Potting Plants

You can learn strange facts about nature from Gardener’s names for the different plants. Monkey-flowers are so named because some  flowers are shaped like a monkeys face and others have painted monkey faces.  Some species of Monkey flower (Latin name Mimulus) have a wet aromatic smell hence another gardeners name ‘Musk’.
However the item that caught my attention was Monkey flowers provide for for the Mouse Moth.

Growing Monkey Flowers

You can easily grow annual Mimulus from seed and they flower in 7-8 weeks.
You can also grow perennial Mimulus cupreus or M. luteus and in mild areas another Mimulus, the Scarlet Faced Monkey flowers may be hardy.
Most Monkey flowers grow in moist or wet soils with some growing in bogs or shallow water.
You can grow from plug plants called Magic rainbow
Monkey flowers grow well and bloom in partial shade.
Mimulus genome is being studied in depth and you can find out more at the Mimulus Community.

In the meantime I wait for the newspaper headline ‘Mouse eats Musky Monkey’

‘The Gardeners’ Book: For the Gardener Who’s Best at Everything’ is really grand for novice gardeners taking up gardening for the first time or those seeking to grow some green fingers.

Improve Your Own Soil’s Consistency

• Great soil contains air, water and nutrients appropriate for the plants you want to grow.
• Digging soil over introduces air then weather breaks it down into a fine tilth.
• Worms aerate soil and improve the texture. They feed on humus or rotting vegetable matter so encourage worms by feeding the soil with humus.
• Sandy soil needs more humus to help it retain water. Clay needs more humus to hold the soil open for delicate roots.
• Soil should drain excess water away so some stones are not a problem. If there are lots of stones and rocks remove them or grow plants that like those conditions.
• Do not walk on very wet soil. Use a plank or duck board.

Bought Soil and Compost

• Compost in bags can be perfect for pots and containers. It usually has some fertilizer, some wetting agent to make it easy to water and is of a consistancy that helps plants grow. It is not economic for larger garden areas although I use it in the greenhouse beds.
• Peat, as well as being out of favour as unsustainable or eco-unfriendly, has no nutritional value and is hard to water once it dries out.
• Top soil can be bought in various quantities but may contain stones, weeds and poor soil so beware.

The Right Soil Chemical Content

• Plants need Nitrogen, Phosphates and Potassium (NPK) as food from the soil. Sun is the enegy to turn this food into growth through photosynthesis.
• Hearty soil will have accessible NPK that can be augmented, for heavy feeding plants, with a balance fertilizer such as Growmore or Blood, Fish and Bone.
• Some plants prefer a slightly acid soil from which to extract the nutrients and animal manure and peat mixed with your soil will increase the acidity.
• Vegetables often prefer an alkaline soil so you can add a dusting of lime.

I thought my humus was a funny bone until they gave me the elbow.

Novice gardeners can expect to get fair crops from Fruit trees and bushes without too much effort. With extra care a great deal more can be achieved.

Beginners Tips
Go for well know fruit types do not start off with the exotic.
Buy good quality plants from a local nursery. Ask nurserymen what varieties grow well locally and do they need other trees as pollinators.
Give them enough space to grow in fair soil with some sunshine. Do not just cram them into a small corner space.
Trees need time to establish themselves but get better with time so do not rush the crops.
Bushes and canes will produce a crop quicker.

Prepare the Ground
Remove all perennial weeds
Double dig the soil, that is two spits deep. If the ground hasn’t been cultivated for several years ‘Bastard trench’ by removing the top 10″ of soil to a top-soil pile then double digging incorporating lots of humus and drainage material, then return the top soil.
Organic matter will help increase the humus levels.
As you only access the soil under a fruit tree once I would lime the soil and add slow release fertilizers.

Tips on Planting Fruit Trees
The best time to plant trees, canes and fruit bushes is November when there is residual heat in the ground to aid root establishment. In heavy soil bare rooted stock can still be planted through March before bud burst.
Plant shrubs, trees and canes at the depth they were grown in the nursery. The old soil level mark should be obvious.
The hole should be wide enough and deep enough to accommodate the roots without bunching or bending.
Firm down soil as you backfill.
Most trees benefit from stake support for at least 2 years and permanently for dwarf rooting stock. Tie a flexible support one third and two thirds the way up the trunk with the head able to blow in the wind.
Protect from rabbits and deer with netting if damage is likely.

For soil fertility read Organic fruit growers year.

Naturalising means bulbs growing and seeding as they would in the wild; i.e. “in nature”. In most gardens this means growing bulbs in grass instead of borders.
To naturalize bulbs they need to be planted where they can remain undisturbed without the need for the foliage to be prematurely removed. Leaves need to die back for about six weeks after the flowers have faded.

Growing Bulbs in Grass

• Crocus will thrive for years if planted in grass with a dry or fast draining soil. If the lawn is lush and gets lots of high nitrogen fertilizer it will stunt the flowering process of the bulbs. You’ll get lots of foliage but no flowers.
• Plant in groups or clusters so you can mow the other area.
• You need to be patient as a bulb seedling will take 5-7 years before it has built up reserves to flower.
• Some bulbs do better than others in grass including Iris danfordiae and reticulata, Grape Hyacinth Muscari, Scilla, Snowdrops and small Daffodils.

Naturalising in Soil and thin Grass

• Wood Anemonies will self seed and naturalise in a woodland glade
• Hardy cyclamen multiply by seed dispersal and naturalise.
• Winter aconites are also good naturalisers.
• For yellow ‘wild’ daffodil varieties try Narcissus lobularis and the Tenby daffodil Narcissus obvallaris.
• The dramatic white Narcissus  ‘Actea’ follows a bit later and if you can wait the May flowering Pheasant Eye daffodil, Narcissus poeticus recurvus can be spectacular.

Top 10 most beautiful parks compiled by Rae Spencer-Jones for the Daily Telgraph because 1001 gardens is probably too much visiting. If you are determined to try buy the book first.

1. Royal Botanic Garden Kew has a tropical plant festival in the glasshouse until March 2010
2. Virginia Water – Saville garden and Valley garden have a varied and exotic woodland, landscape and garden to visit.
3. Hylands Park Essex has a wide variety of interesting flora, fauna. There is also a large variety of mature trees including oak, ash, hornbeam, and field maple, plus an additional 25,000 new trees.
4. Clumber Country Park Nottinhamshire is ideal for long walks or cycling so you need to be fit.
5. Talkin Tarn Cumbria nestles in a 165 acre site, containing a glacial tarn surrounded by mature woodland and gentle meadows
6. Coed y Brenin Gwynedd is Forestry commission land with lots of bike tracks.
7. Healey Dell Nature Reserve Lancashire sits in a picturesque part of the Spodden Valley on the outskirts of Rochdale. It is rich in wildlife, with a fascinating archaeological history
8. Stanwick Lakes Northampton is a unique countryside attraction in the heart of the Nene Valley very good for wild life.
9. Normanby Hall Museum and Country Park Lincolnshire with a walled garden, house and farming museum to complement the Park
10. Vogrie Country Park Edinburgh has 250 acres of natural trails, a walled garden and ponds. The 19th-century landscape includes trees brought to Scotland by plant collector George Forrest. Great for walking.

‘Do not forget to pause and smell the flowers’ is an injunction oft repeated but it could also apply to pausing to inspect the flowers. It is easy to see the brash flowers of Dahlias, Peonies of Delphiniums for instance but close inspection of the petal-pattern or the individual florets can open up a new view of gardening.

One flower that fascinates me is the Cyclamen with the nodding head that straightens to a twist of petals what slowly untwist to reflex the petals back towards the stem. A fascinating natural process to observe. Look out for other dwarf bulbs including Crocus chrysanthus, Eranthis hyemalis (yellow aconite), Oxalis and Grape Hyacinth.

For structure in a miniature garden you can do a lot worse than Dwarf Conifers but be wary of slow growers that will eventually dominate like Juniper horizontalis and Chamaecyparis lawsoniana ‘Ellwoods Gold’.

Dwarf Conifers under 18″

• Juniper communis Compressa is recognised as one of the best conifers for creating a miniature landscape with its slender spire of tightly packed grey-green foliage.
• Abies balsamea Hudsonia grows to 12″
• Chamaecyparis lawsoniana ‘Minima Aurea’ has wonderful golden foliage in a dense conical bush. Chamaecyparis lawsoniana Pygmaea Argenta also tops out at a similar 24″ but is blueish green with creamy white tipped shoots.
• Juniper squamata Blue Star is a spreading 10″ high contrast to yellow leaved conifers.
• Thuja occidentalis Danica is a neat bush with bronzed winter tints.

It pays to think small and to look closely. If you are limited for space it may pay to create a garden in miniature selecting all the small species you would like to see in Acres of space.

The traditional Cottage Garden was a working garden for the growing ornamental and edible crops. Planting included fruit, vegetables and herbs mixed with flowers such as Peonies, Delphiniums and Aquilegia to produce a haven for insects, an eye opener for gardeners and crops for the house.

Cottage Fruit Garden

• Rhubarb would be one of my key plants in any cottage garden. In addition to the fruit pies from the pink and red stalks I would allow some plants to throw up the striking flower stalk. The Sutton or Victoria from Thompson Morgan would be appropriate varieties.
• Gooseberries remind me of grandparents garden and Lancer is a green mid season fruit that crops well. Whinham’s Industry is a neat red.
• Raspberries like Malling Jewel with some wire support near a wall or strung from two stout posts would also go into the cottage fruit patch.
• Currants smell so good when the leaves are slightly crushed and redcurrant  Red Lake and the blackcurrant Wellington XXX would fill up the patch.
• An old Apple tree in the corner may be supplemented by new ballerina columnar trained small trees.
• If there is space for a Plum tree it will be an eating variety like Czar fan trained against a wall.

Cottage Vegetable Garden

• Runner beans can hold there own amongst many flowers and I am growing Painted Lady variety this year.
• French beans and broad beans are popular in my household so I will grow more of these than the brassicas which do not get eaten.
• For colourful vegetables I will plant some Swiss Chard ‘ Bright Lights’.
• I grow a mix of mangetout and garden peas that need regular picking.
• You can also get away with a Tumbler tomato or two in a front garden.
• Leeks look flamboyant when grown with  large flags and a good leafy marrow will provide lush green growth.

It is hard to agree on a range of flowers for a cottage garden so I have ducked the issue a bit. Nasturtiums are edible and cottagy and where would a garden be without Sweet Peas.

Swiss Chard