Amateur Gardening 27-Oct-2018

PREPARING small tender plants such as pelargoniums for winter is relatively straightforward. You lift and pot them, take cuttings and then consign them to a frost-free greenhouse or porch, giving them minimal care until spring. Larger exotics, such as cannas, banana plants, dahlias and some fruit trees, can pose more of a problem. There’s their size for one thing – it may not be possible or practical to move them undercover. So what do you do then? This is where horticultural fleece and bubblewrap become your key allies in the fight against winter’s cold. They are relatively cheap and long-lasting, and can be layered around plants until they give adequate insulation. On these pages, I’ll look at protecting bananas, canna lilies and dahlias, and I’ll also suggest ways of keeping all your undercover…

1 Check your overwintered plants, tubers and corms every now and then to make sure they are healthy. Discard any that are rotting. 2 Most plants need little care while dormant, but keep them healthy by removing dead and dying foliage, plus any flower buds that form. 3 Citrus plants may still be fruiting and flowering, so keep feeding them with a general-purpose fertiliser and invigorator spray. 4 A greenhouse in winter is the perfect place for pests such as greenfly, glasshouse red spider mite and snails. Deal with them promptly. Spring sensation: November is tulip-planting month, so buy next week’s AG (in the shops October 30) for all you need to know about these opulent beauties.…

AUTUMN is the prime time for planting trees and shrubs. The soil is warm and damp, and there is time for the roots to settle and establish before winter. From a gardener’s point of view, autumn planting requires less work because the ground is easier to dig and the season means you shouldn’t need to water as often as in spring and summer. Autumn and winter are the seasons for bare-root planting, which we will be looking at in future issues, but if you are looking for an instant border filler, a container-grown tree or shrub is the way forward. Before buying, make sure the plant suits your soil and where you want it to grow. You should also check it has enough room to reach its full, healthy potential, as small trees…

Staking a new tree will minimise windrock and keep the roots securely anchored. Choose a stake roughly one-third of the tree’s height, as this will keep it safe while allowing for movement against the wind, which helps strengthen the roots and trunk. Insert the stake on the side of the prevailing wind, so the tree will be blown away from it. On windy sites, insert two-three stakes around the tree and secure to the trunk with ties or crossbars. Ties should be secured in a figure-of-eight to help prevent bark chafing.…

1 Dig a hole that is as deep as the rootball but slightly wider. Fork the sides if the soil is compacted. 2 There is no need to add compost to the hole, but mycorrhizal fungi may help roots establish better in poor soil. 3 If the shrub is pot-bound and the roots are circling the rootball, tease them out first. 4 Plant your shrub and infill with soil and compost, firming it as you go to hold it steady and remove air pockets. 5 Once in the ground, water your plant well so the soil is saturated. Keep checking and don’t let the plant dry out while it gets established.…

THE Indian summer, coupled with our location on the south coast, means that many plants that should have been long gone by now are still putting out a few flowers. A couple of summer bedding plants are still struggling on, but really they need to go to make room for winter bedding or to allow for a thick layer of mulch to be added to borders. Removing these plants also gets rid of potential pest and disease hotspots when the plants die off in the colder weather. I have also removed a few small figs that grew too late to ripen properly. Our ‘Brown Turkey’ has been in the ground for around two years and this summer was its first fruiting. Thanks to the long hot spell, it provided us with handfuls…