Gardening Hints

It was one of those jobs I enjoy! The MAKEOVER! None of this complete in 3 days stuff as we see on TV. Here it was steady graft. This was to be a new patio, shrub beds, hard trim of the hedge which had not been touched for months, or was that years and when cut made the garden look twice as big. It filled the trailer as well leaving a very unsightly boundary screen. Never mind, growth would return over the next year or two if it didn’t get an attack of fungal disease. Phytophthora (P infestans) not only attacks tomatoes and potatoes! There has been a steady rise of infection and deaths of a wide variety of tree and shrub species over recent years caused by Phytophthora. That section of Leylandii hedge dying out may not only be down to bootlace fungus, but Phytophthora ramorum another recent introduction to this country.

Cleaning out all the rubbish. Yes! The rubbish, can sometimes be quite exciting! Objects of art that had been tossed into a corner years ago, buried scaffolding poles, cables and piles of useful stone that come in handy for another job. I have yet to find buried treasure but I live in hope!

I was looking with anticipation on the removal of a non-berrying holly tree that had got out of hand and was emasculating all the other plants under its shady umbrella. You sometimes have to be cruel to be kind if you are starting again in the garden, because your minds eye design will be fresh if you are giving the garden a new perspective. Gardens evolve slowly once you have the basic design, so never hurry. Whether I was going to find Lonnie Donnigan hiding in this garden, I was yet to find out! But that holly could be a problem.

Old beds cleared out were re-soiled and edges cut to receive fresh turf or were used to dump excavations from the Indian stone paving that would add a touch of class to the house. Finishing off the paving with a good wide joint and a mix of light coloured sand and white cement would attract the eye.

The planting beds once shaped were to receive a landscape membrane to separate the soil from the layer of gravel. Plants would be planted through the holes cut in the membrane and then carefully surrounded by ¾” bright hard gravel up to the base of the plant. This helps to keep weed growth down but does not eliminate new weeds completely. It certainly makes it a lot easier to lift any weed growth from seed blown in or dropped by man or beast!

Finding plants for the base of a hedge can be difficult. Plants like beech and Lonicera are good at clothing the base but in this case being Leylandii there was that foot or two of clean trunk that are useless for keeping the dog out next door. You can either plant with a species like Symphytum that will tolerate the toughest conditions because of the drying soil  or you leave a strip of sterile ground  purposely using material like tree bark. The problem of using gravel in any circumstance is that it gets mixed up with a grass edge and ruins the edging shears. (Wilkinson Sword topped the Which Report recently)! So a little to think about. Not just what will go into that shrub bed.

Oh! Yes. The good lady did make up her mind in the end. The holly tree is no more!

David Mitchell
Yorkshire Landscape Gardens
dave@daviddmitchell.co.uk