A Town Garden Awakes
Spring has finally arrived here after an extremely mild but very wet winter. A few flurries of snow earlier in the month of March has been the only snow seen so far, I say so far, because snow is not unknown even in April. The result of these mild conditions has been steady plant growth as ground temperatures begin to rise. Clematis pruning began in February and rose pruning during the month of March. Leafmould has been duly spread on the borders, together with organic fertiliser; the scene is set for another gardening year. Already the garden, which opens for charity each year, has received its first visitor (an American lady from Oregon) who marvelled at the splendour of the hellebores, plants which together with the daphnes, are often the showstoppers of early spring.
These most reliable performers of early spring are the mainstays from the floral point of view, together with Magnolia stellata and of course those spring bulbs of narcissi and scillas in my garden. Garden birds are becoming very vocal and will soon reach a crescendo during April and May. Nest prospecting has been under way for a while now and the garden will do doubt again host many small families during the growing season.
I always look forward to the fattening buds on the hellebores. By February, they are well developed. None more so than the orientalis hybrids, which come in such a variety of colours, ranging from white through to plum. The flowers themselves always look best if all the old leaves of last season are removed, giving an unrestricted view. This job also clears the way for the emerging new leaves of the current season, which are already beginning to poke through the soil.
Talking of spring reminds me to tell you that many fungal problems can be caught before they become crippling. These include 'blackspot' on many roses, and the unrelated 'blackspot' on hellebores. The time to do this is just as the leaves themselves are unfurling, giving a drenching to leaves and root area with a systemic fungicide. This being repeated throughout the growing season at two weekly intervals. It is also worth noting that this early season probably represents the last chance to put down a moisture retaining mulch of leafmould or composted bark whilst the soil is still relatively bare and moist. A good two or three inches of the stuff will not go amiss, the benefits should we have a dry hot summer are immense, it also give the beds themselves a marvellous rich look too. As is usual here, no sooner has this mulch been carefully placed on beds, than blackbirds appear, scattering it far and wide looking for worms, covering paths. So each morning I am out with a sweeping brush, it's become an almost annual event. All this organic matter will of course also feed all those worms who help to incorporate it into the soil there bye helping the micro organisms which are also very important members of a healthy soil. Time spent doing these jobs at this time of the year will almost certainly make pests in general much less of a problem. If done every year, this organic matter will slowly build up in the soil providing a really first class growing medium and much healthier plants all round.
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