Monthly Garden Diary - February 2007

Introduction

The promise of Spring is just around the corner and your garden should contain interesting flowers, foliage and scents, despite the cold weather. If it doesn’t contain anything of interest you need to visit your local garden centre to see what’s naturally in bloom at this time of the year. Digging over bare soil in beds, borders and the vegetable plot will provide some useful exercise for you and some beneficial turning to the soil.

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Ornamental Gardening

Sunny days will encourage cyclamen coum, early crocus and snowdrops to open their flower heads to provide a welcoming splash of flower colour even though the nights are really cold. Snowdrops may at first sight seem all the same but nurserymen have spent centuries breeding different types and hybrids that provide a variety of singles, doubles, petal shape and distinctive markings. If your garden is short of these vital flowers, you can buy potted plants in flower at your garden centre to provide an instant display. They move very successfully while “in the green” so as soon as the flowers have faded it’s time to buy and plant new varieties or to lift and separate your own collection. When moving your own collection, tease the bulbs apart and replant at the same depth 8cm apart. They prefer a humus rich soil, so add garden compost or Miracle-Gro Ecosense Soil Conditioner to improve the moisture holding capacity of light sandy soils.

All bulbs need to be able to draw nourishment from the soil during the time between flowering and the foliage dying back. Never cut back the foliage or tie it in bunches – this will reduce the bulbs ability to regenerate itself for future years. The time in leaf is when the bulb is forming next year’s flower stem and replenishing the food store of the surrounding bulb layers. The application of a soluble plant food such as Miracle-Gro All Purpose Plant Food is ideal as even in Winter it will feed through the leaves and will supply nutrients that are easily available to the roots.

Some shrubs should also be in flower during this mid-Winter time including witch hazel (Hamamelis mollis) and Winter sweet (Chimonanthus praecox). Both provide interesting pale yellow flowers and some stunning perfume that will fill the area on a sunny day.

The world of Hellebores has been transformed in the last decade by the number of exciting new colours, forms and markings being bred by Ashwood Nurseries of Kingswinford, West Midlands. For a mouthwatering display of some of the scores of different colours and forms that are possible do have a look at their web site on www.ashwood-nurseries.co.uk/hellebore.htm. You will see many of their recent hybrids in colours that now include pink, peach, apricot, green, red and yellow. Some are ‘doubles’ others have anemone centres or picotee edges, but all are selected for strength of colour, vigour and their ability to provide interesting flower colours and markings during the depths of Winter. Your local garden centre may well have in stock some plants of the Ashwood group of hybrids or you can buy seed direct from the breeder.

Even if their heads point down to the ground rather than lifting their faces upwards to the sky, Hellebores deserve a place in everyone’s garden as they bring a splash of colour for a long period during the Winter’s coldest weather. They prefer a spot that gives dappled shade and a soil that is free-draining, but holds a lot of moisture. If your garden is lacking interest in February, it’s easy to redress the balance with the addition of Hellebores, but watch out for greenfly and black spot disease that can affect the mature foliage. A fungicide such as FungusClear Ultra or FungusClear 2 Gun! will help with the disease spots and the BugClear Gun! will quickly and effectively get rid of any sap-sucking aphids that take residence.

Rose pruning can be started in late February, reducing stems so that the bush remains in shape and the flowers are carried at a reasonable height. Without regular pruning, roses still perform, but the blooms are all carried high on tall stems and can’t easily be appreciated.  See that you have sharp secateurs that cut without crushing and some leather gloves to protect your hands from thorn damage. Cut out any dead or damaged wood and then reduce remaining stems by about two thirds. A cut just above an outward facing leaf joint is the traditional rose grower’s advice, but in practice roses are such forgiving plants it really doesn’t matter. All they need is a good feed with a rose and flower plant food immediately after pruning.

For great results choose a fertiliser that will release balanced nutrients and magnesium steadily throughout the growing season such as Miracle-Gro Slow Release Rose & Shrub Food. Your roses will really appreciate the steady release of nutrients by putting on strong healthy growth, greener leaves and many more beautiful blooms.

After pruning and feeding your roses, think about mulching the surface to retain all the Winter moisture that has been absorbed by the soil. A layer of organic bark (Levington Water Saving Decorative Bark for example) 5-8cm deep will not only trap the moisture underground, but will also help to prevent the germination of  weed seeds while creating an attractive textured surface to form a background to your beautiful roses.

Patio Gardening

Potted camellias and rhododendrons will soon be flowering and it is well worth the effort to place them in the right position so that sunny mornings immediately after a hard frost don’t damage the flower buds. The plants are hardy and don’t mind the cold, frosty weather, but prefer to thaw gently rather than warm up quickly in direct sunshine. Find a spot that is protected from the early morning sun rays, either on a west facing wall or protected from the east by other shrubs or a low fence.

Bulbs, on the other hand, will flower earlier if they get the benefit of every drop of sun they can. Positioned close to a south-facing wall that retains some warmth they will flower much earlier than those planted in beds and borders. Crocus, snowdrops and some of the earlier specie tulips will be surfacing in pots and tubs ready to give an attractive display. Remember that if it is warm enough for tulips to be flowering, it is definitely warm enough for slugs to be on the lookout for a tasty meal of their leaves. A sprinkling of SlugClear Advanced Pellets will soon see them off.

Garden Centres will be full of displays of seeds, bulbs and corms for Summer garden displays. Among them lily bulbs are well worth buying now while there are many different varieties available. Plant them up immediately in pots of potting compost such as Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Compost. Most of the varieties that will be on offer are tall growing species that will flower on stems that are at least 60 cm tall. The only disadvantage is that when planted in pots they can blow over easily. To avoid this problem use terracotta pots and place a layer of stones in the bottom to act as anchor ballast.]

Plugging the Gaps

Ready-grown plug plants and mini-plants will be available in all good garden centres this month, ready for novice and expert gardeners to take home and easily grow onto large plants for garden and patio display later this year. The professional growers have done the most difficult job of plant propagation and that’s to get seeds to germinate and cuttings to root. You simply buy small trays of a dozen or more plantlets that are sold in individual cells each with their own root system.

To get these tiny treasures growing fast give them extra room and root space in a tip-top compost of your choice. For quickest growth and biggest plants choose a real potting compost that is so rich in nutrients it advises you not to sow seeds in it. For maximum flowering potential use Levington Container and Hanging Basket Compost, Miracle-Gro All Purpose Growing Compost or the new Miracle-Gro Ecosense Peat Free Compost. Plugs will benefit from early transplanting, if however there is a delay, make sure the compost in the cells is not allowed to dry out.

You will need trays, plant pots, containers or pouches: In fact almost any container will do as long as it can hold a reasonable amount of compost and is free draining. For individual specimen plants, pot on into 7 – 9cm (3-4in) pots, one plant per pot. To give your ornamental plants built-in protection against aphids and black vine weevil larvae choose a product with an in-built insecticide such as Levington Container and Hanging Basket Compost with Vine Weevil Control.

Growing plants from plugs is child’s play. Just water the plants before transplanting them and ease each plug out of its cell with the blunt end of a pencil pushed through the hole in its base. Gently firm each plant into the fresh compost and carefully water in the plants. Place the container in a warm, well-lit place and protect from frost at all times.

Fruit and Vegetables

Bare rooted fruit trees and soft fruit bushes can still be planted whenever the soil is not frozen solid.

If you have room, raspberries are attractive and prolific and if protected from bird damage will provide a good crop that freezes well. You can find Summer fruiting varieties, such as ‘Malling Admiral’, Autumn fruiting varieties, such as ‘Autumn Bliss’ and some new varieties such as ‘Galante’ that will fruit in the Autumn on new canes that will provide another early-season crop the following year.

Raspberries will crop for 10 to 15 years without needing replacement, so you will need to prepare the soil well before planting. Once again a rich moisture-holding soil is vital to success and the incorporation of plenty of Miracle-Gro Ecosense Soil Improver or Levington Organic Blend Soil Conditioner will help these canes produce a good well-flavoured crop. As these plants are shallow rooted, dig all organic material into the top 30 cm (1ft) of soil and give a base dressing of Osmocote or Miracle-Gro Slow Release All Purpose Plant Food before planting. Don’t plant too deeply, but use the old soil mark on each cane as a guide to get a similar soil level in its new home. To ensure your new canes are firmly supported, you will need to install some posts at each end of the row and strain some wire tautly between them. Then it’s a simple job to keep your raspberries tidy by tying each new can to the wires at suitable intervals.

Water Wise Gardening

Water is a precious resource and we all need to use it carefully both in the home and in the garden. On average each person in the UK uses between 160 and 180 litres of water every day. A third of that is used for toilet flushing, a similar amount for personal washing, 20 per cent for washing clothes and dishes with around 10 percent for drinking and other uses.

So how much is used outside in the garden you may ask? On average just a tiny amount, but that is where legal restrictions are applied, banning householders from using tap water through a hosepipe for watering the garden or cleaning the car.

Is it fair? Well the Minister for Climate Change, Ian Pearson, recently acknowledged that the legislation on hosepipe bans is outdated and says that he is “committed to change”. How much those changes will help gardeners we will have to wait and see. But it is rumoured that drip irrigation systems and other water-saving gardening techniques will be allowed.

In the meantime we are all being urged to reduce our water usage by taking showers instead of baths, installing water saving devices in toilet cisterns and by buying water efficient washing machines and dishwashers. But as an alternative to hose-pipe bans, how about making the use of dishwashers illegal in drought conditions? This would save 20 litres of water a day in each household and reduce national consumption enormously.

But let’s face it, although filling domestic swimming pools may be penalized, us gardeners are still likely to bear the brunt of water restrictions in the future, even though gardening is a relatively small user of tapwater overall.

With this in mind you can do much to help your garden soil hold more rainwater and hang onto it for longer. Adding organic matter to all soils during the wet Winter months will help enormously. A few bags of Miracle-Gro Ecosense Soil Improver or Levington Organic Blend Soil Conditioner will make all the difference. If you are improving soil between established shrubs, roses and perennials then spread the material over the surface and work into the top few centimeters of soil with a fork. In this way the roots won’t be radically disturbed, but the material will be incorporated into the soil structure. Worms will do the rest when they drag the material even deeper.

If the land you want to improve is bare of plants then burying the organic material will encourage deeper root activity and a better reserve of moisture. As you dig the area, simply place some of the soil conditioner into the bottom of each trench, leaving the surface rough so that frosts will gradually break this down into a fine tilth.