大象传媒

Strong winds and wet dull days are all part of the weather pattern for January and at least the worst of the winter weather has been kept at bay by south westerly winds which is all good for the garden unless, like me, the fencing panels took a bit of a bashing. I have been pretty busy replacing posts and panels which failed to stand up to the conditions.

If your fencing is still on the ground then you need to tackle this by either repairing or replaceing the panels very soon as the plants in the garden are making growth and the new shoots will be bursting forward in the next few weeks. Once this happens then working on fencing will be difficult without destroying plants so get on with the job as soon as you can.

There are now signs that spring is just around the corner as the pink blossom or the early Prunus is very much in evidence and the yellow masses of flowers on the Witch Hazel can be seen in many gardens locally. This combined with Daffodils, Snowdrops and Crocus should get us all in the mood to get into the garden and start a little early spring maintenance like trimming out old wood on shrubs and rakeing up the last of the autumn leaves.

PLANT OF THE WEEK:
Euphorbia "Fireglow" has striking orange and green young growth followed by brick red flower heads on this lovely perennial plant much loved by gardeners since Victorian times. This variety has great autumn leaf colour and is a hardy perennial which will last for years. Euphorbia look great in most mixed borders and will thrive in most well drained soils.

TOPICAL TIPS:

Take hardwood cuttings of climbers. Hydrangea Petiolaris (Climbing Hydrangea), Campis Radicans (Trumpet Vine) and Ivies can all be propagated at this time of the year. Take fresh stem cuttings about a pencil length long and plant in pots of compost or simply push into the open ground.

Get a small PH testing kit from the garden centre and follow the instructions to find out if you soil is on the acid or alkaline side.

Still time to prune Apple and Pear trees by removing wood to create an open centre and then reducing the stems back by a third. Make sure your cut is made just above a healthy outward facing bud.

Happy Gardening:

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