November: blowin' in the wind

I hesitate to use the C-word before the month of December but it has to be said that the colours and shapes now emerging all point to festive decorations. (Actually, it should be the A-word for Advent until the 25th, but let’s not let facts get in the way of good marketing.)

If you look at the berries, buds and the evergreens that are now becoming more dominant in the countryside as well as the garden, you will see the deep reds and clarets beginning to shine out. There are also a huge range of other colours to delight in. Just go to a winter garden at a local park or open garden and you will see the yellows of Mahonia, the slightly unreal purples of Callicarpa, as well as the extraordinary stems of birches and many cherries.

One of the main jobs at this time of year is to clear the leaves off lawns to prevent the grass being damaged by lack of light, oxygen and by mould. There are many different ways of doing this and over the years I have noticed various Hampshire archetypes:

The retired engineer will have his top-of-the-range leaf blower out at full throttle every few days, even when you are trying to have a conversation with his wife three feet away.

The member of the Green party will have superb compost heaps but will have a laissez-faire attitude towards anything too finished. They will get highly excited when they discover worms or hedgehog poo, whereupon they will probably decide that mown lawns are far too bourgeois to bother with and let it all become a ‘wildlife meadow’.

The time-pressured Dad will do a quarter of the job, get distracted then return to the garden to discover the dog and his kids have found a great way of scattering his piles all over the place. He will then just abandon the task and help himself to a beer to sip in front of the rugby highlights.

The climate change denier differs from all of the above because at heart, he really doesn’t care: the lawn takes up good car parking space and without the patience to compost anything he will use a tyre or a car seat to help generate a blazing inferno. Watching coolly as he draws on his fag he will imagine himself in an episode of Top Gear involving fire engines and police helicopters.

I am not sure where I fit into the above but music, a lot of time and the promise of cake are essential for me to complete the job.

Tasks this month that are less laborious include:

·         planting out tulip bulbs for next year’s show.

·         pruning deciduous trees and shrubs removing dead, diseased and damaged wood to give the plants a good shape.

·         finishing up the last of the autumn pruning to get Buddlejas, climbing roses and any other plants that may get very straggly and knocked about by the wind in the winter months into a more compact shape.

·         ordering and planting bare-root roses.

·         protecting newly planted trees with tree coils: squirrels, rabbits and deer will all be getting hungry and soft bark will be a good source of food for them.

·         adding a layer of compost onto and around any of the more tender or exposed plants you may have.

·         covering any fragile pots that may be damaged by frost.

·         removing pumps from the surface of ponds where they may get damaged by the expanding water when it freezes.

·         turning off the water supply to outdoor taps and then opening the taps to let the water drain away.

·         cleaning out bird boxes so they can be clean for winter nesting.

Finally, please check that your bonfire piles don’t have any hibernating hedgehogs or toads buried in them: you will not only have to live with yourself if you commit an infernal crime but you may also have to deal with the neighbour who is a member of the Green party.

If you really can’t face burning the pile or even the upcoming festivities, then just join the hedgehogs and the toads: if you add a few layers of soil as you would do in a conventional compost heap, then cover it with a rug, the pile will soon be generating its own heat. There are there are worse places to sit and eat your cake and sip your tea.

You wouldn’t be the first to do that either.

October: digging it

I love plants - and I'll tell you why.

You can stare at them, smell them, touch them, dig them up and, darn it, you can even eat them. Mostly I love them because they are nothing like call centres and mobile phone assistants. A full half of my day yesterday was spent on an inter-continental password odyssey as I was ushered from one "live chat" line to another in an effort to answer a simple question.

Ending up where I began, I felt like breaking down in tears and proposing to Ekta from BT: she finally told me what I wanted to know. We had some meaningful internet chat about apples and the minimum wage but overwhelmed by emotion, I had been released from my telephonic torment and was now free to roam the wild plains of Hampshire, unfettered by technological tantrums.

That's why I love plants and being a Hampshire garden designer. They don't answer back and you can propose to any of them at any time. You can even dig them up and divide them and, like trusting patients, they bear with you believing that you mean them no ill.

Well now I have got that off my neurotic designer chest, here are the jobs I will be tackling this coming month, preferably in the autumn sun with a cup of tea at hand:

• Although the summer will roll into autumn, cutting back the herbaceous plants that are fading and sprawling will create a sense of order in your garden. Lift and divide ones that are overgrown clumps, especially if the core of the plant is no longer producing vigorous stems. Keep the newer sections and discard the redundant core to make way for healthier specimens.

• Climbing roses often look straggly now: cut back the wild side stems to the main stems and cut out any main stems that are looking old or diseased in order to give healthy air circulation. Climbing roses are generally very robust, so don't be fearful of bold pruning: it will make them manageable and floriferous next season.

• If you keep dead-heading and feeding your pot and hanging basket displays, you should be able to eke out several more weeks of colour.

• Lawns can be scarified, raked and given a top dressing of soil. They can also been given their autumn feed to boost their growth in spring. Scarifying is basically hand or machine raking a lawn in order to remove the debris known as thatch that builds up at the base of the stems. Some lawns are green but don't have much grass in them, so be careful as to what you are getting yourself into.

• Sowing grass seed can be successful if done soon and turf can be laid at just about any time of year other than in frosty conditions.

• Deciduous hedges can be given a final trim to keep them tidy for the winter months.

• Likewise, shrubs due for a hard cut in the spring can be made manageable for the winter by giving them a half prune. Plants in this category include Buddleja davidii, Cornus alba and Lavatera.

• Trees, shrubs and climbers can be moved when the cool really sets in.

• Keep leaves and decaying plant matter out of your ponds by using covering nets or by whiling away the hours dreamily dragging a pond net over the surface whilst you compose poetry in your head.

• Keep an eye on the weather reports so you will be ready to bring in any tender plants or cover tender border perennials with straw or bracken. 

After all that exhausting emotion on the phone and soothing activity, it will be time for my favourite job: sitting, sipping and staring.

Does it get any better?

September:ch-ch-ch-changes!

It may seem a bit odd to be doing this now, but September is a great month for planning next year's garden. 

We are entering the prime time for lifting, dividing and replanting herbaceous plants. As a general rule, when autumn sets in, it will be the turn of most shrubs to be moved and planted, followed by trees in the winter.

So if there are parts of your garden where you see jarring colour combinations or areas that are downright boring, now is the time to have a rethink. As a garden designer in Hampshire, my antenna are alwayson the alert for clashing colours!

Here are a few principles that can help you to plan your borders or growing areas.

• Aim for contrasting shapes and textures so that the plants show each other off.

• Evergreens can give structure: these can be hedges, single 'statement' plants or if you have a large garden, planting groups of evergreens to give screening and interest.

• Punctuating borders with tall herbaceous plants will add drama. A current favourite is the tall, swaying grass Stipa gigantea but Delphinium, Verbascum and Macleaya will all grab the eye. 

• Try to have continual all-year round interest particularly in patches that you can see from the house in winter. Evergreen shrubs such as Mahonia, Viburnum tinus and the deciduous Viburnum fragrans are a few of the safe bets as well as the herbaceous Hellebores. 

• Climbing plants can really soften the appearance of buildings, including those garish, brand-new sheds. Running roses up trees, trellis and fencing can often produce a romantic effect, but be discerning when you buy your climber. You are entering the world of Jack and The Beanstalk if you plant rambling rather than climbing roses and the common name of Polygonum (Mile-a-Minute) might give you a clue as to what you will be up against there. 

• Unloved but sunny corners can be marvellous places for sowing an annual wildflower meadow. You will need to work clearing out the competition right up to the sowing of the seeds in late spring after the frosts, but the beauty of an annual wildflower meadow is that it thrives on poor soil and needs little intervention. ( I will be returning to this topic in the spring). I am still enjoying my bee-attracting patch and will do for at least another month.

I am frequently amazed at how well 'unplanned' plant combinations work so well. All sorts of unwanted plants come my way when a garden design is being implemented and the residents of the communal area where I live are only too pleased to see them.

It is wonderful to see an unpromising bunch of muddy roots grow into the most surprisingly beautiful blend of colours and textures. Before long they will be attracting the birds and the bees.

But I won't go there now: that's another story.

August: home and away

Well, we wanted rain - but this is ridiculous.

Orkney (according to the BBC), received more sun than Cornwall in the past few weeks and Hampshire had a greater increase in average rainfall than any other county.

Of course, there are upsides to all of this: I no longer have to rush out every evening to water my allotment; my potted plants don't look as if they are on the brink of extinction when I go away and lawns look as if they are, well, lawns.

All this rain has extended the growing and flowering period of many plants which by now would have been well past their best. The tall Golden Oats grass (Stipa gigantea) seem to have done particularly well and the moisture loving plants such as the perennial Lobelia and Monarda are lapping it up. By this time of year there is usually a faded crispness to trees and shrubs, so a celebration of the wet spells is quite in order. 

There are a host of great gardens open at this time of year and I never cease to get inspiration and heaps of ideas just from looking at all the shapes and forms of the varied plant life.

It won't be long before the evening air cools down quickly and there will be a crispness in the air.

So, if you are not going away on holiday, step outside into your patch and enjoy what is all around you. The following are gentle tasks to focus on and take you away from your laptop:

• Evergreen hedges can have their final trim.
• Trim young Lavenders being careful to only cut 25mm (1") into the new growth.
• Dead-head the faded blooms of your pots and hanging baskets. A liquid feed will give them a boost too.
• Roses too can be deadheaded once they have finished flowering.
• Rambling roses can be pruned now but don't be too ambitious: get a tree surgeon in if you have a monster.
• Adjust the height of your lawn mower according to how vigorous the growth is. Be careful not to mow too hard.
• Any patches of bare soil can either be left for the birds to enjoy a "dust bath" or can be a place to sow the seeds you have collected from your favourite plants, including wild flowers.
• If a dry spell does come along, you may need to top up your pond.

Plants from all over the world will have been collected, curated and nurtured so we can enjoy them in our gardens. Every plant species will have a story, will have a country of origin and will have their place in the local ecosystem. Some will be indigenous species, others from distant continents.

So out you go and give them some TLC. Someone probably risked their neck to get one of those species transported back to this country.

And it wouldn't have been a holiday for them either!

July: soaking it up!

On a recent trip to the Sierra Nevada in southern Spain, I noticed how careful the local population are with their water. Channels had been carefully dug along the side of hills leading to the Almond groves and crops. Fed by the mountain streams and springs, these channels brought water to the small earth dams that had been mounded up at the base of each row of plants and tree.

Taking a leaf out of their book I have scratched the surface of the soil to build up the soil in a 300mm circle around each freshly planted item to prevent the water draining away. We may have had a few days of rain but new and thirsty plants need all the help they can get and whilst my efforts are not nearly as sophisticated as those of the Andalusians, they do at least do the job. 

We are so blessed with water on our island that it really is a nonsense that we go without without water at times. Collecting rainwater in butts and collection tanks can be make all the difference and by adding comfrey or sea-weed you can create a nitrogen-rich liquid manure. ( I recommend "The Green Garden Expert" by Dr. D.G.Hessayon for further guidance). Even being a garden designer in Hampshire this is a useful reference book.

Water levels in ponds are also dropping at this time of year. In several gardens we have extended the downpipes from the guttering and directed them towards to edge of a pond. A simple switch can be fixed to re-direct the flow of water into the mains drainage if there is a danger of flooding the area in the winter. 

So apart from the usual watering chores ( which I love at the end of a day if I have been working in front of a screen), they are a number of other pleasant tasks to attend to when:

• Wisteria can be be pruned in the next 6 weeks, cutting back the long whippy shoots to five or six buds from the main stem.

• Once the early-summer flowering shrubs such as Philadelphus have finished flowering they can be cut back to a strong lower shoot. Thin out up to a fifth of old, woody stems.

• As ever, ensure newly planted trees, shrubs and perennials are well watered and never underestimate how much watering a hanging basket will need. A lot.

• Clear blanket weed and duck weed off the pond surface. Ensuring there is no nitrogen-rich fresh turf or new plants nearby will help as the nitrogen can leach into the pond and encourage pond algae.

• Clematis love cool damp feet. Ensure that the base of the plants are not drying out. Leaning a tile or something similar to create some shade at the base of the stems will help. 

• Dead head fading rose blooms and herbaceous plants that are "going over" and you should have another flush of flowers later in the season. Cut back to an outward facing joint to avoid "die-back".

• Potted plants can be kept moist when you are away by soaking them in a bath or a tub. Fill the bath to a depth of 150-300mm (6"-12") and let the soil soak up the water. Drain the water to 25-50mm ( 1"-2") and this should keep them in good fettle for a week or so. Be careful with plants that are only at home in dry conditions.

You can make your life a lot easier in the drier months by having a decent layer of mulch to help keep the moisture in the soil. Combine that with a healthy layer of ground cover plants such as Geraniums or Alchemilla mollis then you are on to a winner.

Don't give up on the hand watering outside: nothing like ambling around in the cool of the evening and noticing the colours, smells and sounds of summer.  

Delicious.

June : clipping and snipping

Suddenly everything in the garden seems to be approaching its full-blown glory.  Following the gratefully received wet spells, the lush greens of spring have filled out into new growth. The wild-flower and ornamental seeds directly sown into the ground will soon be bursting into life. I hade better get out from behind my drawing board and designing gardens in Hampshire.

Some of the hedges are beginning to look very straggly. A good method of getting a clean cut line on an ornamental hedge is to fix two ends of a string line along the proposed cutting height of the hedge. The string can be tied to forks or rake handles that you have wedged into the hedge. Tighten and adjust the string and then use your shears or electric hedge clippers to cut just below the string. Very satisfying it is too.

Remember to cut the sides of the hedge not vertically but with a slight lean inwards. This helps a hedge to keep it's shape by allowing more sunlight to the base and giving the structure more strength.

No time to hang around then and these are some of the jobs on the list:

• Clip Box, Privet and Honeysuckle ( Lonicera nitida) hedges but check that there are no little fellas still nesting in there.

• Prune deciduous Magnolias and evergreen Viburnums to the nearest node or junction.

• Deutzia, Kolkwitzia, Weigelia and Philadelphus can all be cut back after flowering, taking back the branches which bear the faded blooms and removing any weak or dead stems. (It is useful to note that these all have nearly-hollow stems).

• Clemetis montana, the vigorous, spring-flowering climber with white or pale pink sometimes fragrant flowers, can also be thinned and cut back, removing dead and diseased stems. 

• Add fertiliser to struggling or new plants.

• Tie in climbers and rambling roses before their growth becomes too wild. Likewise, prune and tie back Pyracantha.

• Cut out the parts of evergreen variegated plants that are beginning to revert to a single colour. This can often happen in Eleagnus and Euonymous shrubs.

• Keep on top of the weeds by hoeing or the good old method of hand weeding.

• Stay on top of your lawns by mowing regularly rather than occasionally with a heavy cut. 

• Keep up with the watering in any dry spells that may re-appear. Maybe think about improving your rain collection with more water butts? I counted SEVEN at a friends house this week!

You can now go out and buy those hanging baskets in the safe knowledge that the frosts are almost certain to be over. I say 'almost' for good reason.

Without stating the blindingly obvious, we are an island and the weather can change in a matter of hours depending on the direction of the wind and whatever is coming to us over the Atlantic Ocean and North Sea.

Never mind that for now: I think my strawberries are about to come good. It must be time to crack open something to celebrate.

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May...it rain !

I have to confess that there has been something of the 'Basil Fawlty' in me these past weeks. Staring up at the sky I have felt like shouting "Thank you, thank you very much indeed!" Firstly there has been a pitiful amount of rain and now that lovely frost. Thank you very much indeed!

I do, however, realise that we live on an island on the edge of an ocean. Given the massive and rapid changes in the weather a few hundred miles north of Hampshire, we actually have a fairly easy time of it.

Which doesn't get the watering done when the anticipated "April Showers" don't turn up. Many a plant, especially newly planted trees, have been lost in dry springs. Do get out there a few times a week with the hose or watering can to soak the base of your trees and shrubs. An hour of gentle rain makes little impact on thirsty roots and dark clouds are no guarantee for a wet spell. I always enjoy getting a break from designing gardens in Hampshire.

Adding a mulch to the base of trees and shrubs will help your cause: this can be rotted manure, bark chippings or even gravel - anything to keep the moisture in.

As for the frosts - just be aware that it is only when we get to June that there is any real certainty that they are over. Cover any seedlings with a fleece or fibre that will protect them from the ground frosts. It doesn't matter how warm the day was - clear skies in spring bring on cold nights. Protect any tender plants and even fruit blossoms the same way.

In order to make sure you stay on of your garden, why not devote a few hours a week to some of the following tasks? :

• There is still time to divide clumps of herbaceous plants including Hostas and Primulas once they have flowered. 

• Daffodils and other bulbs will benefit from having a generous amount of time to be fed by their long, slender leaves - so wait until the end of the month before "chopping them back". You can divide the bulbs the same way you divide herbaceous plants.

• Birds are looking to feed their young so keep the bird feeders topped up and check for nests when cutting hedges.

• Put up bird boxes for swallows and other summer migrant birds

• Keep on top of the weeds by hoeing or laying matting and mulch.

• Lawns can be fed with a nitrogen rich fertiliser but beware of doing this in very dry weather as it can scorch the grass. Compost the cuttings but add something to stop the decomposing grass becoming too sour: a few centimetres of soil is fine but a Lime mix product is even better.

• Water new lawns and aim to be cutting the lawns weekly by the end of the month.

• Clip evergreen hedges and trim evergreen shrubs.

Despite the dryness and the occasional frost there really are so many exciting new colours and shapes emerging it is hard to get bored in the garden.

Even my inner 'Basil' can manage a "Thank you, thank you very much indeed".

April: perfect gardens (not)

Oh my word. How did this all happen so quickly? A few weeks ago I was scratching around doing a bit of pruning then dashing inside as the rains came down. I now look at the work then at my diary: a mild sense of panic rises in me as I wonder how on earth I will get it all done?

I must be a goldfish: its not as if this doesn't happen every year. Yes, every year. And the solution is the same every year too. (At these moments I have the unfortunate habit of remembering songs from musicals. "Just start at the very beginning, a very god place to start". (You know the rest).

So, firstly I make a list of priorities. What can wait a while and what is urgent? Under the urgent heading for me is getting the unfinished rose pruning done, feeding them with Rose fertiliser and chopping back the tougher evergreen shrubs such as Bay Laurel, Escallonnia and Griselinia to renovate and rejuvenate them. These are easy, bold tasks that have an instant effect. 

There. I feel better already. So now onto the tedious but necessary job of laying the weed suppressing matting down followed by a spread of approx. 5 cms of bark mulch.  That will give the blighters something to think about and frankly, save me hours of fiddling around in the shrubbery when I could be designing gardens in Hampshire.

I can now do the other things that I need to do and possibly even start to enjoy the exercise:

• Having taken the terracotta pots  out of hibernation, scrape the top few inches ( 3-5 cms) of soil off the top and replace it with fresh compost. Add some plant food but spread well or water it in to avoid burning the plant root systems.

• When the bright yellow Forsythia is over you can cut back the recently-flowered stems to the main branches. That stem will grow back and flower again the year after next.

• Divide clumps of Snowdrops but be aware that they do not always take kindly to being moved.

• Shrubs that enjoy a warm, Mediterranean climate are best planted now rather than in the Autumn. These include Ceonothus, Cistus, Santolina and Lavender.

• If you put in your pond plants now, they will become established as the water warms up.

• Be aware that birds may be nesting in hedges so have a good look before you do any trimming of evergreens.

• Set your lawn mower on a high cut. As the season progresses you can lower the cut to a height of about one to one and a half inches ( 2.5 - 3.5 cms). 

• Sow grass seed to repair bare patches and apply feed to add vitality to the lawn. Be careful when you do this around ponds as a shot of nitrogen will boost your pond weeds.

You won't have time to sit and relax for long as there will be a hundred other things to do. But you might, just might pause for breath and smile to yourself as you take in the miracle that is once again happening all around you.

February

Natural ponds

January - cold comforts

http://jollygreenwill.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/january-cold-comforts.html

December - deep freeze food

http://jollygreenwill.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/december-deep-freeze-food.html

November - inner fires

See my blog :

http://jollygreenwill.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/november-inner-fires.html

October - colours and blowers

Will Ridpath - October 2016

See my blog:

http://jollygreenwill.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/october-blowers-and-colours.html

August - shedding the years

See my blog:

http://jollygreenwill.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/august-shedding-years.html