Category Archives: Gardening Tips

When do I Plant a tree?

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How much would a stand of trees be worth to your children?
A group of walnut trees begins to make nuts before the age of 15 and has timber potential at 25 years – each tree would be worth quite a bit at 50 years.
In another few decades, the trees would have made walnuts – walnut oil, walnut gifts to give – for many people to use and their value would rise all the time as timber, down to their roots, which are prized for sculpture (a varnished strip of root is a very tough thing, nice for making rustic door handles).

When should you plant a tree?

The 1st best answer is: twenty five years ago. 8-)
The 2nd best answer is: bareroot in winter to early spring, when the soil is not frozen on planting day.
The 3rd best answer is: any other time of year, if I buy it pot-grown and can water it regularly in dry weather after planting.

When should you not plant a tree?

The only times are: frozen soil or in summer if you can’t water your plants regularly.

How do I make my tree grow faster?

Make up for your trees small root system by watering in dry weather and feeding in moderation.
Nitrogen fertiliser is for spring, potash is for autumn, if these are required. Always use a soil testing kit to check.
Mycorrhizae on the roots is done at the time of planting.
A biodegradable mulch mat is for a single tree, a super tough, woven plastic sheet is used for hedges and some stands of trees. Recommended for low maintenance lovers!
Yearly mulching with rich compost and / or manure (do not pile it on the trunk) and keep weeds out.

Planting in Frost – Thou Shalt Not

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At the time of writing – 7 minutes past my lunchtime on the frosty 1st of December, 2010, I thought I would gently remind the world that you can never plant anything in frozen soil.

It’s the roots, you see. A root is an amazing thing, but it can’t do everything at once.
When it’s frozen, it loses all of its elastic strength and becomes quite brittle. If it is moved around while frozen, it will crack and split and die.

The other thing to watch out for is this: if you order bareroot plants during winter and you need to store them while a frozen period passes, they should be stored outside, where they can freeze, out of the sun.

If they freeze all night and then quickly thaw when the sun hits them during the day, the roots are likely to be damaged.

Get the ground ready now for when you buy lavender plants in May

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If you are planning on buying lavender plants this year here are a few tips which might help you grow them just that little bit better.

1.  Don’t buy your lavender until towards the end of May.  Lavender is a funny old thing – the angustifolia varieties such as Hidcote and Munstead are as tough as old boots once they are established. They ought to be by now as they have been grown in the UK since the Romans were here.  However they take a minute or two to establish and they are decidedly fussy while settling in. Risk number one, especially this year given the weather we have been having, is frost.  The first half of May often seen freezing weather and, while it should not kill the plants it will nip their flower buds.  So plant in the second half of May at the earliest.

2. The soil is warmer and drier by the end of May as well.  Lavender can grow in soil that more resembles dust than anything else and despite its small size its roots can go down several feet to find moisture. So miss out on April showers as you won’t get any May flowers anyway and your plants can drown in the process.

3. If you have not done so already, prepare the ground where they will be planted.  This is all about drainage – lavender does not need feeding now.  Incorporate sand,  grit or anything else that will open up the soil and make it drain more easily. If you are on heavy soil, recognise that conditions are not ideal for lavender and that they never will be.  Open the soil as much as possible, and make a ridge about 15cms (6″) high and twice as wide. When planting time comes plant your lavender into the top of the ridge which will remain well drained in all weathers.  Once they have established, the lavender will cover the ridge and you will never see it.

4.  Buy good sized plants in a sensible pot. It is a false economy to buy seemingly cheap plants, usually in P9 or P11 pots (there are 9 or 11 cm square pots.  Go for buy 2 year old lavender plants in 1.5 litre pots.  They will have much bigger root systems and will carry far more flower in their first year.  In our experience they also establish better.

5. Blue is the colour.  The hardy lavender is Lavandula angustifolia.  It is the ONLY truly hardy lavender. And the hardiest angustifolias are Hidcote and Munstead.  Both are blue and I strongly advise you to stick with one of these. Nothing is quite as depressing as a lavender hedge with great gaps in it caused by plant loss due to frost or wet. French lavenders and (almost) all of the integrifolia and stoechas varieties would have hated the conditions of this winter and will have been decimated. Buy British….

6.  Oh yes, and order early as most reputable growers tend to sell out fairly quickly.

If you think we are reputable, these are our lavender plants for sale

Softwood Cutting Season and Willow Twig Brew

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Spring is easing into a ready to be sprung position and the propagators among you will be looking forward to getting those cuttings that you were eyeing up last year off their parent plant and into your garden (having asked their rightful owner first, of course…).

A list of plants suitable for softwood propagation that we grow would include Acer cappadocium, the Birch species (Betula), Liquidambar styraciflua, all the Prunus types (that’s Blackthorn, Flowering & Edible Cherries, Cherry Laurel & Portugal Laurel plus Damsons, Plums and Gages) and good old Elm (Ulmus) trees. Popular plants that we don’t do would include Smokebushes (Cotinus coggygria), Catalpa species, Ginkgo biloba and the lovely Dawn Redwood, Metasequoia.

It isn’t quite yet time for taking the cuttings, so while you are preparing some pots with rooting compost (John Innes Seed Compost mixture is the original and the best), you might want to have a scout around for some willow trees.

Not planting a willow tree, you say? Well, you probably know that willows are the easiest tree in the world to grow from cuttings. Poke em in the ground, any which way up, and put the kettle on. The trees themselves are also among the most vigorous of all native trees. The reason is simple: they have a superabundance of the growth hormones which are common to most plants.

When the time comes to take your cuttings, all you need to do to make your own willow based rooting hormone is collect a few handfuls of willow twigs – fresh ones from last season’s new growth – chop them up into 2 inch pieces, put them in a pan and cover with a gallon or so of just off the boil water. Cover the whole thing with a lid or plastic bag and leave it for 48 hours, putting it in the fridge when it has cooled completely. It’s best to do this just a couple of days before you take the cuttings, so it’s nice and fresh.

In a few weeks, when you take the cuttings, pour some of your juice into a cup and leave your cuttings with their bases sitting in about half an inch of it for 24 hours before planting them out. Water them with the willow tea until it runs out – in the fridge, it should be good for a couple of weeks.

Have fun!