There Are Good Gardeners Around Wenvoe
THE VILLAGE GARDENER
There Are Good Gardeners Around Wenvoe
The village show highlighted the fact that there are good gardeners around Wenvoe. Bernard, who judges the vegetables and takes his job seriously, was so impressed by the quantity and quality on display. There is of course a small minority that get their produce from Waitrose, but the judge has seen it all before and advises that removing the price sticker might help. He was nevertheless taken by surprise by an entry from Nicola of the Twyn, who had obviously been on her travels to Lilliput. Nicola brought along what she claimed were tomatoes, in what can only be described as a Lilliputian snuffbox. Without glue they refused to stay on the display plate, being blown off by the waft of a butterfly wing. The only way they stood a chance of being judged was a taste test; unfortunately, they slipped down the throat like a greased paracetamol before you could bite them. All this added to what was a really enjoyable day.
The garden will start to look bare after the annuals have been discarded and the perennials cut back. You have choices to make now on how you’re going to protect the soil from erosion over winter. Using the spent compost from pots that had annuals or tubers in, buying in bark or leaving the fallen leaves on the borders for the worms to mulch down for you will work. Admittedly the leaves look messy, but they will do your soil a power of good. You can, of course, dig them in which will speed up the composting process. Always collect rose leaves with black spot and burn them.
Some have managed to keep displays of begonias and dahlias going until recently. Looking after the corms and tubers of these showy plants is a must. We need to make sure there is no foliage left on them and that they are dried out properly before storing in a dry frost-free environment. The late John Rich always kept his in kiln dried sand and had a very good success rate.
Take cuttings of your favourite shrubs, just cut below a leaf joint, peel off the leaves and poke in the ground next to the shrub, so you’ll remember where it came from.
Take care and happy gardening