RTÉ Guide GROW Autumn 2018

Grow row AUTUMN 2018

BRIGHT

LIGHTS

5

Autumn shrub�

Michael

Kelly’s

5

GIY crops .

to sow

GET YOUR

Garden READY FOR

Winter

Dermot O’Neill

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AUTUMN Top Tips

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8/22/2018 3:53:34 PM

Grow 4 F

ollowing the long hot summer, there is much to do to prepare the garden for the winter months ahead.

Autumn, ‘season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’ to quote Mr Keats, is a busy time for the constant gardener with so many jobs on the to-do list. Our green-fingered expert, Dermot O’Neill, lists some of the more expedient chores like taking care of your lawn, cutting back shrubs and insulating your glasshouse for the dark days ahead.

GIY founder Michael Kelly, who made his TV debut earlier this year with Grow, Cook, Eat, gives his own Grow It Yourself take on the season and suggests five of his favourite crops to sow in September, including baby carrots, garlic and beetroot. Michael also gives some last minute pointers for the dedicated GIYer before winter comes.

And autumn is also when you should be planning for spring, sowing flowers and shrubs that will give colour, life and coverage to your green space come springtime. Dermot O’Neill’s favourites include the winter-flowering honeysuckle (lonicera fragantissima) which, as its name suggests, gives a wonderful fragrance and Christmas box (Sarcococca), a foolproof shrub for a shady place. We visited the wonderful garden of Valerie Waters and Conor Linehan, in many ways a celebration of the work of Valerie’s late mother, Rita.

And when your gardening day is done why not settle down to an appropriately green-fingered read. We preview some recent and upcoming titles that offer solutions to tricky everyday problems as well as offering inspiration for the months and years ahead.

Donal O’Donoghue

6

Our Secret Garden

In suburban Dublin, Rita Waters created a wondrous garden which her daughter, Valerie, continues to nurture. We talk to Valerie and her husband, pianist and composer Conor Linehan, about their story and their little Eden

8 12 13

Don’t forget your shovel, your trowel or your spade because as the days shorten and the temperature drops there’s much to be done in the garden.

Dermot O’Neill offers some timely tips and advice

10

Light Up Your Garden

Grow, Cook, Eat

Michael Kelly, founder of GIY (Grow It Yourself) and co-host of TV series, Grow, Cook, Eat, writes of his five favourites to grow this autumn, from planting garlic to sowing baby carrots in a polytunnel

Green Fingers

Want to know how to combat pesky slugs or how to create a stunning vegetable garden? Donal O’Donoghue previews some recent and upcoming publications that offer know-how, knowledge and anecdotes

Don’t Forget Your Shovel

Shrubs Up Well

A bush or shrub can offer charm, colour and coverage in gardens great or small.

Dermot O’Neill’s suggestions include the ‘foolproof’ Sarcococca and the popular Acer Palmatum

Managing editor: Catherine Lee Editor: Donal O’Donoghue Consultant Editor: Dermot O’Neill Chief Sub-editor: Stephen Meyler Design: Luisa Kenny Pre-press: David Mahon Advertising sales: Karen Foster (contact 01-208 2880) Photographer: John Cooney Published by RTÉ Commercial Enterprises DAC 2018

Now is the time to plant the bulbs which will transform your garden into a blaze of colour come springtime. Dermot O’Neill suggests some of his favourite bulbs and how to sow them for maximum effect

The Green Room

14

Glasshouse Greenhouse by photographers India Hobson and Magnus Edmondson captures some of the most beautiful botanical spaces on the planet.

We preview this inspirational publication

Grow

3

Grow

Ready

steady grow

Winter is coming, so now is the time to get your garden ready for the short, dark days ahead.

Dermot O’Neill offers some timely tips on how to be in the best shape come springtime

Snowdrops

& daffodils

If you want a colourful spring garden, now is the time to put in the spade-work by planting springflowering bedding in containers, beds and borders.

Winterflowering pansies and other violas are excellent choices for many spots, while the Primula group, which includes polyanthus and primroses, are also popular options.

All of these will flower intermittently through the winter during milder spells. Snowdrops, daffodils (Narcissus) and crocuses, the great symbols of spring, are among the first to bloom in early spring, but the earliest blooms will be achieved by planting in September to give them enough time to produce good roots before the cold weather really sets in.

Continue to plant crocus and narcissi until early December to create a succession of blooms, but remember that tulips should be left until at least October, while snowdrops and other small bulbs are best planted immediately after you buy them, as they can quickly dry out. All bulbs will do best in soil that is made moisture-retentive with the addition of organic matter such as compost, but make sure they are not sitting in sodden ground as this will encourage rot. The soil can be made more free-draining by adding horticultural grit or sand in the bottom of the planting hole.

Daffodils and tulips come in a wide range of early, mid- and lateflowering varieties, so it’s possible to have one or other of them flowering from as early as December right through until May.

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Lawn order

Winter can be the cruellest season, a time of hard frosts and heavy rains which can take a toll on any lawn. So before the temperature falls, now is the time to get your lawn in order. Scarify established lawns by raking through with a lawn rake to remove scutch, i.e. moss and dried out grass clippings. If your lawn has seen a lot of traffic this summer, it might be compacted, so will benefit from being aerated. Do this by sticking it with a garden fork to the depth of the grass roots, then repeat at intervals of about 10-15cm. Depending on the weather, your final lawn cut should be in late October or early November. Don’t cut any lower than 5cm or so.

Leaves that fall on your lawn from overhead trees and shrubs in the autumn need to be removed regularly as they can deprive the lawn of light, leading to bald patches and the growth of moss. The leaves can be made into leaf mould by placing them in a bin liner, moistening if required, piercing the bags and after tying the top loosely, put them out of sight for a year or two until ready.

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Apples &

pears

Road to prune

As the days shorten and the light fades, plants and shrubs retreat for the winter. Now is the time to cut back to protect them from wind damage, disease and to give them the shape you want. As a general rule of thumb, bushes and shrubs can be cut back to a quarter of their size but if in doubt, contact your local garden centre or check in a garden book. For example, a hardy Fuchsia can be cut back to near ground level; this not only leaves the spot tidy for the winter, but it will also promote strong growth in the following spring and summer. Roses can also be pruned in November once flowering has finished for the season (in general, if a plant is in flower don’t prune it until the flowers are gone).

After pruning, remove the trimmings, which can harbour pests and diseases, and give the plant a generous mulch.

The greenhouse wrap It can pay to insulate your greenhouse for the winter to ensure that your plants stay in top condition and are cosseted from the extremities of the elements (also good news for seedlings in spring). One of the best, and cheapest, ways to protect those over-wintering plants in is to line the greenhouse with bubble-wrap. Before insulating, ensure that the green-house is draught-free by replacing any broken or missing panes, sealing any gaps in the frames and making sure the doors and vents are working properly.

Then get out your roll of bubble-wrap and completely line the inner walls of the greenhouse, effectively creating doubleglazing for your house. A bubble wrap with bigger air pockets is recommended because it allows in more light. You can buy purposemade horticultural bubble wrap with these larger bubbles that is also UV-stabilised, unlike the stuff you got with your latest online delivery or new fridge. Use clips to attach to an aluminium framed house and drawing pins or a staple gun for a wooden infrastructure.

Now is the time to harvest your fruit before the weather damages them. Depending on the variety, apples and pears can be harvested from late August through to October.

The best trick to test whether an apple is ready to be plucked is to give it a slight twist – if it detaches easily you have your answer; if not, leave the fruit for later. Birds, slugs, late wasps and high winds are the enemy of tree fruit, so sometimes it’s best to err on the side of caution.

Once picked, some varieties need to be eaten soon, while others can be stored, boxed up with straw in a dark place.

Pears ripen differently from apples (they do not ripen well on the tree) so they need to be picked when mature and not ripe.

Store them in the fridge or cold room until a day or two before you want to eat them, then leave them at room temperature to finish ripening. Put them in a paper bag with a banana to make this happen quicker.

Hedge your bets

After a long hot summer, now is the time to start thinking hedges. If you haven’t got one, why not plant one as a windbreak or to create privacy or just to liven up the boring lawn?

The choice of hedging plants is wide with much to recommend the various options. Wildlife-friendly native species like beech (Fagus sylvatica), holly (Ilex aquifolium) or hazel (Corylus avellana) will provide autumn colour, spring greenery, berries and attract birds and insects.

If you prefer an evergreen hedge, cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus) will create a robust hedge that can eventually grow to a height of 9m or Griselinia (Griselinia littoralis) is good in coastal areas, but note that it grows fast to 8m and higher.

If you want to plant a hedge as cheaply as possible, then bare-root plants are the way to go. When planting, you must take the site into consideration: is it exposed or sheltered, coastal or inland? Then there’s the matter of aesthetics, your own taste, how much of a fence it needs to be and the visual impact you want to achieve. But whatever your choice of hedge, you must prepare the soil properly before you plant, digging a wide and deep enough trench, enriching the soil to ensure a solid anchor and healthy growth.

Early autumn is also the ideal time to trim an evergreen hedge.

OTHER QUICK TIPS  Cover your pond with a net to keep out autumn leaves.  Sow winter lettuce and watch out for damage from slugs and snails.  Harvest autumn-fruiting raspberries.  Make early sowings of broad beans, digging the soil well and adding some rotted manure or compost.  Take hardwood cuttings from self-rooted roses, remembering to label them.

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8/22/2018 12:17:35 PM

Grow

secret The

garden In a quiet suburban estate in Dublin, Valerie Waters and husband Conor Linehan find rest and relaxation in their Edenic garden

Valerie Waters

Valerie Waters studied horticulture at the National Botanic Gardens in Dublin and worked professionally as a gardener for over 20 years. She got her TV break from Gerry Daly on the RTÉ series, Greenfingers, in 1991. She subsequently worked with Daly on Ask About Gardening (RTÉ Radio One) and in the mid 1990s was a presenter with Gardeners’ World (BBC) and The Garden Show (RTÉ) before joining Nationwide as a roving reporter in 1999. Valerie is married to the pianist and composer, Conor Linehan, and they have one child, Fergus.

Conor Linehan

Composer and pianist Conor Linehan studied piano at the Royal Irish Academy of Music before graduating from Trinity College Dublin with a degree in Music and English. He continued his piano studies in London. He has performed as soloist with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the Dublin Philharmonic and the Crash Ensemble, amongst others. He has composed music for all of the major theatre companies in Ireland as well as the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre. He is currently working on DruidShakespeare: Richard III.

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Valerie

“A

fter she separated from my father, my mother, Rita Waters, bought this house and garden in 1977 and worked it with great love until she died four years ago. I think about my mother every day I’m in the garden. In some ways I feel like I’m doing it for her, continuing her work.

Being in the garden also helped with the loss of my mum and was part of the grieving process.

This is the garden that inspired me to study horticulture. My interest in growing things started when I was 16 or so. I was one of those kids who would run home from school to see what had germinated in my absence. So the garden was definitely the inspiration for me to apply to the Botanic Gardens which is where I went straight after school to train as a gardener in the 1980s.

Nobody expects the garden when they walk into the back. It is a 1960s housing estate, spick and span, but when you walk through the kitchen and out the back door it’s like walking into a little woodland clearing. While we don’t have rare and unusual plants, the plants here have evolved to create a unique atmosphere. It’s amazing what you can do with holly, viburnum, hydrangeas, pittosporum and the big trees, which are Monterey Cypress.

My mother always told me to have a light touch in the garden. There is no need to be excessively neat and tidy. She was always concerned about the birds,

leaving water out for them and planting shrubs that would have berries. So we don’t have the bird-feeders, we have the rose hips and suchlike. The garden is really a sanctuary for wildlife and we see a fox here regularly.

Working on Nationwide is like being constantly educated, meeting and doing stories with people who are an inspiration.

For example I did a story about a man who has a collection of spiders, frogs, tortoises and snakes! He works in Trinity as a security guard and as an adviser to the doctorate students in the Zoology Department. Next week (September 5) I will be doing a story on the ‘Monaghan Spitfire’, about a plane that came down in County Monaghan during WWII. My favourite public garden in Ireland is the National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin.

It’s where I studied and I still go back there regularly. My absolute favourite plant is Ceratostigma (Hardy Plumbago) which reminds me of my youth. Conor and I have an 11-year-old son called Fergus.

Fergus is named after Conor’s father and Conor also has a brother called Fergus. So he is Fergus III, like Richard III (laughs).

Fergus is more into reading in the garden than weeding in the garden.

The patio area outside the back door is what I use as my green house. Here I have a table, some chairs and pots. That is where I grow the plants and where I listen to music. On Sunday nights I listen to The Rolling Wave on RTÉ Radio One and I always have things to do whether it is deadheading or watering or sweeping.

Indeed the first thing I do when I come in the door of the house is go straight out into the garden and that’s in all seasons.

Gardening gives me happy hormones.”

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8/22/2018 12:26:56 PM

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Cono�

“I

don’t have a love of gardening but I have a love of Valerie. We first met in Annaghmakerrig in the Tyrone Guthrie Centre where Valerie worked as the gardener. I was writing a piece of music and was staying there to work on that commission. So she was in the garden and I was up in the music room.

We were both taking a break, I was in the kitchen and in she walked.

When I was very young I loved gardening. I lost that love somewhere along the way. I used to love helping my dad, Fergus. I grew up in Blackrock and we had a big back garden. My late father was a very keen gardener and created this beautiful garden in our family home. Now I use my hands for other purposes.

There was always music in the house growing up and my mum (Rosaleen Linehan) was a pretty accomplished pianist. She and my father wrote musicals together, including Mary Makebelieve. They also did the revues and my father used to write all the material for my mum and Des Keogh. My granny, who was from Belfast, was also a very good pianist. She lived to the age of 95 and although her mind was totally gone by then, she still knew how to play all the songs from her childhood.

My father passed away almost two years ago and we all still miss him terribly. I’m the youngest of four.

There’s Fergus and Hugh and Evanna. Mum was the piano player and in the last year she wanted to relearn

a John Field Nocturne she did for her Grade 8 back in the day. I’m trying to drum it into her but I must say she’s a very impatient student! I’m also studying, just finishing my doctorate. I’ve done all the performance bits so there’s just the devilish detail of a 30,000 word thesis on ‘The Orchestration of French Impressionist Piano Music’, a real Christmas best-seller!

We started rehearsals for Richard III last week. Every time you start a new job you feel totally helpless and bewildered until you find the language. Typically I work very late on the production but very fast, which works well for theatre because everything changes right up to the very last minute. It’s like having a giant Lego or Meccano set and sticking bits and pieces together which sounds very crude but it works. And you could be working just one page ahead of the company on the technical rehearsals.

I have a music room at home with keyboards, piano and software and it looks out onto the garden. I do the heavy lifting in the garden, pots and big plants and such, so I’m basically the grunt or GO (General Operative) as Valerie calls me. The garden is restful and relaxing, almost like a retreat, with big trees and grasses, a magical place and the last thing you’d expect before you step out back and into it.”

Conor Linehan composed the music score for DruidShakespeare: Richard III, Town Hall Theatre, Galway, Sept 22 to 29 and the Abbey, Dublin from October 3 to October 27 (as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival).

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8/22/2018 12:27:42 PM

Grow

Grow your own way

Michael Kelly, the founder of GIY (Grow it Yourself) and co-presenter of the TV series Grow, Cook, Eat, offers some top tips on how to get your garden ready for winter and also suggests what to plant now

J

ust when you think things might be winding down, September is actually a really busy month for the GIYer. We’re still in peak output territory with the big summer glut crops like courgettes, cucumbers, French beans and tomatoes joined now by the classic autumn veg like squashes, carrots, pumpkins and parsnips. That means plenty of time in the kitchen, dicing, shelling, peeling and chopping. The key now is finding ways to deal with these gluts so that you can preserve the bounty for the leaner months ahead and ensure absolutely nothing is wasted.

On top of these preserving jobs, there’s also plenty of growing to do still. When I started growing first, I had a mind-set of ‘sow in spring, harvest in autumn’ – in reality, you learn that it’s not that simple. In fact, my potting shed can be almost as full of seed trays in August as it is in the springtime. The key to a year-round supply of veg is to keep on sowing. Really, the only

8

months when I sow nothing at all are November and December.

There’s a point in every GIY year when thoughts turn from the current year’s growing to next year. For me, it’s usually in September and it’s prompted by clearing the veg beds that have been so productive all summer – it gets me thinking about what will be growing in them next year. Up to now, all sowings were about producing food for this current year, but in September I start to think about sowing crops that will be harvested next year – garlic, broad beans, carrots and the like.

That, I suppose, is the beauty (and the tyranny) of GIYing, and why I love it so much – it’s not a project that has a start and finish point, it’s a never-ending cycle of sow-grow-harvest that sits within the turning of the seasons.

Michael Kelly’s

Top 5 crops to Grow in Autumn 1 Garlic

When I started to grow first I was surprised to find that garlic actually needs cold weather to do well. A prolonged spell of 4-6 weeks in soil at a temperature of less than 5’C is perfect, but this can make spring sowing problematic, particularly if it’s a mild spring. For best results, therefore, plant cloves of garlic before Christmas. I generally sow mine in October to give it a chance to establish before the real cold sets in.

It will spend 7-8 months in the soil before being harvested in June. Planting garlic couldn’t be easier. Simply break up a garlic bulb and plant the individual cloves so that the tip is about 1cm below the surface of the soil. Put the cloves 10-12cm apart in rows 30cm apart. I generally topdress the soil with a good cover of compost too to feed the soil and the garlic.

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2 Broad beans

Broad beans can be sown in the spring, but I always sow mine before Christmas to get an earlier crop the following year.

I find broad beans most useful if they are ready in May, about a month before the peas and French beans. Over-wintered broad beans are also less susceptible to blackfly (aphid). They also look amazing in the winter garden when there is very little else growing. Broad beans are really easy to grow – simply push a bean down in the soil and it will grow into a plant about 4ft tall that will produce hundreds of pods. Use overwintering varieties such as ‘Aquadulce Claudia’. Sow in October, direct in the soil 5cm deep, 15cm apart in rows 45cm apart.

3 Carrots

I make a sowing of carrots in the polytunnel in September or October, using an early variety such as ‘Amsterdam Forcing’ or ‘Early Nantes’. They will take up to three weeks to germinate and will then do very little for the winter months, before bursting into life in the spring.

They should be ready to eat as baby carrots in May. Sow seeds thickly in shallow drills (about 2cm deep) leaving 20cm between rows. You might need to protect seedlings from slugs as they emerge (though slugs are less active in winter). Thin the carrot seedlings to 5cm apart when they are large enough to handle.

4 Baby turnips

Quick growing turnips such as ‘Snowball’ or ‘Milan Purple Top’ are incredibly quick growing and delicious. They have white flesh and a completely different flavour to the yellow standard ‘turnip’ which is actually a swede. Because they are so quick growing and relatively hardy, they are great for late season sowing. I always do a small sowing of these turnips, maybe once a month from August to October, outside in the veg patch and they are usually ready to eat within 5-6 weeks or so. Sow directly in a shallow drill in rows 30cm apart and then thin to 10cm apart.

Harvest the turnips when they are about 10cm diameter. The leaves of the thinned seedlings are edible in salads.

5 Salad leaves

If you are lucky enough to have a polytunnel or greenhouse, you can enjoy salad leaves right through the winter and into the new year. The trick is to take the broadest possible definition of the word ‘salad’ and use varieties that can withstand the cold weather. Normal lettuce just won’t cut it, so opt for winter varieties of lettuce, oriental greens such as mizuna and red mustard, Claytonia and lamb’s lettuce (corn salad). I also do sowings of spinach, chard and kale and use the baby leaves in salads. You could also try a sowing of coriander, dill and chervil to add herbal flavours to winter salads. I generally try to get all of these sown by mid-September, but you might get away with it right into October, depending on the weather.

I am a particular fan of Claytonia (also called miner’s lettuce, because it was valued by miners in South America for its vitamin C content). It’s a delicious, succulent, almost meaty and vibrantly green salad leaf that will withstand even the toughest winter. Perpetual spinach is another brilliant performer in the winter garden – tough as old boots and incredibly productive. Not quite as tender as the lovely small annual spinach leaves, but great for cooking.

I sow the following in module trays to be transplanted into the polytunnel later: Claytonia, chervil, corn salad, coriander, dill and perpetual spinach.

I direct sow the following in the tunnel: chard, kale, annual spinach, oriental greens (mustard red frills and mizuna).

If you don’t have a covered growing space, you can still sow salads in containers or window-boxes inside the house.

Other things to do in September  Lift crops which have finished growing and dress bare soil with manure, compost or plant a green manure.  Wasps can be problematic as fruit ripens so make traps from jars of sugary water.  Remove surplus leaves from tomato plants which allows air to circulate and sunshine to fall on the fruits.  Close up the greenhouse or polytunnel at night to preserve heat.  If you haven’t already done so, lift onions and leave to dry out in sun or in the polytunnel/greenhouse for two weeks.  Apples, plums and pears are now in season.  Continue to harvest salad leaves, tomatoes, radish, potatoes, carrots, turnips, beetroots, cauliflower, cucumbers, peppers, beans, courgettes, spinach, leeks, red cabbage, summer cabbage, aubergine and sweet corn.  Go blackberry picking!

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8/22/2018 12:37:35 PM

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Garden of

earthly delights Now is the season to plants those bulbs which will light up your garden come spring time. But what should you plant? Dermot O’Neill has some expert advice and suggestions

Colchicum ‘Water Lily’

The autumn-flowering crocus, Colchicum ‘Water Lily’ won an Award of Garden Merit (AGM)from the Royal Horticultural Society in the UK. This is a double-flowered lilac-pink form that has become popular in recent years. The bulbs appear in garden centres and nurseries in August and should be planted immediately when you get them. They are best at the edge of a border or path where the water lily-like flowers can be appreciated, when they appear without the leaves. The broad strap-like leaves appear in the spring and should be left to grow to build up the bulbs for flowering the following autumn.

Crinum

This is a clump-forming bulbous perennial that was often planted outside the south-facing side of Victorian glasshouses, where it benefitted from the shelter provided. You can see such a planting outside the curvilinear glasshouses at the Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin.

Crinum is in full flower now, from late summer into autumn and the frosts.

The trumpet-shaped flowers in pale pink or white come in clusters and are lightly scented. They should be planted in spring in a sunny position in well drained soil, making sure the neck of the bulb is above the soil level. They will need a mulch protection in winter. Eventually, they can form large clusters and will need to be lifted and divided every few years to refresh the plant and keep it flowering strongly.

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Cyclamen

More popular than ever, Cyclamen now come in a wide range of free-flowering hybrids in shades of red through pink to white. They can be planted out in beds and borders, but they also look great in windowboxes and ornamental pots. My personal favourite is the white-flowered form, with a contrasting red blotch at the end of each flower, which are held above the silver-grey marked foliage. It has the bonus of a sweet fragrance.

Always plant Cyclamen in well drained soil as the flat corms will not tolerate being wet and will rot easily if allowed to sit in waterlogged soil.

Add extra drainage with grit or sand.

Grow

Galanthus

Snowdrops are among the most coveted bulbs in the spring garden. The range of named varieties is large and collectors are willing to pay big sums for the rarest. Snowdrops start to flower in early winter until the end of March, depending on the variety.

There are a number of collections around the country, such as Hester Forde’s garden in Co Cork or Altamont Gardens, which hosts an annual Snowdrop Festival when they are at their best in spring. The range of varieties includes double-flowered ones and others with large green, yellow or even orange markings.

Snowdrops grow best in fertile woodland soil where the light is good in winter and spring. Bulbs can be planted now or when they are growing, which is called planting ‘in the green.’ This is also the best way to increase them, by carefully lifting and dividing just after flowering.

Tulips

If you want a blaze of colour next year now is the time to plant tulips, the gaudy stars of the spring garden. Tulips come in early, mid and late-flowering varieties, so with a little planning, you can have a display over many months. They also come in a range of heights and flower types to suit most situations. All will do best in a sunny spot in well-drained soil. My favourites include ‘Angelique’. a gorgeous pale pink, peony-shaped double tulip that flowers at 50cm tall. For a red and white bicolour, it’s hard to beat ‘Carnaval de Nice,’ (40cm) a double-flowered red and white-striped variety that looks like a bowl of raspberry ripple ice-cream. Another stunner is the red and white parrot tulip, ‘Estella Rijnveld’ (up to 60cm), which will always takes centre stage with its flamboyant display. If possible, plant this in a large group to create an outstanding effect.

Always plant tulip bulbs extra deep, going down to 20cm if there’s enough depth of soil. Doing this discourages the bulbs from putting all their energy into producing lots of smaller bulbs after flowering, so instead, they will develop a large bulb to flower the following year.

Garden centres should now have a large stock of tulip varieties to plant from October.

Crown Imperial

Fritillaria imperialis is a magnificent plant when in full flower in mid-spring. Each large, slightly flattened bulb produces a tall stem (up to 1m) topped with a tuft of leaves with a cluster of bellshaped flowers underneath. They come in shades of yellow through orange and red and there are also variegated varieties. This autumn, I have decided to build up my stock of crown imperials. Dig the soil well in a sunny sheltered spot and add plenty of well-rotted manure and grit to create free drained soil. Plant the bulbs 25-30cm deep, if possible in odd-numbered groups to create the most impact. An annual mulch after flowering will encourage more flowers next year.

Daffodils & other narcissi

There is something special about cutting a bunch of your own daffodils to bring indoors. Among my favourites are ‘Rijnveld’s Early Sensation’, a classic-looking yellow daffodil up to 35cm tall that I have seen flowering as early as late November in some years. Because it flowers so early, it will benefit from some shelter, such as a sunny wall. Another musthave is ‘Rip Van Winkle,’ an old variety that was bred in Cork in 1884.

It produces double flowers that look a little like cactus-flowered dahlias which open green to bright yellow on 15cm stems. They usually start flowering at the end of February into March. All narcissi should be deadheaded after flowering and always allow the foliage to die back naturally – don’t tie it up!

Hyacinth

I can remember growing a forced hyacinth on the classroom windowsill that came into flower before Christmas. Hyacinths make great garden plants, grown in containers or in borders where they will flower for many weeks in the spring and fill the garden with fragrance on still days. The flowers come in purple, red, pink, mauve, white and even yellow shades.

Plant the bulbs about 15cm deep in free-drained soil in a sheltered sunny spot, making sure there’s space between each bulb to allow the flowers to develop. As different varieties planted at the same time will often flower at different times, it’s best to plant hyacinths in solid blocks of the same variety.

GIY tips When buying bulbs for autumn planting, always buy from a reliable source and choose large firm ones with no signs of decay or rot. Many bulbs are sold loose and because they are often treated with a preservative, wear a pair of disposable rubber gloves when bagging them. Also, gardeners are a competitive lot, so the best and most unusual varieties will disappear from the shops fast each autumn, so get in early!

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Green leaves Looking for inspiration, useful advice or just a decent read, Donal O’Donoghue previews some recent and new titles to enhance your knowledge of the gardener’s lot RHS: Can Anything Stop Slugs? A Gardener’s Collection of Pesky Problems and Surprising Solutions by Guy Barter (Keynote) Copper pipe, salt, hungry frogs and lashings of beer are just a few of the tricks gardeners use to stop slugs in their tracks. But can anything really nullify the slimy pests? Guy Barter, the RHS’s chief horticulturist, has a few other science-based suggestions as well as solutions for other questions commonly posed by thousands of gardeners ever year. These include such perennial puzzlers as ‘How much water is too much water?’ (including the dangers of overwatering containers), ‘How can I get plants for free?’ and ‘Why aren’t my roses scented?’ For those in the latter category, Barter recommends six roses with stand-out fragrances. Sprightly written, this book offers nononsense and sometimes fun solutions to age-old problems. If this publication whets your appetite, you might also be interested in the author’s similarly science-focused How Do Worms Work?

Flora: Inside the Secret World of Plants

Creative Vegetable Gardening

by Joy Larkcom (Keynote)

(Dorling Kindersley)

“This book

For those

who like to

call plants by their Latin names – or those gardeners who are simply

curious about what they are growing – this typically handsome DK tome celebrates the diversity of the flora that decorate the green planet.

From tiny mosses and delicate

ferns to vibrant blooms and stately palms, Flora invites you to explore

the plant kingdom from the ground up and from root to leaf tip. This

beautifully illustrated introduction to botany explains the mechanics of

photosynthesis, why leaves change

both worlds: a vegetable garden that is beautiful and productive.” So begins Joy Larkcom’s ode to this new edition of the classic guide. Quoting St Ignatius (“There is nothing simpler nor more beautiful than a kitchen garden”), Larkom reveals her own passion and yes, joy, in creating stunning decorative effects in the vegetable garden. In this Eden, edible plants combine with flowers and foliage to create a beautiful outdoor space. Lauded by the don of gardeners, Monty Don, as inspirational, this book is

colour, how cacti store water and

suitable for all vegetable gardens great

text is punctuated with stories of how

as beautiful as a conventional garden

with their neighbours and how

described in clear stages and illustrated

interact with – and manipulate – the

while an A-Z directory includes more

that the plant kingdom is every bit as

on their cultivation, supplemented with

how seeds know when to grow. The

and small, showing how they can be

plant roots and leaves communicate

of flowers and shrubs. Techniques are

flowers use colour and scent to

with full-colour step-by-step artworks,

creatures around them, confirming

than 150 edible plants with key facts

fascinating as the animal one. (Due

ideas on how to grow them to maximum

in October)

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is for all vegetable lovers who want the best of

ornamental effect.

The Secrets of Great Botanists and What They Teach Us About Gardening by Matthew Biggs (Keynote) From the ‘Father of Pharmacology’, Pedanius Dioscorides (c. AD 40-90) to award-winning French botanist, Patrick Blanc (born 1953), this handsome work chronicles 35 trail-blazing botanists who opened up the world to the wonder and healing power of the plant kingdom.

Dioscorides, a Greek physician and herbalist in the Roman army, is believed to be the first person to record the healing properties of lavender. Each profile presents the botanist’s life story (among them Joseph Banks, Asa Gray and Gregor Mendel), their discoveries and legacy, as well as showing why they are still relevant today and what the gardener can learn from them.

It may be the most academic of the books in this short list but it is also the most beautiful, illustrated with period botanical watercolours and vibrant photographs. Biggs, who trained at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is probably best known for Channel 4’s Garden Club. (Due in October)

Gardening Through the Year Monthby-month Planning Instructions and Inspiration

by Ian Spence (Dorling Kindersley) “Gardeners are born optimists” begins Ian Spence in this encyclopaedic guide to caring for your garden from January through December. Such optimism, says the Gardeners’ World writer, all comes down to our goldfish memory, which means at the beginning of each year the gardener is born anew, convinced that they will “achieve more than the previous year.” If only. In his introduction to this new edition of his best-selling publication, Spence writes that the “only answer is to plan ahead, have a good sense of timing and an awareness of the demands of each passing season.” That is where this book comes in, with its month-by-month information on how to prep and prime your garden for what lies ahead. Each chapter includes a ‘To Do’ list, along with ‘Last Chance’ reminders and ‘Get Ahead’ tips as well as an inspirational gallery of ‘Star Plants’ to showcase the visual highlights of the month. A photographic A-Z appendix of nearly 350 plants provides detailed information on growing habits and care.

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Shrub� UP

well

A carefully chosen shrub or bush can transform a garden when all the flowers have left the stage.

Dermot O’Neill suggests five that offer colour, charm and coverage

1

Lonicera fragrantissima Fragrance in the garden is always wonderful,

Lonicera fragrantissima

even more so in winter, when the rest of the garden is dormant. The winter-flowering honeysuckle is a bushy semi-evergreen shrub (up to 2m), which produces clusters of small highly scented cream-coloured flowers through winter into spring, that may be followed by red berries.

It’s a good choice against a sheltered wall in sun or light shade in well-drained fertile soil. After flowering, cut back the flowering shoots.

I have grown this honeysuckle on a wall with a lateflowering Clematis viticella, which has purple flowers into the autumn, when the honeysuckle takes over.

2

Cotinus ‘Grace’

Maples are some of the most elegant and colourful shrubs we can grow in our gardens.

Garden centres generally have a good range of Japanese maples or Acer palmatum varieties, which are deciduous small moundshaped shrubs or taller growing small trees.

They have a wide range of different leaf types and colours, from pale yellow, through bright fresh green to red and purple. Some have finely cut leaves and need to be planted where they are protected from cold winds and spring frosts. You can grow smaller Acer palmatum Acer palmatum varieties as a specimen plant in a decorative container. Just make sure there is sufficient drainage – this can be achieved with polystyrene packing in the base, which also does not add much extra weight, a consideration for balcony grown specimens.

Mulch with home-made compost every autumn.

5 3

My next choice for an autumn display is Cotinus ‘Grace’, commonly called the smoke bush. This wonderful, vigorous plant provides oval purple leaves throughout the spring which turn a fantastic brilliant deep red as autumn progresses. Cotinus ‘Grace’ looks great in flower in summer, but the vibrant purple-pink tones extend its season well into autumn. It is easy to grow; just give it moist, well-drained soil. Prune in the spring when it can be cut back hard, especially when the shrub has become established and reached the desired size and spread.

Cotinus ‘Grace’

4

Acer palmatum

Rhus typhina

The stag’s horn sumach is a large suckering shrubby deciduous tree.

Its divided leaves turn a brilliant fiery orange-red before they fall. Plant Rhus typhina (right) in moisture-retentive soil which drains freely. It is easy to grow and will develop into a large spreading shrub in time, but can also be trained as a small tree. Pruning is best in spring and suckers should be removed as they develop.

Sarcococca

If you want a foolproof shrub for a shady place try Sarcococca, sometimes called Christmas box or sweet box. These are tough and easy to grow plants with small pointed dark green evergreen leaves that make good hedges.

They produce small creamy white flowers in late winter that have a strong sweet honey scent that can fill the surrounding area with perfume. Container-grown plants can be planted now for instant effect but as with all shrubs, always ask the staff at your local garden centre for advice before buying a new shrub.

Sarcococca confusa

Rhus typhina

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Heart

Barbican Conservatory, Barbican, London

of glass Photographers India Hobson and Magnus Edmondson (Haarkon) toured some of their favourite botanical spaces and recorded their experiences in words and images in their new book, Glasshouse-Greenhouse, published by Pavilion in October DIY Allotment Greenhouse, Sheffield

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The Camellia House, Yorkshire Sculpture Park

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