Patience Is What’s Needed
THE VILLAGE GARDENER
Patience Is What’s Needed
Gardens are over blown now. So many seed heads forming and you can’t catch up with the dead heading. To keep these plants flowering until late Autumn, we must give them the attention they need. Carry on providing feed for the annuals but don’t feed the roses or it will weaken them for next year. Watering these last few years has become more of a chore, not helped by the fact that we have forgotten what happened the previous year, when we charged into garden centres to snap up the new lovely looking plants grown in heated greenhouses which never last a tomato season when you put them in cold ground at the end of March. Then we do the same this year. Patience is what’s needed. Wait for May and buy drought tolerant plants such as pelargoniums and bedding begonias. Pots create more work but look great. If you’re buying clay or ceramic pots paint the inside or line with plastic, this will help with moisture retention. The best way to sort this is to put the plant in any plastic pot then slip this into your posh container, then when you need to change the plant it’s so much easier. Hydrangeas suffer badly during hot weather so a shady spot is where they will do their best.
On the allotments at Twyn yr Odyn the folk are looking weary from carrying countless containers of water to their plots. For some it has been so frustrating with some plants in flower but no fertilisation taking place; this might be weather related but is more likely to be the lack of pollinators. Ladybirds are also in short supply, and it’s been left to the ants to sort out the black fly. One of those cycling types who wear Lycra said that a training ride on a summer evening a few years ago would leave him with an overdose of protein due to the number of flies he would swallow. Nowadays he has to take supplements.
While being taught how to garden a long time ago I was introduced to the No Dig Gardening concept. If you’re willing to put the effort in at the beginning and you can make yourself some compost over the coming years, then this is a good way of saving a lot of effort. You will need to purchase some organic matter to start, along with some cardboard and you’re on the way. The benefits to the soil structure and the yields you can expect will make this worthwhile. YouTube have fantastic videos on the whole process. Just save some cardboard and go for it.
The Village Show is on 29th August. Please enter something to keep this show going.
Take care and happy gardening