GARDEN NOTES KNOW YOUR ONIONS
This year’s garden produce has mostly been harvested by now, and newly cleared beds are available to be planted with vegetables tough enough to sit out winter and provide an early crop next year. So if you want to enjoy plump, home-grown onions next summer, now is the time to plant winter onion sets. You can do this any time from now until December providing the ground isn’t actually frozen solid, but by and large the earlier the better. You’ll get the best results if you choose a sunny spot and dig a decent amount of compost into the soil. Plant the onion sets so the tops are just showing, spaced 10cm apart and with around 25cm between rows.
Replicating Roses Do you have a favourite rose that you would like to propagate? Hardwood cuttings are an easy way to do it, and autumn is the ideal time. Choose green stems that have grown this year – older wood won’t work – and remove all the leaves. Using sharp secateurs, divide the stems into sections 15 to 20cm long, cutting each above a bud at the top end and below a bud at the bottom. Pare off some of the outer surface of the stem at the base of each section. Your cuttings can now be pushed into pots of compost, watered in and left in an unheated greenhouse or even outside. By next summer they should be taking root and showing signs of new growth.
Seasonal Sensation Japanese anemones Tall and elegant, Japanese anemones (Anemone hupehensis and Anemone × hybrida) are perfect for cheering up a dull corner, and they’ll carry on flowering late into autumn. Japanese anemones like rich, fertile soil, preferably in partial shade, so they’re ideal for combining with ferns or ornamental grasses such as Hakonechloa macra (Japanese forest grass). They need moist conditions until they’ve settled in, but once established they can cope with the relatively dry and gloomy conditions under mature deciduous trees. Super-hardy and sturdy enough not to need staking, they require very little by way of ongoing care, although they’ll appreciate a mulch of organic matter in spring. You can buy Japanese anemones locally at Ravensworth Nurseries near Richmond ravensworthnurseries.com
Topical Tip: This the perfect time to install nest boxes ready for next year’s breeding birds – and to clean out and disinfect existing nesting boxes and bird feeders.
Brilliant for Bulbs
Autumn is the time to plant spring-flowering bulbs like tulips, daffodils, squills, crocuses, muscari, hyacinths and camassias. Ideally bulbs should be planted in generous drifts – the more the merrier – but of course that potentially means a lot of hard work, especially if you’re planning to establish them in turf. You could get down on your hands and knees with a trowel, but a far easier way to get the job done is with a long-handled bulb planter like this RHS-endorsed one from Burgon & Ball burgonandball.com. Simply push the cylindrical blade into the ground, twist and pull up a plug of soil. Pop in a bulb and replace the plug… job done! Dales Life | AUTUMN 2021 |
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