An Hour in the Garden It must be Eden here in the UK at the moment. The gentle rain has been falling for a couple of weeks on and off, replacing ground water in the big sponge and revitalising the gasping plants. We never had such big pumpkins, nor such a large and full apple crop. And the potatoes have gotten through the summer so far without blight. It is usually that time just after a drought when blight affects potatoes and tomatoes as the spores splash onto stems rapidly sending the plant into a decline from which there will be no dinner! Feed hanging baskets and containers With all this rain we need to remember pots and baskets lose nutrients in the wet, so we need to replace them. The combination of feeding and deadheading hanging baskets will keep them going until the first frosts see them off altogether. There should be no need to feed vegetables much, but certainly flowering plants will see a marked improvement. Sowing hardy annuals It seems a little out of time. We often think that time to sow is in the Spring, but there is no reason why we shouldn’t sow hardy annuals right now, either in situ - where they are to grow, or in modules and small pots in cold frames or cold greenhouses. Try Godetias, Nigellas, Stocks, Swet Peas, Callendulas - each of these are as tough as old boots and I prefer to sow them in general purpose compost in small pots, about 3 inches - you can get a million pots for not much money, and pop them in a cold frame for safe keeping. Watch out for hungry dying slugs and snails - which can be a little troublesome in a greenhouse or cold frame. I have a good clear out and it is amazing where these animals secrete themselves. I do try to keep a frog in the cold frame, but this year he (or she, I can’t tell) has hopped off probably down to the river at the bottom of the valley. The plants will take a while to germinate - unless we have a hot September, which we often do, and then simply stop growing when the weather turns colder. But then in the Spring they all be back with a vegnence, and growing rapidly. You can do the same with beans, to give you a rapid increase and usually autumn planted beans miss out on the black fly infestations of early Summer. Divide herbaceous perrenials Later in September is a good time to divide up plants. Bulbs can be split where the are naturally divided, plants such as hostas can be broken apart using garden forks back to back - or if you only have one (or none), you can break them apart. While we are on the subject of garden tools, have a look round car boot sales and other markets. You can usually pick up all kinds of bargains. Many of my tools have come from such places, and you get something to do in the Autumn - sharpening, cleaning and oiling! Back to dividing… You can divide Alsromerias, Agapanthus, Verbenas and my favourite - Eryngium. I love Eryngium, Sea Holly ever since I saw one in the sand dunes at Rhosneigr on Anglesey. They need a little help to overwinter, so should be in a warm spot in the garden, and you divide up the roots, or take root cuttings. All that said, I still like the wild plant growing where it is supposed to be. One thing about Sea Holly is their blue colour. This is an adaptation to living in dry conditions and they photosynthesise in a different manner to greener plants. Normal photosynthesys is fairly wasteful in the respiration part of the process, the Calvin cycle using up energy and also wasting water. So plants like Sea Holly, Corn, Cacti etc, have found a way of seperating the processes making it more efficient - especially in places that are hot and dry! Botany is so exciting! Christmas Presents It’s time to plant up Hyacinths and Amaryllis for Christmas. Place bulbs in good quality compost and keep them in a dark, cool place. Don’t over water - just enough to keep the compost moist. Don’t put them in a cupboard, you’ll just forget about them (well I did one year) and just keep the compost very slightly moist until the plant really starts to grow well. Then they need a brighter spot, though not too hot! Pick a leaf Time to really start to reduce foliage. I will be removing all the leaves from my potatoes and have already started to remove the leaves from tomatoes, though not so drastically as I have on their cousins, the spud! It is also time to remove the shading leaves of pumpkins so the fruits can get some sunlight and start oranging up. I also lift the pumpkins off the ground so they don’t get rot problems. Tie up montbretia and sedums They always look as though the dog has sat in the middle of the mass, so I tie them together with a piece of string so at least they look tidier. But the reality is this is the plant telling you to divide it up - it is too crowded and everything falls over. Any time after flowering will do, just dig them up and break them apart. About now I take some of the mint in the garden, pot it up and bring it into the house for a winter supply before the soutside stuff starts to die back. it doesn’t last all the winter, but does quite well on the kitchen windowsill. Lawn Care In normal years I would be advocating a good dose of lawn care in the next week or two, but those places around the world where the drought has been most severe could do with waiting a while. Essentially it is time to scarify the grass - give it a good scratch with a lawn rake, and then to aerate the lawn with a garden fork. There are loads of tools for aeration and I would suggest that none of them beat a garden fork. I would now wait until the end (ish) of September, just to give the grass a chance to recover for a few more weeks! And then we’ll be talking about the last cuts!!! But that’s another time.
An Hour in the Garden It must be Eden here in the UK at the moment. The gentle rain has been falling for a couple of weeks on and off, replacing ground water in the big sponge and revitalising the gasping plants. We never had such big pumpkins, nor such a large and full apple crop. And the potatoes have gotten through the summer so far without blight. It is usually that time just after a drought when blight affects potatoes and tomatoes as the spores splash onto stems rapidly sending the plant into a decline from which there will be no dinner! Feed hanging baskets and containers With all this rain we need to remember pots and baskets lose nutrients in the wet, so we need to replace them. The combination of feeding and deadheading hanging baskets will keep them going until the first frosts see them off altogether. There should be no need to feed vegetables much, but certainly flowering plants will see a marked improvement. Sowing hardy annuals It seems a little out of time. We often think that time to sow is in the Spring, but there is no reason why we shouldn’t sow hardy annuals right now, either in situ - where they are to grow, or in modules and small pots in cold frames or cold greenhouses. Try Godetias, Nigellas, Stocks, Swet Peas, Callendulas - each of these are as tough as old boots and I prefer to sow them in general purpose compost in small pots, about 3 inches - you can get a million pots for not much money, and pop them in a cold frame for safe keeping. Watch out for hungry dying slugs and snails - which can be a little troublesome in a greenhouse or cold frame. I have a good clear out and it is amazing where these animals secrete themselves. I do try to keep a frog in the cold frame, but this year he (or she, I can’t tell) has hopped off probably down to the river at the bottom of the valley. The plants will take a while to germinate - unless we have a hot September, which we often do, and then simply stop growing when the weather turns colder. But then in the Spring they all be back with a vegnence, and growing rapidly. You can do the same with beans, to give you a rapid increase and usually autumn planted beans miss out on the black fly infestations of early Summer. Divide herbaceous perrenials Later in September is a good time to divide up plants. Bulbs can be split where the are naturally divided, plants such as hostas can be broken apart using garden forks back to back - or if you only have one (or none), you can break them apart. While we are on the subject of garden tools, have a look round car boot sales and other markets. You can usually pick up all kinds of bargains. Many of my tools have come from such places, and you get something to do in the Autumn - sharpening, cleaning and oiling! Back to dividing… You can divide Alsromerias, Agapanthus, Verbenas and my favourite - Eryngium. I love Eryngium, Sea Holly ever since I saw one in the sand dunes at Rhosneigr on Anglesey. They need a little help to overwinter, so should be in a warm spot in the garden, and you divide up the roots, or take root cuttings. All that said, I still like the wild plant growing where it is supposed to be. One thing about Sea Holly is their blue colour. This is an adaptation to living in dry conditions and they photosynthesise in a different manner to greener plants. Normal photosynthesys is fairly wasteful in the respiration part of the process, the Calvin cycle using up energy and also wasting water. So plants like Sea Holly, Corn, Cacti etc, have found a way of seperating the processes making it more efficient - especially in places that are hot and dry! Botany is so exciting! Christmas Presents It’s time to plant up Hyacinths and Amaryllis for Christmas. Place bulbs in good quality compost and keep them in a dark, cool place. Don’t over water - just enough to keep the compost moist. Don’t put them in a cupboard, you’ll just forget about them (well I did one year)...