vii: Garden Gems
Tranquillity Ruth Crighton-Ward As this is my final column, I am taking a slightly different angle; in addition to the usual seasonal tips, I want to explore the concept of gardening and what it means. There are still long hot days and balmy nights, but there are signs that Summer may be ebbing away, as we see berries forming on tree branches, heralding autumn. There are still many things which can be done in the garden at this time of year; collecting seeds, deadheading, trimming Lavender (Lavendula sp.), planting autumn bulbs. In previous columns I have stressed the importance of watering. That advice still stands true— and watering should be maintained where necessary. You can now use those runners emerging from your Strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa) to create more plants. Choose a Strawberry runner which has produced leaves, but don’t remove it from the plant. Instead, fill a small pot with compost and place the runner on top of it. Put the leafy part in the centre of the pot as this is where the roots will grow from. To keep the runner stable, weight it down with a stone. Now just leave it for approximately three weeks. After that time, remove the stone and give a gentle tug on the runner. If roots have formed, you will feel some resistance, and you can then cut the runner from the parent plant. You now have a new Strawberry plant which will start producing fruit next year. Remember, a Strawberry plant tends to produce its best fruit in its second year of fruiting, and after three years the plant will be past its best and should be replaced.
Audrey Hepburn once said, “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” Gardening is not a quick pastime, nothing happens instantly, and so it teaches us patience. Gardens give us faith in the future. They allow us to look beyond the present. Gardening has different meanings for everyone but for me, gardening is about working alongside nature, not against it. We learn to read signs in nature as we observe the relationships between insects, plants and the seasons. And there’s a style of gardening to suit everyone. Window boxes and container gardening suit people with minimum space. People with disabilities often use raised beds to allow gardening at a comfortable height.
