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Gardening Ideas June 2010

Post questions, comments and answers in the Gardening Ideas section on Candis Chat

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Lawns should be looking their best now, but what is an ideal lawn? For most people I suspect it is the fine sward, weed free, mown with stripes, very proper and reminiscent of old-fashioned vicarage tea parties. There is another set of folk (and I'm one of them) who prefer them wilder. I like to see a good tapestry of wild flowers (remember they are only weeds if you don't want them) like clover, selfheal, periwinkle, daisies and yarrow. I don't mind a little bit of moss and enjoy watching bees and butterflies visiting the flowers that open between mowings.

The golden rule of lawn care is regular mowing, because this helps the grasses thicken and spread, preventing bare patches. A weekly mowing from spring to autumn keeps coarse grasses and weeds under control, enabling the finer grasses to compete better. On thin, sandy soils, gardeners may need to pay more attention to feeding and weed control, because their grasses will not grow as strongly. Sandy soils dry out quickly and the weeds usually prosper at the expense of turf, causing bare patches. On small lawns, individual tap-rooted weeds like dandelions can be winkled out by hand, using a specially designed tool, or a screwdriver. To control creeping weeds over larger areas, you'll probably need to use a weedkiller.

Those of us on rich, moist soils generally find that lawn grasses grow better and can tolerate growing alongside weeds, so we have the option of letting them stay. For me this is fun, cuts down on the workload and means I don't have to use weedkillers. By all means let your pet guinea pigs and rabbits graze the lawn in their pens but don't do what we did here in Devon and let a Shetland pony loose on it!

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Garden clippings

......in the kitchen garden

• Set three aubergine plants into a growing bag placed in the greenhouse (ideally) or on a warm, sunny patio. There's just time to succeed if you do this early in the month.
• Make a second sowing of carrots, using either early varieties if you want to eat them fresh, or a maincrop type for storing. Be sure to soak the base of the drill well before trickling the seed thinly.
• Nip back growing tips of broad bean plants and dwarf cherries should they be attacked by blackfly. Spray any remaining pests with horticultural soft soap during evening (when bees are in bed)

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......in the flower garden

• Sow foxgloves to plant in autumn for next year. This enables you to choose from some fabulous varieties like pastel 'Suttons Apricot' or white-flowered Digitalis purpurea 'Alba'
• Take cuttings of penstemons, lavender and hebe. Keep the cuttings short (about 8cm/3in long), remove bottom leaves and dip in hormone rooting powder.
• Cut back oriental poppies as soon as they've finished flowering, removing even the long, floppy leaves. They'll re-grow a new, neater, tighter set of foliage that stays with the plant all summer.

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......and in general

• Thin thicket-like shrubs out after flowering and make piles of the pruned material to provide homes and cover for a wide range of insects. These, in turn, are food for frogs, roads and birds.
• Add climbers to other plants for added layers of interest. We have chocolate vine (Akebia quinata) scaling a winter flowering Viburnum farreri and clematis ascending roses and other shrubs.
• Divide and repot large clump-forming houseplants such as bird-of paradise and ginger lilies. Others will benefit from a larger pot, or regular fortnightly liquid feeds.

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Q and A

Q: Could you name any plants that slugs do not like, as each summer they seem to eat my most beautiful plants.
Patricia Walkden, Bolton

A: Slugs and snails like to eat soft plant tissue and in some ways are quite useful, because they help break dying leaves down into smaller pieces ready for various microbes to finish the job of rotting things down. They will also tuck into your young delphinium shoots, delicate iris foliage, newly planted bedding and young beans. Encircling vulnerable plants with copper rings helps, as slugs receive a mild electric shock from the copper and dislike crossing it. Protect soft, new plants with Growing Success Slug Killer which is based on ferric phosphate and harmless to other living things. I find that after a couple of applications the slug population reduces, plants toughen up and can grow on unaided. By and large, plants with thick, leathery, hairy and aromaic leaves are left alone.

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Q: Bindweed infests some of my borders and is driving me mad. How can I get rid of it?

A: Digging out this pernicious weed is only feasible if you can empty the border first. Try spraying with a glyphosate based weedkiller. This will kill any green plant, so you must lure your bindweed into the open by inserting sticks and canes for it to climb. Put the growth inside a poly bag and spray into the bag. The weedkiller is taken back to the roots but more than one session may be needed to make a difference.

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