Gardening

Time to assess garden management

Our poor gardens have taken a real pounding after this summer’s drought with ‘autumn’ arriving horribly early for many trees and shrubs which shed their leaves months early, and others like perennials and annuals coming to an end far earlier than usual. With rising temperatures appearing to become the norm, it’s time to make a major reassessment of our garden management, what we plant, and how we use our outdoor space. Autumn is the ideal time of year to plan and carry out any changes, from hard landscaping to turfi ng and planting. Shade and outdoor seating along with attractive, fragrant, and low maintenance planting topped many people’s wish lists this summer, which can be achieved

with a plant-clad pergola that can either be free-standing or with one side attached to a house or outbuilding. Clothe with a climber such as a grape vine or a wisteria to create a Mediterranean feel, or a rambler rose partnered with clematis. Raised beds need less watering than pots and serve dual purpose as extra, informal seating, plus having planting beds off the ground is ideal for drought-tolerant fragrant plants like lavender, sage, and rosemary, which thrive in dry conditions but hate having ‘wet feet’, especially in winter. (Or if sticking with containers, swap small pots for large ones that don’t need watering so often). When planning features such as this for your garden, bear in mind that every garden has to ‘multi-task’ to suit diff erent times of year and all extremes of weather. So, though shade is ultra-desirable during a hot summer, from autumn to early spring we tend to want to make the most of scarce sun, so don’t site a densely planted pergola where it blocks sun from house windows. Planting to suit the soil and aspect (the amount of sun or shade) is a no-brainer now our weather is changing so radically. But what did become massively apparent in my garden was the diff erence between well-cared for versus unimproved soil. Borders that had been regularly mulched with garden compost or manure, and my compost-rich no-dig veg beds, grew happy healthy plants

Drought tolerant rosemary

“Autumn is the ideal time of year to plan and carry out any changes, from hard landscaping to turfi ng and planting ”

of colours; ornamental grasses with colourful evergreen leaves like bronze, gold, and variegated Carex; evergreen shrubs such as autumn and winter-fl owering Camellia sasanqua, and miniature bedding cyclamen. Infi ll any gaps (or fi ll whole pots) with spring bulbs to give months of colour from late winter onwards, hyacinths, tulips, and narcissi. Place pots to be seen from indoors, to enjoy whatever the weather. n

Winter-fl owering Camellia

and good crops, whereas plants on un-improved soil really struggled. Time spent on soil improvement this autumn is likely to pay absolute dividends in future. If you’re looking for a quick fi x to brighten your garden, patio pots are the perfect weekend project. Hoof out bedding plants onto the compost heap and get ahead with planting of autumn and winter colour plants, like Heuchera with evergreen foliage in a magnifi cent range

Heuchera and Japenese Maple

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As living costs escalate, there’s lots of ways to save money in the garden. Plant outdoor crops for next year like soft fruit, brassicas, and garlic and dvide rhubarb crowns to make more plants. Collect seeds from annual garden fl owers such as love in a mist, sunfl ower, and Californian poppy. Sow outside now if soil is well drained, or in modular trays to overwinter under cover. Make more plants for free by dividing herbaceous perennials (tackle spring and summer-fl owering ones now and do late-blooming plants as well as ornamental grasses next spring). Many plants propagate themselves so keep a keen eye out when gardening for self-sown seedlings and shoots of shrubs and climbers that have rooted where they touch the ground.

Bought seed packets usually contain lots of seeds, so why not get together with some gardening friends and share an order to save money and grow a wider variety of plants.

Sue Fisher

GARDEN DESIGNER & HORTICULTURAL SPECIALIST Inspirational ideas to transform your garden

Sue continues to be available for garden advisory visits and design work, operating according to Covid-19 social distancing guidelines. Gift vouchers available for garden advisory visits. Contact Sue for more details.

01822 841895 • suefi sher@talktalk.net • www.suefi shergardens.co.uk

Cottage Garden Wildlife

Not everyone’s cup of tea, but hot weather undoubtably attracted a greater variety of insects this summer. Among the fi rst arrivals were adult oil beetles searching for bare patches of ground to build their nest burrows. These charismatic, some might say ugly beetles, exhibit an extraordinary life-cycle. Hundreds of eggs laid underground hatch into tiny louse-like larvae (known as triungulins) that climb into fl ower-heads to await suitable bee hosts. When a solitary bee arrives to collect pollen, they attach themselves using small hooks on their feet. At the bees nest they dismount and then feed on their pollen stores. Other fascinating beetles included the dor beetle, often called the ‘lousy watchman’ due to the small yellow mites often seen clinging underneath as stowaways, and one of Britain’s largest, the longhorned tanner beetle, attracted to the rotting remains of our old apple tree. The hot weather saw more sunbathing than usual by blackbirds and robins, fl uffi ng feathers and stretching wings to drive out plumage parasites, and by our slowworm and common lizard residents fi nding new basking areas on exposed leaf piles and old plastic water pipes. Extra heat seemed to be the cause of the garden phlox perennials wilting and dying back, until tell-tale orange pupae found among their roots revealed the destructive activity of the stem bore moth. With autumn soon arriving, the ‘leather-jacket’ larvae of another creature – much loved by local hedgehog, fox and badger populations, will soon emerge as ‘daddy-long-legs’ or cranefl ies. Not so well loved though, have been the huge numbers of female horsefl ies after our blood. Known by the Vikings as ‘clegs’, these vampire gadfl ies forced us to wear long sleeves and trousers whenever mowing or weeding. One sad event to report was fi nding one of the young insurgent rabbits apparently asleep under the front hedge, but closer inspection revealed a rear leg inescapably entangled with goosegrass and ivy which had inescapably entangled with goosegrass and ivy which had caused its death. ncaused its death. n

Country Mouse