Our top garden tips

February – Order and plant your hedge or tree’s.

Traditional bare root planting of trees and hedges starts at the end of November. Such plants grow in an open field so production costs are far cheaper than containerised plants grown on a nursery.

February is the last month to order and plant your hedge, but ordering is only the start of the process. Mycorrhizal Fungal to aid establishment, to add compost or not, to stake once, twice or thrice and at what angle, how to tie the tree to the stake, how to protect against rabbit and deer, all questions that you need to ask if you are going to invest in a new tree or hedge.

And then there’s watering, one easy way being to wrap a perforated pipe around the tree root, down which you water every week during the growing season from March – September for the first one – two years. Or in the case of a hedge, lay leaky hose snaking around the base of the hedging, with a simple hose attachment at one end, for your garden hose to clip onto. Don’t use a nail to make holes in your own hose, as I once saw a ‘contractor’ do! Hedging will romp away with little more than a weekly water, but will almost certainly disappoint in the absence of a regular drink.

My favourites

Fruit…just planted a greengage in my garden ( ‘Prunus Reine-Claude Vert’); stunningly sweet fruits despite the bright green (colour) Tree.Prunus serrula; what bark!

Hedging…Mixed native with some Blackthorns included to make sloes to add to the gin in September. Nearly 2000 whips planted this winter, but Blackthornis always temperamental so fingers crossed.

January Jobs – Prune those winter grasses

Grasses have become increasingly popular in the last 10 years and rightly so, for they hold their shape and structure well into Winter, providing interest with the slightest breeze and masses of seed for winter feeding birds. Read more…