The only thing to do with good advice is pass it on. It is never any use to oneself.
Oscar Wilde
Well a little more than 2 weeks has gone by since my last blog and life has been pretty hectic with spring arriving in all it's glory; tulips and narcissus are in full bloom, camellias and magnolias, forget-me-nots and doronicums, all splashing colour and cheering us.
The nuthatches are busy flying to and fro from the nest box in my garden, calling me me me me me me endlessly (very annoying after a while). Blackbirds are scurrying around in earnest with beaks full of small worms so presumably they have young to feed and the sparrowhawk makes an occasional dart through the garden scattering birds wide and far.
The amount of growth that herbaceous plants put on by the week is amazing at this time of year. But all that effort has to be rewarded so if you haven't got a thick mulch of compost on the beds it's not too late to add a small spadeful around each clump now. A small handful of the organic manure 6X liberally scattered and forked in would be a real treat....
As trees and shrubs are now coming in to leaf, it is a good time to look for bare, or dead branches and cut them out them to stop the spread of disease. Following the heavy snowfall back in January and those plunging temperatures, there are unsurprisingly a large number of branches to be removed.
Delphiniums, lupins and hollyhocks that were sown back in the autumn have now been potted up individually into 9cm pots and lined out in the sun to grow on for a few more weeks. This way they stand more chance of surviving the ravages of slugs and heavy rain storms (and if our summer is anything like the last few wet ones, they will need staking later as well).
A couple of weeks ago I was asked to talk on New Zealand's "Radiolive" gardening programme hosted by my friend Tony Murrell, who also presents the TV programme "Ground Force". Having never spoken on the radio before, it seemed kinda strange talking to Tony about what I've been doing in an English garden in spring, knowing the listeners were experiencing a Kiwi autumn. The scheduled 5 mins became 10 mins, and it was certainly a great experience and kept me alert as I had to remember not to say anything inappropriate. Apparently there are a lot of ex-pats living over there who like to keep in touch with their roots and miss the English gardens (but apparently not our weather...). Suffice to say I was told that the interview went ok and I've been asked back again to talk about wildlife gardening in a few weeks.
Roses have been sprayed this week with "Roseclear" which will now become a regular weekly routine, saucers of beer have been placed in the borders as organic slug traps, nigella, papaver and calendula seeds scattered in beds and borders to top up late summer colour and sweet pea plants had their tips pinched out at 6" to encourage side shoots.
I can't finish without mentioning the pupster Jet. All in all it has been a good couple of weeks behaviour-wise. Apart from being freaked by a fallen tree trunk (I can only assume it resembled a predator of some kind...) and learning to return plant labels (albeit after she has pulled them out of the ground, chewed them to pieces and rendered them useless ...), she has been superb company. I have come to terms with her fascination with bees, fear of frogs, hatred of pigeons, curiosity of postmen (I'm hoping this doesn't develop down the wrong road) the love of sunshine and the earnest way she observes the activity of our feathered friends.
All I need to do now is work out how to get her to recall. So if anyone has any good advice on this tricky subject, perhaps they could pass it on........
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Thursday, 25 March 2010
Scarifying (Scary?) Lawns
I have a new philosophy. I'm only going to dread one day at a time.
Charles M. Schulz
Raking moss out of lawns is perhaps one of the worst jobs in the gardening calendar. Killing moss is easy; simply spread liberal quantities of lawn sand onto dry grass and wait a few days. ( if you spread it onto damp grass, the sand tends to stick to the grass rather than falling onto the moss resulting in mild scorching). That's the easy bit. Then just sit back and watch the moss turn black almost overnight.
Getting rid of the blackened moss is not so easy. There are two choices - hand rake, or hire a scarifier. These are just simply noisy machines that rip the moss out for you in terrifying quantities - and such fun. Unfortunately for me this week one of my clients has decided that the £35 cost of hiring such a machine is too great, so I had to spend an entire day raking by hand. Backbreaking work just to achieve a lawn that looks like a herd of pigs has spent the weekend truffling through it. However it resulted in a few cubic meters of moss for the compost bin (although I will have to wait for at least 6 months until I can use it) and looks of sheer horror from my client. Apparently she has never seen a scarified lawn before.....
The first of autumn grown sweet peas have been planted out this week into a bed heavily manured back in the autumn. The manure was placed at the bottom of a 45cm beep trench before being backfilled. This encourages the sweet pea roots to grow deep quickly, resulting in far superior plants. Around the peas I have also scattered lots of Nigella ("Love-in-a-Mist") seeds. Once they grow and start blooming, I find it is a good way to hide the bare bases of the peas as well as providing an extra splash of colour.
As the sun warms the soil, more and more herbaceous plants are beginning to show their first leaves. So now is an ideal time to lift and divide them. It is also the perfect time to get the Roundup out and spot spray any perennial weeds in the borders, such as nettles, docks, couch grass and creeping buttercups. Although I tend to shy away from all chemicals, Roundup is relatively safe as it immediately breaks down as soon as it comes into contact with the soil.
This week I have been watching blue and great tits busily nest building in boxes, blackbirds in a forsythia in my back garden, grey wagtails in ivy beneath a clients lounge window and a kingfisher speeding along a clients woodland stream. Yes, spring is finally here!
And Jet? Oh dear....why oh why, of all the dogs in Battersea, did we choose her??? It has not been a good week. She has discovered digging holes in lawns is fun (Her excuse? She was trying to catch the mole...), chewing through the bark of prize rose bushes ( 'I'm just teething, Dad....'), running off into a neighbour's property and refusing to recall ( 'Just burning off energy, Dad....') and eating bumblebees ('They tickle on the way down, Dad....').
One day at a time Jet, one day at a time......
Charles M. Schulz
Raking moss out of lawns is perhaps one of the worst jobs in the gardening calendar. Killing moss is easy; simply spread liberal quantities of lawn sand onto dry grass and wait a few days. ( if you spread it onto damp grass, the sand tends to stick to the grass rather than falling onto the moss resulting in mild scorching). That's the easy bit. Then just sit back and watch the moss turn black almost overnight.
Getting rid of the blackened moss is not so easy. There are two choices - hand rake, or hire a scarifier. These are just simply noisy machines that rip the moss out for you in terrifying quantities - and such fun. Unfortunately for me this week one of my clients has decided that the £35 cost of hiring such a machine is too great, so I had to spend an entire day raking by hand. Backbreaking work just to achieve a lawn that looks like a herd of pigs has spent the weekend truffling through it. However it resulted in a few cubic meters of moss for the compost bin (although I will have to wait for at least 6 months until I can use it) and looks of sheer horror from my client. Apparently she has never seen a scarified lawn before.....
The first of autumn grown sweet peas have been planted out this week into a bed heavily manured back in the autumn. The manure was placed at the bottom of a 45cm beep trench before being backfilled. This encourages the sweet pea roots to grow deep quickly, resulting in far superior plants. Around the peas I have also scattered lots of Nigella ("Love-in-a-Mist") seeds. Once they grow and start blooming, I find it is a good way to hide the bare bases of the peas as well as providing an extra splash of colour.
As the sun warms the soil, more and more herbaceous plants are beginning to show their first leaves. So now is an ideal time to lift and divide them. It is also the perfect time to get the Roundup out and spot spray any perennial weeds in the borders, such as nettles, docks, couch grass and creeping buttercups. Although I tend to shy away from all chemicals, Roundup is relatively safe as it immediately breaks down as soon as it comes into contact with the soil.
This week I have been watching blue and great tits busily nest building in boxes, blackbirds in a forsythia in my back garden, grey wagtails in ivy beneath a clients lounge window and a kingfisher speeding along a clients woodland stream. Yes, spring is finally here!
And Jet? Oh dear....why oh why, of all the dogs in Battersea, did we choose her??? It has not been a good week. She has discovered digging holes in lawns is fun (Her excuse? She was trying to catch the mole...), chewing through the bark of prize rose bushes ( 'I'm just teething, Dad....'), running off into a neighbour's property and refusing to recall ( 'Just burning off energy, Dad....') and eating bumblebees ('They tickle on the way down, Dad....').
One day at a time Jet, one day at a time......
Sunday, 14 March 2010
Puppies and Gardens - Are They Compatible?
It is no use asking me or anyone else how to dig...Better to go and watch a man digging, and then take a spade and try to do it. Gertrude Jekyll
Really??? Has she never met my pup Jet???
A collie x staffie ( I prefer to prefix the collie, due to the fact as soon as you mention staffie these days people tend to pass nervous glances around...) I got her from Battersea a few weeks ago as a 6 month old (I sometimes wonder why we chose her out of the 400 other dogs available...!). This week she very kindly help me plant a few tree whips in a Billingshurst garden. (A whip is a young tree that has yet to form a head). I had been asked to plant 3 Sorbus aucuparia (Rowan) and 3 Betula pendula (Silver birch) to enhance a wildlife garden. It's a small extension of the main garden and already contains 4 young apple trees. But with a post and rail fence denoting the boundary and nothing but open, windswept fields surrounding, the client agreed to add the new trees to break up the starkness of the fence and to provide some berries and seeds for the birds.
The trees were planted in triangles only a metre apart so that as they grow they will form an instant spinney. The soil is a very light sandy loam, so after digging the holes and adding plenty of bone meal and compost, the trees were planted and watered (eventually).
How to plant trees;
Rule 1 - don't let a puppy help.
Rule 2 - dig the hole twice the size of the rootball; and don't let the puppy help, or copy by digging a smilar hole in the lawn nearby.
Rule 3 - After planting, firm the soil down well and water; and don't let the puppy run off with the watering can.
Rule 4 - If the trees need staking, only stake low down - this will allow the head of the tree to sway in the wind and encourage stronger rooting; don't let the puppy chew the bark.
Rule 5 - Apply rabbit guards even if you think you don't need them; don't let the puppy eat the plastic guards, it's not very pleasant a few hours later.....
Rule 6 - Tie up the puppy, back-fill the holes in the lawn, hide the chewed watering can and apologise to the neighbours for using words that ought not to be uttered in such a quiet Sussex village (when swearing at the ******* pup...).
Mrs M, if you read this, I apologise on behalf of Jet.....
Also during the week I have mown the lawn for the first time at the Sussex Barn conversion - it looks great to have it striped again. Even if it took 2 passes to get the stripes straight! I have also cut all their Cornus (Dogwoods) hard back to within 30cm of the ground; this encourages fresh new shoots and therfore highly coloured stems. Dogwoods that aren't cut every 2-3 years eventually form bark and turn brown. All the Phormiums have also been coppiced down to ground level to remove all the snow damaged leaves. Although not generally recommended, Phormiums respond very well to such severe pruning and soon send up a crop of fresh new foliage.
The West Chiltington cottage has had all it's borders thoroughly cleaned, weeded and the lawn edges tidied. I don't mind autumn leaves staying on beds through the winter as they act as a kind of duvet by insulating the soil. And most get dragged down into the soil by worms to form leaf mould anyway. But with daffodils and tulips just starting to show colour, I prefer the beds to be debris-free and smart to herald the spring.
Sweet pea seeds were soaked in a saucer of warm water tonight ready for sowing mid week - this softens the tough outer shell making germination easier.
A week of sun is promised so dirty those fingers, tie up your dogs, and enjoy yourselves....
Marc x
Really??? Has she never met my pup Jet???
A collie x staffie ( I prefer to prefix the collie, due to the fact as soon as you mention staffie these days people tend to pass nervous glances around...) I got her from Battersea a few weeks ago as a 6 month old (I sometimes wonder why we chose her out of the 400 other dogs available...!). This week she very kindly help me plant a few tree whips in a Billingshurst garden. (A whip is a young tree that has yet to form a head). I had been asked to plant 3 Sorbus aucuparia (Rowan) and 3 Betula pendula (Silver birch) to enhance a wildlife garden. It's a small extension of the main garden and already contains 4 young apple trees. But with a post and rail fence denoting the boundary and nothing but open, windswept fields surrounding, the client agreed to add the new trees to break up the starkness of the fence and to provide some berries and seeds for the birds.
The trees were planted in triangles only a metre apart so that as they grow they will form an instant spinney. The soil is a very light sandy loam, so after digging the holes and adding plenty of bone meal and compost, the trees were planted and watered (eventually).
How to plant trees;
Rule 1 - don't let a puppy help.
Rule 2 - dig the hole twice the size of the rootball; and don't let the puppy help, or copy by digging a smilar hole in the lawn nearby.
Rule 3 - After planting, firm the soil down well and water; and don't let the puppy run off with the watering can.
Rule 4 - If the trees need staking, only stake low down - this will allow the head of the tree to sway in the wind and encourage stronger rooting; don't let the puppy chew the bark.
Rule 5 - Apply rabbit guards even if you think you don't need them; don't let the puppy eat the plastic guards, it's not very pleasant a few hours later.....
Rule 6 - Tie up the puppy, back-fill the holes in the lawn, hide the chewed watering can and apologise to the neighbours for using words that ought not to be uttered in such a quiet Sussex village (when swearing at the ******* pup...).
Mrs M, if you read this, I apologise on behalf of Jet.....
Also during the week I have mown the lawn for the first time at the Sussex Barn conversion - it looks great to have it striped again. Even if it took 2 passes to get the stripes straight! I have also cut all their Cornus (Dogwoods) hard back to within 30cm of the ground; this encourages fresh new shoots and therfore highly coloured stems. Dogwoods that aren't cut every 2-3 years eventually form bark and turn brown. All the Phormiums have also been coppiced down to ground level to remove all the snow damaged leaves. Although not generally recommended, Phormiums respond very well to such severe pruning and soon send up a crop of fresh new foliage.
The West Chiltington cottage has had all it's borders thoroughly cleaned, weeded and the lawn edges tidied. I don't mind autumn leaves staying on beds through the winter as they act as a kind of duvet by insulating the soil. And most get dragged down into the soil by worms to form leaf mould anyway. But with daffodils and tulips just starting to show colour, I prefer the beds to be debris-free and smart to herald the spring.
Sweet pea seeds were soaked in a saucer of warm water tonight ready for sowing mid week - this softens the tough outer shell making germination easier.
A week of sun is promised so dirty those fingers, tie up your dogs, and enjoy yourselves....
Marc x
Sunday, 7 March 2010
The First Signs of Spring
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. Sir Winston Churchill
Wise words from a wise man. Gardening is not about rushing and trying to achieve too much too quickly. Rather it is about watching, learning and enjoying. If something goes wrong or dies (as it will at regular intervals!) seize the opportunity to change your plans and adapt. If you want a tidy, low maintenance, show or wild garden, achieve what you can by proceeding one step at a time. Watch your garden day by day, let it guide you and learn from what you see....
This week I have seen the first dozy Brimstone butterfly gorging on the sickly sweet hedera (ivy) flowers on the sheltered wall of a client's sunken garden, watched magpies scavenging for twigs in my back border to build nests and smelt the heady perfume of the sarcococca humilis (Winter Sweet) craftily placed by my front door.
Spring is finally on the way after what seems the longest winter ever. Weeks of at times torrential rain and heavy snows finally seem a distant memory. So with blue skies and weak sun, today I was out tidying my own garden. After toiling hard all week looking after my client's properties, I loved the relaxation of pottering around my own small space. Armed, of course, with plenty of coffee and chocolate chip cookies....
First job was tackling the lawn. The last cut was just before Christmas so the grass was obviously looking a little unloved. After removing my pup's toys and debris (more of her another time) it was just a case of setting the blades back to their summer height and steaming full ahead. A good rotary mower with a collection bag will act like a hoover - it not only sucks up cut grass but all the leaves, twigs and other unwanted debris. Cutting low so early will also stimulate the grass into growth, encouraging it to thicken and green up. I mowed the lawn twice, once up and once across to make sure it had a really good cut. A quick trim of the edges ensured the whole lawn was immaculate and presentable once more. ( After edging, I always like to follow round on my knees picking up the dropped clippings and chucking them into an old bucket - this way you can grab any emerging weeds in the beds at the same time).
All clippings were put into my trusty old composter ( in which I have noticed a cheeky mouse has spent the winter). With the lawn sorted, next job was removing all leaves from the hellebores which have just started to show their colours - the foliage was left on until this time as the leaves protect the blooms from the worst of the winter weather. The masses of purple crocuses I planted in the autumn finally opened today despite the local squirrels autumn feast! Why do they love crocus corms so much????
Dwarf tulips and daffodils are slowly emerging through the still cold soil, so along with the above mentioned plants, a small spadeful of well rotted compost around their base warms the soil by insulating it and helps to provide a little nourishment. I also split a few of the larger snowdrop clumps up today and spread them around the shadier, darker corners of the garden - they are wonderful for brightening up such places!
My roses were finally given their hard spring prune to remove snow damaged branches - with most roses, the harder you prune, the more flowers you get so prune away! To stop summer mildews and black spot, I applied a very weak Jeyes Fluid solution to the soil around their base to kill off any fungi spores ( black spot spores overwinter in the soil and re-infect the host by being splashed back onto the rose by spring rains...).
Boundary hedges were also trimmed and tidied, again to remove snow damaged branches and also prior to birds nesting. Talking of which, last week all my bird boxes were taken down, emptied, scrubbed and re-erected. Tits are already showing an interest.
With all long shoots on my wisterias cut back to 5 or 6 buds to promote flowering, dahlia tubers ordered, my chocolate eaten and the pup walked, all in all it has been a successful Sunday.
Just remember, whatever the weather, get dirty fingers and enjoy yourselves....
Marc x
Wise words from a wise man. Gardening is not about rushing and trying to achieve too much too quickly. Rather it is about watching, learning and enjoying. If something goes wrong or dies (as it will at regular intervals!) seize the opportunity to change your plans and adapt. If you want a tidy, low maintenance, show or wild garden, achieve what you can by proceeding one step at a time. Watch your garden day by day, let it guide you and learn from what you see....
This week I have seen the first dozy Brimstone butterfly gorging on the sickly sweet hedera (ivy) flowers on the sheltered wall of a client's sunken garden, watched magpies scavenging for twigs in my back border to build nests and smelt the heady perfume of the sarcococca humilis (Winter Sweet) craftily placed by my front door.
Spring is finally on the way after what seems the longest winter ever. Weeks of at times torrential rain and heavy snows finally seem a distant memory. So with blue skies and weak sun, today I was out tidying my own garden. After toiling hard all week looking after my client's properties, I loved the relaxation of pottering around my own small space. Armed, of course, with plenty of coffee and chocolate chip cookies....
First job was tackling the lawn. The last cut was just before Christmas so the grass was obviously looking a little unloved. After removing my pup's toys and debris (more of her another time) it was just a case of setting the blades back to their summer height and steaming full ahead. A good rotary mower with a collection bag will act like a hoover - it not only sucks up cut grass but all the leaves, twigs and other unwanted debris. Cutting low so early will also stimulate the grass into growth, encouraging it to thicken and green up. I mowed the lawn twice, once up and once across to make sure it had a really good cut. A quick trim of the edges ensured the whole lawn was immaculate and presentable once more. ( After edging, I always like to follow round on my knees picking up the dropped clippings and chucking them into an old bucket - this way you can grab any emerging weeds in the beds at the same time).
All clippings were put into my trusty old composter ( in which I have noticed a cheeky mouse has spent the winter). With the lawn sorted, next job was removing all leaves from the hellebores which have just started to show their colours - the foliage was left on until this time as the leaves protect the blooms from the worst of the winter weather. The masses of purple crocuses I planted in the autumn finally opened today despite the local squirrels autumn feast! Why do they love crocus corms so much????
Dwarf tulips and daffodils are slowly emerging through the still cold soil, so along with the above mentioned plants, a small spadeful of well rotted compost around their base warms the soil by insulating it and helps to provide a little nourishment. I also split a few of the larger snowdrop clumps up today and spread them around the shadier, darker corners of the garden - they are wonderful for brightening up such places!
My roses were finally given their hard spring prune to remove snow damaged branches - with most roses, the harder you prune, the more flowers you get so prune away! To stop summer mildews and black spot, I applied a very weak Jeyes Fluid solution to the soil around their base to kill off any fungi spores ( black spot spores overwinter in the soil and re-infect the host by being splashed back onto the rose by spring rains...).
Boundary hedges were also trimmed and tidied, again to remove snow damaged branches and also prior to birds nesting. Talking of which, last week all my bird boxes were taken down, emptied, scrubbed and re-erected. Tits are already showing an interest.
With all long shoots on my wisterias cut back to 5 or 6 buds to promote flowering, dahlia tubers ordered, my chocolate eaten and the pup walked, all in all it has been a successful Sunday.
Just remember, whatever the weather, get dirty fingers and enjoy yourselves....
Marc x
Welcome
I am often asked, "What should I be doing in my garden this week?". It can be difficult to decide how best to spend the limited time we all have available to create a perfect garden to enjoy. Well, as a professional gardener with twenty-five years experience creating gardens of all shapes and sizes, I thought it might be useful to post some guidance on how to get the best from your own garden, however small or indeed large!
I will be posting regularly to create what you might call a gardening calendar and will include the odd (and they often are!) anecdote to give you an insight into the life of a gardener.
I would welcome your feedback so please do post your own experiences and ideas so that others can benefit from them.
I will be posting regularly to create what you might call a gardening calendar and will include the odd (and they often are!) anecdote to give you an insight into the life of a gardener.
I would welcome your feedback so please do post your own experiences and ideas so that others can benefit from them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
