GARDENING

Luca's Garden

with Bridget Sudworth

GERANIUMS HAVE been spectacular this year along with the fuchsias and even the old Calla lily has surprised us with its beauty though I am sure it used to be pink! At breakfast, the sunlight glanced through the jam jar holding the last of a pot of blackcurrant jelly greedily enjoyed in this household, and I was forced to photograph it while the ultimate hedge trimmers in our adjoining orchard - 4 large black and white pregnant ladies - obliged me to photograph them too. They enjoyed the lettuce trimmings though it was clear that one in particular was the biggest bully and muscled her way in to grab the flimsy leaves - I didn’t realise that cows were so competitive!

The garden in August is little the butterflies are busy at it! As if it isn’t bad enough snooping around looking for lily beetles and fighting off the carrot fly, this is just another enemy to face. However, with mesh tunnels well pegged down, they not only keep Luca from padding across small plants, but break the wind from sweeping through a line of seedlings, help to retain some moisture in the soil and keep off the intensity of the sun's rays.

But where Luca is really useful is out walking particularly on a hot day. Being a Romanian city dog, he really cherishes town walks with their excellent lamp posts, park trees, rubbish bins awaiting collection and heaven of heavens - litter bins! While he poodles along at ground level, looking for old chicken bones, stale sandwiches and snacks of that ilk, it gives me a great opportunity to study other people’s gardens by peering over their fences and through their gates as we stroll along. It’s fascinating to see what people grow and how they do it particularly in terms of supports and frameworks and the choice of plants that flourish well in local soils. So unlike the many splendid gardens open to the public at this time of year, none of which welcome dogs (understandably) so we take our peeping where we can.

It’s also a wonderful opportunity to study the trees, their profiles, the number of insects they seem to attract and the depth and degree of shade they provide. With so many ashes dying back, huge gaps are and will be left but the plus side is that other saplings and shrubs will grow fast to fill the voids. Not much consolation, though, given just how many ash trees there are in our landscape which don’t manifest disease till they start to offer up staring branches

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www.evergreen-turf.co.uk • info@evergreen-turf.co.uk more than a battlefield with brassica massacre top of the list! Cabbage white butterflies are very cute indeed - they can smell your brassicas a mile off and wing their way over to lay their eggs. Several pots of healthy cabbage plants are waiting in our garden for planting space now the broad beans have yielded their final pick and can be cleared - even as the cabbages sit there patiently,

Hedge trimmers!

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Main agents for Hayter Lawnmowers Petrol & Battery models available from £334 • Many models in store to view • Servicing & spare parts for all Hayter models

Massed greens.

Approved contractor to Dorset & Somerset C.C. QUALIFIED ARBORIST

ALL ASPECTS OF TREE CARE AND DANGEROUS TREE REMOVAL TREE PLANTING

Utilise the generous grants now available to restock neglected woodland or areas of wasteground

Geraniums. Calla lilies.

denuded of any leaves.

This is where I bang my drum about hedgerows! They will fill the gaps with enormous speed given the chance and make up for some of the habitat loss.

July/August is really the time to get cracking on the wisteria. It really is a bit of a bane, however, largely due, as must be the case for so many people, to its inaccessibility. Scaffolding would be the most appropriate approach for ours which has become very bushy indeed but can only be reached on a ladder or three, perhaps all in a row? It will have to be done somehow as it flowered really well this year and will need to have the growth taken out of it in order to produce blooms next year. Catching up with gardening articles has provided a reminder that any of the climbers/ramblers planted in your garden will always demand pruning attention that can be difficult; if you inherit them, then you are kippered if you choose to keep them! They support themselves by suckers and twiners and will always grow towards the light so if planting new ones, make sure you plant them away from the light so that they grow in the right direction, whichever way that may be for your design.

Water is always a problem in August and as I write this during the hottest heat wave so far this year, warnings have been issued to use common sense and use water sparingly. This is always tricky when you see your veggies and pot plants wilting under the intense heat and it surprises me to read that people seem to need advice about when to maximize on the watering effect but it’s logical that last thing at night or very early in the morning is the best time if you wish to revive plants. Keep an eye on water barrels too - if you need to fill up your bird baths or ponds, rainwater is preferable whereas a thirsty plant will be fairly happy to accept stuff from a hose. For those in Devon and Cornwall, advice has been to save water for tourism which has probably gone down like a hot brick although tourism is the biggest source of income at this time of year. A double edged sword! Those of us who live in Dorset and Somerset are perhaps not under quite the same pressure.

Perhaps August is a good month to enjoy some of the trivialities of garden life but keep up the night time watering and walk your dog at 6.00am - such a lovely time of day for those who cannot take off their fur coats!

Summer garden trends & the tools you need for them from Mountfield

Red is the new Green when it comes to the quiet revolution taking place in Britain’s gardens! Gardeners all over the UK may be shouting about the new trend in cordless gardening tools, but the products will be whispering as they work away at cutting your hedges, trimming your grass and sucking up all the leaves left on your patio.

Mountfield customers have really taken to the battery powered gardening tools in the Freedom100 and Freedom500 ranges, due to the quietness, cleanliness and ease with which they can be handled and used. But not only that, all of the products in each range have batteries which have a Smart Tool Recognition System. This battery management microchip optimises the performance of the battery to each tool by analysing the electrical resistance. It then adjusts the power output and current levels accordingly to maximise the battery’s storage ability, longevity and run-time. The Freedom100 products all use 20V battery and the Freedom500 range is powered by 48v lithiumion batteries.

New for 2022 the MVS 20 Li battery blower/Vac shredder is the ultimate garden tidy tool. Lightweight, easy to use and energy efficient it not only blows leaves and debris away but can also simply vacuum and shred them into tiny pieces which collect in the 45-litre collector. You can blow, suck or shred to your hearts content with the MVS 20 Li, because it is powered by Mountfield's superstar STIGA 20V Lithium-Ion batteries giving an impressive air speed of 55m/s.

The MMT 20 Li battery multitool comes with pole pruner and hedge trimmer attachments. Powered by a 4Ah 20V lithium battery, it is lightweight and versatile. This easy to use cordless multi-tool is the perfect nifty partner for any small garden!

The lightweight, cordless MTR 50 Li grass trimmer (and Telegraph Best Buy 2022) makes tidying up the garden so easy and effortless thanks to its highperformance cutting device. The telescopic shaft allows the user to adjust the shaft to suit along with the adjustable front handle for a comfortable working position.

The recently launched MCS 50 Li top handled chainsaw is a powerful, high performance tool.

Equipped with a powerful 1000W brushless motor and 12” cutting bar with high performance chain the MCS 50 Li cordless chainsaw is lightweight and efficient and makes easy work of woodcutting jobs around your garden. The ‘Electress’ ... a Mountfield temptress!

The new trend of cordless mowers and gardening tools is definitely something to shout about, but more and more Mountfield customers are also enjoying electric mowing machines. This switch from petrol to electric is due to the cleanliness of these machines, with no polluting fumes, add to that the fact that electric mowers are much lighter than petrol, therefore easier to manoeuvre, and the benefits are obvious!

There are two new mowers this year, which offer everything that is needed for a fresh Mountfield mow. The ‘Electress 38’ and ‘Electress 34’ are NEW for 2022 and offer no nonsense mowing for the modern age.

The ‘Electress 38’ is compact and easy to use and the 1400W PowerDrive motor delivers effortless mowing, even in long grass. As it weighs just 11kg pushing across lawns is easy and the 38cm cutting width offers a superb fresh cut every time.

The ‘Electress 34’ has a 34cm cutting width and a centralised adjuster which offers 6 different cutting heights ranging from 25 – 75mm. The 35-litre rigid grass collector can be emptied with ease.

Both of these mowers have a 15m cable, making them the ideal choice for anyone with a smaller garden, and the cable is long enough to not worry about using an extension lead!

You can see all Mountfield cordless gardening tools on the website: www.mountfield lawnmowers.co.uk.