Like me, I’d say those of you who kindly take the time to read this really don’t need any excuse to buy a new plant for the garden. Or two.
I’ve found writing these weekly articles makes me consider gardening matters a lot more. And to buying plants, I’m learning that, although I’ll dip my hands into Mrs C’s pockets at any time of year if I see the right plant, I’m more inclined to do so in spring and autumn time.
A calmer time
There’s a few reasons I do this. I find the summer months pretty manic with all there is to do out in the garden.
There’s keeping on top of the lawns, the weeds and the watering, tending to the veg in the plot and the tie-ing in and training of my dahlias, sweet peas and climbing roses.
I’m just not actively thinking about any new additions.
In spring and autumn, at the beginning and end of this peak season, I find the garden is functioning at a more gentler pace.
This means I’m a lot calmer and feel I have the time to pop into the garden centres or my local plant nursery to see what’s on offer.
One of the first things I learnt when I took up gardening is April, May, September and October are traditionally the ideal times in the gardening calendar for getting new plants into the ground.
Optimum conditions
There is the optimum amount of warmth and moisture in the soil for giving our new plantings the best possible conditions for good root growth, without us having to stress about whether we are watering them enough.
I’ve also found planting now can be a wee bit of a gamble. There is a risk we get a tough winter and our new treasures haven’t had enough time to get their feet in the ground and might not see it through to spring.
Therefore I generally like to do the bulk of my new buying and planting in the springtime but as we all know, life isn’t that simple.
If I were to see the right plant no matter what time of year, it wouldn’t stop me.
We gardeners are a resilient bunch and we can always find a a couple of tricks after planting.
Protection for your plants
One is to add a 7cm/ 2in layer of compost around the base of the plant which could help as an insulation layer to protect the roots.
If you are really precious then, during cold spells, you could always cover them with some horticultural fleece. This can raise the temperature underneath it by a couple of degrees, enough to keep frost off the foliage.
There is lots to see on the display benches of garden centres just now. Pots for the front door as well as hanging baskets and trays of colourful, seasonal bedding.
Pansies, cyclamen, daisies, polyanthus and ivy all go a long way to brighten up the grey days ahead.
I also find scanning the benches gives us an idea of what is looking good right now. On my latest visit to the garden centre I saw a fine presentation of Cotinus coggyria, maybe better known as the Smoke Bush.
It gets this title as, from August to September, it produces plumes of flowers that create an unusual smoky effect, which works brilliantly against early autumn’s crisp, blue sky mornings.
Autumn is all about foliage and this shrub won’t let us down over the next few weeks.
The large, rounded, purple-red leaves colour a brilliant scarlet before they fall.
I already have a love and respect for trees which, over the coming years, I want to learn more about. They will be a major focus of my gardening interest.
Consider the crab apple
If you only have the room for one tree then you couldn’t go wrong with a crab apple.
Depending on the variety they can flower anytime from April through to June, giving us a spring show of white to dark pink flowers.
Being a cousin of our edible apples they go on to produce red, orange or yellow small fruits, suitable for making a jelly with. A good all- rounder tree, suitable for the smaller garden.
I was sorely tempted to pick up the variety ‘Rudolph’ of which there were a few specimens available. They were covered in crab apples, making me think this could be a good addition to my garden.
Saying that, it’s only October. I’m not sure I need any more reminding that Christmas is only nine weeks away.
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