Amateur Gardening 16-Nov-2019

AS most of the garden settles down for its rejuvenating winter sleep, it is time to take stock and make plans for future years. If you want to add more trees, shrubs and fruit bushes to your garden, winter months are the best because this is the time for planting bare-root. Bare-root trees and shrubs are sold as juvenile whips, which are basically year-old twigs with a healthy root system. They may not look like much, but they will have a growth spurt even in their first year and soon thicken into substantial, quickly maturing plants. In the spring of 2015 we replaced a massive half-dead Leylandii hedge with two staggered rows of native tree whips, including hawthorn, wild rose, guelder rose, field maple, spindle and hazel. They have grown and thickened out…

1 Anchor weed-suppressing membrane over the planting area and cut slits where you want the whips to go. 2 Open up the ground under the slits with a spade, ready for planting, and dip the bare roots into mycorrhizal fungi to help development. 3 Untangle and spread the roots and then plant the whips to the depth of the soil stain around their stem, then firm the soil around them. 4 The whips will grow quickly into mature plants, but will need supporting during the early days so they grow straight. Kindest cut: Make your trees and shrubs more productive next year by pruning most of them now. Find out how in next week’s AG (available 19 November).…

If the ground is not ready for planting when your whips arrive, they can be stored temporarily and healthily in an unused, sheltered patch of ground. This is called heeling-in and will keep your whips healthy through winter until they are ready to move to their final growing positions. Dig a narrow trench that’s deep enough to accommodate all the roots somewhere sheltered in free-draining soil. Keep the plants bundled together and place them in the trench, adding soil so all their roots are covered. Firm or ‘heel’ the soil (you may need to do this again if it is lifted by frosts) and water well.…

BARE-ROOT wallflowers are widely available for planting throughout autumn. They usually come in newspaper-wrapped bundles and should be planted as soon as possible so the roots don’t dry out. Get them in the ground with your spring bulbs and look forward to a carpet of colour. Plant them along paths, close to seating areas or near the front door so you can enjoy their distinctive, delicious peppery scent. Keep the roots wrapped, cool and damp when you get them home, and soak them for at least an hour before planting in a border or container. Plant them close together for maximum impact, though remember they can grow to sizeable plants. Water them well after planting and make sure they don’t dry out while they get established, especially if they are growing against a sheltering wall…

TWO of my favourite perennials are dahlias and hellebores. Dahlias are a winner because of their infinite variety and the way they hold their colour right through to the first frosts. I also love hellebores because they make their entrance at the other end of the year, bringing early colour to the borders, hence their common name of Christmas or Lenten roses. Late autumn and early winter are busy times for growers of both plants. Once the first frosts have blackened their leaves, it is time to pack up your dahlias for winter while also preparing hellebores for next year’s flowers. I deal with dahlias in the box below. Hellebores at this time of year are easier to care for – simply cut off any old and damaged leaves, and mulch plants with…

Dahlias can be cut back to within a few inches of the base and left in the ground, generously mulched with straw, bark chips or compost. This is best done in mild areas with free-draining soil. It isn’t always a failsafe, but it saves room undercover. Alternatively, cut back the stems leaving a few inches intact, and lift the tubers. Shake off the soil and store the tubers in crates undercover with sand or compost just covering their crowns. Keep the tubers somewhere dark and frost-free, and check regularly for signs of rot, removing unhealthy ones. Pots containing dahlias can be moved somewhere sheltered and swaddled in fleece or bubble wrap. Move them undercover if possible.…