Gardener's Diary            July

I have been gardening now for about thirty years, long enough for my husband to know that it`s wise to bury his head in a newspaper when I get the secateurs out...  I don`t have a favourite style of gardening, traditional is nice but I also think the modern trends work well. Plants in my garden have to be resilient as they get moved around frequently, and my husband has been heard  to mutter  “I don`t remember that tree being there this morning..”

Hobbies have come and gone over the years but only gardening has endured, and now in retirement this column adds a new dimension to the hobby, and will hopefully help others find pleasure in this healthy and therapeutic pastime  ...  

Please e-mail me with your garden problems, comments, or ideas for this section of  laterlife

Fifteenth edition  - July 2002

Ah, another gentle, `pottering in the garden` sort of month and one of my favourites. After all the hard work it is time to relax for a few weeks and just enjoy the rewards of your labour. Find a peaceful part of your garden with the best view, plonk a seat there and spend some time just relaxing... the gardening jobs will still be there waiting for when you have more energy! This is a month of lazy days and barbecues. It is the time of year when I walk around the garden, savouring the sights, smells and sounds and wishing I could bottle it all to last me through the long winter months. 

I sometimes wish for a warmer climate, but on balance prefer our cooler temperatures and diversity of seasons and landscape.  

I received my new bulbs and shrubs catalogue from Thompson and Morgan this week and at first glance thought the colours on some of the images had `run`. But on closer inspection I discovered that there were indeed pink Lily of the Valley and yes, they do sell pretty pink daffodils, and even daffodils that change from yellow to pink as they age! Some of the flower shapes seem bizarre too, with parrot tulips that remind me of cabbage leaves. I wonder if sometimes horticulturalists interfere too much with nature in an attempt to swell company profits, and what the outcome will be..  Producing GM foods is the other side of the coin that bothers me.  

Hot off the press, more good news for Thrive :-

RHS and Thrive team up to help less able gardeners

Jobs for the month - July

House plants

This is the month when your houseplants are likely to be attacked by pests such as aphids, red spider mite and mealy bug. One of my larger succulents in the conservatory was found to be covered in white cotton wool like fluff which turned out to be mealy bug infestation. I picked them all off with a cotton wool bud and quarantined the plant. Check all your houseplants thoroughly and treat according to your gardening book recommendations if infestations are found.

Lawns

It has been said in books that a lawn is only as good as it`s edges, and I agree that however immaculate your lawn is, if the edges are crumbly, ragged and uneven, the effect is lost. So once or twice a year remedy this by cutting any overhanging grass  with either a strimmer, or a long-handled pair of shears, and straighten the edges with either a straight bladed spade, a proprietary lawn edger or a special half-moon turfer (turfing iron) If you have straight borders you will avoid getting wavy edges if you put a marking line down.

Herbaceous borders

Enjoy the colourful borders this month, taking care to cut off flowers as they fade. This serves as a dual purpose in removing unsightly dead blooms and also encouraging more new flowers. Some perennials should be lifted and divided every few years at this time, so check this out in your gardening book. Feed plants if necessary with a preparation such as "Miracle -Gro" which can be applied with a dispenser that attaches to the hose pipe. Mulch borders if possible.   

Vegetables

Don`t neglect routine weeding which may be necessary at this time of year to prevent weed seedlings germinating. Mulch the ground around the crops to prevent water loss using grass cuttings if required, but not if it has recently been treated with a weed killer. Usually after 4 mowings grass will be safe to use as a mulch.

Water gardens  

Fish may still spawn until August, so be careful not to lose any tiny, newly hatched fry if you are disturbing the water in your pond.   Don`t let blanket weed smother your fish and plants, hook it out with a stick, taking care not to catch any frogs or fish in it.. Watch out for any water snails that have been introduced into your pond through new planting, for they may eat the plants. Although most types of snails usually do a good job consuming decaying plant or animal remains, they are not all pond friendly.

Wildlife

I love watching the wildlife in our garden: the blackbirds busy turfing the bark off the borders, looking for food for their young, the other birds with their youngsters, the fox that has his route through our garden every night, the hedgehog in the evening and butterflies during the day. But mostly I love watching my young dog watching all of the other creatures. She seems fascinated by them all and their audacity at intruding in her domain. It is a constant drama unfolding.

Some garden shows to visit this summer:

Click here for flower shows in all other areas of the UK:

And some web sites of interest to gardeners:    

www.alantitchmarsh.co.uk 

Alan Titchmarsh MBE, TV gardener, writer, broadcaster and thoroughly nice person. Just a few choice words to describe the peoples` favourite TV gardener. See his website....

Thompson and Morgan: a growing resource for gardeners worldwide. The site includes the international online seed catalogues, the young plants catalogue (UK only), the wholesale seeds catalogue, together with the award winning Germination Times and a host of other useful information. 

www.carryongardening.co.uk

Gardening is an important part of many people's lives. You don't have to give up gardening because of accident or illness, the onset of disability or the problems associated with growing older. The information on their website is designed to provide you with the information to Carry on Gardening.

Carry on Gardening was initiated by the horticultural charity Thrive and is funded by the National Lottery Charities Board.  It brings together information on easy ways of gardening gathered over 23 years by Thrive and research carried out since the early 1970s by Mary Marlborough Centre, Oxford, on tools and equipment for disabled and older people. 

www.edenproject.com 

The living theatre of plants and people
The Eden Project is a gateway into the world of plants and people. A meeting place for all to discover how we depend on plants and how we can help to manage and conserve them for our mutual survival.

Good reading:-

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