Gardening Tips for October 2013

Bulbs

Early October is a good time to plant spring flowering bulbs so they will establish roots before the first hard frost. When buying bulbs, look at the size of bulbs, the Bigger-size bulbs will produce bigger flowers.  Look for firm bulbs with even colour and no signs of disease. Plant tulips and daffodils in groups of at least ten or more.   Plant small bulbs in groups of twenty or more.  Bulbs planted of one variety and colour in mass, will give a great visual effect.  Do not forget that newly planted trees will need a lot of water, notably heading into the winter.  This applies to evergreens as well as deciduous trees. Plant snowdrops, chionodoxas, Crocuses, scillas and other small bulbs as early as possible.  chionodoxas

How deep should you plant bulbs? The basic rule of thumb is the hole should be at least 3 times as deep as the width of the bulb, however, rather than carefully measuring the diameter of each bulb, there are easier ways to figure out how deep to plant bulbs: If the bulb is big (eg. Tulip, Daffodil, Hyacinth), dig the hole about 6 – 8″ (15 – 20 cm) deep; if the bulb is small (Crocus, Snowdrop, Scilla, Dwarf Iris, Muscari, Bluebell), dig the hole about 4 – 5″ (10 – 12 cm) deep.

 

Trees

Place grease bands around tree trunks to prevent winter moths from climbing trees and laying eggs.  Finish planting container-grown trees and shrubs, check ties on young trees, and loosen any that look too tight.  Discard apples and worm-eaten fruits that are lying under fruit trees.  Dispose of these in your bin, not your compost bin, this will help get rid of insects and diseases next year.  All trees and shrubs should get plenty of water before the ground freezes.

When deciding on new trees or shrubs to plant around your home, remember to select varieties that will fit the location when they are at their mature height. This will greatly reduce pruning and other maintenance in the future.

Container-grown trees can be planted out all year round, apart from when it’s very hot and dry, or the ground is frozen. The conditions in autumn are usually ideal for them to grow well and the soil is still warm after summer and moist from some autumn rain.

If you are moving plants between borders, check that there are no roots of perennial weeds like Couchgrass or Ground-elder in the clump; remove any such roots out and making sure no small bits remain. The bed will be ruined if the weeds are not removed.

 

How to Force bulbs to bloom indoors

Hyacinth, tulips and daffodils, can be forced to bloom indoors in December, but they will have to have several weeks in a cold, dark place like in a refrigerator for them to bloom successfully indoors. The cold dark conditions will mimic the winter season, which is the time that these flowers spend in growing roots and forming their flowers. The best containers for forcing bulbs are azalea pots or bulb pans. The pots should be filled to one-half to three-quarters full with potting compost and gently press the bulbs into the mix with the wide base down, allowing the necks to remain exposed.  Barely cover the bulbs with additional potting compost and water gently until the soil is thoroughly moistened. Add a little more mix if subsidence has exposed the bulbs. Water well and then put the container in the refrigerator.  Root growth will take from 8 to 12 weeks. The temperature should remain below 48° F. but above freezing total darkness is best, but if you are chilling the bulbs in the refrigerator don’t worry about the light coming on when you open the door.  After that, put the container in a sunny window sill indoors.  Hyacinths may only need 7 weeks of chilling and begin to flower in as little as a week or so after moving to warmth. Remember to check for water weekly.

Autumn is the ideal time to plant bare-root gooseberry bushes for a super crop next summer. Currant bushes, if you didn’t cut them back in the summer, prune out up to a third of the oldest wood on your currant bushes to encourage new growth.

Do not prune Azaleas, Rhododendrons and other spring flowering shrubs because they have already set their buds for next year’s blooms. If you feel these shrubs do need to be pruned, however, you can prune them now, but you will sacrifice next spring flowers

Rake up leaves-It’s a job we all hate, but the lawn or patio will look untidy, so it’s worth removing them and they can be added to your compost.

Lawn

If you want a fantastic lawn, but don’t want the expense of buying turf, try creating it from seed.  Grass seed is best sown from late summer to mid-autumn; there is less competition from weeds, and the soil is warm and damp from rain.  Perfect for seeds to germinate.

If you miss the opportunity to sow in autumn, try in April, but only if you can give the new grass plenty of water. Do not attempt to sow in summer – it’s unlikely you’ll be able to give the lawn enough water to prevent it from shrivelling up and dying.

Using seed has several advantages over turf. Apart from the cost, there are lots of different mixes available and seed is better for trickier areas, such as slopes and corners.

To remove damaged areas of turf-Simply lift worn areas of lawn either reseed or relay turf. The warm moist conditions at this time of the year mean that it will quickly re-establish complete scarifying, aerating, top dressing and apply autumn lawn feed before the end of the month.  October is also a good time to lay turf.  Divide herbaceous perennials. Plant some back in the ground; you can pot-up some and give away to your friends in the spring.

Plant out spring bedding and biennials, such as wall-flowers, for spring displays. Pots and hanging baskets can be planted with spring bedding, and grouped with bulbs, grasses, cyclamen and violas for a colourful display.

Lift tender perennial bedding plants such as pelargoniums, fuchsias and marguerites (Argyranthemum) before the first frost. Pot them up and store in a sheltered place, making sure that the compost does not dry out or become too wet.

 

Ponds

Thin out any dense patches of water plants in your pond and clean up any litter and leaves from the surface and the bottom. Thin out oxygenating plants.  Do not forget to place a net over the pond to protect from falling leaves.

Make sure that ponds are topped up with water, if you need to top up your pond check the PH and nitrogen levels of the water afterwards.

Take cuttings of tender perennials and shrubs. Including salvias, penstemon, lavender and rosemary. Propagate clematis, honeysuckle and wisteria plants by layering.

 

How to find out what type of soil you have

There is an old saying ‘the answer lies in the soil’ and it’s true.   Get to know your soil and you can add the right things to improve it, and grow the types of plants that will thrive in it. To find the pH of your soil you need a soil-testing kit, available at any garden centre. This will help you find out what kind of soil you’re gardening with.  And with this small piece of information it will help you to find the pH of your soil and you’ll know how to feed your soil and what plants you can grow.

It pays to take three or four samples from the external edges of the garden as you may have more than one soil type, each favouring different plants and treatments. The test will show whether your samples are acidic (below 7), neutral (7) or alkaline (above 7) Most garden plants like soil that is slightly acidic at 6.5, but there’s still a good selection of plants for neutral and alkaline soils.

More Gardening Tips for September 2013

Beneficial Insects

Bugs can be annoying little devils but not always. If insects weren’t around to pollinate plants, to eat other insects and to get eaten by birds we actually wouldn’t be around very long either.

Ladybugs (or Lady Beetles):

Ladybugs are very beneficial to your garden, as they eat other insects that are harmful and yet many gardeners unintentionally kill these beneficial insects while they are young because they do not recognize them while they are in this stage of life. While still a nymph, ladybugs actually resemble tiny black alligators that are about half their adult length. They also contain orange, red, or white markings. This colouration and overall look can make ladybug nymphs look a bit frightening, despite their kind nature and helpful garden habits.  During the winter, ladybugs prefer to rest in dry areas that provide them adequate protection, such as house roofing tiles, tree bark, and in the attics of homes. In the early spring, they will come out from hiding. They begin feeding and laying their eggs immediately. In fact, one female ladybug can lay up to 1,000 eggs in a period that is just over three months. When the young hatch, they begin feeding immediately as well. In just the three weeks it takes for the ladybug nymph to pupate, it will eat approximately 400 harmful aphids. In all, a ladybug eats about 5,000 aphids during its entire lifetime. In addition, they eat whitefly pupa, soft scale, spider mites, and thrips – all of which can cause harm to your garden.

 

Lacewings

The most common good thing about “good” insects is that they will eat “bad” insects and other pests. This is true of the lacewing, a 3/4 inch long green or brown insect with transparent, veined wings. The lacewing is especially helpful in its larval stage, when it eats aphids, moth eggs, caterpillars, thrips and mites, and other small insects that can do considerable damage to plants, as well as the eggs of such insects. In fact, the larval lacewing is sometimes called an “aphid lion”.

 

Hover flies

Also dubbed as flower or syrphid flies, hover flies are often confused with wasps or bees. Similar to the lacewings, the larvae of the hover flies feed on aphids that like to live in tight, hard to reach places. Another thing that you should know about hover flies larvae is that they appear early in spring – long before any other helpful insect – and are known to help obtain larger and more beautiful raspberries and strawberries.

 

Ground beetle

Even though they are not the most pleasant sight in your garden, the ground beetle is definitely an insect you want there. These long-legged and rather large bugs like to feed on insects that are particularly harmful for vegetables. Therefore, if you intend to plant potatoes, cabbage or tomatoes, don’t forget to add a few rocks, logs and perennial ground covers to attract them.

 

Wasps and Honeybees

While their sting is painful and will often lead to swelling, the truth is that wasps and honeybees of all sizes are a blessing for any garden. The small wasps are known to attack the eggs of all sorts of pests and are perhaps one of the best insects to provide an efficient pest garden control.

 

Spiders

If you don’t have spiders in the flower or vegetable garden, you risk a pest outbreak. While most of us think the worst of them, rest assured that the spiders in your garden will never enter your home and are not poisonous. In general, they are very likely to “invade” your garden, particularly if it is populated with various insects. However, if you don’t spot any, then you can attract them by planting straw mulches or permanent perennial plants.

Gardening Tips September 2013

Insect problems

 Aphids are soft, pear-shaped bodied insects that suck the life out of your plants.  Some aphids have wings.  Most aphids are green but they also come in red, yellow, grey and black.  Aphids are about 1/8 inch long, have 6 legs and are born pregnant.  Yes, they are born pregnant.  Female aphids can give live birth to pregnant females, occurring for several generations.  In the autumn, the female aphids mate with a male to produce eggs that winter over.  Aphids secrete a sticky honeydew substance from their rear.  Ants will carry the aphids around and harvest the honeydew from the aphids.  In the autumn ants will carry aphid eggs into their nest and take care of the eggs until spring.  In the spring the ants will return the aphid eggs to the plants.  If you have an ant invasion, look for aphids as well.  To eliminate aphids there are several methods:

1. Wash the aphids off the plants with a strong spray of water.

2. Tobacco spray:  Soak tobacco leaves in water for 24 hours.  Dilute solution until it looks like weak tea. Then spray on plants.  Be sure to hit the bug with the spray.  Aphids tend to hide on the underside of leaves and on the main stems.

3. Rhubarb spray:  Boil one half kg of rhubarb leaves in 1 litre of water.  Next take two cups of water and mix in one tablespoon of dish soap.  When the rhubarb has cooled pour off the liquid and add it to the soapy water.  Spray on aphids.

4. Safer Soap™: Safer Soap™ is a product you can purchase at a local nursery.  It works well on aphids if you can get it on the body.  It kills by suffocation.  Aphids breathe through their pores.  Safer Soap ™clogs their pores and they can’t breathe.

5. Neem oil: Neem oil is a by-product of the Neem tree seed.  It is considered a natural way of killing aphids.  Local nurseries may carry Neem oil.

6. Diatomaceous earth: Diatomaceous earth is ground up fossilized sea shells.  Diatomaceous earth will puncture soft bodied insects and they will dehydrate and die.  Local nurseries should carry diatomaceous earth.

7. Home-made soft bodied bug spray:  Mix three tablespoons of dish soap and one gallon of water.  Spray on the aphids every other day for two weeks.  Test plants first to see if the soap will burn the leaves.

8. Non-fat for aphids: To control aphids apply non-fat dried milk, mixed according to the instructions on box.  Spray the leaves of your plants with the milk. The aphids get stuck in the milky residue and perish.

9. Repellent spray: This can be used to repel aphids and whiteflies, slugs and cut worms. Reapply after rains or once a week. Mix one minced bulb of garlic, one small minced onion, one tablespoon cayenne pepper, one quarter water.  Let steep for three hours. Next add one tablespoon liquid soap. Strain and put in sprayer.  Spray on plants.

 10. Garlic oil spray:  Use for control over aphids, cabbage loopers, earwigs, June bugs, leafhoppers, squash bugs, and whiteflies. Mince one bulb garlic and soak in two teaspoons mineral oil for 24 hours.  Next, mix one pint of water with one tablespoon liquid soap then add garlic mix to water and soap. Mix thoroughly.  Strain out garlic and place into a jar for storage.  Use one to two tablespoons garlic oil mix to two cups water.  Spray plants covering all leaf surfaces.

11. Alcohol sprays: Use for aphids, mealybugs, scale, thrips and whitefly control. Mix ½ cup isopropyl alcohol (70%) with one cup water and spray on leaves and pests.  Alcohol can burn the leaves of certain plants.  African violets and apple trees are sensitive to alcohol sprays. Test a few leaves on your plant before you spray the whole plant.

Gardening Tips for August 2013

Propagation by Cuttings

Propagation by cutting is one of the most efficient techniques of reproducing a plant that is an exact genetic copy of its parent. This method preserves unique and special plants that have different or patchy results when grown from seed.

Cuttings are usually taken from mid-spring through mid-autumn but, with a greenhouse heated propagator or heat mat they can be rooted a lot earlier. If you have a parent plant that is getting a bit old or showing signs of distress and you are a bit worried it might die, then it might be worth taking a few cuttings especially if it means a lot to you or is a rare species. The resulting plant will be identical to the parent plant.

Taking cuttings from shrubs is an easy way you can increase your stock of many popular garden plants at no cost, including hydrangeas, philadelphus, lavender and forsythia.

One of the most popular types of cuttings is a tip cutting – the tip of the bud and a length of stem containing 2 or 3 nodes. Don’t take too large a cutting; the growing tip is going to root much faster than hardened wood. Cuttings should be 5 to 10cm (2 to 4in) long.

Use a clean pair of secateurs or a pruning knife and choose healthy, pest-free and non-flowering shoots of new growth. Cut from the parent plant and put inside a plastic bag – add a few drops of water and shake to help prevent the plant material drooping while you’re going round the garden taking your cuttings and make sure that you avoid crushing the plant tissue. Rooting hormones can encourage rooting of difficult plants and increase the number of roots on others.

Prepare by making a straight cut beneath a pair of leaves and then remove several sets of lower leaves that would rot in the soil if left behind. Keep only one or two pairs of leaves at the tip. Most cuttings root better if the cut end is dipped in hormone rooting liquid or powder.

Use a free-draining medium such as lime-free coarse sand, or sand mixed with sterile Materiel (a mix of 50 per cent cuttings compost and 50 per cent horticultural grit), level and firm.  It should be moisture-retentive and free of disease, weeds and insects.

Retain humidity – cuttings have no roots to take up water, but they lose it through their leaves. Take several cuttings and put in a plant pot and cover the pot with a clear plastic bag, held in place with an elastic band, to stop the cuttings from drying out until they can support themselves. You may occasionally have to provide ventilation by uncovering them for an hour or two hours a day.

Check by looking for roots growing through the holes at the base of the pot, or by gently tugging at the plants after three weeks, if there’s resistance, they may have rooted. Roots normally appear in 7 to 10 days, and your cutting is ready to transplant in 7 to 21 days, with a healthy, well-developed root system. When used indoors, results are better when the cuttings daily receive 16-18 hours of artificial light.

Check plants often – remove any dead cuttings or fallen leaves.

Don’t over-water, but check for moisture more often if using heat.  They will dry out faster.

Gardening Tips for July 2013

Installing Decking

The first step for ‘do it yourself’ decking is to decide where in your garden the decking is going to be placed.

Is it going to be coming out from a conservatory or other room at the back of the house, or is it going to be free standing in another part of your garden? It would be a good idea to look at your garden in the morning and evening and identify where the sun is shining most. A sunny area in your garden is the best location for your deck.

When making your final decision, there are a number of things to keep in mind. These should include privacy from your neighbour’s gardens or windows, and where and when your chosen area gets the sun.

Also, what will your deck be used for? Will it be used for a nice quiet place to go and read a book, or to sit and enjoy the fine weather (if we ever get any!), or will it be used for parties and barbecues? These are all very important factors to consider when choosing your location.

It is also important to consider what type of furniture you’ll want on it once it’s assembled. Will you have a dining table and chairs and if so how many? Would you like room for sun loungers and flower pots and plants or any other accessories such as free standing heaters? So don’t make it too small.

The next step is to make sure the area you’ve chosen to lay the decking on is free from obstructions like trees, plants or large stones. This is very important so that you can begin laying the joists that will make the solid foundation of the decking you have chosen. If your deck is to sit directly on top of the existing grass in your garden then, with a basic grasp of DIY and some hard work, you should have no problem with laying decking.

It is important to remove any grass underneath and cover it with a weed barrier to prevent unsightly grass and weeds growing up between the boards of the decking. You will also need to create a drainage system so the area under the deck does not get flooded.

For those of you with a downward sloping garden, it is important to take note whether the deck will be located several feet below the room you wish to enter it from. If this is the case then you may need professional help laying the foundations and support for your deck, or with building the appropriate steps to enter the deck.

Whether or not you want to have your decking installed professionally depends very much on your personal circumstances and budget. If you are confident with major DIY projects then the challenge of installing the decking yourself could be very rewarding.

If, however, you just want your decking installed as quickly and professionally as possible and don’t mind paying extra for it then it is probably worthwhile hiring a gardening company to do it for you.

More Gardening Tips for June 2013

Raised bed gardening can offer gardeners the chance to increase crop production while decreasing garden area. Raised beds are very helpful to gardeners that have limited gardening space and those who have difficulty with poor clayey soils which do not dry early. Efforts to improve poor soils can be focused on the raised bed growing areas only. They help keep pathway weeds from your garden soil, prevent soil compaction, provide good drainage and serve as a barrier to pests such as slugs and snails. Raised beds drain and warm up earlier in the spring, which will allow planting of cool season vegetables much earlier than normal recommended planting dates. Raised bed gardens can be worked on soon after heavy rains without compacting soils. The sides of the beds keep your valuable and shrub garden soil from being eroded or washed away during heavy rains. Gardeners are able to plant earlier in the season because the soil is warmer and better drained when it is above ground level. By raising the soil level, raised garden beds can help reduce back strain when bending over to the bed. This is particularly helpful to us older gardeners or people with bad backs. And if the beds are built well, you will able to sit on the edge of the bed while weeding, and for some gardeners this is the biggest advantage of all.

Raised garden beds can be made in a variety of different materials, and they can be made with relative ease. The most common height is 12in (30.48cm) which is the height of two deck boards or you can use old railway sleepers or concrete blocks. Although less aesthetically pleasing, they are inexpensive to source and easy to use. If building from old sleepers make sure to line the inside edge with plastic first so that the creosote painted on them will not damage the plants. Pre-manufactured raised bed gardening boxes also exist. It is best not to build the raised beds width wider that 4′(1.219mm) across. This is because it is easy to reach the centre of the bed from either side.

Once they are built, raised beds will be easy to prepare for planting and to look after throughout the growing season. Root crops grow longer and straighter in medium-to-coarse-textured soils. Raised beds are well suited to a wide range of intensive gardening techniques such as intercropping, and successive plantings, use of plant supports, compact varieties and mixtures of food and ornamental and herbaceous plants. Their tidiness usually produces a very attractive and pleasing appearance. Once the soil is added and the bed is planted, make it a rule to never stand on the bed. Stepping on the bed will compact the soil, reduce aeration and impact root growth. Roots will need to travel down through the soil to access available nutrients which are essential to plant growth. If the soil is dense and compacted, much of the plant’s available energy is directed to the struggling roots. By lightening the soil, you will help root growth and, as a result, better vegetative growth.

The simple test to check for soil density is to stick a finger into the soil.  It should easily go down all the way to the third knuckle. If the soil fails this test, you will have to add some peat moss to your topsoil to lighten it, this is easy and inexpensive. Vermiculite is also used by many gardeners to lighten the soil, and it doesn’t break down as quickly as peat moss. Chemical-based fertilizers may be appealing as you read the product claims on the packaging, but the benefits are short-lived. Commercial fertilizers need to be reapplied with successive plantings. These fertilizers may give impressive results, but do not contribute to overall soil condition, so it is best to add some compost as it the best amendment you can give your soil in raised beds. Compost is a great way to end the gardening season. Since this compost will sit on the bed all winter, it does not have to be completely broken down. The composting process can actually occur on the raised bed. Organic fertilizers are great to add in the spring, but, they are not the complete answer in improving your soil quality.

By properly maintaining your soil in the raised beds, you won’t need to replace it every few years. In fact, unless your plants bring in a soil-borne disease, you don’t need to replace your raised bed soil at all, just continue to maintain it. The plants you choose for your raised bed will depend on the bed’s location. Vegetables prefer 8 to 10 hours of sunlight but many can get by with about 6 hours. For shady beds, choose shade-tolerant plants such as begonias and impatiens. When it comes to maintenance, watering is the most important task. Raised beds require more water than in-ground gardens because they dry out more quickly. It’s a good idea to use soaker hoses or install drip irrigation so you don’t have to spend a lot of time watering by hand.

Gardening Tips for June 2013

One of the most commonly asked questions I get asked is ‘how do I get rid of moss in the lawn’?

I hope this answer will help:

Moss in the lawn can be a major problem, especially during the rainy winter months.

Moss takeover is a result of a series of garden problems.  Identifying and solving these problems promptly will discourage moss growth in the future.

Moss spores, exist naturally in the garden and only becomes a problem when the lawn can no longer compete with it.  A weakened or stressed lawn can be due to a number of causes, low or unbalanced soil fertility, compacted or wet soils, and heavy shade acidic soil.

A thick thatch layer (thatch is a layer of dead grass that has not decomposed; it inhibits water, air and fertilizer penetration into the root area) these problems can be corrected chemically and by hard manual labour scarification (vigorous raking).  Try pruning nearby branches to allow even a little more light in.  One way to help eliminate moss is to first rake as much as possible out with a spring tine rake but you will not get it all.

Then apply your preferred iron sulphate based moss killer to the moss that remains after raking.   The moss will now be thin enough to allow better penetration of the moss killer; this method will get about 90% of the moss.  Moss killers combined with a fertiliser are beneficial where grass vigour is low.  Apply moss killers, either by hand or with a push-along spreader but be careful not to apply lawn sand (ferrous sulphate mixed with a carrier) at too high a rate as this can blacken and kill the grass as well as the moss.  Apply lawn moss killers in fine weather.  Some require watering after 48 hours if there has been no rain. Check the packaging for details.  Also, take care while spreading near the pavement and the house to avoid staining the cement.

If you want to apply ferrous sulphate (sulphate of iron) before raking it. It is best to do this 7 to 14 days before raking.   A light high grass cutting with the mower beforehand will help, because ferrous sulphate acidifies the soil you MUST use it evenly over the whole lawn otherwise you will create pH changes which may affect grass growth and may even increase moss growth in future.  The lawn should stay dry for approximately forty eight hours after applying the moss killer, and then a thorough watering is required. After seven to ten days the moss will begin to turn black, at which time you should hand-rake or dethatch your lawn.  This will allow the grass to grow again in areas previously covered by moss.  If bare or thin patches result from moss removal, reseed the area with a grass seed mixture containing a high percentage of perennial rye grass seed. A thick, healthy lawn does not allow room for moss to become established.

It is best to rake out the moss on a dry day when the grass is noticeably growing.  Mow the lawn reasonably close before hand to better expose the moss and reduce resistance on the rake.

Try Maintain a good fertilizing and watering routine. For the first feeding, a well-balanced lawn food, such as Maxi crop Moss killer and Lawn Tonic, Westland Lawn Feed, Weed and Moss killer, Scot Granular lawn Feed Weed and Moss Control, or Gouldings Lawn Feed Weed Moss Killer.

Later in the summer, a higher-nitrogen fertilizer can be applied to stimulate green growth, but please keep in mind that while fertilizing is important, you should not over fertilize your lawn during dry periods, less frequent but longer periods of watering will produce deeper and healthier roots.

Try to improve compacted or wet soils. Lawn roots will thrive in healthy soil that drains well and has plenty of organic matter.  Poor soil will not drain well and this will only encourage moss growth. To correct compacted soil, aeration is highly recommended. Aeration is the removal of soil plugs; this allows air to penetrate directly to the root zone. The added oxygen encourages soil microbes to break down organic matter, such as thatch. The holes also allow water to penetrate more easily.

More Gardening Tips for May 2013

May is a good time to plant up a hanging basket or window box as all danger of frost should be gone

Plant summer hanging baskets from April onwards, but they will need protection from frost until the middle or end of May. If you do not have a greenhouse, it is usually easier to plant in May once the frosts have passed.

There are lots of plants that can be grown in baskets and window boxes, including annuals and small evergreen shrubs that will provide all-year-round interest. Instead of planting haphazardly why not choose a colour scheme such as pink or white flowers, or use reds and yellows.

Though most baskets are planted in early spring and then put outside after the risk of frost has gone, they can also be planted in autumn and filled with frost hardy flowers and tough evergreens for colour over winter.

The best way to plant up baskets and boxes is first prepare your compost by putting a small amount of slow release fertiliser granules and some water-retaining gel crystals into multipurpose compost. Before adding any compost, mix in the water retaining gel. You’ll need about the amount that would fill a 35mm film canister. The gel will swell up when it gets wet and will reduce the need for such frequent watering.

Next, remove one of the hanging chains from a 30cm (12in) diameter or a 35cm (14in) wire hanging basket and make sure that the hanging chains are outside the basket and stand the basket on a empty flower pot to help keep it steady, then cover the inside of the basket with a coconut fibre liner, sphagnum moss, or wool fleece with black plastic on top, you can buy bags of dried moss from nurseries and garden centres, but give it a good soak before using it. As the basket matures, the moss will turn green and will blend well with the foliage of the plants.

To help prevent too much water from escaping, cut around the edges where it overlaps the basket, making sure none of the black plastic is visible.

Cut small slits in the plastic and then select plants for the sides of the basket. To help prevent damage to roots and stems of the bedding plants separately wrap each in a tube of paper.

From the inside of the basket, push the tube through one of the holes until the root ball is secure against the liner. Unwrap the paper and add the other plants. Firm the compost around the root balls.

Adding this bottom layer of plants will help to give the basket that ball-like-mass-of-flowers look when it gets going. Add layers of plants. Fill two thirds of the basket with compost and then add another layer of plants.

Continue to fill with compost, leave a 3cm (0.75in) gap between the top of the compost and the lip of the basket, and finish by planting the top. Water well.

Aftercare
Put outside when all risk of frost has passed. Water daily, especially during warm weather, even if it has rained. Aim to keep the compost moist but not soggy, and avoid wetting the foliage and flowers. Deadhead spent flowers from your baskets twice a week to help encourage plants to produce a progression of flowers.

Boost plants with a weekly liquid feed.

Some good bedding plants to try are:

• Petunia Purple Velvet Cascadia and Surfinia are two more popular types bred for their trailing habit, vivid colours and prolific flowering.
• Begonia Chanson Pink boast long stems with blousy pink blooms.
• Lobelia Fountain Mixture Trailing come in red, pink, white and mauve flowers and sapphire blue.
• Dichondra Silver Falls is a trailing foliage plant with silver leaves.
• Fuchsia packs quite the focal punch.
• Sweet pea Pink Cupid has fragrant pink flowers on compact plants
• Impatiens (busy lizzies) palargoniums, pansies,verbenas,campanula

If you are planting a winter basket, why not try primula, trailing ivy, winter pansies heathers and some dwarf conifers? Underplant with dwarf bulbs such as narcissus, tulips and iris for a spring display.

Plant winter hanging baskets between September and October, the basic principles of creating a hanging basket for winter and summer are the same.

Gardening Tips for May 2013

When buying trees or shrubs for your garden, be sure you have the right plant for the right place, take into account the site, the hardiness of the new plants, and your geographic location.

The following are things you can do to help your transplants become well established.

Check the intended site to be sure it is suitable for the trees and/or shrubs you want to put there. Check the site to be sure the plants will receive enough sunlight.

Check the soil for pH levels and proper drainage, and dig deep enough so the roots can penetrate deep into the soil to anchor it and gather moisture. Trees have traditionally been offered for sale in the nursery trade using three methods: bare-root, balled and burlapped (B&B), and containers including pot-in-pot and in-ground fabric containers.

Check the plants over thoroughly before buying them. Look for healthy growth and good leaf colour. Check the roots they should be white and firm. If the roots are blackened or soggy and soft it can indicate disease or pest problems so it would be best to avoid that tree or shrub and buy another one instead.

Make sure to water your plants during dry periods while they are becoming established.

Transplants do not have a large root system to help them reach deep down into the soil to take in water and they can become stressed easily. This also makes them more at risk to injury from insects and diseases, but also make sure your new plants are not getting too much water, either by overwatering or being planted in soil that does not properly drain, as too much water will smother the roots and will eventually kill the plant.

If your new tree or shrub was grown in a container and its roots have become twisted inside the pot, make sure to unravel and gently spread the roots apart before planting.

Most importantly be patient since you probably will not see signs of vigorous growth for the first year. After transplanting new trees or shrubs it takes a few years for woody plants, especially trees, to become established in your garden.

One of the more common mistakes in transplanting trees is planting too deep, and over or under watering. Careful attention to properly preparing the planting hole will greatly increase your chances of successfully transplanting trees. The planting hole should be at least three times as wide as the root ball, have sloped sides, and be no deeper than the root ball.

Plant the tree about 50 millimetres higher than the surrounding ground to allow settling of the root ball and prevent pooling of water at the tree base. If the tree is bareroot, make sure to spread the roots before backfilling.

After the tree is set in the planting hole at the proper depth, gently remove the pinning nails or rope lacing so the burlap can be cut and removed from the sides of the rootball. The burlap at the bottom of the root ball should be left. Removing the bottom burlap may injure the roots.

If a wire basket has been used, cut away as much of the basket as possible without disturbing the root ball. This will avoid any conflicts with the roots or with any equipment used later, mulch should be placed around newly planted trees to help conserve moisture and reduce competition for moisture from turf grass. Be careful not to over-mulch; 50 millimetres is the right depth. Keeping the mulch 150 millimetres away from the trunk of the tree to avoid disease problems and rodent damage.

If fertilizer is applied at planting, use a slow-release fertilizer at a rate not to exceed 1lb. of actual nitrogen per 1,000 sq. ft. Avoid using fast-release fertilizers to avoid root burn. Staking should only be done if absolutely necessary and any stakes should be removed within a year or two following planting. Be careful that the staking materials do not injure the trunk of the tree or girdle the tree. Prune only broken or diseased limbs at planting.

More Gardening Tips for April 2013

Making compost is often considered to be difficult but all you need to do is provide the right ingredients and let nature do the rest. The first rule of composting is to know what goes on the heap and what goes in the bin.

For starters, perennial weeds and anything that is diseased should be put in your brown bin for removal, and anything too woody, unless finely shredded, should be bagged up and taken to your local tip. Avoid meat, dairy and cooked food unless you want to attract a family of rats to your garden.

Set up a separate bin for your kitchen peelings and pods, and ask family to use it. The autumn clear up, especially of the herbaceous borders, will also give you plenty of raw material to compost, but make sure larger pieces are chopped or shredded.

Grass cuttings are a constant source of controversy; you can use them by all means but layer them between other fibrous material, to avoid a smelly black slurry.

Dead leaves can be tricky if just dumped on a heap. But they are worth persisting with. It is best to store them separately in perforated plastic bags or, better still, in cages made from chicken-wire. They will compost, but in two years rather than months. The next question is whether the compost heap should be wet or dry, it will have to be covered with something like an old piece of carpet or plastic, this will help build up the heat and accelerates decomposition. But it pays to leave it exposed sometimes to rain and it shouldn’t be allowed to dry out completely. Materials in the compost pile should be kept as moist as a squeezed sponge.

There are a variety of bins on the market but they are all just a container for the composting process and a bin is not strictly necessary. You can just build a heap and cover it over with some polythene or cardboard. Bins do look neater and are easier to manage. You can build your own.

The compost bin can be built of wood, pallets, hay bales, cavity blocks, stakes and chicken-wire. It should measure at least 1.3m x 1.3m x 1.3m.

For best results, use a mixture of types of ingredient when composting. The right balance is something learnt by experience, but a rough guide is to use equal amounts by volume of greens and browns. The brown materials provide carbon for your compost, the green materials provide nitrogen, and the water provides moisture to help break down the organic matter.

Composting is so worth the effort. Adding compost to your garden feeds the soil and provides a slow release of nutrients to your crops. Compost also vastly improves soil structure, allows the soil to hold in moisture better and improves friability. The finished product should be a rich, dark colour, crumbly texture, sweet-smelling with an earthy odour.

Compostable food wastes include fruit and vegetable scraps, raw vegetable peelings from your kitchen, tea bags and leaves, coffee grounds. Waste paper and junk mail composts slowly, so it should comprise no more than 10% by weight of the total pile. You can also compost shredded confidential waste cardboard e.g. cereal packets egg boxes and newspaper.

Bedding from pets e.g. rabbits, guinea pigs hay, straw, shredded paper, wood shavings, old bedding, plants, egg shells (crushed) hair clippings, feathers, livestock manure, cow and horse manure; and well-rotted, bonemeal and bloodmeal can also be composted.

Try, if possible, to collect enough compost materials to make a layer of at least 30cm or more in the compost bin in the bottom put a 10cm (4in) layer of coarse material, such as straw or twigs in a 15cm (6in) layer of garden waste and a little water if it’s dry. Put in alternate layers of different materials – like a sandwich.

The compost pile should be located in a warm area and protected from overexposure to wind and too much direct sunlight. While heat and air help composting, overexposure dries the materials. The location should not offend neighbours mixing the pile with a pitchfork or shovel, or shifting it into another bin, provides the oxygen necessary for decomposition and compensates for excess moisture.

A pile that is not mixed may take 20 times longer to decompose. Use a fork to turn the heap every few days more frequent turning results in faster composting, bad odours indicate that the pile is too damp or lacks oxygen, and that more frequent turning is necessary. This process adds air to the mix and helps it rot down faster.

Do not use fish, poultry, dairy products, foods containing animal fats, human/pet feces, weeds with established seed heads, and plants infected with or highly prone to disease, such as roses and peonies, coal or charcoal ashes as it might contain substances harmful to plants. Pet wastes (e.g., dog or cat feces, soiled cat litter) might also contain parasites, bacteria, germs, pathogens, and viruses harmful to humans.

Occasional watering may be necessary to keep the pile damp, especially in dry weather. Covering the pile with black plastic reduces the need for watering; it also prevents rainwater from draining out the nutrients. By making your own compost, this keeps these materials out of landfills where they take up space and release methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

The more compost you can add to your soil over time, the more fertile and well-structured it will become, and the less fertiliser you will need to apply to keep the soil in a healthy, balanced condition. Nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus will be produced naturally by the feeding of microorganisms.