February in the Garden
Welcome to the February edition of Fiveways Gardens.
So far it seems to have been a pretty mild, wet winter. I wonder how those drought tolerant, Mediterranean plants we were all heartily encouraged to grow in 2006 are bearing up? Let me know what successes and failures you've had with them. I'm happy to say that the RHS and other venerable gardening institutions have changed their advice a little, now recommending plants "hardy" and "tough" and being capable of withstanding the wild fluctuations in weather conditions we're more likely to see. That's what the appalling summer of 2007 reminded them - we'll by no means get the regular hot, dry summers of the Med. Gardening here in Fiveways and Preston Park we're actually better off than a lot, as we live on the edge of the chalk downs. After the horrendous (and never-ending) rains of last "summer", there's now much talk of the need to put in good drainage. This, of course, is where we're lucky. Chalk is porous, so excess water drains away, filling those precious aquifers. At the same time, it acts a bit like a sponge, hanging on to some residual moisture that the roots of established trees, shrubs and perennials can get at. The down side of gardening on chalk is that all that good drainage that we're naturally endowed with means that the nutrients that we and/or nature puts into our gardens in the form of deciduous leaves that fall from shrubs and trees and other naturally decaying matter, compost, well rotted manure, fertilisers etc, get washed away pretty quickly. Unlike clay soils that notoriously hang on to nutrients (as well as water by the bucket load) our lighter soils need more regular topping up with the good stuff. To my mind though, getting some decent compost of your own on the go, and bringing in a dozen or so bags of well-rotted manure once or twice a year (eg, now) is much easier than installing drainage and bringing in tonnes of horticultural grit. Arguably, this in itself is only a temporary solution as tiny clay particles begin to coat the grit, leading back to the problem you were trying to solve.. Gardening being gardening though, I'm sure there are plenty to disagree with me here.
Another thing to report is the proposed change to hosepipe restrictions to come in this summer (unless of course it's a wet one). At last, us gardeners will be spared the agonising injustice of watching our plants die whilst other people fill swimming pools and hot tubs.
Finally if you want to introduce snowdrops to your garden, the best way to establish them is to plant them "in the green" - i.e., in leaf. They won't be in flower now, but next year, they'll bloom their dainty hearts out for you. Look in the back of gardening magazines or on-line for suppliers. They can be bought for as little as £10 for 100. I planted several hundred in a woodland bed in one of the gardens I look after this time last year and was chuffed to see them start into flower last week.
Happy gardening
Lisa
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