Roseisle-News.com

Community Blether

Gwynne Hetherington

Garden Tips#01

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We are in for an another week of unsettled weather and more strong winds to come.

Walking round the garden we are looking for any damage to trees and shrubs but luckily so far only dead wood has fallen from our mature trees. There was an Abutilon shrub which looked very drunk and in desperate need of staking back into an upright position and then we reduced its height.

Now there is still plenty of weeding to do while the flowering plants and bulb foliage are still small, the unwanted “weeds” are romping ahead and easily visible. All the weeds make a good concoction for the compost heap!

There are still one or two herbaceous plants to split up and replant and a few biannual Evening Primroses to plant here and there in the flower borders. Soon the garden is coming alive – so very exciting!

Now too is the time to choose your seeds to grow your own vegetables either in your vegetable garden or in containers!

Garden Tips

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Hello again, what with a”mild” winter so far we have had many days in our garden tidying up the borders and keeping on top of the weeding and with the high winds we have gathered a huge amount of dead wood making two bonfires so far.

Because we had a multistemmed Elm tree taken down with “Dutch Elm Disease” it has created a big space to plant up with shrubs, roses and perennials and make some news paths in our flower border with the wood chippings from the Elm.

The daylight is lengthening and so too are the list of things to do in our garden. I am finding little saplings of Holly and Laurel which get transplanted into our existing wildlife hedge for some evergreen plants to grow through.

The buds are swelling on the shrubs and the fruit trees will be getting some mature dung or organic compost as will the roses for a good start of their growing season.

I have bought some Dahlia tubers and Gladioli bulbs so the former will be started in pots of compost and then will be left in the poly tunnel to do their own growing on. The latter bulbs will be planted straight into the ground.

Lastly we have a few house plants which will need repotting which will bring them back to health.

In the meantime there are the fresh Snowdrops and Hellebores to admire and the birdsong to keep us company!

Garden Tips70

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The temperatures are cooling down slightly this week after the dry days of Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday will bring more showers. Friday should be a sunny day before a damp weekend.

Have we not been so lucky with having some “proper” rain in the past week? It has done our garden no end of good. I even had to take a photo of the rain flowing down our driveway, what a happy moment that was and a great relief.

We have started giving our Tomatoes and Courgettes a weekly feed since they have started flowering. The Red Peppers I have potted on and they will stay in the greenhouse for a more even temperature.

Walking round our garden I have noticed that there are some gaps in the herbaceous borders and so I am filling them with perennials and annuals which I have grown from seed, the former plants might not flower this year, we will need to wait and see. Of course one can always buy plants of your choice and fill gaps in your garden with them.

We are still laying stone paths, about one metre a day, doing odd jobs too with weeding every day if possible, tying up roses and cutting back and deadheading spent flowers on Rhododendrons etc.

I have been hunting the Red Lily Beetle and so far have caught seven and they are no longer with us! Aphids on the Roses, Erigerons and on other perennials get squashed. The Ladybirds do not seem to keep up with the onslaught of the Aphids.

The garden is now filling out thanks to the rain we have had, colours bursting in all different places and it is so exciting to watch nature creating the many patterns of the petals and shades of colours. It is just wondrous to see.

We are getting the garden ready for our first Open Day on the 15th June which we are looking forward to and always enjoy.