Gardening By Pippa Greenwood
Get Planting Although autumn is viewed as the best time for planting, trees, shrubs, climbers or herbaceous plants will have enough time to get established if planted now. Plan a shopping trip to fill garden spaces with colour, shape or perfume. Start by digging or forking the soil over and removing pernicious weeds or debris. Measure the available spaces so that the chosen plant does not outgrow its new home too quickly, and make a note of how sunny or shaded the spot is. There should be a good selection of shrubs to choose from right now that will provide springtime colour – perhaps a flowering currant with flower trusses in red or pink, a star magnolia, Magnolia stellate, with white or palest pink star-shaped flowers, or, if you have space, an amelanchier, great value because they have tiny, very pretty white flowers with foliage in fiery shades come autumn. On acidic soils or in a goodsized pot of ericaceous compost, camellias perform well and their large flowers in reds, pinks, yellows and white look great. There is also Exochorda macrantha, ‘The Bride’, with delightful arching stems studded with tiny white flowers; the list goes on and on. Plant your purchases as soon as possible. Dig a goodsized hole for each, making it several inches wider than the root ball all round, and fork the base and sides of the hole over thoroughly, especially in clay – where you should prepare the soil with a fork, as this causes less compaction of the soil than using a spade. If the soil is either heavy clay or extremely light and sandy, dig a bigger hole, gradually incorporating more
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of the ‘natural’ soil into the compost or planting mix as you near the sides of the hole. Before planting, remove the pot and firmly tease out the roots – soaking the root ball in a bucket of water for an hour or two helps if they are quite congested and is essential for the plant to get properly established. Prune out any really large, woody roots encircling the root ball to release the remainder of the roots. The plant should be planted at the same depth that it was in its pot, with just the roots, and no part of the stem, below ground level. Watering in helps settle the soil around the fine roots, even if it is fairly moist. Finally, stand back and check the stem is upright. Make a note of the plant’s precise name and details, or remove the label and keep it somewhere safe, so you know how to look after your plant and how big it may grow! At Pippa’s website (www.pippagreenwood.com) you’ll find stylish cloches, practical and pretty plant supports, the fantastic SpeedHoe, gardening tools, Grower Frames, signed books and the ‘Grow Your Own with Pippa’ system. Or book Pippa for a gardening talk at your gardening club.
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