Hampshire Country Gardener October 2021

Hampshire Issue No 133 OCTOBER 2021 FREE

www.countrygardener.co.uk

LET’S NOT WASTE THE

pumpkin harvest

Get creative with recipes and make more of this autumn vegetable

PLUS:

Creating a winter garden; Meet Neil Lucas from Knoll Gardens; Careers in horticulture; The natural way to deal with pests; Win a pair of Britain’s most popular garden wellies; Picking blackberries; How wildlife gets ready for winter; October is the month to get planting; Foraging this autumn; News and gardening events throughout Hampshire

G A R D E N C E N T R E • FA R M S H O P • OW TO N ’ S B U T C H E R S Fontley Road Titchfield Hampshire PO15 6QX 01329 844336

www.garsons.co.uk

• T H E N AT U R E C O L L E C T I V E • T H E O R A N G E RY T E A H O U S E

Mark Hinsley

MSc.Res.Man.(Arb), OND (Arb), F.Arbor.A

Arboricultural Consultants Ltd.

TREE ADVICE & REPORTING Established 1994

YOUR PLACE 4S PLANT

OPEN 7days Week

www.basketsnblooms.co.uk

392 Christchurch Rd. West Parley, BH22 8SW 9am - 5pm Mon - Sat ~ 10am - 4pm Sundays

Stuckton, Fordingbridge SP6 2HG 10am - 4pm everyday

We specialise in:

■ Tree Condition Advice and Surveys ■ Tree Liability Assessments and Management Plans ■ Tree Preservation Order Advice ■ Planning Applications - Advice and Reports

(to BS5837 standards)

ALL ENQUIRIES WELCOME

Tel: 01425 655150

‘Blooms’

We are a Dorset based company offering a friendly, professional tree consultancy service for all areas of the South.

Cafe

01202 876177 www.treeadvice.info enquiries@treeadvice.info

at the West Parley branch now Open

Put the Colour back into your Garden with our bright and cheerful seasonal Hanging Baskets and ready planted Patio Pots.

Pansy and viola 6 packs £1.99 Planted containers from £4.99 Chrysanthemums from £1.99 Autumn basket plants £1.35 4 for £5 Cyclamen £1.35 4 for £5 / 15 for £15 Poly prom packs £2.49 Amazing range of planted containers all year round - always fresh, perfect gifts. ● Peat Free Compost, Pots, Feeds & Garden needs always in stock ● Wide range of locally grown shrubs and climbers ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

For updates and news join our eMail newsletter on our web site.

Bird Food & Feeders Look after your feathered friends with our fantastic range of Birdcare products

Stewarts Christchurch Garden Centre, Lyndhurst Road, Christchurch, BH23 4SA Tel: 01425 272244 Stewarts Broomhill Garden Centre, God’s Blessing Lane, Broomhill, BH21 7DF Tel: 01202 882462 Stewarts Abbey Garden Centre, Mill Lane, Titchfield, Fareham, PO15 5RB Tel: 01329 842225 www.stewarts.co.uk

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Country Gardener

Gardeners cuttings

in Hampshire

CUTTINGS

A LOOK AT NEWS, EVENTS AND HAPPENINGS IN YOUR AREA

An organic slug repellent you can be confident of

Autumn floral walk at Gilbert White’s House

Every gardener is looking for a safe reliable organic slug repellent they can trust season after season. Slugzilla is a concentrated liquid fertiliser and slug/snail deterrent, with a 100 per cent plant-based natural formula. It works by protecting vulnerable crops by dilution in water during normal watering routine. It is the only product that uses nature’s own slug and snail repelling properties to create a barrier that repels the pests on contact (it does not kill them); this allows the ecosystem to remain intact. All ingredients are sustainably sourced, eco-friendly, allergen-free, chemical-free, toxin-free and wildlife/pet safe.

As a dual product whilst it protects your plants from attack, it boosts the plant’s immune system providing valuable bio-nutrients in the form of a liquid Hebridean Seaweed fertiliser. Slugzilla washes off fruit and vegetables and does not affect its taste, smell or colour, and is safe to eat. Slugzilla is created by three UK military veterans who are passionate about creating environmentally responsible products here in the UK. It is made in small 50 litre batches to ensure quality and optimum effectiveness and all packaging is 100 per cent recyclable through the normal household recycling services. The team works out of a small laboratory in Oban, Scotland.

Gilbert White’s House & Gardens at Selborne near Alton is celebrating autumn with a floral walk on Wednesday, 6th October.

Part of the Creative Footsteps Festival, join Gilbert White’s House & Garden’s director Steve Green for an Autumnal Flora Selborniensis Walk around Gilbert White’s Selborne. In the year 1766 Gilbert White made a year long study of the flora of the village in his Flora Selborniensis, Steve will point out during the walk the sites of Gilbert White’s findings and the amazing flora and fungi that can be found in Selborne today.

The walk begins at 11am and ends at 1pm. Tickets £10.

Gilbert White’s House, The Wakes, High Street, Selborne, Hampshire GU34 3JH. For other events, opening times and more information email info@gilbertwhiteshouse.org.uk phone 01420 511275 or visit the website at www.gilbertwhiteshouse.org.uk

BREAKFAST AND GARDENING AT SIR HAROLD HILLIER GARDENS

You can combine a hearty breakfast with a gardening walk and talk at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens in Romsey on Saturday, 2nd October at 8.30am.

A gardening expert will lead you after breakfast for a seasonal garden tour before the popular Hampshire gardens open to the public. You are then free to explore the gardens for the rest of the day. Booking is essential at and the cost is £22.

Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Jermyn’s Lane, Ampfield, Romsey SO51 0QA

Gardeners urged to make more of pumpkins

Cook a feast this autumn to reduce food waste One of the best things about this time of year is the wonderful variety of squash around, from the classic orange pumpkin to the pale green Crown Prince squash, this vegetable is an autumn favourite.

Sadly, according to research by the sustainability charity Hubbub, 12.8 million pumpkins bought as decoration during Halloween are likely to be destined for the bin rather than on our plates. What’s more, in Hampshire, a quarter of the waste in our rubbish bins is already made up of food that could have been eaten, so there’s never been a better time to try out a new recipe!

Pumpkins are a versatile vegetable; roast pumpkin and pumpkin soup might be familiar ideas, but stuffed pumpkin, pumpkin gratin or sweet options like pumpkin muffins are all tasty and creative ways to make sure this food is eaten rather than thrown away. Even the seeds can be roasted, and any bits you don’t use can be added to your compost bin to make sure no part of this food goes to waste.

For more ways to reduce your waste at home, as well as lots of advice on home composting, please see the website at www.hants.gov.uk/wasteandrecycling/smartliving Stopping the pumpkin rot - See page 32.

Country Gardener works hard to ensure we have up to date and correct information when it comes to garden events and openings. However, events can be cancelled at short notice with the uncertainty surrounding Covid 19, so we urge readers to double check with venues before setting out on a visit.

www.countrygardener.co.uk

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THE HAMPSHIRE HERB CENTRE Culinary, Aromatic, Medicinal & Herbs Just for Fun AT

RUMSEY GARDENS Traditional Nursery & Plant Centre

Large traditional family-run nursery Wide selection of trees, shrubs, perennials & fruit bushes 4-acre woodland garden & Tea Rooms Many unusual plants

Trees & Shrubs, Fruit Trees & Bushes, Herbaceous & Alpine Plants, Herbs, Climbers & Twiners MANY UNUSUAL VARIETIES including...

The National & International collection of Cotoneaster

Hours: Mon-Sat 9am-5pm Sun & Bank Holidays 10am-5pm

FIVE ACRES OF PLANTS ON DISPLAY

MACPENNY’S NURSERIES BRANSGORE Burley Rd, Bransgore, Nr Christchurch BH23 8DB Tel: 01425 672348 www.macpennys.co.uk

117, Drift Road, Clanfield, Waterlooville, Hants PO8 0PD Telephone (02392) NURSERY 593367 LANDSCAPE 596321

www.rumsey-gardens.co.uk

Snowdrop bulbs

Reach a passionate and affluent audience of gardening enthusiasts

List available from mike@eastlambrook.com or 07710 484745

Over 100,000 copies distributed every month

Due to Covid we sold fewer named snowdrops in February and have too many to pot on so we now have dry bulbs for sale at heavily discounted prices.

Calling all Galanthophiles Garden and nursery open to 30 Oct | Tues-Sun | 10am-5pm East Lambrook | South Petherton Somerset | TA13 5HH 01460 240328 | eastlambrook.com

Autuum c o l o u r IN ABUNDANCE

If you would like to advertise your business or service in our Hampshire magazine, please contact

For the latest garden news, events & advice - don't miss

lisa@countrygardener.co.uk Tel: 01945 450784

www.countrygardener.co.uk

A FAMILY RUN NURSERY FOR THE EXPERIENCED AND NOVICE GARDENER

Large Selection of Perennials (Cottage Garden Plants),Trees, Shrubs, Herbs, Alpines and Vegetable Plants. Plus large selection of Ornamental Trees, Fruit Trees and Climbers.

Good range of OUTDOOR POTS - all frost proof

GREAT OFFERS ON COMPOST (all compost we

supply we use ourselves, so we can recommend it)

DAHLIAS

Now taking orders for young dahlia plants for spring 2022 delivery

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Country Gardener

COUNTRY GARDENER

CUTTINGS

Try lasagne planting for next summer Whilst it might not be obvious, autumn is nature’s natural planting time.

The soil is warm after the summer, and this helps plants and bulbs establish excellent root systems for stronger growth.

There is nothing more uplifting than the sight of colourful spring flowers emerging following the dark winter months. This is easy to achieve by planting bulbs between September and November (before the first frosts) to ensure a vibrant display of colour in the garden throughout spring and into summer.

Lasagne style bulb planting

For a real splash of long lasting colour next spring why not try lasagne planting. This involves planting layers of bulbs in pots, just like making lasagne.

By planting different types of bulbs at their correct depths you will end up with a pot brimming with wave after wave of flowers, providing you with colour right through spring.

Rosebourne Garden Centre just off the A303 near Andover has as extensive bulb collection instore – everything from daffodils and tulips to hyacinths and alliums. New for 2021 you can fill a box of either daffodil or tulip bulbs – selecting the varieties that you wish to try. Also available are easy to carry packs as well as value nets for those wanting to make a real splash of colour in their garden.

Rosebourne also have everything for successful planting from peat free bulb fibre, kneeling mats, containers and bulb planter tools and trowels. Help is always on hand from a knowledgeable team.

Rosebourne Garden Centre Amesbury Rd, Weyhill, Andover SP11 8ED www.rosebourne.co.uk/bulbs

Knotweed damage is increasing

Threat of damage as knotweed spreads in Hampshire

Homeowners throughout Hampshire have been warned of a dramatic increase in Japanese knotweed cases after reports that the invasive plant jumped almost a third. The plant has been reporting to spread like wildfire through some areas of the region damaging properties and, in some cases, causing difficulty in selling homes. Mortgage lenders often now require a professional treatment plan if the weed has been identified on a property. The weed has been called ‘without doubt the most destructive and invasive plant imaginable’.

It is not illegal to have knotweed growing on your land, but it is illegal to allow it to spread to adjacent property. Last year Environet began training dogs to find knotweed.

The dogs can cover a garden in minutes and will ‘freeze’ if they find the plant.

ARUNDEL SETS OUT TO BE NUMBER ONE BEE FRIENDLY TOWN A new pollinator garden has been opened by Arundel Castle head gardener Martin Duncan.

The garden is a stunning space dedicated to attracting bees and pollinators to the garden area and to step up the bee population of the whole garden.

The Arundel Bee Project hopes to make Arundel the UK’s leading bee-friendly town.

It has already established a community aviary with its collection of hives in the town’s community orchard and plans are in place to plant wildflowers on the A27 roundabout.

STOCK UP ON SUET FOR THE BIRDS THIS WINTER High calorie, high energy suet is a perfect treat for wild birds in the autumn and winter, providing a nutritious, easy to digest meal on cold, wintery days.

Suet is a popular food for garden birds such as blackbirds, blue tits, bullfinches, goldfinches, robins, sparrows, starlings, thrushes and wrens.

It comes in various forms including fat balls, blocks, nuggets, pellets, cakes and coconut shells and can be mixed with mealworms, insects, berries and peanuts.

Suet can be offered all year round although it’s most beneficial during the winter due to natural food shortages and freezing nights.

To help attract a greater number or variety of birds in your garden, you could try adding additional suet feeders with different shapes, blends and feeders as different birds have different feeding preferences. It also means that you can feed suet no matter what size of outdoor space you have, whether it’s a garden or a balcony, there will be an option for you. www.mypetssupply.co.uk

Club events in Hampshire

October 1ST

26TH

Bournemouth in Bloom, the Bournemouth Horticultural Society ‘WHAT WE EXPECT FROM FUCHSIAS’ - DEREK LUTHER Details on 01202 752014

Medstead Gardeners Club ‘GROW GREAT VEG AND HAVE FUN’ - PIPPA GREENWOOD www.medsteadgardenersclub.xyz

5TH

28TH

Medstead Gardeners Club ‘A YEAR ON THE ALLOTMENT’ - BARRY NEWMAN www.medsteadgardenersclub.xyz

Warsash Horticultural Society MONTHLY MEETING

19TH Parkstone Gardeners Society ‘ULTIMATE GARDEN PLANTS’ - ANDREW HUMPHRIES Details on 01202 752014

20TH Milford Gardeners Club ‘THE WINTER GARDEN’ - ANDY MCINDOE Details on 01425 612287

‘Time Off’ set to return If you have garden club events returning this autumn email to timeoff@countrygardener.co.uk and we will include them for free. Alternatively, please send your events to Country Gardener Magazines, Mount House, Halse, Taunton TA4 3AD.

The November issue of Country Gardener will be available from Saturday, 30th October onwards www.countrygardener.co.uk

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Stopping the PUMPKIN rot!

ALMOST HALF OF ALL THE PUMPKINS GROWN IN OUR GARDENS ROT AND GO TO WASTE - JUST BECAUSE WE DON’T USE PROPER STORAGE TECHNIQUES

It was suggested last year that almost half of the pumpkins and squashes grown so lovingly in gardens went to rot.

off the vine. Cut the stem with a sharp knife, leaving three to four cms of stem attached to the pumpkin.

There’s not much point in spending so much time, care and often devotion on growing wonderful pumpkin plants all summer long and then letting the resulting fruits rot on the ground, or worse, in your kitchen - rotting pumpkin smells bad. And it’s such a shame because those lovely pumpkin soups and recipes could be extended easily with proper storage techniques.

Harvest all the pumpkins before the first frost. Early frost and cold rainy weather call for an early pumpkin harvest.

Pumpkin growing is fun for the family. When it’s time to harvest the fruit, pay special attention to the condition of the pumpkins to make sure the time is right. Harvesting pumpkins at the right time increases the storage time.

The piece of stem left on the pumpkin looks like a great handle, but the weight of the pumpkin might cause the stem to break off and damage the pumpkin. Instead, transport pumpkins in a wheelbarrow or cart.

The first this is you should leave pumpkins on the vine if you can. They’ll only ripen and change colour while still growing. Unlike tomatoes and bananas, pumpkins won’t improve after picking.

So, once they have been harvested what is the best way of keeping your pumpkins and winter squashes in tip-top condition until you’re ready to use them?

It helps to prolong the life of your pumpkin if you cure the skin after harvesting. The pumpkin seed experts suggest storing the pumpkins somewhere nice and warm -up to 25°C but a warm kitchen will do for ten days.

Then the pumpkins can be placed in a cool (12°C), airy, dry place, ideally hung up to allow air to circulate around them: a ‘sling’ made of an old pair of tights or a t-shirt works well.

This way, most pumpkins and winter squash should last several months, depending on the thickness of their skin. Remember to check them every few days, and if any start to develop soft spots, use the pumpkin immediately, cutting away any bad bits of flesh.

If you’d rather pile your pumpkins in a photogenic heap regular spot checks are even more vital: the places where the skin will give way first are any scratches or surface damage, and where one squash touches another.

If you don’t have a suitable unheated room, but do have plenty of freezer space, it may suit you to cut your pumpkins into small dice, cook them either in boiling water on the stove or in the microwave until just tender, then store them in freezer bags.

Pumpkins last longer if you harvest them when they reach their mature colour and the rind is hard. Use the seed packet to get an idea of the mature colour of the variety. Wait until the pumpkin rind loses its shine and it’s hard enough that you can’t scratch it with your fingernail. The curly tendrils on the part of the vine near the pumpkin turn brown and die back when it is completely ripe, though in some cases they can continue to ripen

Properly stored pumpkins should keep for three months 6

If you have too many pumpkins to cure indoors, try placing straw under them so they don’t meet wet soil.

Wash and thoroughly dry the pumpkins, and then wipe them down with a weak bleach solution to discourage rot. Make the solution by adding two tablespoons of bleach to one gallon of water.

Storing pumpkins on concrete leads to rot.

Properly stored pumpkins keep for at least three Pumpkin soup months and may last as long as seven months. Check the pumpkins for soft spots or other signs of rot from time to time. Throw away rotting pumpkins or cut them up and add them to the compost pile. Wipe down any pumpkins that were touching them with a weak bleach solution.

• Properly stored pumpkins should keep for three months easily and some seven months.

• Storing pumpkins on concrete leads to rot.

• Pumpkins last longer if you harvest them when they reach their mature colour and the rind is hard.

• The insides of pumpkins are very moist, which causes fungi to grow if not properly dried off. Pumpkins can also attract unwanted pests that will feed on the insides, causing it to decay even faster.

• Leaving the seeds in or scooping them out makes no difference to how long the pumpkin will last.

Pumpkins last longer if you harvest them when they reach a mature colour Country Gardener

A treasury of leaves THE GOOD NEWS IS THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY TO GET LEAF MOULD – MAKE IT YOURSELF. LEAF MOULD IS NOT PRODUCED OR SOLD COMMERCIALLY.

The thing with leaves is don’t think of them as a nuisance involving hard work.

Think of them as a source of composting ‘gold’, a wonderful soil improver you should all embrace Leaf litter is the source of free and wonderful organic matter and should be used to replenish the garden.

And you only need three ingredients – fallen leaves, moisture and time!

Leaf mould is what’s left when the dead, fallen leaves from deciduous trees and shrubs are heaped up and allowed to rot down. As they slowly moulder, only the toughest bits remain, eventually forming spongy, dark brown crumbs to rival any dessert topping.

Leaf mould should be free of pests, diseases and weeds (unless you gather it from where they’re seeding), a delight to handle, and you can’t possibly overdose your soil

on it. The hidden alchemy that brings it about – the countless microorganisms that drive decay – gives leaf mould its almost magical quality.

It has several great attributes. The first is that it can hold up to 500 per cent of its own weight in water.

Most leaves are slightly acidic when they fall, with a pH below 6. However, as the leaves break down into leaf mould, the pH goes up into more of a neutral range. Leaf mould will not correct pH problems but will have a moderating effect.

Though leaves are not high in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, tree roots mine calcium, magnesium and many other trace minerals from the soil and so your garden will also benefit from these nutrients.

First decide a plan As part of reducing your reliance on manure and other imported fertility, leaf mould should become pivotal to gardening. There are several ways to store the fallen leaves.

One is to build circular wire cages – about two metres in diameter. The number of bins clearly depends on the number of trees and leaves you have in your garden.

Leaf mould is pivotal to autumn

A porous builder bag filled with autumn leaves and with its handles lashed together also works well.

Remember, you get out only a quarter to a third of what goes into a cage. You can also just full black bin bags but remember to pierce the bag to allow air in to accelerate the decomposition.

Soil improver of the highest quality The finished article after perhaps three years is chunky mulch that is ideal for smothering young annual weeds and blocking out light to stop others coming up.

Nothing beats fresh leaf mould as a dark foil for showing off emerging perennials in a border filled with promise, and it works just as effectively around newly planted vegetables, fruit, or on top of containers to help prevent them from drying out.

If you’re impatient and have only leaf mould that is one or two years old and hasn’t yet formed ‘crumble, you can use it as mulch.

Using a sieve results in a more refined mould, free of even small twigs.

In spring, spread a bucketful of leaf mould to each square yard and fork it in deep. It helps bind loose, sandy soils and improves their water-holding ability. Conversely, it helps break up tough, claggy clays, making them more gardener friendly.

Perfect for your pots You can also use leaf mould as a potting mix. Sieve it to get rid of any big lumps and then mix it according to different recipes.

A basic mix for seed sowing and for potting-up plug plants, bulbs and tomatoes, should be a 50:50 mix of three-year-old leaf mould and worm-worked garden compost, both passed through a quarter-inch (6mm) sieve and thoroughly blended. The garden compost provides ample food for about a month before you need to start feeding.

If you have a lot of ground to improve and sieving is impractical, take your leaf mould out as it comes, remove hard chunks of debris, and fork or dig it in.

Leaf mould is low on fast-acting plant nutrients; its effect is more of a catalysing one that encourages a healthy soil ecosystem in which everything works together to feed plants gradually and slowly. Soils bolstered with leaf mould become slowly darker in colour as their humus levels increase.

For small seeds, you can pass this already refined mix through a finer eighth-inch (4mm) sieve to give a seed covering that is akin to breadcrumbs.

Leaf mould is brilliant for the top-dressing of lawns. It’s low in nutrients so won’t encourage over-quick growth, and if you mix it with sand, it’s easy to rake in after aerating your lawn.

Leaves should be chopped up with the mower www.countrygardener.co.uk

7

WILDLIFE

Let’s get ready for winter!

October is the most significant month of the year for many animals as they prepare for the hugely different demands of the winter to come If you want to hear or see a tawny or barn owl silhouetted against the last scrap of daylight, then an October evening is just perfect.

It’s also a special month to hear them at their noisiest. Tawny owls make more noise than the other four species of owls found in Britain put together during the month. And all this extra shrieking, hooting and ‘kee-wick’- ing is down to one thing: territory. Young birds are reaching maturity and looking for new homes while older birds are fighting to hold on to their patch.

So that’s where all the noise comes in!

Owls are a perfect Hallowe’en symbol. Most are creatures of the night and naturally spooky. Imagine if one of their calls was heard in your garden - in the dead of night. This is when they are the most vocal. They are nocturnal by nature, but some are diurnal and active both night and day — when there is still some daylight left or shortly before daybreak.

Badgers spend October gorging

October is very significant also for badgers as they spend the month gorging on everything from the last of the year’s crops in the fields after harvest to earthworms and acorns as well as fruit from the hedgerows as they root about like a pig for hidden delicacies.

Milder winters recently mean they are less dependent on fattening up for the autumn, but they still eat as much as they can, laying down a lot of fat under the skin, increasing their weight by up to ten per-cent. This helps them to survive the winter. They do not hibernate but spend the coldest weather sleeping in their setts, living mainly off their fat. Badgers are largely nocturnal. In winter, badgers reduce their activity significantly during periods of cold weather.

When do hedgehogs go into hibernation?

The fact that hibernation is dangerous and many, particularly yearling, hedgehogs won’t survive it suggests the behaviour has (or had) strong evolutionary drivers. The overarching ‘purpose’ of hibernation is to reduce activity to a bare minimum during the time when food is scarce or unavailable (e.g., under snow or deep below the frozen topsoil).

In times before hedgehogs could rely on helpful humans leaving out food for them during harsh winters, hedgehogs were almost invariably faced with starvation if they did not hibernate.

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We all know about the departure of our summer visitor birds, leaving for warmer climates but what is just as inspiring are the birds which arrive with us to enjoy the winter, not escape from it.

Listen out for a high-pitched ‘tseep, tseep’ at night in October -it’s the sound of redwings flying overhead, arriving to spend the winter here.

The arrival of October’s cooler weather and shorter days may well make our landscape starting to look bleaker, but the falling leaves signify a change of attitude for so many animals. October, for instance, is time for owls to begin preparing for winter breeding by designating nesting territories.

Badgers - time to fatten up

Incoming birds for winter

The fieldfare, slightly larger than a blackbird, is another welcome winter migrant making an admirable line up of birds we can enjoy throughout the winter blackbirds, song thrushes, mistle thrushes, redwings, fieldfares and ring ouzel.

Fieldfare

Populations of all six species have shown signs of decline over the last 40 years. The blackbird population is heavily augmented every winter by huge arrivals of migrants from Scandinavia and continental Europe along with the sometimesmassive winter influx of redwings and fieldfares from Scandinavia and Iceland.

Fieldfares are especially popular. They have a grey head and tail with brown across the wings and back. Their orangey chest has darker speckles than that of the redwing. The underwing is white if you catch a flash of it whilst this bird is in flight. Fieldfares are slightly taller and plumper with longer tails than redwings.

Redwing

They are very social birds, spending the winter in flocks of anything from a dozen or two to several hundred strong, often with other thrushes and starlings. They also feast on berries in the winter, as well as enjoying windfall apples.

These birds stand very upright and move forward with purposeful hops when on the ground. Its name comes from the Anglo-Saxon word ‘feldware’ which means ‘traveller of the fields’ – describing its roaming through open countryside.

Tawny owl

October is the critical month, but there are no fixed dates. We think the trigger to hibernate is a complex interaction of temperature, light levels (specifically the ratio of light to dark hours), food availability and body condition. As such, the same animal may enter hibernation on different dates in different years.

Typically, males enter hibernation before females, probably because they have more time in the summer and early autumn to fatten up, while females may still be weaning a second or lateborn litter. Consequently, some females may not hibernate until well into December or even January.

What does seem apparent, though, is that all hedgehogs hibernate at some point, even those kept in captivity.

Country Gardener

Typically males enter hibernation before females

Time to widen the

ingredients in your compost!

Gardeners who love and appreciate their compost bins may be able to use some unlikely waste items to make nutrient rich compost for the garden Time to widen the ingredients in your compost!

Those gardeners who love and appreciate their compost bins can use items from a long list to make nutrient rich compost for the garden.

Making your own compost can take up to a year and a good mix of carbon and nitrogen rich - or brown and green - materials are needed.

Brown materials are rich in carbon and include cardboard, woody stems and paper. Green waste is packed with nitrogen and include garden waste like grass clippings.

Among the unusual items which some question as being suitable ingredients are cereal boxes, crushed eggs shells, seaweed and old cotton towels.

Here some things some gardeners question which you can add to the compost bin: citrus fruit, tomato products and pickled food products can do harm to your compost. High acidity can kill the good bacteria that helps break down the material in your compost pile.

Teabags Tea leaves are a good addition to the compost heap. However, tea bags are not.

Moist tea leaves increase the speed at which the compost pile decomposes. If you want to throw in a whole tea bag, check the bag is compostable. If it isn’t, cut it open and just use the tea leaves.

Several tea bag brands use polypropylene, a sealing plastic, to keep their tea bags from falling apart. This plastic is not recyclable or biodegradable. So, even when you put all your used tea bags in the food waste or compost heap, it can lead to plastic pollution, as not all of it will be broken down.

Cereal boxes Flat cardboard, like cereal boxes, can be used in your compost pile, just remember to shred or break into small pieces before you put them in. Layer them with other carbon rich materials like straw, hay and dead leaves and nitrogen rich items like grass clipping, manure and fruit peels.

Crushed egg shells These are packed with calcium and other important nutrients.

Before placing them in the compost bin, dry the eggshells out and crush them completely. That way they won’t stick out and be identifiable when your compost is ready to use.

Seaweed If you’re using fresh seaweed in your compost pile, mix it with woody or fibrous materials like pruning or paper, otherwise it could become slimy. Dry seaweed functions as a brown (carbonrich) ingredient, like dead leaves or small twigs. Wet seaweed is a green (nitrogen-rich) ingredient. Mix seaweed with other organic materials to prevent it from matting together in a slimy mess in the compost bin.

Hair and fur

Sprinkle it in with other green ingredients, like vegetable scraps, and make sure to turn your compost a few times to keep it aerated. In about one month, the hair will have broken down enough to add to your soil. Pet hair and fur are a source of nitrogen in compost, a nutrient plants love. Nail clippings: like fur, nail clippings are fine to compost, provided there’s no nail polish on them.

Shredded newspaper This will add carbon to your compost mix but do remember to shred them down and add equal quantities of green compost materials.

The teabag dilemma

If the ink used is vegetable-based, soy-based or non-toxic, then it’s safe for the compost and these days most ink is safe so you can definitely toss any shredded paper or teeny-tiny paper scraps in your compost rather than the recycling bin, even if it has a bit of ink on it.

Banana peel Banana peel will add calcium, magnesium, sulphur, phosphates, potassium and sodium to your compost mix. These are all important to the healthy growth of flowering and fruiting plants.

Crushed eggshells and coffee grounds

While you can use banana peels as fertiliser and it will not harm your plant, it is best to compost them first. Burying the banana peels in the soil under a plant can slow down the process that breaks down the peels and makes their nutrients available to the plant. So composting is by far the better option.

Coffee grounds These are a great addition to any compost bin but remember to add the same amount of a carbon source like shredded paper or dried leaves and mix well.

Old cotton fabric All fabric made from 100 per cent cotton, linen, silk, bamboo, wool or any other naturally biodegradable material can be composted.

They do take some time to decompose, so tear them up to give them a helping hand.

Composting allows you to recycle your fabric scraps into a nourishing soil for your garden. In fact, any fabric made from 100 per-cent cotton, linen, hemp, silk, bamboo, wool, or other natural biodegradable material can be composted.

Seaweed

But never add to your compost the following...

There are some items you should never add to the compost bin.

These include diseased plants, weeds, raw meat, dairy products, cooked food, glossy or colour printed paper and ash from coal fires, weeds that have gone to seed, dog or cat waste, plants treated with pesticides.

Citrus fruit, tomato products and pickled food products can do harm to your compost. High acidity can kill the good bacteria that helps break down the material in your compost pile.

Hair and pet fur can all be added to the compost bin and will add nitrogen. Avoid dropping it in as a clump, spreading it out evenly instead. This way it will break down easier.

Hair and pet fur www.countrygardener.co.uk

9

How to enjoy your

glut of apples If an apple glut is about to descend on you don’t despair - just take advantage of how versatile the fruit can be If ever there was a time to appreciate the apple it is now.

With more than 5,000 known varieties available, it’s a shame that still many people are limited to eating the small selection offered in supermarkets and greengrocers.

For those lucky enough to grow the trees of this incredibly versatile fruit in their garden, the options of flavour, colour, character and use are lengthy.

Despite such a huge range of cultivars the choice of trees at garden centres is not extensive, but with careful planning you can achieve fruit almost all year round. The older, often tastier, and more interesting varieties are often only sold via specialist nurseries but are well worth seeking out.

When choosing which trees to plant it is worth thinking about what you want to use the fruit for.

Ultimately the choice should come down to use and to flavour.

Do you want the apple to cook, eat, make cider from, or a combination of all three?

Also consider whether you want varieties which ripen successionally to keep you covered over a long period, or if you want a bigger harvest with trees that ripen at the same time.

frost-free environment such as a garage, shed, dry cellar or unheated spare room.

Traditional storage racks are the best option, but wrapping in newspaper is a good second best. Store them in a single layer and make sure they don’t touch each other.

The later varieties will keep for up to six months in these conditions but monitor them carefully and discard any that are deteriorating.

IN THE KITCHEN Although few people would baulk at eating apple crumbles right through the winter, it seems a shame to not take advantage of the apples’ versatility in the kitchen.

When cooking with apples it is worth knowing whether you want it to hold its shape.

Dividing apples into ‘cookers’ and ‘eaters’ isn’t black and white as some varieties cross between the two. Instead consider separating them into those that hold their shape – ideal for a classic apple tart – and those that froth when cooked – a Bramley being the perfect example for a baked apple. As a rule the sweeter the apple the more likely it is to hold its shape.

Apples are best grown outdoors in rich, fertile and well- drained soil. They are hardy and will thrive almost anywhere, except under glass or in waterlogged ground or in a frost pocket.

Another consideration with limited space is to choose a variety that is self-fertile – that can pollinate itself.

Although a small proportion of apple trees are self-pollinating, the majority will need a pollination partner nearby – another variety which flowers around the same time to ensure cross pollination can take place.

MAKING SURE YOUR APPLES KEEP Apples are classified into four flowering season groups – early flowering, mid-season flowering, mid-season/late flowering and late flowering. A general rule is that the later the variety, the longer it will store. The harvest of the early flowering varieties can begin as early as July, but, like early potatoes, these don’t keep well and are best eaten straight away.

Bramley’s - the perfect apple for baking

To start your day, take a lead from 19th century Swiss doctor and nutritionist, Maximilian Bircher-Benner, who believed apples had cured him of jaundice as a young man. Correct or not, he did leave a legacy of a self-named quick and nutritious breakfast – bircher muesli, made by soaking oats and adding milk and grated apple.

On the sweet side consider pushing the boundaries away from the traditional and (understandably) much-loved tarts, crumbles, and strudels to trifles, pancakes, ice cream or the Scottish oaty dessert, cranachan. Apples work wonderfully with berries, especially sharp fruits such as blackcurrants, elderberries, or the perfect seasonal pairing, blackberries.

Despite storing well, it is likely that many apple growers will still have a glut on their hands in early autumn.

Fortunately apples contain a naturally high level of pectin which makes them perfect to be preserved and enjoyed through the winter. Although delicious as the star of a jam or jelly, they also combine perfectly with many of the hedgerow fruits ripening around the same time - sloes, damsons,medlars, elderberries and blackberries.

Care taken wrapping apples should mean a winter long supply

Some varieties store better than others; the later varieties benefiting from storage to bring them to perfection.

While a few samples can be stored in the fridge - but will need to be brought to room temperature to be enjoyed at their best – all varieties suit being kept in a cool, dry, 10

“When choosing which trees to plant it is worth thinking about what you want to use the fruit for. Ultimately the choice should come down to use and to flavour.”

Country Gardener

Jobs in the

JOBS FOR THE MONTH

OCTOBER GARDEN The ground is wet with dew in the mornings and the garden is covered in cobwebs, but some days may still be glorious and warm. This may be the first month some areas of the country experience their first frosts. The leaves are falling from the trees in abundance and a lot of summer crops are coming to an end. It can be difficult to know how best to care for your garden.

1

It’s time to assess the state of your soil

Large areas of bare soil start to appear in all parts of the garden as we go through October. If left to over winter, the soil will lose its nutrients, so now is the perfect time to use organic mulches to protect it and give good structure for next year’s growing season. The best mulches are a thick layer of: •

Autumn leaves, wetted so that they don’t blow away.

•

Straw, grass clippings and autumn leaves mixed.

•

Cutback plants such as sweet peas, peas or runner beans, chopped up.

•

Several sheets of newspaper, covered with damp grass clippings to weigh it all down.

2

Get planting those fruit trees

Plant new fruit trees and bushes. Choose ‘bare root’ plants, they usually cost less than pot grown ones. Ideally choose organic stock, certified disease free and from an organic nursery. The soil is still warm now so plants will be able to start developing a good root system before winter.

Don’t put compost down now, many of its nutrients could be washed away over winter. Use it in spring before the growing season.

3

Start a winter compost trench:

A compost trench is an easy and hugely helpful addition to the vegetable plot and will be next season’s planting area for moisture-loving crops such as runner beans or pumpkins.

You dig a trench,or any shape hole,approximately 12 inches deep in an empty space of your garden, add roughly four to six inches of compostable materials, such as kitchen scraps, spent garden plants, small prunings, thinnings, and weeds, and bury them with the soil you dug out of the trench or hole. If you can do it little and often so you build up layers of soil and compostable waste.

4

Plant roots make their way down deeper into the soil in search of the nutrition you buried there.

So, nearby plants are healthier in two ways: they are nourished from the organic matter in the trench, and they benefit from a deep, strong root system. The plants are better able to cope with dry conditions and heat.

5

Save those autumn seeds

Different people save seeds for different reasons. Some do it to preserve a link with the past, growing a variety their parents grew or one peculiar to the place they live. Some do it to assure themselves a supply of seed of a variety no longer available. Some people are saving seed because they always have done so. The easiest plants for seed saving are peas, beans, lettuce, tomatoes, and peppers. Collect ripe seed on a dry day, as soon as the seedheads (e.g., capsules or pods) ripen. This is often indicated by a colour change from green to brown, black or red, but must be before they open and shed their contents.

Remove greenhouse crops

Greenhouse crops, such as tomatoes, are past their best

by October, so remove the old plants and put them in the compost bin. If you have any green tomatoes, we found the best method for ripening them is to put them in a dark place with a gentle, room-temperature level of warmth, such as in a kitchen drawer.

lay them out to dry on a greenhouse bench, warm windowsill or in an airing cupboard. This enables seed to be more easily extracted from pods, cones or capsules.

Before you place your seeds in storage, it’s important that they are dry. If seeds are too wet, they can rot and will be no use.

Some seeds ,hellebores for example are best sown immediately as their viability reduces with storage. However, for many species, sowing is best delayed until a more suitable time of the year, such as autumn or spring, so the harvested seed will need to be safely stored until sowing. Storing is also required if surplus seed has been collected.

Pick the seedheads, either singly or on stalks, and www.countrygardener.co.uk

11

6

Get garlic in the ground

Garlic is best planted in October. Break the bulb into individual cloves and push into the soil- use a trowel to avoid damaging them -so the tip is just covered. Space the cloves 15cm apart in rows 30cm apart, so it will be easy to hoe off weeds. If you can, grow garlic indoors in a cold greenhouse or polytunnel as outdoor crops have been suffering from rust in recent years and aren’t growing as big as indoor ones. They should be ready to harvest next June.

7

Collect deciduous autumn leaves and store, to create leaf mould. Make sure leaves are damp and use plastic sacks with holes for air circulation. Trials over many years have shown the value of adding leaf mould to the soil.

Plants are healthier, crop yields are higher, and pest/ disease problems fewer.

Which? Gardening has trialled different methods of making leaf mould, and this method came out on top: Shred the leaves by running over them with a lawn mower or by collecting them with a leaf blower vacuum.

If the leaves aren’t moist already, sprinkle them with water. Put them in black plastic bags and seal when full.

Use a garden fork to pierce a few holes in the bags. Leave the bags in a quiet corner of the garden. Light, crumbly leaf mould should be ready in 12 months.

9 8

Make your own leaf mould

TLC for your tools

You might not be seeing much of your tools in the coming months but give them a good cleaning before they bed down for the season. Scrape mud off spades, forks and hoes. If the mud is caked on then dunk them in warm, soapy water and wipe them down with an old towel or cloth. Rub oil (any type will do) onto the metal blades before putting them away for winter and store them in a dry shelter for the rest of winter. This will mean they’ll be rust-free and good-as-new by the time you come to need them again.

October lawn care

Make sure you care for your lawn by raking or brushing leaves off the grass.

Try collecting them in a leaf bag, which will turn them into leaf mould - a useful and versatile soil conditioner. You can also cut the grass for the final time of the year at the end of October. Make sure that the last cut is slightly higher than during the summer months - this will help to protect your lawn.

12

10

Tidy up tired looking fruit trees

In October many apple and pear trees will start to look rather dishevelled after the growing season and it’s the perfect time to get rid of old and diseased wood. Prune out canker-infected branches and twigs on apples and pears. Disinfect your tools afterwards. This tidy up will be of huge benefit when the trees look to come to life next season. But don’t prune cherries, plums and peaches and apricots. Wait until the spring when the sap is moving and wounds heal rapidly.

11

•

Peas and beans that have gone over can be cut down to ground level, and their roots left in the soil to be dug over - they then break down and return vital nitrogen to the earth. You can also sow broad beans this month for good early pickings in May and June next year.

•

Cut back Jerusalem artichokes and asparagus to ground level. After cutting the asparagus ferns, carefully weed the bed and cover with a layer of mulch or manure. You can then mulch with grit over the top and scatter a handful of granular dishwasher salt, which acts as a weedkiller. The saline environment kills annual weed seedlings, whereas asparagus - as a seashore plant - is fine.

Don’t panic is there’s an early frost

Try not to get over concerned if there’s an early October frost. If you do get one, cannas and dahlias will be fine in the ground for a bit, even if their tops are browned. Many gardeners leave them in the ground and mulch heavily, and they are happy for four or five years even in cold gardens if the mulch is deep enough. Once they show signs of losing vigour, it is time to divide and re-propagate, and in these years the old tubers will be lifted, stored in just-damp compost under frost-free cover, and divided or used for cuttings come next spring.

12

In the vegetable garden

•

Dig over veg beds as their contents go over.

Cold weather can often help to break down any large clods of soil in to smaller, more free draining particles, ready for the next sowing.

Country Gardener

•

Earth up leeks to cover and blanch their stems.

•

Make sure Brussels sprouts are firm in the ground as wind-rock breaks the tiny hairs on the roots that take in the nutrients.

Earthing up a few inches around the stems and treading in or staking will keep them secure. If you haven’t already done so, net your brassicas as they will be under attack as other food becomes scarce.

•

Florence fennel is one of the best autumn and winter crops, but will get damaged in a hard frost, so fleece or cloche it now to harvest straight from the garden. Mound up a little around the base of the bulb before covering to increase the size of the swollen part and help prevent bolting.

•

A warm autumnal day is the perfect time to add manure to your potato patch. On thin soils - chalk and sand - double dig, adding manure to the base of a trench before turning the soil of the next trench over that.

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13 05/09/2021 22:34

A CHALLENGING

CAREER?

More than tending flowerbeds, pursuing horticulture could lead to a rewarding career for all ages - whether you’re about to work in the more traditional industry or helping to combat food poverty or dealing with patients through therapeutic gardening A record number of men and women will in the next six months attempt a career in horticulture. Most of them will be excited at just how diverse the career could be for them. Plants serve a huge number of roles in everyday lives, from the fruit and vegetables we eat to the trees which line our parks and streets to the turf we play sport and relax on, through to the flowers which brighten up our homes. Gardening now plays an increasing role in mental, physical health and research.

There are currently 1,326,000 people (approximately four per cent of the UK workforce) working in horticulture and the number continues to grow dramatically. Horticulture is the most popular choice of second career among 35 to 55-year-olds and more in the over 60’s age group are moving into it as well.

In addition, there are an estimated 500,000 volunteers working in the sector on a regular basis. Whilst horticulture offers a good range of jobs, there are now many people applying for each position, so job applicants need to be well-prepared.

At one time, few professional gardeners had formal qualifications; their knowledge was hewn through years of hard practical experience, apprenticed under expert gardeners and growers. Whilst experience remains important, 60 per cent of those working in horticulture now have formal qualifications too.

One recent study of job advertisements for entry level positions showed that 78 per cent asked for a qualification of Level 2 or above.

There are more ways than ever to earn qualifications, meaning that whatever your situation there will be a training route to suit you. Options range from full-time apprenticeships, college and degree courses to parttime study and distance learning.

Many gardeners and horticulturalists enter via an apprenticeship scheme; many undertake relevant BTECs, NVQs or other vocational qualifications in horticulture; and some people can even take degrees in subjects, such as environmental science, earth science or botanical sciences, before breaking into this industry.

Whether you’re a school leaver, have a degree or would like to make a career change, horticulture courses are available at all levels to applicants of all backgrounds.

Where to begin?

Keep in mind that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach!

Everyone has a unique set of circumstances and commitments from graphic designer turned gardener to ecologist turned gardener.

Horticulture is a wide field. There’s garden design, market gardening, seed production, botanic gardens, therapeutic horticulture, garden history, nursery production, orchards, topiary, kitchen gardening, teaching and more.

First and second-year modules include ‘Designing for People & Place’, ‘Plants in the Landscape’ and ‘Strategic Ecological Design’.

If you’re scientifically minded, you may consider courses such as BSc Plant Science. You’ll be introduced to a range of biological science topics in your first year, before choosing more specialist units in later years.

Some institutions offer a structured route with qualifications at all levels with the National Certificate (NC) in Horticulture before moving on to HNC, HND and finally degree levels of study.

If you are thinking about gardening as a career, perhaps it is growing your own that has sparked your interest. If not, start growing now.

Postgraduate study

Growing your own is a chance to work with plants and learn along the way.

A Masters or postgraduate professional qualification offers another route into horticulture, whether you have a degree in an unrelated subject, or you’d like to build on the knowledge you’ve already gained.

If you want to go from being a home gardener to a professional gardener, consider studying for a qualification or look for a training scheme.

For a more flexible study option, the three to five-year Master of Horticulture offered by the RHS is delivered mainly through the society’s MHort Virtual Learning Environment - allowing candidates to fit their studies around other commitments.

RHS qualifications Designed by the Royal Horticultural Society, these qualifications are widely recognised and respected within the horticulture industry. They provide upto-date horticultural information and practical skills, which can be used for accessing or developing a horticultural career.

Students study part time, with the syllabus delivered via approved centres across the UK and Ireland, and theory qualifications are also available via approved distance learning providers. Modules cover everything from garden landscaping principles to plant growing and propagation.

Horticulture degrees You’ll find undergraduate horticulture courses at institutions across the UK, specialising in different areas.

Whatever your ambitions, there will be a degree to suit you.

Getting experience and your hands dirty There are options to get experience in the build-up to deciding on full time career choice. The best place for such experience includes a Britain in Bloom group, volunteering or just getting an allotment – anything that helps you. Volunteering at the National Trust, English Heritage, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) or your local community garden or farm will allow you to build a horticultural CV. The RHS offers a range of qualifications in a variety of areas to develop your horticultural knowledge and skills such as plant identification, tree planting, growing cuttings and landscaping.

Grow your gardening skills with experts The online learning platform, Learning with Experts, is seeing big demand for their gardening and horticultural

14

For example, if you’re creative, universities now offer landscape, architecture and design degrees Such course involve collaborative working and live projects designed to grow confidence and explore your individual creativity.

Country Gardener

courses as people seek career changes or plan to improve their outdoor space.

Learning with Experts’ self-paced online courses include RHS Level 2: Principles of Horticulture, Garden Design, Container Gardening, Self-sufficient Veg Gardening, Gardening for Wildlife and Perennials, as well as Flower & Plant Photography.

Each course has an ‘expert option’ which lets students receive personal feedback from their tutor on their course assignments. Tutors include Piet Oudolf, Dr Noel Kingsbury, Chris Beardshaw, Andy McIndoe, Sally Nex and Annie Guilfoyle.

If you would like to book on a Learning with Experts course this autumn and save 15 per-cent by entering code CGARDENER21 at the checkout.

www.learningwithexperts.com

Some of the careers which could be on offer?

Garden nursery assistant - A garden nursery assistant tends and grows plants in garden centres and nurseries, as well as both advising and serving customers.

You will not require any set entry requirements.

Horticultural manager - A horticultural manager is tasked with growing plants in a commercial environment, and often require a higher education qualification, with relevant qualifications including, foundation degrees and HNDs in horticulture or horticultural management.

Horticultural therapist - The role of a horticultural therapist is to use their skills in gardening to improve the health and wellbeing of their clients.

Botanist / plant biologist - Botanists (otherwise known as plant biologists) are tasked with studying all forms of plant life. It is often required that you have a degree in a relevant subject such as botany, ecology, environmental science, plant biology or plant science before pursuing a career as a botanist.

A postgraduate qualification - a MSc or a PhD, for example - will also be required if your career path takes you into research or teaching post.

Landscaper, garden designer - The role of a landscaper is to create and then maintain gardens, parks and various other types of both outdoor and interior spaces. While there are no set requirements when pursuing a career as a landscaper, most employers will expect knowledge and experience in horticulture.

RHS Level 2 Collection Principles of Horticulture

Tree surgeon - All kinds of tree work will be undertaken by tree surgeons, ranging from hazard assessments to planting, felling, care and maintenance.

While there are no set requirements when pursuing a career as a tree surgeon, experience is highly valued.

WRAGS scheme offers great intro for trainees WRAGS (Work and Retrain as a Gardener Scheme), is a unique training scheme for many considering a gardening career - and don’t be put off by the name - it is open to men too nowadays. Its origin is in the formation of the Land Army in two World Wars and was founded by women in 1899 concerned about the lack of employment opportunities for women working on the land. It now provides hands-on practical training in horticulture, with the trainee working under the guidance of staff at a host location.

The trainee works for 12 to14 hours a week for a year, in a carefully sourced garden, under the garden owner or head gardener. The trainee is paid the National Living Wage per hour with the trainee being responsible for their transport, taxation and National Insurance contributions.

Administration fees are, at present, £600 for trainees paid on confirmation of a placement post being offered.

WRAGS 7 Trull Farm Buildings, Trull, Tetbury GL8 8SQ Tel 01285 841468 www.wfga.org.uk

What’s the market for horticultural careers look like in October 2021?

Careers in horticultural have been in demand in record numbers for the past few years says recruitment consultant Tony Holmes.

“All the implications of people being at home and in their garden last year has resulted in more people than ever wanting to make a career in it or most significantly switching careers. This is especially true of the 50 plus age category,” says Tony who has specialised in the horticultural marker for the past ten years.

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“For anyone looking to enter this as a career I’d have to say it is competitive, more so than we have ever seen. However, it is not the same industry as it was even five years ago. Now there are more opportunities alongside the health benefits of gardening and in care facilities. The industry has also moved significantly into the implications of long-term food production and dealing with poverty, so this is no longer a ‘one trick pony’ career..”

With over 30 courses to choose from including:

Contact email addresses

Royal Horticultural society qualifications www.rhs.org.uk/education-learning/qualifications-and-training/rhsqualifications.Speak to a RHS expert at: qualifications@rhs.org City & Guilds www.cityandguilds.com Professional courses University of Bristol Botanic www.botanic-garden.bristol.ac.uk For more information about NVQs, visit the NVQ website at www.dfes.gov.uk/nvq The Workers’ Educational Association www.wea.org.uk

Jacqueline van der Kloet

Sally Nex

Spring Flowering Bulbs with Perennials

Self-Sufficient Veg Gardening

The National Trust www.nationaltrust.org.uk www.countrygardener.co.uk

15

READERS LETTERS

Have your say...

Another batch of lively letters from Country Gardener readers. If you have any views, opinions, ideas or gardening tips you would like to share then write to us at Country Gardener Magazine, Mount House, Halse, Taunton Somerset TA4 3AD or email us at alan@countrygardener.co.uk

I’m happy with my weeds I have a small garden at the front and back of my house where I grow both vegetables and ornamental plants. For 20 years I have lived with ground elder, nettles, brambles and bindweed not to mention an endless list of others dandelions, dock and more. Of course, I weed but not obsessively. I leave batches of nettles, unwind the bindweed and pick off the leaves of the horrid ground elder. Weedkiller is far too much hassle and wholesale cutting back has often revealed a bird’s nest which I would rather not have disturbed. I’m just happy that everything in my garden is green.

Margery Porter

Exmouth

CUTTINGS FROM TOMATO SIDE-SHOOTS I have this summer been experimenting with rooting sideshoots of tomatoes which I was told would work. So, you take off the side-shoot from the tomato and plunge it into wet compost.

They will usually start to wilt but if the compost is moist, I have never had a failure. I use it especially on expensive varieties of tomatoes to provide outdoor plants at a low cost. Side-shoots nipped out in April from plants sown in the greenhouse are perfect for planting out at the end of May.

Wendy Thornton Halesowen

One is that eggshells keep slugs at bay. Even if it were true that slugs don’t like crawling over rough materials, they live underground.

This means they can tunnel beneath a barrier before you can say ‘eggshells’.

In fact, some materials may make the problem worse. In a recent RHS study more slug damage was found on mulched crops possibly because they keep the soil nice and moist for slugs.

The only remedy which has worked for me is nematodes. These microscopic slug parasites can be watered into your soil, and they really work.

Secondly the claim that spraying plants with a soapy liquid is a natural way of getting rid of greenfly. I am afraid it is rubbish. Plants are covered in a fatty cuticle that prevents them from sun damage and dehydration. Without this cuticle they wouldn’t survive. But what are soaps designed to do is to break down fats and here’s the problem -they damage the plants’ ability to survive. My solution is forgetting about the soapy element - just blast the greenfly with a pure water spray.

Adam Mortlake

Plymouth

Plastic containers make great mini-greenhouses

Chard

This is a garden cheat I’ve used over the past few years with great success. I don’t have room for a large garden and with three young boys kicking balls around the place.

So, I bought three large plastic containers for a combined price of £12. They act as mini-greenhouses and I’ve been able to grow a wide selection of vegetables. After I’ve finished with them, they make ideal containers in the shed. You can literally make the most of any sunny spot in the garden I’ve found that by putting a brick on top stops the wind blowing them over and seems enough to keep the slugs out.

PLEASE LET’S BE CAREFUL ABOUT CUTTING BACK HEDGES I found myself worrying this summer as hedges were being cut near us while I am sure birds were still roosting.

The RSPB has not highlighted the important amendment to the Wildlife and Countryside Act where the words ‘recklessly’ were added after ‘intentionally’.

This was supposed to add clarity to the obvious confusion about when it was safe to start trimming hedges. Nor has the society mentioned that the same Act makes it an offence to disturb a bird at roost near a nest containing eggs or young. The addition of ‘or recklessly’ should have given a significant importance to the Act but I am not sure it is being adhered to.

Fi Patterson

Taunton

WE TRIED GROWING THINGS IN STRAW, AND IT WORKED I’d like to share a rare gardening success story for my husband and me. I’d read how growing strawberries in straw bales was effective. We bought eight bales from a local farmer and planted strawberries, courgettes, garlic, tomatoes and kohl rabi in the straw. The results were excellent. The strawberries flourished and were the best we have ever had. The courgettes and garlic were also excellent. The jury is still out on the kohl rabi but overall, a genuine success, something different and I like the look of the bales in the garden. Once they are done with, on to the compost heap.

Pauline Anderson 16

Kidderminster

Don’t rely on horse manure to work miracles

Peter Gullings

This year I tried living runner bean supports. I planted a dozen sunflowers from seed and then let my runner beans grow on them. A wonderful combination which really worked.

Pam Davis Petersfield

I would like to dispel a couple of pieces of advice in your excellent magazine.

My experience of using well-rotted horse manure on my vegetable plot has not been a success and I have been talking to my neighbour on the allotment patch who essentially told me off for relying on it. He told me that although the manure is an excellent soil conditioner it must be used sparingly on the soil as it does not contain as many nutrients and trace elements needed to boost the vegetables. So, it seems horse manure isn’t the guaranteed fertiliser I thought it was.

Sunflower supports for my runner beans

Harriet Ottley

Some gardening myths questioned

Country Gardener

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17

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

GARDEN

advice

Readers are still inundating us with problems and queries they are coming across and we are sorry we can’t answer all of them but we will make every effort to do so. If you have a question please write to us at Country Gardener, Mount House, Halse, Taunton, Somerset TA4 3AD or email editorial@countrygardener.co.uk What are these pods on my potato plants?

Christina Harris Bath They are potato seed pods. We are so used to starting potatoes from tubers we forget they can also grow seeds. You can of course grow potatoes from the seeds, but the resulting tubers may not taste too good. Do be aware these fruits are poisonous. They look like green cherry tomatoes and usually appear in small clusters. The interior of a seed pod has up to 500 tiny seeds distributed throughout a mass of moist tissue.

Can you tell me how to overwinter dahlias? I have no space in the border.

Mitch Palmer Waterlow Timing is everything with this. You can lift dahlias once the foliage has been blackened by the first frost. Just cut off the old flowering stems two inches from the base and trim away any thin roots. These stems can be composted. Use a fork to prise the plants out of the soil, taking care not to damage, cut or bruise the tubers, as this can lead to rots developing in storage. Then remove the soil from the tubers by hand. Position them upside down in a cool place for a few weeks to dry off. Label cultivars and bury in trays or wooden boxes filled with dry sand, soil or compost, leaving only the old flower stalks exposed. Finally place the trays in a cool but frost-free place.

Potato pod seeds

I have read a lot lately about how some courgettes can be poisonous and have a very bitter taste. I love growing them and have another bumper crop this year but no-where does it tell me if there is a danger in eating them or what I need to look out for.

Annie Patterson Stroud It turns out courgettes can become laced with natural toxins called cucurbitacins under stressful growing conditions, or due to accidental cross-pollination. It’s meant to be extremely rare. Some seed companies have been very cautious in withdrawing some varieties from their catalogues.

Cucurbitacins are bitter-tasting compounds that can be poisonous to humans.

Vegetables like courgette and squash that have high levels of cucurbitacins won’t necessarily look poisonous – making them more dangerous as you only know they could be toxic after eating them and then tasting bitter.

If you are worried, cut off a tiny slither to taste – raw or cooked – and if there is the slightest hint of bitterness, discard the fruit immediately and remove the plant in question from your garden.

Why are all my cucumbers bitter this year? I grow them every year but something has gone wrong.

Anna Kirkham Bristol Cucumber fruits turn bitter if the female fruits are pollinated. This happens if the plant also produces male flowers which not all varieties do. Male flowers are easy to spot as they don’t have a tiny developing fruit at the base. The solution is to remove all male flowers regularly.

I have a very old hydrangea which this summer has given up the ghost and I’d like to replace it with something which will stand out more in a shady spot. I understand I might be able to buy a white hydrangea which I must admit I have never come across.

Why do my so many of my plants get mildew?

It is happening on the indoor plants and in the greenhouse.

Tracy Porter Exmouth Mildew can be caused by several things including Is overwatering the problem? poor maintenance, over-watering, or lack of sunlight. By far the most common reason in household plants or in the greenhouse is over watering. For example, if your plant’s soil is eight inches deep, don’t water it until the top two inches have dried out. We are all keen to keep out plants well-watered but don’t let it become an automatic routine-make sure first if the plant needs the water.

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Maggie Halford Martock Hydrangeas typically flower in pink or blue, with their colour determined by the alkalinity of the soil: on acid soils, flowers are blue, while in alkaline soils, flowers are pink. However you are right they also flower in white, and these hydrangeas are arguably the most Hydrangea aborescens attractive of the genus. White-flowered varieties have a delicacy that pink and blue cultivars don’t have. They can be used to light up a shady area as you suggest, act as a foil against brighter colours, and bring a sense of serenity to a planting area. Unlike pink and blue hydrangeas, most white varieties don’t change colour in accordance with the pH of the soil. However, some blooms mature to a light pink or brown. We would recommend Hydrangea aborescens ‘Annabelle’ which bears huge heads of only sterile florets, resembling white snowballs, up to 30cm across. As autumn progresses, the flowers fade to pale lime-green, while the fresh green leaves turn shades of yellow. Perfect for a mixed border, paired with other hydrangeas, it has an upright habit and tolerates shade.

The Royal Horticultural Society has given it its prestigious Award of Garden Merit.

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My well-established compost bin is full of ants. I haven’t seen them before, and I am not sure if they are doing any damage or what I can do to get rid of them.

Pam Stephenson Dawlish This isn’t always straightforward to answer. Ants tend to show up in your compost pile if the pile is too dry. The compost will stop breaking down altogether if it gets too dry - and this is when the ants move in. To get the ants to move on all you must do is stir things up a little and then wet them down.

Almost always the ants will relocate. It is not always bad news since they can be beneficial to the process of composting. In fact, they will bring fungi into your compost heap and can enrich it with phosphorus and potassium.

However, most gardeners don’t want ants to overrun the compost.

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In April we moved to a Devon garden with a huge privet hedge. It really is too overpowering, and I’d like to cut it back to probably half its height, but I am very conscious that I might kill it which I certainly do not want to do, Any ideas please?

Pat Trenchcombe Salisbury.

The first point is don’t try to do it all at once but plan a two-or three-year attack.

Privet is tough as old boots and can tolerate hard pruning.

But don’t try to drop the height too much too quickly.

You will need to allow the hedge to recover each season and hopefully thicken up. Ideally cut back one side of the hedge one year, then the other side one or two years later to retain the screening effect and give the plant the best chance of recovery. Hard pruning is best done at the end of winter so you’re not looking at an unsightly hedge for too long, or disturbing nesting birds. After pruning feed the hedge with a general purpose fertiliser, water copiously, and mulch. You should be able to reduce the height and increase the thickness of the privet.

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www.seasonsgreen.co.uk Corfe Castle, Dorset

Why have my tomatoes not turned red?

Stevie Cox Torquay This isn’t always as easy to answer. It certainly isn’t always a case of just not enough sunshine!

Tomatoes ripen under the optimum temperature of around 70° to 75°F. Within this optimal condition lycopene and carotene are produced in the fruit cells giving the fruit an orange to red pigmentation. When the temperatures exceed these levels, the hormones become denatured, and the process cannot go on.

The lower extreme also has negative impacts on allowing the tomatoes to ripen, whereby, if the temperatures drop below the optimal conditions the hormones will slow significantly or even stop, and you end up with mature green tomatoes which may start to rot as they get old. If your tomato plant is still undergoing robust growth, then the chances are that the already mature fruits will experience delayed ripening due to the high levels of growth hormones in the plant. This condition affects the determinate varieties more than it does the indeterminate ones as these are more genetically enhanced to multiple fruiting stages. The condition is seen when tomato vines have more leafy matter and are still flowering. The mature fruits on such plants not only take much longer to ripen but also receive lower energy supplies as most of it is diverted to the flowers and sustaining the leaves.

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What can you do if you’re stuck with green tomatoes and intense heat? Once the tomatoes have reached mature size, you can bring them inside to finish ripening. Remember, tomatoes like it warm. www.countrygardener.co.uk

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GREAT PLACES TO VISIT

WE’RE ALL SET FOR A

golden autumn

Gardening wisdom suggests that a wet damp autumn is a key ingredient when it comes to sustained autumn colour at the end of September and through to October.

So again, we are about the enter into weeks which fall under the grip of a riot of autumn colour.

Autumn, a favourite time of the year for so many gardeners is all about colour and with the prediction that the leaves will be spectacularly colourful this year gardens and arboretums, parks and woodlands, footpaths and forests are about to be fired up with exotic colours with native favourites including beech, alder, ash, oak, field maple and cherry.

The damp and wet August has we are told, means the trees have been able to build up bigger reservoirs of sugars which are fundamental to trigger a change in the colour of the leaves. It is these sugars that allow the leaves to morph into autumnal displays.

So, we are happy to highlight some great places to get out and visit and there’s a rather special Cornish hotel on our recommendation list.

Enjoy the autumn.

BOTANIC GLASSHOUSE A BIG DRAW TO CANNINGTON’S WALLED GARDENS The Walled Gardens of Cannington are a much-loved RHS partner garden with a Grade 1 listed medieval priory backdrop. A mix of classic and modern features, including a ‘hot’ herbaceous border, it includes a sub-tropical walk, blue garden and a winter garden.

It is also home to Somerset’s only botanical glasshouse, featuring hundreds of different species from around the world such as the magnificent jade vine (Strongylodon macrobotrys).

There’s also a gift shop, tearoom and specialist plant nursery; plants are propagated on-site and sold at great prices! Open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10am, all yearround excluding two weeks at Christmas. Closing times vary depending on season.

Please check website www.canningtontonwalledgardens.co.uk Church Street, Cannington TA5 2HA Tel: 01278 655042

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Soak up the spectacular colour... at Batsford this autumn. Browse our selection of plants and gifts and treat yourself to a home-baked lunch or afternoon tea in our café. A perfect day out for all the family – including the dog!

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Speak to one of our sales people for more details.

BATSFORD ARBORETUM AND GARDEN CENTRE Batsford, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire GL56 9AT.

@BatsfordA

www.canningtonwalledgardens.co.uk 20

Home-made soup & cakes Sundays and Wednesdays 11am – 5pm 3rd October - 14th November

Harford Ivybridge PL21 0JF Tel 01752 691749

www.lukesland.co.uk

For more information visit our website or call 01278 655042.

Tel: 01386 701441 E: arboretum@batsfordfoundation.co.uk @BatsfordA

Fine Autumn Colour Pools & Waterfalls

Come and visit our RHS partner garden.

Enjoy light bites and refreshments from the Tea Room, buy plants from our Nursery, or simply explore the beautiful gardens – there is plenty to see and do!

Book your Arboretum tickets online at www.batsarb.co.uk

BatsfordArboretum

LUKESLAND GARDENS

Country Gardener

Autumn colour spectacular at Batsford Arboretum

Space, autumn colours and warming soups at Lukesland Gardens

Enjoy 56 acres of magical walks amongst a kaleidoscope of reds, pinks and golds at Batsford Arboretum this autumn. Home to one of the largest private collections of trees and shrubs in the country, Batsford is famed for putting on a show-stopping display of autumn colour, thanks to the magnificent collection of Japanese maples, sorbus, euonymus and cherries.

Tucked away on the southern edge of Dartmoor, just north of Ivybridge, Lukesland is a wonderful place to enjoy autumn colour. The shelterbelt of beeches, planted by the Victorians to protect this 24-acre garden from Dartmoor winds, turns a glorious gold, while more exotic species such as acers, cornus, enkianthus, ginkgo and swamp cypress reflect their autumn tints in the pools of the Addicombe Brook.

Autumn is, of course, nature’s planting time as well – perfect for establishing plants before the winter cold sets in. The Plant Centre at Batsford offers a huge choice of quality plants in a beautiful walled garden setting.

Pre-booking is essential for arboretum visits for non-members via www.batsarb.co.uk

Openings are on Sundays and Wednesdays from 11am to 5pm from 3rd October to 14th November. No pre-booking is required. The tearoom is open with a simple menu of home-made soup and cakes.

Contactless payment is preferred in the tearoom and at the gate. There is also a fun children’s trail and a new sound and story garden. Dogs are welcome on a lead.

Batsford Arboretum & Garden Centre, near Moreton-inMarsh, Gloucestershire, GL56 9AT Tel 01386 701441

For more details call 01752 691749 or go to www.lukesland.co.uk or www.facebook.com/lukeslandgardens Lukesland House, Ivybridge PL21 0JF

Hotel Meudon, a Cornish coastal paradise This is Cornwall’s best kept secret: a hidden valley hotel with its own secluded beach, Hotel Meudon is a coastal paradise near Falmouth, Cornwall.

Recently refurbished, the hotel is a stylish retreat boasting nine acres of subtropical gardens, stunning sea views, 29 bedrooms and a self-catering cottage.

The restaurant, lounge and Freddie’s Bar are open to all, whether you’re staying at the hotel or simply passing by and thinking of popping in. All menus feature a variety of dishes and are created using Cornwall’s bountiful larder.

A stay at Hotel Meudon will offer you time to sit back and unwind whilst enjoying stunning surroundings and topquality service.

Hotel Meudon, Mawnan Smith, Falmouth, Cornwall, TR11 5HT

Cornwall’s best-kept secret...

The stunning subtropical valley setting of Hotel Meudon is a short hop from the South West Coast Path. Our own secluded and idyllic beach ‘Bream Cove’ is just perfect for wild swimming, snorkelling, stand-up paddle boarding or just relaxing with a picnic.

If wanderlust takes hold, then there are some truly wonderful walks nearby. Stroll to the mouth of the Helford River and beyond via Rosemullion Head, taking in ancient woodland and fishing villages on the way.

Rates from £372 for a two-night break on a bed and breakfast basis, including a sumptuous afternoon tea.

Visit www.meudon.co.uk to book.

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21 02/09/2021 16:43

GREAT PLACES TO VISIT

HILL CLOSE VICTORIAN

STEP BACK INTO HISTORY WITH HILL CLOSE GARDENS, WARWICK

GARDENS WARWICK

Hill Close Gardens are a unique set of Victorian detached gardens set in the heart of Warwick and the only remaining set of Victorian detached gardens open to the public in England. Detached gardens were once plentiful around the towns, villages and cities in England.

Come and explore 16 unique restored Victorian gardens

So, this is a slice of history by taking a step back in time to 1896 to a point where the gardens have been recreated to. Detached gardens have existed here since the 1830’s. There are 16 individual plots of the original 32 overlooking Warwick racecourse, and some have brick-built summerhouses where you can shelter and find out about the plots previous owners.

Open weekdays Nov-March: 11-4pm Open every day April-Oct: 11am-5pm with tearoom Sat, Sun and Bank Hol Mon

This space can also be hired for meetings – parties – social occasions and more.

Hill Close Gardens offer guided tours through-out the year, the sale of both plants from the nursery and produce from the gardens.

www.hillclosegardens.com or Tel: 01926 493339

Old Court nurseries an autumn feast of colour You can explore a feast of colour this autumn at Old Court Nurseries and The Picton Garden. An intriguing one and a half garden and nursery nestled at the foot of the Malvern Hills. Being specialist growers of Michaelmas daisies the garden’s winding paths take you on an adventure through their vibrant colours in September and October and on into calmer woodland plantings. Unusual plants are sure to be order of the day here.

Old Court Nurseries. Walwyn Road, Colwell WR13 6QE Tel: 01684 540416 www.autumnasters.co.uk

PLANTS / PRODUCE / HIRE / NURSERY Apple Day & Country Fair: Sun 10th Oct, 11am-4:30pm Apple and fruit displays, stalls, arts and crafts for all the family. Garden entry £5.00 Child £1.00 HCGT & RHS Free.

Workshop: Autumn Wreaths: Wed 13th Oct £25, Booking essential. RHS & HCG’s members £20.

Chrysanthemum Open Day: Sat 30th Oct Open in aid of the NGS. Normal entry fee.

Garden entry £5.00 Child £1.00 HCGT & RHS Free Tel. 01926 493339 www.hillclosegardens.com Access by racecourse to Bread & Meat Close, Warwick CV34 6HF. 2 hrs free parking.

Old Court Nurseries & The Picton Garden The Michaelmas Daisy Specialists since 1906

Specialist nursery and beautiful 1.5 acre garden just waiting to be explored CATALOGUE ONLINE OR AVAILABLE BY REQUEST

Open daily, 11am to 5pm by booked time slots and walk ups, from 1st September until 20th October.

Garden admission £4 for adults.

Open WEDNESDAY 20TH OCTOBER for the National Garden Scheme please see www.ngs.org.uk for more details

Tel: 01684 540416 www.autumnasters.co.uk Old Court Nurseries, Walwyn Road, Colwall WR13 6QE 22

Country Gardener

READERS STORY

‘October - it’s the start - not the end of the gardening year’ Former professional gardener and now passionate allotment holder and Country Gardener reader Peter Randall explains why he believes October is the start of the new gardening season.

I spent 20 years working in some of the best gardens in the north of England such as Burton Agnes Hall and the Alnwick Garden in Yorkshire.

Now I’m back home near where I was born in Barnstable and gardening is still a passion in a small half an acre plot around our cottage and two allotments (yes, I know it’s a bit greedy but they were offered to me and I said ‘yes please’).

I enjoy picking up your magazine and I realise reading it there’s still things for me to learn.

Talking to my fellow allotment holders there’s one principle which I have always believed strongly about and which not everyone understands.

It is simply that October isn’t the end of the gardening year.

It’s the beginning of the new one.

Around the allotment everyone talks about time to put the ‘gardens to bed’. It makes me quite angry.

Burton Agnes Hall, Yorkshire where Country Gardener reader Peter Randall worked for ten years

I think the opposite is true and have always put it into practice.

The more you can prepare this month for next year, both planting and planning, the better the growing season next year will be. And if you are busy then October is not so much a time to wind down but a time to step up and prepare for action. Jobs completed between now and Christmas to prepare the garden for spring will be so much better be for you and your garden.

Every year in Yorkshire we took lots of pictures of the gardens, the borders, the vegetable plots. It wasn’t to commemorate the passing of the years’ displays but so we could look and have a record on where we were and how we need to plan and change to set in motion the horticultural wheels of a brand-new year.

October is the best time to prune climbing roses and trim back shrub roses. It’s the best time to plant bulbs, the best time to plant bare root trees, the best time to stand and look and not tidy things up too much, the best time to start next year’s harvest of everything from garlic, from broad beans to onions, peas to spring cabbage.

I know magazines will tell you the best time for bulb planting is September but the ground is often too hard and the borders too crowded. October is far more practical especially if you are planting in grass.

The soil in October is moist and warm, but not yet soggy, and gives plants more time to grow new roots and be less vulnerable to dry periods in summer. Evergreens particularly establish well in autumn without the difficult fluctuations of spring weather and, when planted in spring, they usually need significant watering.

While I’m talking about October planting, let me bust myths about it based on my own biased gardening experience.

Put fertiliser in the planting hole - This is almost a myth, as it depends on the type you use. If you use quick acting fertiliser it can burn, damage and kill the roots. If you use organic fertilisers, such as bonemeal, it can take anything up to four months (especially during colder months) for the soil micro-organisms to break them down into forms that plants can use. So, if you plant in October, the plants won’t benefit until January! Instead, use a controlled-release feed, which releases nutrients slowly, steadily and when the plant needs and can use them.

Put crocks and gravel in the bottom of pots and planters to improve drainage - I disproved this works many years ago. Instead of improving drainage - it can make it worse and increase waterlogging! Certainly, put a flat stone or one piece of crock over each drainage hole to prevent it clogging, but leave it at that and fill the rest of the pot with compost.

So back to my rant about October.

Lots of gardeners like to cut back everything to within an inch of its life - or the ground’s - in October to make sure the garden looks all ship-shape, neat and tidy. But if you can bear to put the shears and secateurs away until spring, you’ll be doing your garden – and the wildlife – a good deed. Many ‘dead’ plants look great in autumn and winter with their shadowy outlines and ornamental seed heads. Grasses look fabulous when the lower winter sunlight glistens through their faded flower heads.

These are dormant (not actively growing) perennial plants that are dug up and stored without any soil around their roots. establish much easier in cooler months and it works fantastically well for fruit trees and shrubs.

Again, the local wildlife will love you for it. Many birds delight in feasting on any remaining seeds lurking in the seed heads. Faded flower heads and stems also provide fabulous hidey-holes for garden-friendly insects, including ladybirds, looking for somewhere cosy to overwinter.

October will be your last cut of the lawn this year. Don’t cut your lawn too short as it will be more susceptible to frost and disease damage.

So, I hope my message works and remember October is for working hard not winding down.

“The more you can prepare this month for next year, both planting and planning, the better the growing season next year will be” www.countrygardener.co.uk

23

Autumn foraging fun Autumn days mean the ripening of berries and nuts and its showers encouraging fungi to grow so now’s the perfect time to see what tasty treats the countryside has to offer with foraging days out Our ancestors foraged nearly all their food but hunting and gathering fell by the wayside with agricultural revolutions. Yet in the last decade, foraging has made a comeback and September is one of foraging’s core seasons, and 2021 is said to be the best for fruits and berries in years, so now is the time for novices to learn the ropes and the more seasoned foragers to get their baskets ready.

Foraging’s combination of exercise, seasonal food and mindfulness makes it a great way to regenerate mind and body.

The fruit of the blackthorn, known as sloes, are another hedgerow fruit to look out for - a similar blue to bilberries. They’re also for flavouring rather than nibbling - pick now to make sloe gin in time for Christmas.

Traditionally, they were said to be best for soaking after the first frost - but that effect can nowadays be replicated by popping them into the freezer. And you’ll need a few handfuls, half a bottle’s worth, to get that rich dark liquid.

A country walk in search of something wild to eat - or preserve for the store cupboard - is a pleasure. In fact, foraging’s combination of exercise, seasonal food and mindfulness makes it a great way to regenerate mind and body.

WHAT’S ON THE FORAGING TRAIL Blackberries - When it comes to fruit, the obvious place to start is with blackberries, which are easy to spot but peak in September.

Apples and crab apples - Granny Smith apples typically ripen in early November, making them a late autumn foraging favourite.

Rowan berries - Combine them with crab apples to make jam.

Rosehips - The red fruit that grow on rose plants, full of antioxidants and vitamin C. Add them to a cup of tea, turn them into jam or marmalade, or eat them raw - so long as you avoid the hairs growing inside the fruit.

Sloes - They grow on blackthorn trees, and they’re perfect for making gin.

With any luck, you’ll make deeper connections with the landscape around you, taking your mind off day-to-day worries as you contemplate the fruits of your labour.

The countryside almost never disappoints the diligent and astute forager. Blackberries may already be coming to an end by late summer, and if not eaten by fellow foragers, human or otherwise, will be past their best.

Indeed, Michaelmas Day on 29th September was said to be the day the devil spits on them so it was considered particularly unwise to eat them after that date.

Brambles are hedgerow plants, so you’re likely to find some on most country walks, but any rough ground is likely to throw up some blackberries as they’re resilient and persistent. The darker and juicier the better.

If you’re out and about on the acid soils of heath or moor, you may find bilberries rather than blackberries: sometimes called ‘whorts’ or wimberries. Bluish in colour, they’re low down, and harder on the back to pick than blackberries, but still make a great pie.

It’s the elderflowers that are so prized in early summer for making cordial, but this time of year it’s the berries that are weighing down elder branches. Common across the country, they are usually found in hedgerows and on the edge of woods and copses.

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Hazelnuts well worth seeking out

GOING NUTS October is the ideal time to eat fresh nuts - a different experience than the dried and roasted ones we’re used to and it’s sweet chestnuts or hazel that you’re most likely to find, or maybe a walnut if you’re lucky.

Hazel trees coppice well and so have long been valued for providing fast-growing wood for flexible sticks and poles. As a result, they are common in open woodland.

Fresh hazel nuts, and the cultivated ‘cob’ nuts, have a gentler taste than the ones we get in our breakfast cereal and are well worth seeking out.

Sweet chestnuts shouldn’t be confused with the conkers that are horse chestnuts. Sweet ones have darker, more leathery leaves, and the chestnuts have a much finer dense covering of spines.

Country Gardener

Sloe berries - get the gin ready!

Acorns - Foraging experts say nuts are harder work than fruits and plants, and acorns are no exception.

Because they contain bitter tannins, acorns must be leached before they’re cooked or consumed.

Sweet chestnuts - The oft-roasted nuts are incredibly abundant this autumn.

Hazelnuts - Squirrels rarely leave nuts alone as they ripen, so chances are, any wild hazelnuts you collect are still green on the inside. Once they’re home, leave them to ripen in a dark and dry place.

Making the most of the ‘family favourites’ Frozen blackberries also keep for a long time and can be pureed to make an instant sorbet to go alongside a blackberry crumble (another use).

Some less pursued but just as rewarding uses for blackberries are their use in cordials, syrups and even beer and wine making. Simple recipes for blackberry beer and wine can be found online and it’s not as hard as it may sound.

Elderberries can also be found in abundance in autumn. The elder is a hedgerow plant and so can be found in similar places to blackberries. Look out for small purplish-black berries hanging in clusters.

FUNGI FOCUS We’re also getting to the best time of year for fungi, but if you’re not confident in your identification, focus on finding them rather than eating them - there’s no harm spotting a few to get your eye in.

The most popular chanterelles are one of those things that once you’ve seen, you can’t stop seeing them - they’re most common down among the leaf litter and moss in open forests. Their golden colour and little funnel shape makes them fairly distinct once you know what you’re looking for, but there are a few rivals that can confuse, including the helpfully named false chanterelle, which is more common in pine forests.

They’re not very fast growing so if you are a confident picker, only take what you need - and as with all foraging, leave no trace and be very careful that you’re identifying the right crop. Some fungi can be harmful, so take no chances.

Frozen blackberries keep for a long time

We all know and love the blackberry, and blackberry gathering is a fantastic pastime to get the family outside and there are also many uses for them once brought back to the kitchen. Jams and jellies are some of the staples used in the past to help bring some sweetness into the winter months and were a great way to preserve these berries.

An easy spot are the puffballs, giant and common, and have little that looks like them. They’re found on road verges and in woodland. Both giant and common are edible although common ones need a lot of peeling for little flesh.

Rosehips - very high in Vitamin C

Elderberries in heavy clusters

Rosehips were used as a replacement for citrus fruits during World War II, and were collected in abundance due to their high content of vitamin C. Same as most berries, they are used commonly in autumn jams and jellies, syrups and sauces. Also found in hedgerows, scrubland and throughout country trails, the berries need to be harvested late autumn, when they are a deep reddish-orange colour and soft to the touch.

How much should you take?

As with anything you forage, respect the land and take only what you need. Make sure you leave something behind for the birds and squirrels.

Foraging does bring with it the need to be careful and here’s a few which are definitely not to be added to the foraging basket.

Death cap mushrooms - The Amanita phalloides ‘Death Cap mushrooms’ serve as a reminder to all foragers to not eat mushrooms unless you are sure you can identify them and know that they are edible.

These poisonous fungi can be found in woodland, often in widely spaced groups and under oak.

Some foragers use a 30 per cent rule, never taking more than a third of available bounty, but it’s equally important that, unless you’re planning to dry and store your finds, you’ll need to consume them within a day or two.

Doll’s eyes - Traditionally named White Baneberry, this plant produces poisonous berries through to the end of September. Recognisable for their neon pink stems and eye-like appearance, these white berries should be avoided at all costs.

While the act of foraging seems simple, experts warn novices against gathering anything they can’t identify with absolute certainty.

The adage, “When in doubt, leave it out,” comes in handy when you’re leaning down to inspect a wild plant.

Oleander - Foragers are urged to not mistake the oleander flower’s apricot scent and pretty appearance for a delicious wildflower. In fact, every part of this plant is extremely toxic and can cause severe health issues if consumed.

www.countrygardener.co.uk

25

TIME TO PLANT

‘EVERY GARDEN NEEDS MORE TREES’ Choose one with flowers in the spring or summer, fruit and colourful leaves in autumn and a good structure in winter and it will be a pleasure all year round.

Autumn is the perfect month for tree planting. Winter can be too cold if the ground is frozen or there is snow forecast, and summer can be too hot.

It is as simple as that.

In autumn temperatures are still well above freezing and the soil is moist thanks to plenty of rainfall. To us it feels cool, but that is the best temperature for root growth.

Roots grow best in cool soil and newly planted trees and shrubs can settle in quickly with the whole winter ahead to get their roots out into the ground and established before they must cope with supporting leaves and flowers next spring.

Trees planted in the autumn require less watering and aftercare than trees planted in spring, although spring is the next best season for planting out.

Every garden needs at least one tree to give it a focal point and some height to the design and some of the most popular for sensational autumn colour are Japanese maple, Berberis thunbergii, smoketree and dogwood.

Even the tiniest of gardens can find space for the smallest trees. In extra tight spots, a large shrub can fulfil the same functions – shelter, privacy, wildlife benefit and some height. Many smaller trees will thrive in a container if there is no bed space available.

Great small trees for small spaces are upright or columnar, casting little shade and have a small “footprint”. Dwarf varieties and those with slow growth are the best. Good examples are slow growing Japanese maples, crab apples, pendula and loquat.

Bare roots versus container pots - both have their merits

Planting Trees

Bare root v supplied in containers - what’s the difference?

Depth is critical. The primary root system needs to be at or near the soil surface. This is very, very important so when in doubt plant a little bit higher rather than too deep. Dig the hole about twice as wide as the root ball. Fork in plenty of good garden compost or a shrub and tree planting compost. Alternatively use the compost from your pots and containers when you empty out the summer bedding.

Containerised trees are supplied in containers, while bare root trees are supplied without soil with their roots literally bare and just wrapped in plastic. Trees can only be extracted from soil when they are dormant and that occurs from late-autumn to earlyspring when the tree sheds its leaves. Depriving a tree of nutrients during spring and summer is highly detrimental to its health as the tree will try to grow but be unable.

Stand your tree upright in the hole, back fill and firm the soil well. Surround with a good quality mulch but leave a space around the trunk of the tree so you are not covering up the roots right next to the tree. Keep that area exposed to help avoid problems with insects or disease. This will leave a nice little bowl that will hold water.

Water your new plant thoroughly.

Quality evergreen hedges at Perrie Hale

So, this is where the first difference is. Bare roots can be supplied only when the tree is dormant, while containerised can be supplied and planted anytime during the year.

As bare roots are supplied without soil, they are lighter and cheaper to transport, which makes them significantly cheaper (30 to 50 per cent) than potted varieties.

As bare roots grow in the ground, their roots spread out in a natural fashion, which allows them to establish themselves effectively, giving them adequate access to nutrients in the soil. Sometimes a containerised plant’s roots have inadequate room to grow, resulting in spiralisation, whereby their roots grow in a spiral at the bottom of the pot, which puts it in a poor position come planting.

Overall, all trees should flourish, providing they are looked after. Bare roots are cheaper and can be trained into a fan, espalier or cordon, but they are only available as one- or two-year-old trees and can only be planted late in the year. Containerised trees can be planted whenever, look better on arrival and come in a range of sizes.

Evergreen hedges are a great way to introduce structure to your garden, as well as provide a backdrop for showier plants such as perennials and grasses.

Northcote Hill, Honiton, Devon, EX14 9TH Tel: 01404 43344

They also provide good cover and nesting sites for birds and small mammals so they are wildlife friendly too.

Depending on your clipping regime, they can also flower, Portuguese Laurel (Prunus lusitanica) for example has very pretty racemes of flowers loved by bees and butterflies followed by purple berries loved by birds. Other evergreen options include common laurel, eleagnus, holly, lawson’s cypress, yew, thuja or griselinia.

Perrie Hale Nursery is a long standing family business in Devon, orders can be placed online www.perriehale.co.uk or via email faye@perriehale.co.uk

Growers & suppliers of native & ornamental trees, shrubs & hedging for: • Native, Formal & Evergreen Hedges • Screening • Woodland • Specimen Trees • Gardens Large range of ornamental and fruit trees Trade discount available • Delivery available

Order online at www.perriehale.co.uk

Collection from the nursery or contact them to see if they can arrange local delivery.

Email: faye@perriehale.co.uk

Contact Perrie Hale www.perriehale.co.uk or email faye@perriehale.co.uk

26

'Growing in Devon since 1957'

Country Gardener

Barthelemey & Co line up the Japanese maples in all their glory For the thousands of gardeners who have a passion for the autumn colour of Japanese maples then the only venue is the Dorset base of Barthelemy & Co near Wimborne. The ten-acre nursery was established a hundred years ago and the current owners the popular Skinner family, now specialise in propagating and growing Acer palmatums - Japanese maples.

The nursery has a huge collection of the maples to choose from and expert staff are on hand to help you select the right variety and to offer you help about caring for the trees. Over 40,000 plants are grafted at the nursery each year, 25,000 of them maples and as one of the largest specialist growers of their kind, they offer a great product and excellent service.

Barthelemy & Co, 262 Wimborne Road West, Wimborne, Dorset BH21 2DZ Tel: 01202 874283 www.barthelemymaples.co.uk

MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI IS THE KEY TO GETTING YOUR AUTUMN PLANTS ESTABLISHED Many people this year have turned to gardening and one of the most important things they could plant this autumn is a tree. Trees are the lungs of the planet, store carbon, stabilise soils and support a vast amount of wildlife both above and below the ground.

Below ground one of the most important fungi that help the tree grow are mycorrhizal fungi. These fungi naturally colonise any new tree in a couple of years, but why not give them a helping hand by planting the tree with rootgrow mycorrhizal fungi?

The friendly fungi will colonise the tree in a matter of weeks leading to better establishment, earlier growth and a happier healthier tree.

www.rootgrow.co.uk

JAPANESE MAPLES Acer palmatum varieties We produce and grow the largest selection available in the UK. Plants are pot grown and suitable for garden, patio or bonsai.

Send SAE for descriptive catalogue.

Visitors welcome Mon-Sat 9am-1pm & 2pm-4.30pm Barthelemy & Co (DCG), 262 Wimborne Rd West, Stapehill, Wimborne, Dorset BH21 2DZ

Tel: 01202 874283 enquiries@barthelemymaples.co.uk www.barthelemymaples.co.uk

THE CAMELLIA SPECIALISTS

For expert advice and a wide range of varieties and sizes, visit our website and order online or come and visit us.

Open Monday to Friday 8.30am - 4.30pm Trehane Nursery, Stapehill Road, Wimborne, Dorset BH21 7ND Tel: 01202 873490 www.trehanenursery.co.uk enquiries@trehanenursery.co.uk

AVAILABLE ONLINE OR FROM ANY GOOD GARDEN CENTRE

www.countrygardener.co.uk

rootgrow.co.uk 27

A WINTER GARDEN WITH THAT wow factor Discover how to create winter excitement and colour in your garden with designer and plant specialist Carol Smith Winter gardens can be beautiful, but during these gloomy grey months many are desperately short of the wow factor.

The cold weather and these days too much of the wet stuff leaves plants dead and dreary; there is little to entice us outside. A nice cup of tea, comfy chair and a copy of Country Gardener tempt us to abandon the garden, so we stay in and turn a blind eye or gaze out at an empty space, longing for the yellows, blues, and purples of spring bulbs as they herald the onset of a new gardening year.

Amelanchier jamarckii ‘Ballerina’

But it doesn’t have to be like this. With thoughts focussed on the winter months use this time to plan for next year. The drab and dreary can be transformed and your winter garden can give as much pleasure as any other time of the year!

Creating a winter garden entails thinking about colour in the form of foliage and berries, the overall shape of individual plants and scent. The spirits lift as we picture and plan the new vision for next winter knowing that the dull winter garden will be a thing of the past. But where to start?

First things first, get the kettle on and make that cup of tea, grab some paper and a sharp pencil – there’s a lot of writing to do! Begin by assessing the garden. A quick garden visit to take some photos to be used as a visual aid starts the process. With a 28

layer of tracing paper over a photo, simple plant shapes such as triangles, columns, mounds, and ball shapes can be sketched where there’s a gap or sense of something missing, as plant ideas forming the new garden will start to appear on the paper.

Be frank and note down what you dislike about the garden, define what’s missing….. is it a lack of colour, interesting shapes, or does it look empty and bare? Deciduous shrubs and trees will have lost their leaves for the winter, perhaps having provided brightly coloured berries for the birds and fantastic autumn foliage colour, so by comparison the garden may be looking distinctly beige and grey. Amelanchier, Prunus and Sorbus are among the best small trees to light up the autumn months with their warm yellow/orange glow, not forgetting of course the Acer family at centre stage in a shady spot.

Introducing some colourful evergreens is a very effective solution to the ‘bare’ appearance.

Conifers have fantastic architectural shapes which give strong winter structure, are easy to grow and come in a wide range of colours such as the bright emerald green Thuja ‘Smaragd’, the cool steel blue of Juniperus ‘Blue Arrow’, or sunny gold of Cupressus ‘Goldcrest’; all keep a lovely narrow based conical shape even when mature, so are suitable for a large or small border. If your

Country Gardener

Wispy Stipa tenuissima

garden is a good size, all three could be planted in a group for a permanent structural feature and splash of colour, the bonus being that they are great for secluded bird nests and the small cones provide seeds as a food source.

Evergreens also come in the shape of shrubs. Medium evergreen shrubs such as the deep blue Pittosporum ‘Tom Thumb’ or late winter/early spring flowering Hebes such as Hebe ‘Hagley Pink’ with its plain green foliage, or variegated varieties such as green Hebe x franciscana with intense purple flowers will give permanent structure and mid-height through the centre of the border. The Cornus family provide stunning winter stem colour, two of the best being Cornus alba ‘Siberica’ for red stems and Cornus ‘Midwinter Fire’ for bright orange stems.

Now we’ve got strong permanent shape and foliage colour in the garden let’s add some scent. Larger winter flowering shrubs such as the yellow and orange spidery blooms of Hamamelis and creamy white Lonicera nitida are more suited to the back of the border, which planted alongside green Sarcocca confusa will make your garden smell like a perfumery!

Trees, shrubs and conifers can appear rather ‘static’ and need other delicate plants to soften them and add movement.

Ideal for this are decorative evergreen grasses such as wispy Stipa tenuissima, orange streaked Carex testacea and Carex oshimensis ‘Evergold’; at the front of a border, edging a pathway or planted in gravel they sway in the winter winds and make a lovely contrast to other plants.

A mixture of wonderful winter grasses, stems and heathers

Heathers, Ajuga and ivy make colourful ground level planting, used in containers with autumn and spring flowering cyclamen they add a warm welcome by the front door or splash of colour on the patio, underplanted with other spring bulbs a container can provide interest for six months of the year.

For a second wave of late winter/early spring colour, plant tulip, narcissus and crocus bulbs in autumn for a colourful display that invites us to venture out and walk around the garden as we’re slowly coming out of hibernation! Although if you get it right, a walk around your winter garden will be as enjoyable as any other time of year.

If all this sounds rather expensive or overwhelming, start by picking an area that is particularly bare and dull. Create a small plant group of one colour, one large shrub for scent, one large shrub or tree for autumn foliage colour and berries, two medium evergreen shrubs and some heathers, small evergreen grasses, and bulbs for the front. This collection will create a striking focal point plant group in the garden and is a great start. Over time other bare patches can be developed in the say way, gradually increasing the winter wow factor in your garden.

Thuja occidentalis ‘Smaragd’

Thuja occidentalis Danica

It always helps to know where to get good healthy plants, and Google is a minefield! I would recommend having a good look around your local garden centre, armed with a list of the plants you want – there’s always somebody to help.

Most garden centres have a wide range available and most nurseries offer an online service these days.

Finally, some good books for winter research: Designing with Grasses by Neil Lucas, Gardening with Conifers by Adrian Bloom, The Winter Garden (Hilliers Gardener’s Guide), and Best Winter Plants by Stephan Buczachi will provide many hours of interesting reading. For inspiration in wheelbarrows take a trip out to gardens with specific winter garden areas – Dyrham House near Bath, Sir Harold Hillier Gardens at Romsey, Hampshire, RHS Rosemoor in Devon and RHS Wisley will all have something to add to your list.

This winter put all thoughts of your garden being dull and uninteresting to one side and take some time to plan and transform it for next winter. It’s not too late to make a start and get some autumn planting in now. As all traces of summer flamboyance disappear, waiting for your new winter garden to reveal itself is thrilling, as you anticipate the fruits of your labour.

The cornus family provide stunning winter colour www.countrygardener.co.uk

29

THE NATURAL SOLUTIONS TO

controlling pests As chemical control choices happily diminish, more gardeners are searching for effective control for pests and disease in our gardens so it’s important to know how to deal with problems

How many of us busily harvesting in the autumn after all our hard work are left with a high percentage of damage to our crops from pests?

mosquitoes and other flying insects). If the pond has a shallow area, it will also provide water for mammals such as hedgehogs (which eat slugs).

The chances are it is a lot. Record numbers of gardeners do no longer want to use chemical pesticides and want effective natural and organic solutions.

The following common predators keep pest numbers in check:

Keeping your plants healthy by good cultivation and sanitation is the best way to prevent pest and disease problems. But despite all the hard work, some diseases can blow in or the weather encourage a sudden increase in pest numbers.

HEDGEHOGS eat slugs and snails, beetles and insects

Diseases are especially difficult to control once they take hold.

The best form of pest control is to use nature’s own checks and balances to keep pest numbers down. There are several ways in which you can ensure these checks and balances are in place, allowing you to have confidence that you are dealing with the problem full on.

It’s important to remember that there aren’t armies of pests waiting to get hold of your prized vegetables the minute you’ve planted them. Bad weather and poor growing methods such as overcrowding are more likely to ruin crops.

However, the pests most likely to damage your vegetables are birds (which also eat many garden pests), slugs and snails.

Creating an ecosystem

BIRDS eat slugs, snails, grubs, wireworms, caterpillars and insects FROGS and TOADS eat slugs, snails and various insects LADYBIRDS and LACEWINGS eat aphids such as blackfly and whitefly You can attract various predators to your plot with a few simple planting techniques. A few bird feeders will encourage more birds on to your plot. A nesting box or wild patch will encourage hedgehogs. Lacewings and ladybirds can be encouraged to visit by planting candytuft, sunflowers and marigolds.

Putting up barriers If you don’t want to rely on nature exclusively, barriers can be used to prevent pests reaching your crop. Cloches can be used to protect tender crops, such as lettuces, from slugs and various forms of netting can be used to ward off birds, butterflies and aphids. You can protect brassicas (such as cabbages and broccoli) with netting to prevent pigeons from eating the seedlings and butterflies from laying eggs on them. If you have room, a fruit cage will protect your fruit from hungry birds (which tend to attack your crop before you’ve even noticed it’s ready). Fleece can be placed over carrots to prevent carrot root flies from laying eggs on the young roots and destroying the crop.

However small your garden or vegetable plot, it should have a self-regulating ecosystem in place to control pests and keep your plants healthy. The simplest way to create this ecosystem is to plant a range of plants which attract natural predators that feed on pests.

Clean water spraying options Ideally, these plants should provide food (in the form of nectar, fruit and pollen) and shelter for predators and sacrificial crops to maintain pest colonies. A sacrificial crop could be a clump of nettles. This will harbour aphids which will feed predators such as ladybirds and lacewings. If any aphids then attack your crops, the ladybirds and lacewings will be on standby to clear them up.

If you have room, a pond (even a very small pond) is useful for keeping pest numbers down. It will encourage frogs (which eat slugs) and bats (which eat 30

Parasitoid wasps - great at chasing down its prey Country Gardener

Herbs can help keep pests away

Options for pest control • When it comes to pests, prevention is better than cure.

• Developing and maintaining a natural ecosystem encourages natural predators to keep pest numbers down. Ladybirds,lacewings, frogs , hedgehogs and birds are all great at limiting aphids and slugs.

• Regularly checking your crops ensures that any nasty surprises are avoided.

• It is sometimes necessary to use barriers or traps to combat pests.

• Hand picking-although time consuming and intensive, removing infestation by hand helps the rest of your plot.

• Certain essential oils make for fantastic pest-repellents too. For instance, peppermint oil helps remove squash bugs, beetles, fleas, aphids, spiders and ants. Clove oil helps keep numerous flying insects at bay. If slugs and snails are destroying your vegetable garden, cedar wood and pine oils can help fight both these vegetable garden pests.

• Insect-repelling flowering plants can also act as natural deterrents to home garden pests. Celery and broccoli are two such examples. Even herbs like cloves, garlic etc., help keep the pests away.

• Rotating crops on your veg plot will prevent reinfection of vegetables of the same family by starving out soil-borne diseases (as well as providing better nutrition and healthier plants).

IT’S THE GOOD BUGS VERSUS THE BAD BUGS! Dr Caroline Reid, senior technical support at Bioline Agrosciences looks at how beneficial insects introduced into your garden can win the battle against pests

For many years there has been an invisible army taking up residence in commercial greenhouses – an insect army. Most gardeners know that ladybirds feast on greenfly but did you know there are a miriad of other insects which do a similar job on other pests in the garden?

Keeping your garden free from insect pests without using insecticide sprays or slug pellets may seem like an impossible task but by following the lead of commercial growers and introducing these ‘Good Bugs’ you can reduce pesticide spray requirements.

In a quiet corner of Essex there is a factory, owned by Bioline Agrosciences a commercial producer of these good bugs, producing beneficial insects by the million and shipping them all over the world for use by commercial growers, and now, via smaller outlets, for home gardeners and growers too.

The garlic option with a knockout punch Garlic has a strong scent that comes into play when used as a natural insecticide. It is not really clear if garlic spray or chilli spray are insecticides or are more likely insect repellents, but these common kitchen ingredients can be used to knock down, or even knock out, insect infestations in the garden.

To make a basic garlic spray, take two whole bulbs (not just two cloves) and puree them in a blender or food processor with a small amount of water. Let the mixture sit overnight, then strain it into a quart jar, adding one-half cup of vegetable oil, one teaspoon of mild liquid soap, and enough water to fill the jar. To use this homemade insecticide, use one cup of mixture with one quart of water and spray liberally on infested plants.

THE NEW ORGANIC ANSWER TO SLUG / SNAIL DETERRENCE & CROP FERTILISATION! SLUGZILLA.CO.UK

The insects produced range from microscopic nematodes and mites through to the larger ladybirds and lacewings we all know. The foundations of the business come from nature – insects that naturally do the job in the wild are taken and bred in clean, controlled conditions and packaged in a form that is easy for use by gardeners. Introducing the insects in this way increases the numbers on plants dramatically and quickly, allowing them to overwhelm the pest and control it quickly.

The side effect of this is that less pesticides will be required which then allows the naturally occurring ‘Good Bugs’ to increase in number, more natural insects means even quicker control so even less pesticides; will be required – a perfect example of a feedback loop working for the benefit of ourselves and our environment.

Predatory insects are like the predators we know – they chase down their food, kill it and eat it. Think of a lion on the plains of the Serengeti catching an antelope, now imagine this at a microscopic scale. In fact, there is even a predatory insect called the antlion, not quite microscopic but much smaller than a lion. There are many predatory insects in the wild, several of which are produced for commercial use.

Ladybirds fall into this category; both adult and larval stages of ladybirds Ladybirds can devour a are predatory, with the larvae looking huge amount of aphids completely unlike the adult. A classic amongst the predatory insects available is Phytoseiulus persimilis for red spider mite control, a tiny mite placed on your plants to feed on the pest mites. And how about the larva of the predatory midge Aphidoloetes aphidimyza which sneaks up behind an aphid, bites its kneecaps to paralyse it then sucks its insides out.

Some people may have heard of nematodes as plant pests but some are actually beneficial. These are entomopathogenic nematodes, meaning they eat insects; microscopic eelworms used for controlling several pests; most commonly vine weevil and slugs but caterpillars and ants too. These are mixed into water and sprayed onto the infested area. The nematodes search for the pest, enter its body then release a toxin which kills it. After breeding inside, when the insect dies, they are released in greater numbers to continue their hunt for more pests.

31

READERS STORY

The blackberries

OF MY YOUTH CHRIS HARRIS LOOKS BACK FONDLY AT THE LOVE HIS FATHER HAD FOR SUNDAY MORNINGS IN SEPTEMBER IN THE DORSET COUNTRYSIDE BLACKBERRY PICKING

This time of year, reminds me so much of my father who had many hobbies and skills but nothing made him happier than a September morning blackberry picking with his two young sons.

My brother and I didn’t share his passion and often had to be dragged out but now I think we both find it a lovely thing to remember him by.

He also loved mushroom collecting and taught us to look out for fields with cows’ pats as that was good habitat for mushrooms and he had a few secret fields to go to, but the collection of blackberries was on a whole different level.

He had a strategy. Sundays were best and it always had to be out early. There was none of the ‘let’s pick a few blackberries while out on a walk’ for him. He was out with one task in mind.

We would go out armed with his old walking stick with the crooked end to pull down the high branches, proper gloves which we never seemed to wear and no plastic bags for him - he had old fashioned wicker baskets. We learned that blackberries don’t ripen after they were picked and we were always being told to be delicate pickers as they were easily damaged so handle with care, boys!

The secret he told us was all about when to go and to have secret fields away from prying eyes. Our home in Dorset had many lanes bursting with brambles and blackberries but he never sought the obvious places. For him it was better to traipse across fields away from the roads rather than the easier roadside offering. His locations were a closely guarded secret and I am sure he wanted knowledge of them passed on from generation to generation. I think there were three hedge formations which he always said were the best blackberries in Dorset. Nothing annoyed him more than to get to his favourite hedge only to find someone had stripped them and he had been beaten to it.

So, for us Sunday morning pickers, purple fingers and scratched arms were all part of the experience.

Even now I know more about brambles than I should - all down to him. The biggest and best for instance will always be found at the end of the stalk and are known as king blackberries. If they are gone, it’s a sure sign that someone had beaten you to the spot.

The fruits of course can be picked well into September but as any good forager will know, you should never pick blackberries after Michaelmas Day (September 29th) when the Devil spits on them after being cast out from Heaven and landing in a bramble bush.

He knew about the different varieties. To us a blackberry was a blackberry but he knew that even within the radius of a few miles you could find as many as a dozen different varieties, each with its own unique flowers, shape scent and fruit.

Out walking now my eyes this time of the year often go towards special brambles with large, luscious berries.

Once safely home, and my memory is that we got home for breakfast after a good hour picking, which shows you what time you had to get up and get started, the harvest was turned into a multitude of dishes from compotes and jellies to steaming crumbles. I also remember they were more delicious when ripe and fresh. The odd thing, I never thought Dad really liked blackberries, but he liked the idea of foraging for the family.

I learnt later those blackberries were practically superfoods with large amounts of fibre, vitamin C and they also had and still have anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial qualities.

When I decided to write this I looked up a few things and learnt that although the bramble I suppose is generally considered to be indestructible there has been a significant decline in their availability in the last two decades – a result of that really annoying habit of farmers to tidy up hedges and scrub. It’s bad news for foragers but perhaps even worse news for the whole web of wildlife that depends on the bounty from the bramble bushes all through the year.

I noticed this last week that hedges at the end of a field I dog walk which normally is full of brambles has already been cut back by one of those huge hedge cutting tractors and all the life of the hedge seems to have gone for the time being.

I often curse brambles in the garden which have grown viciously and out of control in our borders this summer. My wife tells me to leave them until the autumn and now I can walk down the border and collect a bowl full of blackberries from where I would normally have torn them out in early summer.

I pick a few blackberries now and again and it was nice the other Sunday to see a family with two young kids out collecting.

The biggest and best blackberries are always at the end of the stalk 32

For dad it was a special time of the year, a short sharp few weeks sometimes starting in August, but the ripest ones were those picked on mid-September mornings when it was misty and damp.

Country Gardener

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Get creative with recipes and make more of this autumn vegetable

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33

NEIL LUCAS: a choreographer of grasses EMMA HARRIS-CURTIS-MONAHAN MEETS THE 10 TIME GOLD MEDAL RHS CHELSEA WINNING NATURALISTIC GARDENER AND DESIGNER OF KNOLL GARDENS It is not an exaggeration to say that Neil Lucas is the costumier and choreographer of an horticultural ballet at Knoll Gardens, just outside Wimborne, in Dorset.

The Royal Horticultural Society explicitly combines science, nature and art and the aesthetes among we gardeners will adore the unaffected arrangement.

It was an observation of William Cowper’s that occurred to me the first time I meandered the contours of Neil’s horticultural inspiration,

“Gardening imparts an organic perspective on the passage of time” The seasonal pull of growth and pending abundance made a powerful impression that early spring morning and led me to find out about its creator.

On exploring those weaving paths, the impact of the naturalistic style was powerful, so I returned. The whispering grasses, blend of scent, texture and variety of height, colour and hue enfold the wanderer.

One of the garden’s own honey bees feeds on rosy Sanguisorba hakusanensis ‘Pink Brushes’

There is a clarity of purpose in the design, but far from austere, all is blended with an explicit understanding of, and respect for, nature. There are few straight lines and much self-seeding of plants. The guardians of that four-acre ecosystem are working with nature, rather than against, as the inestimable Beth Chatto long advocated.

The unassuming, yet effective overture at the entrance of the gardens belies the multifarious nature within.

Tall grasses, such as Arundo donax, chimney pots and recycled containers of echeveria, sempervivens and calamagrostis tempt those of an horticultural inclination to step through to explore. Once enveloped in the gardens; each of the spaces has a personality yet is interconnected.

As we amble, chatting plant names, Neil says, “…look!

If one glances back one cannot see the paths, they are hidden amongst the planting.” Indeed, as I turn, a silken, Turkaman carpet of agapanthus, miscanthus, rudbekia, pennisetum and verbena waft in the September sunshine.

The Dragon Gardens are planted for interest from midsummer to well past Christmas 34

Although the water garden with the extraordinary fallen eucalyptus is enticing and the dragon garden is impressive in its variety and consequential plethora of pollinators, it is the Gravel Garden that enchants most.

Neil explains that a couple of decades of experimenting at Knoll encouraged him to build this evolved layout.

Perpetually modest of the accomplishment, he stands amongst swathes of Gaura lindheimeiri ‘Whirling Butterflies’, one hand inadvertently caressing a periwinkle-coloured agapanthus, relishing the display, “this week someone said that, although not their usual preference of style, they loved this garden…”.

How could one not?

It is on the lawn nestled alongside the Gravel Garden that the weekly garden yoga class is held by Jackie Hayfield during the summer, blending the natural environment with the most uplifting and spiritual of pursuits; reflective of the garden itself.

A long, winding path takes you from there to the original rhododendron collection in the Spring Garden that Neil inherited on taking over Knoll. Enhanced

A peacock butterfly feeds on the buddleia Country Gardener

Gaura and self seeded wild carrot makes a wonderful combination that was never planned

The Long Walk with colourful groups of perennials and grasses, backed by some fine woody plants to enchant throughout autumn

during his curation, it includes the beautifully scented ‘King George’ that I inhaled during my initial visit.

The crowns have been lifted to accommodate underplanting with shade loving plants, so the effect is evocative – one keeps looking and thinking, “now I must try that a bit more at home…” Further up the gradual shady slope there is the Summer Garden with a sedge meadow, composed of a dry loving native sedge, Carex arenaria. Neil says, “This an exciting experiment; we have planted the carex through with blue Chionodoxa forbesii … to see if it could make a durable ‘lawn’ in rather difficult conditions. We hardly have to cut it!”

Given the increasing challenges of watering, gardeners welcome such innovations for their own patches.

This is not the only experiment in hand at Knoll and a beauteous arrangement in a variety of garden rooms by a master plantsman is not the sole aim of this enchanter of all things foliate and floriferous. Having celebrated 25 years nurturing his creation, Neil’s focus on posterity is clear. Setting up the Knoll Gardens Foundation in 2009 was prescient; today there is even more focus on the responsibilities gardeners have to the environment; he envisaged this would be the case.

Since its inception the foundation’s wildlife research has increased exponentially, along with the garden’s fame.

For example, Keith Powrie, an expert in lepidopterology and odonatology has undertaken regular surveys since that first year. Azure damsel flies, meadow brown and even brimstone butterflies adorn the plants and the lack of chemical use ensures an incremental growth in insects.

Other current initiatives include garden photography with Dave Peckham and masterclasses in Neil’s naturalistic techniques for using grasses, ensuring the word spreads to eager learners.

Knoll Gardens is doubtless most famous for the ten RHS Gold Chelsea Awards (he’s only ever entered that many times), plus Neil’s ten-year membership, ”It’s been huge ‘un!” of the RHS’ Council. This public stature is compounded by his seminal text, Designing with Grasses (2011), wherein Neil’s insights are sublimely illustrative of the principle that garden plants flourish best when in conditions closest to their natural habitats; hence his National Collection of Pennisetum.

With increasingly erratic weather and a deeper understanding of the profundity of land, water and biodiversity degradation, Neil’s work spreads a message we must heed; to focus on the delicate and intertwined biodiversity on our own patch. ”My ideas are from nature and I learn that way, my style is naturalistic, so I work with the conditions each plant likes.” In so doing, Neil says, “I don’t have a favourite plant, instead, I think about the effect I want to make and the soil and situation and work forwards from there”.

Our last meeting is a sensory delight; it’s just rained after an extended dry period and the eucalyptus smells divine, whilst the flowers are visibly rejuvenated. “I aim to have a flower in bloom every day of the year”, quips Neil with a smile. The pace of natural growth continues unhurried here; the design is focused on a low-watering philosophy and also in life-long learning, ”I gained so much knowledge in California”, he adds, “I feel in a way it was a culmination of all I had previously learned”.

He muses, “my design here is a bridge between a nature reserve and a design space… I don’t like to be the biggest thing in the garden, I like to let the plants go.”

He elaborates, “we act as editors here; if it’s working, we don’t interfere.” A Miscanthus sinensis with its feather foliage brushes me lightly as if to confirm this; there is a vibrance to this garden that heightens the senses.

Cowper would like it here.

The extraordinary texture of Myrtus Luma apiculata tempts passers by to touch it

EVENTS AT KNOLL GARDENS

Knoll Gardens and Plant Centre are open Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 5pm.

SATURDAY MORNING BUGS AND BUDS – monthly toddler group

Designing with Grasses Neil Lucas (2011) ISBN 0881929832 Timber Press

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(Currently being revised with more photographs and chapters to be released in approximately 2022)

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ACROSS

7. Brazilian cherry or pitanga is _______ uniflora (7) 8. Important medicinal herb used by native Americans (7) 10 & 24. Popular bedding plant often called impatiens (4,6) 11. Ploughman’s spikenard belongs to this family (5) 12. This popular Jamaican plant is a variety of prickly pear (4) 13. Hedgerow flower sometimes called bugloss (7) 14. Also called wild radish, a very common weed in the UK (5) 18. Garden plant grown for foliage and attractive red berries (7) 20. Perennial flowering plant named after a German physician (7) 22. Heaven-sent biblical food, literally something exuded by tamarisk tree (5) 23. Mediterranean plant that is salttolerant and also called saltwort (7) 27. This root is also called Indian madder (4) 29. A garden pest that is itself eaten on the continent (5) 30. African plant or stapelia gigantea (4) 31. Surname of British gardener and broadcaster (1913-88) (7) 32. Least pretty fruit is French? (7)

DOWN

1. Flowering plants including raspberries belong to this genus (5) 2. See 5 3. Drug obtained from the dried leaves of foxglove (9) 4. Tree with long tradition in folklore also known as mountain-ash (5)

5 & 2. British horticulturalist and garden designer (1843-1932) (8,6) 6. The wild or sweet cherry, prunus avium (4) 9. A specialised storage stem of certain seed plants (5) 15. Fibre from coconut husks now popular in peat-free composts (4) 16. Tasty vegetable often called ladies’ fingers (4) 17. Espalier or latticework for supporting vines (9) 19. Well-loved TV gardener (5,3) 21. Evergreen shrub often called gaultheria in the UK (5) 24. See 10 25. Deciduous tree found in the UK whose leaves quake in the wind (5) 26. A warm, delicate and feminine colour of certain flowers like roses (5) 28. A type of sunken fence used in landscaped gardens in the 18th century (2-2) Answers from previous issue, September 2021: R O S E H

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TREE SPECIALIST

Stress, disease or disaster -HOW A TREE REACTS MARK HINSLEY LOOKS AT EPICORMIC GROWTH ON TREES - WHAT IT IS AND WHY IT HAPPENS

I have looked in the past at pollarding, coppicing and topping and what happens when these operations are undertaken on a living tree.

The bushy regrowth that forms in some species is known as epicormic growth. This is new growth which sprouts on the outside of the trunk from an adventitious or dormant bud.

Most conifers cannot produce epicormic growth.

Although there are a couple of exceptions; Thuja plicata (Western Red Cedar) and Taxus baccata (English yew) may produce new growth from the trunk if heavily pruned. On the other hand, most broadleaf trees will produce new growth even when savagely cut, particularly when young.

Pollarding, coppicing and topping are all unnatural events caused by people.

But what does it mean if your tree starts producing epicormic growth of its own accord?

Epicormic growth is a tree’s natural defence response to stress, disease, or disaster.

Some species can do it, not only from the trunk but also from the roots, which we call suckering. There are exceptions, where would consultants be without exceptions?

Trees which have suffered storm damage will produce epicormic growth

Tilia x europaea (common lime), produces huge amounts of epicormic growth around its base without any apparent stimulation at all! However, common lime is a hybrid – so not a natural species – and neither of its ‘parents’ have anything like the same tendency.

So how does it work? As the tree grows buds are laid down under the bark. They are outside the cambium ring and therefore move outwards as the tree grows thus maintaining their underbark location. They do not develop because they are held in check by a growth retardant plant hormone produced in the growing tips of the branches.

In other species the ability to produce new bud growth at the

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nodes (branching points) is always there but again held in check by the grow retardant hormone.

Density of shade may also play a part in maintaining dormancy in these potential new growth areas.

Epicormic growth is a natural defence to stress

If a tree is under stress due to compaction, drought, soil contamination or root damage from excavations the first parts of the tree to be sacrificed are the extremities – the growing tips. This immediately stops the production of the growth retardant hormone and causes new growth to form much lower down in the canopy. The tip loss also allows more light penetration into these lower areas.

If the tree can survive for a while on this new reduced canopy, it may be able to work its way back to full health albeit with an altered form.

Disease in the roots can also create the same symptoms. Whilst the tree may not be able to recover from that, the absence of the growth retardant can also allow a mass of seed production giving the tree a ‘last gasp’ attempt at reproduction.

Artificial stressing of trees has long been used in orchards to boost fruit production in old specimens.

If a tree is defoliated by an infestation of caterpillars eating out the tips this can stimulate a second flush of epicormic growth giving the tree the chance to replace its photosynthesising capacity.

Disasters may be natural storm damage or the evil practice of ring barking. The part of a ring barked tree below the cuts will produce epicormic growth because it has been cut off from the growing tips.

Trees which have suffered storm damage will produce epicormic growth to replace the lost leaf area as quickly as possible.

So, if your tree is producing epicormic growth of its own accord – it may be trying to tell you something you need to investigate.

Mark Hinsley is from Arboricultural Consultants Ltd www.treeadvice.info

Cath Pettyfer - Devon cath.pettyfer@countrygardener.co.uk Tel: 01837 82660

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