Green Fingers: Gardening on the wild side
With the current fashion for wild gardening, there is an increasing awareness to help our pollinating insects by creating wild flower areas.
Spending time gardening outside in your open space is or should be a fun occupation.
Whatever your situation is, do organise it so that this objective is achieved, as, if it becomes too much or a bit of a chore, you will not have your heart in it and things will go downhill fast, and you will have failures.
Everyone knows the burst of energy we get when the longer days of spring arrive. This enthusiasm can be extended by getting things done and not thinking about it, and that includes gardening. If at this stage you have missed out or have hit a wall as things are getting on top of you, then it is time to take stock and reassess the plan for the rest of the summer.
A common problem is to take on too much and then it can go pear-shaped when weeds take over your planted areas and you become disillusioned.
For whatever reason, if your garden has gone wild do not despair but set to and tackle one area at a time whenever you can manage it. The ‘one bite at a time’ quote works wonders, with, say, spending 30 minutes a day catching up. You will see a huge difference at the end of the week.
It is at this stage that you might get a ‘light bulb’ moment and think about embracing the ‘wild garden look’ that is currently gaining popularity. Well, you might as well know that wild gardening takes about as much time as the normal routine gardening and takes a bit of effort in getting it established.
There are a number of ways of reducing the time you spend on the garden. Included in this is letting your garden grow ‘on the wild side’ and not being too particular with having a neat and regimented design. The range of hardy trees, shrubs, conifers and climbers are probably the easiest to cultivate with minimum input, and, if they are grouped and merged into beds together, there is not much to do except keep it weed-free until the plants cover over the ground.
Pruning with a hedge trimmer when needed every so often will keep them in a reasonable shape.
With the current fashion for wild gardening, there is an increasing awareness to help our pollinating insects by creating wild flower areas.
The big mistake is to scatter wild flower seed among an established grass area and expect them to grow, because they will not. Wild flowers grow in relatively poor ground and do well when not in competition with grass. It is best to start with clean ground, free of any perennial weeds, such as couch grass and bindweed, and if this means delaying the sowing for a season then do this and wait a year.
Sowing can best be completed from April to July. After spreading the seed, rake it in so they are covered and mixed with the soil.
After that, it is a case of waiting for germination and foliage to appear, which might be slow with only a few flowers the first season, but the following seasons should be full of blooms from spring until the frosts.
The time for starting vegetables has almost closed and is largely confined to those who have a protected structure, such as a tunnel or glasshouse. You can still sow quick-maturing salads and also plant out some of the cabbage family to grow on such as kale, Brussels sprouts and broccoli.
If you have any queries or comments you are welcome to share them with me on 051 384273 or orchardstowngardencentre@hotmail.com, and if of general interest I will include it in a future article.
