable trees. I was moved to include a few notes on nature’s masting process.

Mast Production

  • A mast year occurs when a bumper crop is produced. It has the effect of increasing the potential for reproduction but also feeds-up creatures in anticipation of a hard winter.
  • Mast seeding is also called masting and the produce is a mast
  • Mast years are so called due to the  production of many seeds by a plant every two years or so
  • Masts are often produced in in regional synchrony with other plants of the same species.
  • It is thought a mast year may be designed as a defense to assist reproduction of a species because seed predators become satiated before all the seeds have been consumed.
  • Many species ‘mast’ including oak, hickory, and beech with their acorns, hickory nuts, and as with beechnuts they produce a ‘hard mast’.
  • Fruit trees and other species may produce a soft mast but the volume of produce will still be much more fruit than normal


Picia Perhaps? – I need to Spruce up Identification

Picia Perhaps? – I need to Spruce up Identification

The dew on the spiders web doesn’t worry what the plant is called conifer, Picia or a more exotic variety (I have lost the label and there are many Picias to pick from). What the spider will be interested in is the type of insect attracted to the plant and thereby the web. Below is a picture of the 5 year old plant about 2′ high and a bit more in circumference. It is a well behaved plant and worth its place in the miniature conifery I am developing.

Key Features of Picea

  • Latin name – Spruce and various forms of Picia
  • Type of tree – Evergreen, Conifer
  • Leaves – grow in a series of spirals
  • Features New growth emerges as soft tassels of delicate light green
  • Family – Picea is a genus of about 35 species in the pine family