Tips From The Farming Community
THE VILLAGE GARDENER
This month’s tips are from the farming community
Madeleine Rees
- Save your used compost and add some N.P.K fertiliser. It will be better than you get from suppliers, until they shape up. You only need good, new compost for sowing seed.
- Plant a green manure crop on any unused ground.
- Buy British and stop the pests coming in on imported plants.
- If you grow some comfrey, you will have feed for your plants all year.
- Make sure you have some sort of greenhouse shading for next year.
Viv Jervis
- After using your hedge trimmer make sure you brush the blade with new engine oil. The blades will not become sticky thus saving power.
- As the years catch up with us all, remember to take the phone with you when out in the garden.
- When starting an allotment, it’s a good idea to plant potatoes as they help clear the ground.
- Hoeing regularly will make gardening less of a chore.
- Be sure to spray weed killer on bindweed before it dies back, so that it takes it back to the roots.
Time to start clearing the borders of bedding plants ready for winter flowering pansies etc. If you have pelargoniums and some space to keep them frost free, then remove flowers and cut down by half. They don’t need much soil or water, but they do need a bit of space for ventilation otherwise grey mould will set in. If it does you must remove infected plants. They can, of course, be kept on a windowsill where they will flower for ages. October is a good time to divide perennials to give you some free plants. Cut everlasting sweet peas down to the ground. Dahlias can be left in the ground in our part of Wales as long as it’s not constantly waterlogged – just cover with mulch. If you want to dig them up then make sure you remove all soil and put upside down to dry before storing, do the same thing with begonias. They need to be stored in a cool dry place away from frost.
Prune roses from now on. Climbing roses need some care when cutting back by making sure you tie in stems horizontally so they will produce side shoots for next year’s flowers. Remove any damaged stems. With shrub roses just take the clippers to them and cut down by half to stop wind rock over the winter which can open up the base of the plant and allow water in which could freeze and kill off the rose. On the subject of roses, the environment team cut back the roses on the village green three times, mainly to prevent them obscuring the visibility at the junction with Walston Road. This proved highly successful with shorter stems and a profusion of flowers.
Collecting seed at this time of year is so worthwhile, just make sure you dry them and, most importantly, label them.
Mr JCB Alun Arthur has offered this advice for anyone with a compacted conifer hedge. To keep it healthy you need to wash it through in Springtime using a hose to clear the debris as this will allow the hedge to breathe.
October on the allotment is a mixture of harvesting and planting. Some are planting sweet peas for next year. Not Herbie, he would never plant a flower where he could grow a vegetable. He is planting broad beans, onion sets and garlic. There is still time to pot up runners from strawberry plants.
Take care and happy gardening