Gardening
Perfect Planting By Pippa Greenwood
With the warmer weather and more time being spent in your garden, you may be considering additions, such as something to bring more architecture or structure, to clothe a wall or fence, or add perfume or perhaps colour at an ‘off’ time of year. It’s important to plant correctly, so what are the top tips for tremendous planting? Make sure the plant is properly suited to the space you have available and dig the planting hole bigger than the current root ball. Use a fork on clay soils, as this is less likely to impede drainage, and make sure the hole is large enough to incorporate some bulky organic matter plus some grit. Fork over the sides of the planting hole. Use garden compost, well-rotted manure or proprietary planting mix to improve the soil texture and add nutrients. If the soil is really poor, use some general fertiliser. Tease the roots out well before planting. If necessary, soak the root ball in water for a couple of hours first, to loosen it up and make it easier for the roots to spread. Lower the plant into the hole and gradually add the soil mixed with planting compost. Check that only the roots are buried, not the stem, as planting too deep can kill and will make the plant perform poorly. (The only exception to this is clematis.) Place a cane over the top of the planting hole to judge the correct soil level. Firm the soil around the roots. The surface of the compost on the existing root ball needs to be level
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with the soil surface. Re-check the planting depth, water in well and apply a 7.5cm (3”) deep mulch all over the root area. This reduces moisture loss and helps keep weeds in check. Very lanky or large tress should be staked. Make sure that the stake goes in so that root damage is minimised, holding it in place with a tree-tie and buffer. Short stakes are generally believed to be best. Keep the new tree or shrub really well watered and don’t let the soil become dry – watering is key to success in this establishment phase. It’s good to have a garden that’s productive and pretty, so save some space for growing some vegetables. At this time of year, you can still raise some plants from seed yourself, but you may want to buy some garden-ready plants to get things moving even more quickly and ensure they crop before the season ends. For a selection of my favourite varieties of tomatoes, sweetcorn, broccoli, runner beans, climbing French beans, lettuces, beetroot, peppers, chillies, courgettes, squash, onions and more, accompanied by my weekly tips and advice, take a look at my new website and select what you want to grow from the UK-grown range! At www.pippagreenwood.com you’ll find stylish cloches, Nemaslug, practical and pretty plant supports, the fantastic SpeedHoe, Grower Frames and the ‘Grow Your Own with Pippa’ system.
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