大象传媒

Large trees in gardens always create debate鈥μ齱ill it fall, will it break, will it damage my house? However, there are many benefits to having a large tree in your garden.听From a visual point of view, they immediately add structure and height to a garden which cannot be bought or designed. Instead of detracting from your property, large trees can give your garden and street a green and leafy look that can also add value.听

Big trees give gardens completely different microclimates, enabling听particular types of plants to be grown that would not survive if the trees weren鈥檛 there ie. shade-loving or woodland plants. In wet gardens, trees can also help dry the soil so that plants that don鈥檛 like soggy soil will grow.听

Some of these large trees have taken a lifetime to become the specimens they are now and if they are looked after well, they will be here for several generations to come.听

(www.rhs.org.uk)

Hauser & Wirth
Durslade Farm
Dropping Lane
Bruton
Somerset
BA10 0NL

Tel. 01749 814060
听
Monty visits a beautiful garden in Somerset designed by Piet Oudolf, the internationally-renowned landscape designer. Piet has received many high profile commissions around the world, including working with Peter Zumthor on the Serpentine Gallery in London and most famously, The High Line in New York. The garden at this art gallery is open all year, so if you鈥檙e in the area and fancy a visit, check out the website below for more information.听

(www.hauserwirthsomerset.com)

If you sow spinach now, it will give you a harvest of baby leaves this autumn and more mature leaves next spring. Sprinkle the seed thinly in shallow drills and draw the soil back over them. Water them well before covering them with a cloche or fleece and, with luck, they should germinate within a fortnight.听

听(www.rhs.org.uk)

It鈥檚 a good idea to take penstemon cuttings in the autumn as an insurance against winter losses. Choose nice strong stems without any flower buds, 听cutting them to about 6-9in long. Place them straight into a polythene bag until you are ready to pot them up. Strip off the lower leaves and make a clean cut just below a leaf node. Pop them around the edge of a pot filled with a 50:50 mix of perlite and compost and put them somewhere warm and light. After giving them a good drink, mist them daily so that they don鈥檛 dry out.听

(www.rhs.org.uk)

Unlike apples, pears should be harvested before they ripen. Hold the still firm fruit and gently raise it to the horizontal. If it comes away in your hand, it is ready to pick. Handle it very gently and store it in a cool, dark place and bring out a few at a time to a sunny spot to ripen more quickly. As soon as they are ripe, eat them immediately!听

(www.rhs.org.uk)