Gardening

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WATER

Mike Burks, Managing Director,

The Gardens Group

At the time of writing, the news is full of the extreme temperatures in Canada and the western US. Everything is tinder dry and the potential for wildfires in that part of the world must now be very high. Some plants, especially those in a garden situation, will really struggle in such conditions and the same is true for us should we have a hot dry spell in the summer months.

Other areas of the garden will recover and very easily and this includes your lawn. The RHS have been saying that it’s important in times of sustainable living that lawns are abandoned and not watered. Water is a finite and precious resource, so it’s also important to use it wisely.

But the plants that won’t cope and need to be kept in good health will require the right amount of water. The amount that each plant needs will depend on, amongst other things, the type of plant, the time of year, where it’s planted, the soil type and the weather conditions.

Knowing a plant’s requirements will come through experience. Sometimes I’ll be asked to water the crops in the polytunnels in the nursery at the weekend. I really enjoy doing this, but the first time I do it I’m never sure whether I’ve given too much or too little. The following day though I start to get a feel for it as the thirsty plants will obviously look like they need more water whereas those that are more sparing in their use will still look moist.

At this time of year plants in pots and hanging baskets will need watering every day, even if we’ve had rain, as most of the downpour will have been deflected

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away from the compost in the pot by the foliage. The retention of water can be helped with the use of a moisture retentive gel that can be added to the compost but even then, this is only a small help and won’t stop the need for a good soaking.

Established plants in the border that have been there for a number of years usually will have a root system extensive enough to find their own water. Help for such plants is best achieved by laying on a mulch such as Bloomin’ Amazing. This will reduce the amount of evaporation from the soil surface and will also trap in moisture that is applied. The added advantage is that as the mulch breaks down it gets incorporated into the soil, improving its structure and helping further to hold onto moisture for when the plants need it. It also acts as a slug deterrent.

When planting anything new out, use a product called Rootgrow around the plant roots. This contains a naturally occurring beneficial fungi that attaches itself to plant roots and helps the plant obtain water and nutrients. It also can protect the plant against soil borne diseases such as Honey Fungus.

New plantings really need a good soak three or four times a week until they establish. Whereas it’s easier to do this with a hosepipe, sometimes this makes everything look wet but actually the plants get very little of the water. My suggestion is to give each plant half a large watering can full, but I bet that you’ll still want to use your hosepipe so measure how long it takes to fill up half a watering can and then spend this amount of time with the hosepipe on each plant.

I love watering, but then I’m easily entertained, so for those who may get bored there are some devices that can be used to help. Soaker, seep or leaky hoses are excellent for this. You might say that yours already leaks, but the type I’m describing needs to be laid out winding through the plants in the border or veg garden and when attached to the tap the water seeps gently and evenly into the soil. This method uses far less than splashing around with a hosepipe.

Also available are mini irrigation systems. These involve a supply pipe, usually half an inch in diameter, which is laid around the garden. From this main pipe ‘spaghetti’ tubes are attached, on the end of which can be fixed drip nozzles which are placed in pots, hanging baskets or grow bags and can even be dotted through the border. At the tap end of the system a timer is positioned so that watering takes places at a specific time of the day for a specific period. Again this is an efficient way of watering.

Saving your own water is an excellent idea. Rainwater collected from most roofs is excellent quality and better for plants than the stuff in the tap. For extra volume, water butts can be connected together and, although the pressure won’t be great, hose pipes and/or seep hoses can be connected to the tap.

The timing of when to water is often discussed and when we get to this stage of the spring and summer it’s best to water in the early morning or in the evening. This means that less water is lost to evaporation and also any that gets onto plant leaves is less likely to scorch on a hot, bright, sunny day.

WET AND WILD

Simon Ford, Gardener and Land and Nature Adviser

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Gardens, cover about 2.5% of our land, ranging from a tiny patio to acres of lawns and herbaceous borders. We read about catastrophic declines in so many species of plant and animal and yet, everyone with a garden, however small, can do their bit to help reverse the decline.

I have worked as a Wildlife Adviser for the National Trust in south-west England for over 30 years and am now working as a freelance Land and Nature Adviser as well as a gardener, specialising in wildlife. My aim is to find ways to allow nature to return to our countryside and gardens.

In this month’s article, I will look at one of the best things that can be done to encourage nature in the garden, which is to make a pond.

People often think that they do not have the space

for a pond, but in reality, even a bowl or trough will start to attract pond life. In our small town garden, right in the centre of Sherborne, we have two ponds (I will explain why later) and in the allotment on Harbour Road, I have also dug a small pond.

In the past, ponds would have been much more common in the landscape, as they were used to water stock, or formed in old quarries, but sadly, many have now been filled in, become polluted, or drained. Organisations such as Dorset Wildlife Trust and the Farm Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG), work with farmers to encourage wildlife, but gardeners can make a real difference by creating a water feature. In Sherborne, we have Fat Fish Aquatics who are based in Castle Gardens who can help with advice and supplies.

Before getting out the spade, it is worth thinking a bit about the position. If put under dense trees and shrubs, it tends to quickly fill with leaves and get little light. However, if placed in full sun all day, this can cause smaller water bodies to get quite warm and encourage algae. Therefore, semi shade is a good compromise, although don’t be put off if you do not have this.

If you have young children, you will need to consider their safety and install a fence or place a heavy mesh over the water to avoid accidents.

Some people like formal square or rectangular ponds and others, round or more natural shapes. Pond life does not really care, so choose what you feel will fit with your style. It is rare to have soil which will hold water without some form of liner, although when gardening on Blackmore Vale, the clay in some places is pretty impervious! You can buy pre-formed, moulded plastic liners or you can use heavy butyl rubber sheets or if you like building, you can lay a concrete liner; although they have a tendency to crack. Polythene can work if it is heavy duty, but tends to perish quite quickly. My very first pond was an old ‘copper’, used for boiling clothes and I sunk it in to the ground and it worked very well.

I always like to include a series of steps in a pond, so there is a deep area for wildlife to go to in the winter, when it is frozen, but also shallow areas to plant marginal species. Also, please always include some form of shallow area or ramp, in case a hedgehog or other wildlife falls in. These areas are also really attractive for birds to take a bath, as we see in our pond with a procession of sparrows, dunnocks, blackbirds and bluetits.

Once you have dug your pond, you will of course want to fill it with water. Ideally, you should avoid using tap water as it has chlorine and in the Sherborne area will be very limey. A water butt or allowing it to fill with rainwater is great, but again, don’t worry too much as tap water left for a few days, will be fine for pond life.

The pond can be edged with stone slabs, rough stones, wood, or I prefer grass, which can be allowed to grow long. Ragged robin, purple loosestrife, meadowsweet and yellow flag iris look beautiful next to a pond.

Pond plants provide shelter and oxygen and also a place for dragonflies and newts to lay their eggs. It is important to choose carefully though, as some species are invasive or tend to take over. I prefer native species such as marsh marigold, water forget-me-not, starwort, hornwort, brooklime and water lily, although nonnative pickerel weed, and water hawthorn are also a good choice. Flag iris looks lovely but can grow and take over quickly, although it is good for a larger pond.

Some people like to install fountains and small water features, which is fine, but is not necessary for pond life.

So, now you have your pond, but what about insects and animals? Don’t be tempted to catch them from other ponds as this can bring diseases. It is amazing how quickly it will become colonised naturally and hopefully soon you will see your first water boatmen, back swimmers, and diving beetles. Once established, dragonflies and damselflies should find you and may lay eggs, which become fearsome creatures in the bottom of the pond. Frogs, toads and newts will hopefully also find your pond, particularly if there are other ponds nearby and next spring, you may have your first frog spawn and tadpoles!

If you really want to see wildlife, one thing which you should ideally not do is to add fish (goldfish, koi carp or larger carp in big ponds). This is because they are rather partial to most insects and tadpoles and also tend to stir up the sediment and make the pond murky. This is the reason we have 2 ponds, because fish eggs were presumably attached to the plants we bought and we found our first pond had about 20 koi carp. We now have one pond with fish and no tadpoles and another with no fish, but lots of wildlife!

After all that work, take a chair and sit back and enjoy watching blue tailed damselflies courting, tadpoles wriggling, pond skaters skating and water snails munching algae. Believe me, it is very peaceful and therapeutic and you can feel smug having done your bit for wildlife! Good luck.