Orchard Park Gardening Articles - June 2007
Gardening Month by Month - June
I don’t get out that much but did attend a management training course recently. A good idea I thought – one should always be learning, in fact I do try to learn something new each day. Yesterday for example, we were discussing nomenclature of plants, and realised that although I know the Latin for a whole bunch of fancy plants I do not know the proper botanical names for many of our wild flowers. This came about because the question was asked, why bother with Latin names? It’s not just a continued reaction from films such as Mel Gibson’s Passion, or Gladiator – although I read somewhere that more schools are actually teaching Latin these days. I learnt Latin to ‘O’ level, just failed but it was hard and I don’t regret the experience apart from endless translations of The Iliad which never made any sense at all. So the reason we use Latin names is because of the universal nature of the system – where ever you go in the world, a Latin name will be the same – a complete contrast of course to the common name. The only pickle we can get into is how best to pronounce the Latin, but I’ll leave you to struggle with that on your own.
But back to my original; point, time on your hands! The “trainer” running the course was at pains to make us all feel at ease with one another, to break the ice as it were. We had to describe our selves as we thought we were, and what we did with our spare time. I was stumped at that point, what was spare time? Is that the time that you have when you can’t think of anything to do? He really meant leisure time, and the temptation is to list reading, walking, and foreign travel [meaning the annual holiday]. The other great and often listed leisure pursuit is gardening, but it didn’t occur to me at the time – gardening is more a way of life. Growing plants, ornamental and edible, is just something that so many of us do without giving it a second thought. So on the one hand I was embarrassed as I can think of a leisure activity [used to be called hobbies I think] but on the other hand I felt my life had a breadth of interest because gardening was so much a part of my life. So there!
Plant of the Month – ‘Classic clematis’ with summer flowering species and varieties.
‘Design classic’ is an everyday term which can come to mind when we’re thinking of anything from a Jaguar E-Type to a little black dress. In gardening there are some plants that have the same quality that makes them desirable whatever the decade or the setting. Clematis [best pronounced klemA-tis] is definitely on the A list with their fabulous choice of flowers and colours.
Simply being a climber gets clematis off to a great start. The versatility and space-saving qualities of climbers makes them ideal for such a wide range of situations. In smaller gardens, using vertical space for a cascade of colour adds maximum interest for a small footprint. Growing climbers up walls and fences is a great way of softening hard boundaries and creating a sense of space – an apparently permeable boundary is far less ‘enclosing’ than a solid wall or fence. You can also use them to great effect for screening off garden eyesores or on trellises to divide areas. It can even work to grow them through the branches of a deciduous tree.
There are some early-mid season beauties; most have big, confident flowers: Belle of Woking, Beauty of Worcester, Countess Lovelace, Henryi and of course the stunning Nelly Moser.
Shade doesn’t rule out clematis either. Clematis ‘Dawn’ is a great choice for these situations.
If you’re planting in the ground, good drainage will help your clematis to thrive. Work in plenty of soil improver (compost, well-rooted manure) when you plant and water well, especially if planting through the summer. It helps to keep the roots cool, so arrange slates or stones to keep the sun off the ground above the roots. Pruning back to a pair of strong shoots 15 or 20cm above ground level is an effective way of encouraging strong growth.
Clematis is a great patio plant too. It can thrive in a pot and bring all the benefits of flowers and foliage to hard surfaced areas where it isn’t possible to plant into the ground. This flexibility also allows you to move your clematis, either around the garden, or if your domestic arrangements force you to move house frequently. Containers do need to be big enough (at least 45cm deep and 30-45cm wide) and container-grown plants will need a little more in the way of feeding and watering than if they’re planted in the ground.
Clematis offer a wonderful combination of beauty and practicality. As well as big, eye-catching flowers and lots of them!
Jobs for the Month –
Another busy month! A lot of taller growing plants such as Delphiniums, and hollyhocks, need support. If you don’t then the lush growth from late May will not be strong enough to keep them upright to get the full show. Take out flowering spikes as soon as they have finished to keep the show going.
Most annuals and tender perennials should be hardened off by now and ready to be planted out. This is best done on a day that is overcast – helps to reduce the shock to the plant, then water in well. The weather is still unpredictable, all you can do is to watch out for cold or strong winds, prolonged dry periods or hail! Apart from that, all should be fine!
There are a lot of hanging baskets out and in full bloom. To keep them doing well, a weekly liquid feed and regular deadheading is essential.
Weeding is vital this month if you want to keep on top of it. If you want to know what a weed is , it’s just a plant growing in the wrong place at the wrong time. It is also the nice big healthy plant growing next to the weedy specimen you have been trying to grow for the past 4 years and still hasn’t flowered. Young weed seedlings are far easier to hoe off than larger plants. A quick hoe round on a dry day will keep them nicely under control.
Lawns do need regular mowing – keeps the broadleaved weeds down and discourages coarser grasses from taking over. If you mow and remove the clippings then you rally should feed it. Good multi-purpose lawn treatments are not nearly as expensive as they used to be and the difference is noticeable.
Lots of pests and diseases around – greenfly and black spot will be the most common. The summer will govern the amount of mildew or botrytis we see. Hot weather will produce powdery mildews, and wet evenings will encourage black spot on roses and downey mildews. Cold wet weather generally encourages botrytis – good ventilation will help – why not move to a windy site?!! Combined rose fungicides and insecticides work well, and if you make sure the plant doesn’t get under stress by giving it adequate feed and water, you should be able to keep them alive.
Attend to the topiary – trim box and bay trees. Then give them a feed and top up the compost in the pot.
Most evergreens can be trimmed, and keep wall shrubs and climbers tied in and prune off the growth that is obviously heading in the wrong direction.
In the vegetable garden plant out runner beans, tomatoes, courgettes and anything else you‘ve been hanging on to Keep regular small sowings of salad crops and mange tout peas will still crop in time. Leeks should be planted out, carrots sown [late crops are less likely to be attacked by carrot root fly] onions hoed, sweet corn sown, parsnips sown and herbs planted out. Spinach can be sown repeatedly – treat it like a salad crop, and if you like rocket then sow that but sow a little every now and again to get a constant supply.
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