Garden News October 25 by Garden News

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Dig vs no-dig: which is best for your soil October 25, 2014

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Discover the

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with just one leaf!

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Plants for the

PATIO!

Dinky clematis with huge fower power!

s Divide herbaceou isk way! peonies – the no-r tubers Dry & store begonia bushes Prune gooseberry for a be er crop

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DESIGN IDEAS to create instant impact Clever tricks for a BET TER LAYOUT How you can MOVE PLA NTS safely now

GROW HANDY-SIZED SORBUS!

For beautiful foliage, fowers and berries

Plant of the week FACTFILE SORBUS Shrub or tree Sun or light shade Fully to frost hardy Rich, well-drained soil Flowers: spring, berries in autumn Height: 1.5m to 15m (5ft-50ft) Sorbus ‘Joseph Rock’ has yellow berries and ﬁery autumn colour

Try sorbus for an autumn

Colour treat Bright leaves and beautiful berries are on show now

AN ELEGANT AND refined tree for autumn wow factor, the slender leaves and jewellike berries of Greg Loades sorbus are an antidote to the GARDENING heavyweight EDITOR abundance of crab apples and horse chestnuts at this time of year. The best-known sorbus for autumn berries is Sorbus aucuparia (rowan). Tolerant of pollution and with a naturally neat and narrow shape, it’s no surprise that it is widely used as a street tree. And it’s just the sort of wellbehaved good-doer that can solve the gardening headache of choosing the right tree when you’re short on space. They are not a boring goody-

4 Garden News / October 25 2014

species of sorbus for autumn leaf two-shoes for the garden though. colour is S. commixta. It has extra The combination of spring long glossy leaves that show all blossom, autumn leaf colour manner of leaf shades, from and autumn and even winter yellow and orange to red and berries means they’ll look good purple. Some such as S. reducta for long periods. and S. scopulina are naturally And right now they small shrubs rather than look a picture as the trees, making good berries have candidates for swelled, backed growing in borders, up by everboth reaching changing Rowan has the common around 2m (6ft autumn hues name ‘mountain ash’ 6in) tall. from the because it grows at A word of foliage. When high altitude. caution though: the leaves fall, many of the sorbus the tree takes on a plants sold in garden new form, its bare centres have been grafted, branches covered in which means they won’t produce berries that are suddenly shown their natural shrubby form off in unadulterated glory. because the plant isn’t growing on It’s now that leaf and berry its own roots. If it has been grafted colour collides and one of the best

DID YOU KNOW ?

Sorbus commixta is one of the best for autumn leaves

onto a more vigorous root it will make a taller tree. Check with the nursery or garden centre, so you know how tall the plant is going to get. Most of the berrying species of sorbus aren’t fond of drought in summer because they come from mountainous areas where water drains freely downhill. This means they have an inherent dislike of constantly wet feet too. Heavy, clay soils therefore won’t make a happy home because they will hold onto too much moisture in winter, but all others soils should be fine.

Left: White berries of Sorbus cashmiriana persist into winter

Six super sorbus

“Some species thrive in dry conditions” Tim Baxter Botanist at Ness Botanic Gardens, National Collection Holders

Bright yellow berries tend to stay on the tree all winter – because birds don’t like them! Height: 6m (20ft).

Sorbus aucuparia ‘Edulis’

Sorbus ‘Asplenifolia’

This very tough tree has larger leaves than normal and shows good autumn leaf colour. Height: 6m (20ft).

Known as the cut-leaved rowan. Fern-like leaves turn a ﬁery orangey-red in autumn. Height: 10m (30ft).

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Ornamentaltrees.co.uk

Grow sorbus from seed Berrying sorbus can easily be grown from seed and the whiteberried forms such as S. cashmiriana should reliably come true. It’s a simple process to have a go at now. Collect some berries from the tree, so the seed is sown fresh. There are two ways you can sow. You can just squish the berries into a pot or tray of compost, or you can extract the seeds from inside the berry, dry them out and sow them onto the surface of the compost. The seeds need a cold spell to germinate, so keep them outside. Cover the compost surface with some chicken wire to keep mice away from the seed. Seedlings should start to appear in the spring and you can pot them on when the seedlings have produced true leaves.

Barcham Trees

normally produces creamy white berries, but this one has pink fruits. It’s from the arid regions of Pakistan so it suits our dry conditions. The fruits stay on the plant well into winter too – it’s a good-doer. You may ﬁnd it sold as ‘Rosiness’. The hardest issues the sorbus face at Ness is competition from grassland and drought. We have some of the collection growing in a pine wood area of the garden and these grow very well because in dappled shade you don’t have such competition from grass and other plants at the base of the trees. Woodland areas tend to have higher humidity, which they also seem to thrive on.

Barcham Trees

Ness Botanic Gardens

Garden World Images

Species from the Himalayas such as Sorbus cashmiriana and S. hupehensis do exceedingly well at Ness because they are droughttolerant. We have very low rainfall compared to the rest of the north-west. We’re located on a peninsula that sits in a rain shadow of north Wales, so the rain goes around us. If rain is forecast it often rains 25 miles further north and 20 miles further south but it often misses us! One of the best berrying sorbus in our collection is ‘Rosea’. It is a large shrub that has grown to about 3m by 3m (10x10ft) at Ness, but we think it will get bigger. It is in the cashmiriana group, which

S. arnoldiana ‘Schouten’

Photos: Ness Botanic Gardens

Sorbus ‘Rosea’ has pinkﬂushed berries (inset)

Sorbus ‘Carmesina’ Bluey-green leaves show good autumn colour. The fruits start maroon, turning hot pink. Height: 7m (20ft).

Sorbus cashmiriana

Sorbus hupehensis

Pink or white blossom is followed by clusters of white berries that start oﬀ with a pinky tinge. Height: 8m (25ft).

Pearl-like berries fade from pink to white – the pink colouring can be variable. Height: 8m (25ft).

Suppliers ● ● ● ●

Barcham Trees, tel: 01353 720950; www.barcham.co.uk Buckingham Nurseries, tel: 01280 827925; www.hedging.co.uk Burncoose Nursery, tel: 01209 860316; www.burncoose.co.uk Ornamental Tree Nurseries, tel: 01257 265232; www. ornamental-trees.co.uk

October 25 2014 / Garden News 5

ON YOUR FRUIT & VEG

PLOT

Photos: Neil Hepworth

Dig vs no-dig! It’s time to improve soil and there are two diﬀerent ways to do it

OR YEARS A debate has been running about whether or not you need to dig the soil in your vegetable garden. Some gardeners swear by the annual ‘winter dig’, while others are against it. Treading on soil can damage its structure, causing compaction deep down. This can cause root vegetables to struggle to penetrate

Incorporate organic ma er as you dig for best results

the soil and can cause waterlogging as water can’t escape from the soil surface in winter. The alternative to digging is adding layers of organic matter such as compost, manure and even grass clippings to the soil surface each winter. Worms come up to the surface and drag the organic matter into the soil, efectively doing the digging for you. Gardeners with bad backs may want to side with this argument! The no-dig method works best if your veg patch is split into narrow beds that allow you access from both sides, so you don’t have to walk over the ground you are about to cover with goodness. And if you have to tread on the soil, lay a wooden plank over the area you are working on frst, to help spread your weight. It may take

a couple of growing seasons for the worms, fungi and micro-organisms in the soil to get their work done before you really notice a diference in soil structure in the no-dig method. The obvious advantage of digging is that you unearth lots of perennial weed roots, which helps ‘clean up’ the soil before spring. A dig-free way of getting rid of perennial weeds is to lay sheets of cardboard or weed-suppressing mulch over the layers of organic matter and weigh it down with soil on the corners until planting and sowing in spring. Old-fashioned digging can be very

useful if you have heavy clay soil, provided that the ground is dry enough to walk on. Clay soils are prone to holding water in winter and digging helps dry it out. The broken up clods of dug soil on the surface are also able to be exposed to frost and broken down, improving the crumb structure and making it more viable ground for sowing seed direct. Otherwise, direct sowing can be almost impossible on very heavy soils, with germination erratic. Are you a digger or a no-digger? Write to us on the address at page 46 and let us know!

DIG

NO DIG

✓ Allows frost to break

✓ A labour-saving

down clods of soil Improves drainage ✓ on clay soil ✓ Half an hour’s digging burns 250 calories

method ✓ Less walking over and compacting soil ✓ Soil builds up a stronger structure

In the news

RHS Bloom judges said Shrewsbury’s The Dingle was an important environment

ories this week The big gardeninEditgedst by IAN HODGSON Editor-at-large

Photos: RHS

Shrewsbury shines at awards Shropshire town wins at 50th Britain in Bloom

INNING THE CHAMPION of Champions at this year’s Britain in Bloom Awards – held last week – is Shrewsbury. The RHS judges commended the quality and emphasis on horticulture in what is the home-town of the ‘grandfather of popular gardening’, Percy Thrower. One Shrewsbury project that stood out was The Dingle park, which was hailed as an important environment for residents, businesses and visitors to the town. Bowbrook Allotment Community Site was also praised for its educational drives. Other Gold winners of the RHS-

30 Garden News / October 25 2014

driven campaign – now in its 50th year – include Bath, who won Britain in Bloom in 1964 and this year won the Small City category; Bray (Chilterns), who won Small Village; Dunnington (Yorks) in Small Town; Hunstanton, who won Coastal Up to 12k; and Oldham, who won City. RHS Director General Sue Biggs, said: “The annual RHS Britain in Bloom awards ceremony is not about one town, village or city beating another. It is about championing great community projects that make a difference to people’s lives.” • For more info and winners see: rhs.org.uk/britaininbloom.

Bowbrook allotment is a vital community hub

Shrewsbury won for the importance it places on horticulture in its town