Garden News September 27

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September 27, 2014

Carol Klein

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"Fill your garden with the scents of the season"

worth

DEAL WITH A FROST POCKET Plants that shrug of freezing conditions

CLEMATIS FOR IMPACT!

Flower-smothered colourful varieties

It's time to

plant!

ROSES that fower for longer SHRUBS & TREES for all seasons sults PLANTING TIPS for guaranteed re

Get even more flowers from pansies and violas s Try over-wintering onion SPECIAL TOAD LILIES Make sure Christmas le! du he sc on er cacti flow Your answer to autumn colour in shade

Inspiration

It’s time to

plant!

Whether you want to create a long-term feature or an instant display, autumn is prime planting time ALTHOUGH SPRING IS when most people add new plants to their gardens, autumn is really the best time Greg to do it. There’s still Loades warmth in the soil, GARDENING but an assurance of EDITOR plenty of moisture in the crucial weeks after planting.

This gives roots enough time to get established before winter arrives, so that newly-added plants are more robust and able to cope with whatever next summer throws at them.

The first year after planting is the ‘make or break’ time for new plants. Planting when temperatures are rising in spring and summer will put strain on your plants and you – because they will need more watering! So if you want your new

6 Garden News / September 27 2014

plants to get off to the best possible start, this is the time to get them in the ground.

As an added bonus, you can often pick up bargains at this time of year. Spring and summer flowering shrubs and perennials can look lifeless and tired in the garden centre now (which often means they’re reduced!), but it is just nature taking its course.

Appearances can be deceptive, in the same way that a dry bulb loves to be planted in autumn despite showing no signs of life.

Check plant labels and you might just find a near-dormant hidden gem on the nursery bench. It might not be showing off like it was in the summer but now is a better time to plant than then!

Of course plants in flower will catch the eye first (see our top choices on page 7). Just like in

spring, there is plenty in flower now to give the garden an instant lift. Give these plants a good soak after planting, then spread a 8cm (3in) thick mulch of compost around them and they should stay happy until their flowers fade and they concentrate on getting their roots settled.

How well you plant has more of a bearing on your new plant’s success than all the care you lavish on it later. Getting this part right is crucial to it doing well. It’s a good idea to plant in the evening when the temperature has dropped rather than in the heat of the day, especially if your plant is carrying a lot of leafy growth or flowers. Be ready to provide extra water to new additions if we get a late spell of warm weather. This, coupled with strong winds, can quickly dry out the soil. Always

make sure you’ve got planting depth right. Never leave parts of perennials’ rootballs proud or try to mound soil over exposed bits – dig the hole deeper if necessary.

Nothing beats the thrill of getting your hands dirty and digging planting holes, so be inspired and get planting!

out new plants, leaving room 1evenSpace for their eventual height and spread if this looks gappy to start with.

Add instant colour!

Pennisetum ‘Rubrum’

Hakonechloa ‘Aureola’

Tassels of this red-leaved grass go from red to tan.

Needs winter heat (min 10C/50F). Height: 90cm (3ft)

This grass has wide leaves, adding bold splashes of colour. Combine with dark colours. Height: 30cm (12in)

Arum italicum Perfect for bringing colour to a shady corner now. Pre y marbled leaves in spring too.

Height: 30cm (12in)

Handy hints before planting Re-shape your borders to make bare areas bigger so you can fit in more plants.

Think of flower shapes before you buy, and try pairing together tall upright spikes of flowers with plants that produce domes of flat blooms. This will create contrast and layers of colour each year.

Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’ This sturdy perennial starts blooming in August but carries on into October in well-drained soil in a sunny spot. Height: 70cm (2ft 4in)

Heuchera ‘Cherry Cola’ These rich-red leaves can look good all through winter in a dry, sunny spot. Red flowers in summer. Height: 20cm (8in) When you’re in the garden centre, put plants in flower next to each other in their pots to ‘try out’ the planting combinations before you get home.

Then you’ll know that gaps will be filled with maximum impact.

Aster frikartii These asters have good mildew-resistance and can still be flowering in November.

Height: 80cm (30in)

Contin ues ove r the pag e

How to plant perennials and shrubs

2

Dig out holes that are bigger than the plant’s rootball and mix compost into the base of each one.

3

Gently tease apart the roots around the base of the rootball if the plant is a bit pot-bound.

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4

Drop the plant into the hole and plant it at the same depth it was in its original container.

5

Use your foot to firm the soil around the edge of the plant, then water well.

September 27 2014 / Garden News 7

Inspiration What’s the best way to plant a tree?

to get Two experts give their advice on how rt a new tree off to a flying sta

Mike Glover Managing director of Barcham Trees, tree specialists, Ely, Cambs

Pauline Brown Director of Buckingham Nurseries, family tree and hedging nursery, est.1945

GETTING THE PLANTING depth wrong is the chief reason why trees fail. There are two parts to a tree. The roots, which need to be under the soil and the shoots, which need to be over it! If part of the tree that produces shoots tries to grow beneath the soil surface it will suffocate and the tree may die.

Tree roots need oxygen and water blended in measure so inevitably grow within the top metre of the soil. Plant the container an inch proud of the soil line to allow it to settle back over time into the disturbance caused by digging the hole.

Better too proud than too deep! Width rather than depth is what a tree needs.

When we lift our trees from the field and containerise them, the top of the first root is no more than 1cm (½in) under the

DIG A HOLE deeper and wider than the rootball of the tree. A hole bigger by half as much again is needed. If the tree was in a round pot, plant it in a square hole as experiments have shown this encourages good outward root growth as long as roots are teased out before planting.

If soil is very heavy and the base of the hole is firm, it can act as a sump, so break up the base with the prongs of a fork and pour agricultural grit into the hole to improve drainage. This isn’t necessary on free-draining soil. Add a 50/50 mix of compost and excavated soil to the bottom of the planting hole.

Sprinkle the infilled soil with Rootgrow and Broadleaf P4 water retaining gel, then place the tree in the hole, making sure the roots are in contact with the Rootgrow.

“Wrong planting depth is the chief reason why new trees fail“

“Trees treated with Rootgrow grow better than those without“

compost level. If customers ask us to, we can dab a paint line at the point the root flare leaves the compost. If they can’t see this paint line after planting, they know it’s planted too deep! We call it ‘The Barcham Line’.

Conditioning soil is always beneficial but the ingredients should be mixed so you can’t define the compost from the soil. Roots don’t like going through different layers of material.

I believe adding mycorrhizal fungi to the planting hole is questionable because trees work up a relationship with the soil over a very long period of time. There is no quick fix.

If you are planting a beech or oak tree, find a woodland area where the same type of tree is growing and remove a handful or two of the topsoil from the base of one. This will have all the specific mycorrhiza from the area that is needed for your tree – add it the planting hole when you put your tree in. ● Barcham Trees, tel: 01353 720950; www.barcham.co.uk

By adding Rootgrow the tree will start to form its own mycorrhizal, secondary root system straightaway and the tree will make a much better start. It can take two years to develop its own microrrhizal system without adding it.

I’ve experimented with and without Rootgrow on trees in containers and in the ground and ones treated with Rootgrow grow noticeably better. The Broadleaf will absorb water and provide a constant source of moisture. A mulch of shredded bark also helps retain water.

Make sure you plant pot-grown trees so the surface of the compost level in the pot and the soil are at the same level. Firm the soil around the tree and check regularly that levels are right and soil hasn’t broken away after frost. In a windy place, or if the tree is large, drive a stake in at 45 degrees and using a tree tie, fasten the tree 1523cm (6-9in) above soil level. Keep the area around the tree weed-free, and water regularly in the first growing season. ● Buckingham Nurseries, tel: 01280 822133; www.hedging.co.uk.

Shu erstock

10 Garden News / September 27 2014

Former head gardener, TV and radio broadcaster and RHS judge

Martin Fish The undercover

GARDENER Martin’s harvesting potatoes from one of his ‘TomTato’ plants Photos: Martin Fish, unlesss stated

Jobs to do now

Finish pelargonium cu ings I want to try and finish taking pelargonium cu ings by the end of the month because those taken in October tend to be slower to root and more prone to ro ing at the base.

3kg (7lb) of fruit have been picked from the ‘TomTato’, but only 500g (1lb 2oz) of potatoes (inset)

Take off flowers on begonias T’S ‘TOMTATO’ TIME! Or at least it’s time now to harvest the one growing in my greenhouse. I’ve been growing a couple of plants, one in the greenhouse and one in the polytunnel, all summer.

This is a new plant that produces both tomatoes and potatoes. It’s done by grafting a tomato seedling onto a potato plant. Both plants have been grown in a large pot of compost and have been watered and fed regularly through the growing season.

Both have produced a good crop of cherry tomatoes that ripen to red. The fruits are sweet, but also have a little acidity to give the perfect combination.

We’ve been eating the fruits in salads since July and my wife Jill has also slow-roasted some of them to make a delicious, thick sauce to use in pasta dishes. The plant in the greenhouse is slightly ahead of the plant in my Haygrove polytunnel, simply because the greenhouse is heated so it grew away more quickly in spring.

I left six trusses to develop on both plants

I

before pinching out the growing point.

From the greenhouse plant, I estimate that we have picked around 3kg (7lb) of fruit, but it’s probably more taking into account all the tomatoes I’ve eaten while I’ve been working in the greenhouse!

Now the last of the tomatoes have been harvested from this plant, it’s time to see exactly what has developed in the pot. The potatoes on the base of the plant are a white maincrop-type, although the variety has been kept secret.

I harvested five tubers, two large and three small, with a total weight of 500g (1lb 2oz), which I think is disappointing.

When cooked they boil and mash well and taste very good.

As for my polytunnel plant, the fruits are still ripening and my intention is to keep the plant growing for a few more weeks to give the potatoes longer to develop in the hope of a heavier crop.

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My large-flowering begonias have just about finished blooming and will soon start to die back to the large tuber. I’ll remove all the old flowers now and gradually start to dry out the compost.

Put blueberry bushes outside The blueberries growing in my polytunnel have finished fruiting so they can be taken outside to free up some space inside the tunnel for other plants to grow.

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Tel: 01531 633659 www.haygrove.co.uk September 27 2014 / Garden News 23