September, week Two: More jobs from Mr. Hellyer

That book? By A.G.L Hellyer? It’s week 2 of September, so I need to give you some more jobs. Me to. If the weather allows.

Can Autumn be tropical? I mean, blazing sun shine 1 moment, torrential rain the next, then back to no clouds and bright sun…

Anyway, what are we on with?

• Prune back rambling roses. Remove old, diseased stems from ground level; leave the young fresh stems. If there is no new growth from ground level, select and keep the best of the old stems and remove old flower trusses and hips. Treat weeping standard roses in the same way, I’m told. Does anyone still have weeping standard roses? They are very out of fashion, so  I must try find one for my garden. Start the revival…
• Lift main crop carrots and beetroot. “Your Garden…” gives extensive instruction on how to keep these vegetables without the aid of refrigeration or cooking: I’ll keep that for next year, when we’ve had a planting season.
• Fix grease bands. 1930’s gardeners had a barrage of chemicals we no longer have. They also had less pre-prepared boxed garden goods. Whereas I could give (from Mr. Hellyers’ book) instructions on making grease bands, it’s not necessary. You can by them in most garden centres and nurseries. Start using them on fruit trees, especially apples and pears, about 30cm above ground level. Also put them on any stakes supporting trees that cross above the grease bands. Keep them fresh and tacky from now till March, to prevent Winter Moth, March Moth and Woolly Aphid.
• Prune Logan Berries. Once all the fruit is finished, cut old stems back to the ground and train new stems back into your growing frame.

Growing frame? Cane fruit needs supporting. I use a post at each end of the row with a piece of timber nailed to it, so it forms a t-shape. Then I run 4 wires the length of the bed from t-bar to t-bar. Then I tie my raspberry canes to the wires. Logan berries, which form whips rather than canes, I use posts and 4 wires arranged vertically rather than horizontally. This gives you a physical frame to keep the fruit trained to.

Enjoy the month in between the rainfall.

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Jobs to do in the garden: What to do in June.

Is it really June? And so far in? I’ve missed a week running in between rain storms and house visits.

Last time I posted we had temperatures hitting 28 celsius. The moment I posted that last blog [literally, the moment I posted the blog] the weather broke. It’s rained almost every day since; warm and wet. The problem now being the grass has grown fast, along with all the other plants. But fast growth often means structurally weak with plants -that’s to say the plants may get tall but they lack the strength to stay upright on their own.

I should know not to tempt the weather; I always warn people not to comment on having good weather as it’s one of the best ways to break it!

So what should we be doing in the garden between the rain storms? Well, there are a few little jobs:

• It should be well past overnight frosts: Get any tender bedding planted out, and your baskets and pots out to their final positions.
• Check your variegated shrubs, and prune off any unvariegated shoots right back to the originating stems. [ A quick plant lesson: Variegation tends to be the result of disease or recessive genes. As a result plants “spontaneously” recover, producing new, unvarigated shoots. If these are left unchecked, the plant will revert to an unvariegated form, as the new -more vigorous- shoots will swamp out the variegation you bought the plant for. Lesson over].
• After the bout of warm, wet weather many plants will have grown fast. This means they will probably lack the strength to support themselves. Tie in climbers, sweet peas etc, that have grown faster than they can tie themselves in. Also provide support for any herbaceous plants that need it. (In my garden, this is Delphiniums and a huge Angelica both of which have gone from about 2′ to over 5′ in under 2 weeks!)
• Prune trained stoned-fruit trees (plums, cherries, apricot, peach, etc.). Take off any branches that are growing away from where you want them. That’s to say if it’s an espallier or wall-trained tree take off any branches going away from or into the wall/line, or any side shoots going straight up (or down); I tend to reduce these to 2 or 3 leaf nodes. This increases productivity but keep size to a minimum. Next year these “stubs” will produce blossom and hopefully fruit.
• 1st early potatos will hopefully start to flower soon. Harvest as you need them from when they start to flower; I rarely dig all my potatos in 1 hit as they taste so much better straight out of the ground.
• If you are growing “cordoned” tomatoes (up string or a pole) take off side shoots as they form. This helps increase the number of tomatoes you get. It also helps reduce the occurrence of disease as there is more air flow around the plants.

So if the wet lets you, start enjoying the garden. Me? I’m barbecuing this weekend whatever the weather!

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When good roses are treated bad(ly)

Damage to stem of standard rose caused by plant ties being left on too long

The picture shows something I come across all too often: Damage caused by a plant tie being left on too tightly for too long a time.

This is a very nice standard rose at the top, and it has a good root system from the resistance it has to being moved. But now this constriction will be a weak-point in the stem for all time.

Plant ties are useful… vital… to allow new plants to become firmly rooted, or well-grown around supports such as trellis or obelisks. But they are often misused, or over-used, and forgotten about and left on far after they should have been removed.

Plants tied to support need to be reviewed each year.

Are the ties still needed? Is it well enough rooted so it no longer needs to be supported? Has it grown sufficiently around the trellis/obelisk/growing support? If the ties are still needed, they need to be loosened to allow the plant to grow: If you have a child, would you put a tie on them at 11 and expect them to still have the same size neck at 16? No? So why do we do it to plants?

This poor plant wasn’t in a private garden. It is in a commercial garden. The last gardening company planted the roses. So you would expect them to care for them well? No. Doesn’t work like that. Checking ties isn’t on the list of jobs you get given to do at that location. So you don’t have time to do it. It’s a problem with many larger companies… they are so busy chasing the bottom line, they forget what gardening is about; beautiful gardens, full of well-tended plants. Diatribe over. For a while.

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