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Clive Sullivan shares his horticultural tips for the coming season
CITY GARDENS
CITYWIDE
Springing out of recession
From frost to grey now green,
poverty has no touch on what is
seen. From daffodils to fragrant
flowers, nature now redeems the
widow's dower.
There is a season for all things under the sun, but surely this time, this season, the sun starts to shine and beauty radiates, no, it shouts from the flowertops. It cannot fail to inspire the most jaded, and melt the sternest heart. So, to action in our renewed gardens!
A word of wisdom. Imagine you are an eagle, soaring high above your garden, looking down on the structure of your garden. What would you change? What would you consider from your eyrie?
People invariably do the bulk of their soft landscaping (i.e. plants, trees, and turf) in the spring. While technically this is not the best time of year to plant, since most of you will be doing it anyway, here's some advice. Plants always look best clustered in odd numbers like threes or fives. Think of such concepts as unity, themes and colour contrasts. You could underplant Photinia 'Red Robin' with the contrasting Spirea 'Golden Princess'. Similarly Choisya ternata 'Sundance' contrasts well with Euphorbia 'Fens Ruby'.
There is nothing like a Magnolia tree to grace the garden in April and May. These are quite easy plants to grow, available in a range of sizes. They prefer humus rich soil (which tends to be acid, but some types will tolerate more alkaline soil). The mature specimen pictured to the right is Magnolia campbellii. What a beauty!
Another tree, this one better for small gardens is Crataegus 'Paul's Scarlet'. You can see this with red/pink flowers about this time of year, very hardy, very tough, being derived from the resilient native Hawthorn family.
You'll see many Laburnum trees (pictured left) in Cardiff gardens at this time of year, with their pendulous yellow flowers. Now, these are worthy of consideration for a smaller garden, although be careful - all parts are toxic if ingested. That said, the flowers will light up the late spring / early summer small garden, and it's a tough tree, this one.
Wild garlic (pictured below) grows so abundantly at this time of year in wood - lands, just before 'bud break'. While the trees are getting ready to explode into glorious green foliage, the woodland floor is throwing up what it can to take advantage of the spring light. I'll be honest - for many years I wasn't certain as to the edibility of wild garlic. Recently I have discovered that we can not only eat it, but it's packed with iron and vitamins. Go for a stroll in the woods and harvest it! Before you use it in cooking, wash it three or four times, and blanch it by immersion in boiling water for about twenty seconds then plunge it into ice cold water. Then it's ready to use. The flowers can be used as a garnish on salads. Very tasty, but remember to brush your teeth afterwards!
Essential gardening this season includes:
■ Water well all newly planted trees and shrubs. Keep a circle of clear earth around new trees
■ Fertilise Roses with Fish, blood and bone or a proprietary Rose food. Mix into the earth well
■ Keep an eye on the pond for algae growth & scoop it out when you see it
■ Plant out late summer flowers; Dahlias, Gladioli, and Begonias once danger of frost has passed
■ Frosts can continue until May so don't be caught out.listen to the weatherman's shout
■ Keep control of the weeds. before they control you. Remember 'Day of the Triffids!'
■ Cut the grass, gradually lowering the height on your mower blade. This will keep some weeds in check too.
■ Feed the grass with a spring feed to keep it looking good.
■ If you are thinking of converting a lawn to a wildflower meadow, now is the time to do it. Don't feed the lawn, don't cut it. Easy!
■ Prepare your summer containers and hanging baskets. Change the compost in tubs and put long lasting feed in. You need it so feed it, don't deceive it!
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