Monthly Archives: July 2009

What is the World Coming To?

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Faithful followers will have read more than one post on this blog about the various merits of hedging and ornamental trees.  A couple have been their ability to contribute to the security and privacy of your home. 

Well, the ability of the criminal classes to plumb ever lower depths is undiminished.  There was a report last week that police have warned garden owners living in Watford, Hertfordshire, to be on the look out for a man in early middle age who is posing as a fake gardening contractor and tree surgeon and who is trying to trick them in to allowing him access to their homes.  If he can, he gets inside and nicks stuff (including their gardening tools).  Downside of hedge plants clearly is that he will steal your clippers…. 

But what is the problem with standard trees that need a bit of surgery I hear you ask.  Well, wait for it.  He goes up the tree and then takes pictures of you and (presumably) your “friends” and neighbours.  Heaven knows where they end up, but so much for privacy…

 

Water Water Everywhere, and not a drop….

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So the long hot english summer is at an end. Politely waiting for the longest (and most boring?) Wimbledon men’s final of recent times before breaking, the weather is now distinctly “showery”.

But please do not stop watering. The ground has been baked hard over the last 4-5 weeks and the vast majority of the water that has fallen over the last 24 hours will have run to waste. This is in part because it simply runs off the surface to the nearest drain, partly because hedge plant, fruit tree and other roots tend to be several inches down in the soil and the water needs to wet the soil above before it can reach them and partly because plants are clever things and sort of slow their metabolisms down when it is dry so they use less water. Part of this process involves changing their root structures, so you will find that plants take a little time ( a week or two) after a very hot spell to start taking up moisture easily.

In the meantime, they will need spoon (i.e. hose) feeding. Especially in need of a good drink are fruit - apple trees and soft fruit bushes especially – make sure they get a steady supply of water to keep their fruit swelling without splitting.

Relax and watch your garden grow!