Green Fingers: Plants are irresistible in the garden
The blueberry plant needs acid soil.
Having watched some of the Chelsea show last week, it is difficult to resist wanting to go out into your garden and plant immediately.
For most people the available garden space is limited and choices have to be made as to what you want to grow, and this is changeable throughout your time in gardening.
Attractive plants in colour are always tempting and often bought without knowing where to plant them, and many are placed near the back door so that they can be planted out shortly.
The ‘shortly’ can run into a long time until there is a collection of these plants waiting and, suddenly one day, they are all planted within the hour as you feel they finally need to get into the ground.
You can keep these newly acquired plants in containers for a period of time, as long as they are in big enough pots but planting them in the soil in a sort of nursery bed for a few years will enable them to grow faster, sturdier, with better roots, until their permanent position is found.
Your soil will dictate what you can grow in your garden. The worst example is the type that some builders provide in newly built housing estates, and it usually consists of a mixture of compacted subsoil mixed with some builder’s material overlain with a layer of top soil.
Soil can be improved in time with drainage and the addition of humus, which includes composts and organic manures. Another option is to place good quality soil on top of the existing ground and grow at a higher level or maybe grow a small selection in decent sized pots but they will need looking after.
There are so many desirable ericaceous plants that those with alkaline soils might be a little envious and wonder is there something that they can do in their garden to grow these plants.
Whatever you do, do not dig a hole and fill it with ericaceous soil and think that will do the trick, as in time the moisture from the surrounding soil will eventually leak in and turn it alkaline. Growing these plants in containers will work but if you like a group of these plants why not build a raised bed, line it and fill it with acid soil and/or compost and then you can grow a collection of these plants together.
The blueberry is the one plant that needs acid soil and besides the fruit, it has pretty flowers and good autumn colours so will look good in a mixed bed or on its own in a container.
Typical ericaceous plants include some types of heather, rhododendron, Chilean lantern tree, azalea and pieris.
Camellias and magnolias are included in the list too but some will tolerate a neutral soil close to alkaline but need a decent amount of organic manures or compost to grow well.
Insects are catching up with the recent plant growth and need to be removed before they become a problem on some vulnerable plants. Aphids are starting to gather around the top buds of many plants, such as geraniums, fuchsias and roses, and can be removed by hand or else given a spray.
Spraying soapy water over plants will discourage an attack in the first place but the traditional baddies will continue to be the slugs and snails and their control needs to go on from early spring.
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.
