  |
|
|
|
With rain every day for the past two weeks it looks like we are heading for a very wet autumn. October is usually fairly dry with lots of wind that brings down the leaves and blows them into all the corners where they are easily gathered up and put into the bin for to make leaf-mould, but not this year. Rain every day has left the leaves in a wet slimy mess and almost impossible to gather up, so the leaf-mould idea had to be abandoned in the hope that the weather will improve in the next couple of weeks. The frame lights were quickly retrieved from their summer storage to cover all the plants that are intolerant of winter wet. This is a critical time of the year for such plants as they are adjusting to shorter days and longer nights. The last thing they need is too much water at the roots which usually leads to their rapid demise. For some reason Celmisias fall into this category with me and it has puzzled me for years as to why this should be so. They grow like weeds in the north of the country and even along the East Coast without any protection whatsoever, but not on the West Coast. This is somewhat surprising considering that they are native of New Zealand, which shares a similar climate to ours. Maybe they do not get as much rain at this time in their growing season. After moving all the plants that needed some protection from the elements into the one area, the task of covering them was a simple matter. The lights are placed two bricks high and secured with twine and a piece or a car tube fixed to some cup-hooks. This has the advantage of letting the wind blow under the lights while ensuring that they do not blow away, and excess is easily achieved by removing the piece of rubber tube from the cup-hook. The Asiatic primulas have all now settled down with there tight winter resting buds and rosettes,and will also be covered with a glass frame until they start to bloom in early spring, when they be brought into the alpine house where I can admire the flowers at close range. Asiatic primula seedling from the above plants are now filling their pots and have been placed under the bench in the alpine house. While they would appear to be still growing strongly it would spell disaster to try and pot them on this late in the year. I will have to nurse them through the winter and pot them early in the spring.
The copyright of the article A WET START TO AUTUMN. in Gardening in Ireland is owned by Michael Campbell. Permission to republish A WET START TO AUTUMN. in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
|
|
|
|
