This Month in the garden

MAY IS THE START OF SUMMER FOR ME! IN MAY, THE DAYS ARE GETTING WARMER, THE DAYLIGHT HOURS GIVE EVEN MORE TIME TO WORK OR RELAX IN THE GARDEN, AND EVEN MORE VARIETY OF PLANT COLOUR AND PERFUME IS PLAYING IN THE AIR AND IN OUR VISION

Every year I warn of the potential danger of ‘les saints de glace’ (11th, 12th and 13th May) - if I’m honest I am now wondering if their potential for destruction is waning with global warming!

In this article I want to look at ways of enhancing our gardens with pots and hanging baskets as many nurseries, garden centres, and even supermarkets are full of bedding plants.

The plants we usually use for summer planting and bedding are those which grow quickly and easily, offering seasonal flower and foliage colour. The plants most commonly chosen are from one or more of the following categories:

▪ half-hardy annuals (HHA) such as nemesia, marigolds and nasturtium. These tend to complete their life-cycle in one season. If grown from seed, they are generally sown indoors and grown on.

▪ Hardy annuals (HA) can be sown outdoors directly into the soil in spring. These will include Alyssum, Calendula (pot marigold) and Iberis (candytuft).

The container or basket you use can be almost anything you find in the garden –from a traditional pot, a wire basket or wall hanging, to an old teapot, a broken pot, an old boot or old wellies – let your imagination take over! I’ve used an old swimming pool filter tank for a large static display. But within these quite broad parameters there are several things which are essential:

1. adequate drainage, ensuring containers have drainage holes in the base, drilling extra holes if necessary;

2. if there is the danger that compost might be washed out from too large a hole, put a stone or crocks (pieces of old broken pots) over the hole;

3. If possible, raise the container on small blocks or bricks to guard against waterlogging

Bedding plants in pots are very hungry plants, and will use all the nutrients in the soil in a single year

4. Bear in mind that small pots, individually spaced, will dry out quickly, so plant in groups, or in large containers to help reduce the chore of watering;

By Ronnie Ogier

Ronnie is a passionate gardener and now loves sharing her years of experience of success and failures in her own garden and sharing it with you. Also a keen runner, having been bitten by the ‘Couch to 5K’ bug!

▪ Bedding plants in pots are very hungry plants, and will use all the nutrients in the soil in a single year;

▪ You may think this is only the second year of use of that compost, but are you really certain? Time passes and we all forget!

Finally, before you start planting, I recommend adding water-retaining granules following the manufacturer’s instructions, and some slowrelease fertiliser.

At last, we can get into planting our plants! The method I am going to recommend is one I came across earlier in the year, which sounds very interesting. It was suggested for hanging baskets, but I shall try it in pots also:

1. shred lots of paper

2. fill a bucket or a good-sized container with water and put some general feed in and give it a good stir – I shall use miracle grow or tomato food

3. add the shredded paper and let it soak for at one least hour in the water and general feed

▪ Some hardy perennials or shrubs such as winter-flowering heather, euphorbia and heuchera can give valuable flower and foliage colour through the winter months.

Plants take a little while to settle into their containers and begin to make root growth. At this stage it is very important to ensure the pots and small plants do not dry out. This means soaking the root ball well by standing in water before planting, and then keeping them moist for the next few weeks. Also, when you plant, do make sure there’s enough room to allow for growth from spring and during the summer.

5. But very large containers, such as my recycled swimming pool filter, will require a lot of compost to fill them. In such cases use broken polystyrene pieces at the base. This makes all large pots easier to handle.

Now is the time to decide on the planting medium - compost - you will use. This can refer to either homemade garden compost or seed/potting compost but these are very different things - garden compost is a soil improver made from decomposed plant waste; seed or potting composts are used for growing seedlings or plants in containers. I would recommend newly purchased potting compost, fresh each year. It is possible to use the compost you used last year. I cannot recommend that for two main reasons:

4. line the inside of the basket with a commercial liner, or with black plastic – remember to pierce holes in the latter

5. line with the wet shredded paperline the base and sides of the basket with a good 2.5 cm of the wet paper

6. now fill with a good compost, trim the edge of the basket, then hang up your basket and leave for a couple of weeks to settle. There should be a gap, about 2 cm, between the soil level and the top of the container. This will ensure water has room to soak in.

7. give the baskets a good watering, then just plant up your baskets.

You will find the baskets will want less watering and the plants will love the general feed. (Do give it a try and let me know your results via Gayle (email: editors.etcetera@gmail.com). Now all you have to do is to keep an eye on your pots and enjoy them:

▪ Check the compost moisture regularly from April to September and water if dry. This may mean watering once or even twice a day

▪ Start feeding four to six weeks after planting, unless the compost contains a slow-release fertiliser

▪ Deadhead regularly to encourage more flowers to form

▪ Prevent the compost becoming sodden. With a bit of effort and imagination you can offer even more interest and colour to every part of your garden, be it large or small, a terrace, patio, or windowsill. Give it a go and try something different!

Two ladies VAN