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The Garden Grow In Tree Cherry
May 7th
Which may well increase the problem. Generally speaking, toadstools are only prevalent during the late summer and up until the time when the first frosts arrive, so it is a fairly seasonal problem. The fairy rings are a different matter, as they do have the potential to harm the grass. What you tend to find is that a ring develops in the lawn and, as the fungus spreads, the ring gets larger. Around the edge of the ring you tend to find one or more areas of extremely bright-green lush grass and then there is an inner ring that is also very lush, but the area between these two rings tends to be dead and brown, as the grass has been killed. If you dig into the soil you will find evidence of the fungus just beneath the soil surface and around the bases of the grass.
It tends to form a really obvious, dense white mat and during the autumn you will find pale-brown toadstools, 4-rocm (I%-gin) tall, on the outer edge of the middle zone. The dead areas are caused because the fungal growth is so extremely water- repellent that rain or irrigation cannot actually get through to the roots of the grass, so its death is simply due to lack of water. Unfortunately, there is no chemical available on the amateur gardening market that will allow you to control fairy rings, so you have only a few choices, none of which is particularly attractive.
It is generally accepted that a tree in good condition, growing strongly and with a good root system, has nothing to fear from ivy. In fact, evergreen ivy offers winter protection for birds and its berries are a good source of food for them. However, it can look unsightly and, if the tree is old and has a poor root system or rot in the main trunk, then it may cause the tree to blow down, with the mass of evergreen leaves acting like a large sail in a gale.
Once ivy becomes established it is securely held to the trunk and branches and is difficult to remove. If time allows, and the tree is not in the public eye, then the main stems of the ivy may be cut at ground level. Eventually the ivy will die, lose its leaves and loosen its grip on the tree. The stump of the ivy may be treated with a brushwood killer, painting the chemical on to the wounds as soon as the ivy has been cut. Wire with thick rope, laid horizontally, as with the sedge. It is best not to use freshly cut willow, but to leave it for about two weeks, as the high water content makes it shrink quite rapidly as it dries, which would leave large gaps. The willow was surprisingly heavy, so make sure that your roof can take the weight! The end result was attractive and, as it was used on a large treehouse, fitted appropriately into its surroundings.If you have any free-standing high walls in your garden, they can be ideal for positioning a greenhouse against In my garden the only available wall was a north-facing one, but my main priority was for over-wintering tender plants.
The Plants In Garden Pests
May 6th
The fruit trees themselves can be trained into a range of interesting shapes. It is well worth visiting Hatton Fruit Gardens at East Mailing, near Maidstone in Kent, where they have trees trained in a vast range of fascinating shapes. They have apple trees trained into goblets, bateau-trained pears, winged pyramids, tabletop trees and arches, to name a few.
The most common reason for the foliage of daffodils showing yellow streaking is, I’m afraid to say, virus infection. There are numerous different viruses that can attack daffodils, either alone or in combination. Quite often the plant’s vigour does not seem to be badly affected and sometimes it is only the leaves that show the symptoms, although occasionally you may get streaking on the petals or on the flower stems. I have also noticed that in some cases the symptoms only seem to appear in years when the plants have been stressed for some reason, perhaps by a particularly dry summer the previous year. However, even if the symptoms do not appear, it does not mean to say that the virus has gone, so you should still take all the precautions you can to avoid it spreading.
Ideally you should remove all the plants showing symptoms; but in practice this may mean that you have few, if any, daffodils left in your garden. I would, therefore, be inclined to suggest that rather than taking this extreme measure, you perhaps just remove those plants that are showing the most extreme symptoms, as these could be due to narcissus yellow-stripe virus, which is particularly damaging. The various viruses involved are spread by a wide range of means, including soil-living eelworms, aphids and handling, so it is difficult to tell you what other control measures you could take. It does make sense, however, to ensure that you do not transmit the viruses yourself by handling, so you should always wash your hands thoroughly after touching or digging up plants that you believe to be infected.
I’m afraid there is no doubt that the symptoms you have seen are due to contamination by a broad-leaf weedkiller, typical of the sort you may have used to control many common lawn weeds. On fruiting plants such as tomatoes you may find that even quite mildly affected plants do not fruit, or produce strange plum-shaped fruits, which are hollow and do not have any seeds. If the contamination has reached any brassica plants in your vegetable plot, then these may develop rough, gall-like growths on the stem just above soil level. On the whole, infected plants will live unless they have been very severely contaminated, so you may wish to keep the plants and just do everything .
The Garden In House Plants
May 3rd
Bathrooms are usually good places for plants, because they tend to be warm and humid. Even if nobody is in the bath or shower, residual moisture lingers and rises from towels drying over radiators. Before the pleasurable task of deciding which plants to choose, give some thought as to how they will be arranged. I am not straying into the realms of DIY, but an attractive metal trough along a window bottom, shelves and plinths will avoid a cluttered look. Unless you are a fastidious cleaner, avoid plants that drop bits, which rules out a lot of flowering types.
Choose the plants according to their size, starting with large specimens. I will give you three to whet your appetite. A majestic Boston fern will look lovely with its long fronds draped over a plinth or pedestal. Keep it well away from dry air, never allow the roots to dry out and feed regularly for healthy plants, but be aware that large plants reach a spread. For massive leaves, the fiddle-leaf fig is unbeatable and grows up on a good straight stem. And bananas are fun, especially those like Musa ‘Purple Rain’ with its dark leaves.
Now add some medium-sized plants, with exciting foliage colours. A red, orange, green and yellow-leaved croton (Codiaeum), a stripy-leaved zebra plant and a tall, white-flowered peace lily (Spathiphyllum) will have impact. To stand on windowsills, shelves or in window boxes, use draping, silvery-leaved goosefoot plant long-leaved Stromanthe sanguine ‘Stripestar’, silvery. patterned aluminium plant (Pilea cadierei) and long-lasting moth orchids (Phalaeonopsis). If these all stay healthy, have a go with Alocasia x amazonica, which bears the most extraordinarily heart-shaped leaves with scalloped edges and veins picked out in white. This will only grow where there is stable warmth and high humidity. For a final touch, fix to the wall a staghorn fern growing on a slab of cork bark and hang skeins of Spanish moss from hooks in the ceiling.
I am quite style-conscious and would like to know how to use house plants without upsetting my colour schemes and the simplicity of my rooms. To use plants without offending your simple tastes will require some rules. The easiest is to stick to green leaves and white, or perhaps cream, flowers. Use only plain terracotta pots, or stand all pots inside a variety of glazed white containers. Repetition also works well, so that instead of buying one white Begonia elatior, you buy three. White azaleas, moth orchids , gardenias, miniature roses, hydrangeas, poinsettias,
The Wilder Garden Grow Plants
May 2nd
If you would like some instant impact you could add some plants that have been grown in containers. Both cowslips (Primula veris) and primroses (Primula vulgaris) establish quite well like this, provided they get the necessary watering. I find that plants in i litre pots establish better than the smaller sizes. During the first year you will probably get few flowers, most of the plants’ energy being spent on making roots and leaves. You should cut the grass carefully with a mower, with the blades set no lower than 5 cm (2in), when the grass gets to a height of 7.3cm (3in).
If your soil is not that fertile and the grasses are the slower-growing, finer ones, then you will be able to achieve quite a good result leaving the present sward predominantly intact. You may want to remove just patches of grass, about 30 x 3ocm (12 x I2in), by spraying or lifting the turf. Then you could treat these areas exactly as above (without taking off the topsoil), letting the remainder of the lawn grow long until you cut the rest.
For annual maintenance after the first year, you should cut after flowering has finished and the seed has been set. A strimmer or scythe is fine; or a sturdy rotary mower with wheels, which can have its blades set high, is the option that I use, but it is a beefy machine. The mowings should be removed to keep the fertility of the area down. Any pernicious weeds such as nettles and docks are best hand-weeded out; otherwise they will tend to take over. As the area develops and hopefully the flowers spread, providing that your conditions are suitable, you will find that other wildflowers come in naturally. You can add additional ones that take your fancy, and weed out any that become too dominant for your liking.
We want to make a growing willow house to go at the bottom of the garden. How do we do this, and how easy is it to maintain?
Willow houses are fun to make, and a basic one such as that shown in the diagram is fairly easy. To start with you need some willow cuttings, preferably about 3m (93/4ft) long. Many types will work, but the basket-making willow (Salix viminalis) is ideal, as is the almond-leafed willow (Sahx triandra). A couple to avoid are goat willow (Salix caprea), as it does not sprout so well, and crack willow (Salix fragilis), which does just that – cracks when you try and bend it. Some suppliers now sell long cuttings in bundles, and they are very reasonably priced (see Suppliers Index).
The best time to make the house is in the dormant season. First, mark out the footprint of the ‘building’ – the one in the diagram is about 3.2m (rolAft) wide by however deep you want to make it. Make sure that the soil on the outline, where you are going to push in the cuttings, is not compacted and is clean, so that it is not too difficult to push the cuttings in and they will not suffer from weed competition. Then push in the cuttings (thickest end into the ground) all around the perimeter at about 2ocm (8in) centres, leaving a gap for the doorway.
The Garden Design In Plants
May 1st
BS colour range. I find the colour schemes work best when I spend time with lots of trial pots, painting samples and tweaking colours accordingly, so that you can easily see which colours work best in that particular space.For the drainpipes, try painting them in a dark lead colour – ‘Down Pipe’ (Farrow and Ball) is a good dark-grey colour for imitating lead on exterior ironwork and as such is useful for ‘losing’ plumbing against brickwork.
Having sorted out the hard aspects, the softer side (the planting) can then be used to pull everything together. Try using a climber that can be used on every aspect, to add uniformity. Then add additional ones, according to aspect, to spice it up a bit.
I would like to make a tunnel from metal arches to form a path through our orchard Can you suggest how to make this look more interesting?
Metal tunnels work well in soft green spaces such as orchards, as metal can be used in light, thin sections that just define the arch shape, then rampant climbers can add impact. Timber can look too heavy and hard in this situation unless rustic, natural timbers are used, which give a completely different effect.
Bunny has given you a patio that you can use on the hottest day, but I enjoy having my siesta horizontal, so I would plant two semi-mature white- stemmed birch (Betula mins var. jacquemontii) on the sunny side of the patio about 3m oft) apart and swing a hammock between them. They will cast dappled shade on both you and the patio.
For most properties this would be a little too grand. Shapes such as figures of eight, scrolls, circles and ellipses are simpler. They form architecturally shaped hedges, which combine both with the building and the garden. It is worth studying some highly ornate parterres and knot gardens,and you will see that many elements are used again and again. Find a simple one that you like and adapt it to your own space. I have used zigzags, intertwining hedges that resemble a twisted rope and serpentines; sometimes I mix them with solid geometric shapes as well.
Once you have drawn up your design on paper to an appropriate scale, perhaps 1:5 0, you need to transfer it onto the ground. I find the easiest way is to enlarge complicated bits such as scrolls on a photocopier to life size (r:r) and then transfer these onto hardboard and cut them out with a jigsaw to form a template. To minimise weeding, use a membrane such as Mypex, laid over the soil and under the gravel as shown in the diagram.
