In the Garden: Summertime bedding comes into its own

GROWTH is good right now and transplants are settling in well as the temperatures remain high. This also means that weeds are doing well so watch out for any newly planted trees and shrubs and make sure that they are not being overcome by competition from weeds.

Summer bedding is starting to come into its own and regular dead heading and feeding will provide a continuous colourful display.

The herbaceous is beginning to billow out a bit as it enjoyed the welcome rain recently and some stalking may be necessary keep taller plants from toppling. I did not manage to get much Chelsea chopping done this year and the dry June meant that I was not as brave as I might normally be with the secateurs.

The fear of scorching during a lengthy dry spell kept the secateurs at bay this year. It does mean that there is some additional staking and propping to do now.

Baby birds are everywhere as fledglings leave the nest and they are very active early in the morning feeding for worms, insects and seeds on or near the surface of the soil particularly after some rain. A beautiful sight watching the swallows swooping and darting in the sky catching flying insects as they go.

A recent encounter in the polytunnel revealed a thrush feasting on snails and there are plenty, clever thrush spotting a good food source and pest control at its best. 

It is great to see the garden so well inhabited by insects and birds indicating that nature is in balance with plenty of beneficial insects around to keep the pesky ones at bay.

There is a lot of discussion about ‘wild gardening’ and if it should be classified as gardening or not as areas of wild untouched nature are not considered real gardens. Gardening involves a certain amount of skill and knowledge and wild gardens are just left entirely to the forces of nature.

Our gardens are very personal spaces and they serve different functions for different people. Some like to grow food, some like to create pleasant spaces to relax, unwind and socialize, some like a space to observe nature, some a cooling space with shade from the sun.

The most important thing to remember about our gardens is that they are shared spaces and that we depend on the help of nature to grow our crops, trees and flowers in the form of mycorrhiza in the soil, fungi and bacteria, insects, birds and small mammals all play a part, large or small in the web of life and the creation of our garden spaces. Respecting this, what sometimes can seem like an almost invisible influence on our gardens is achieved by not poisoning the soil and the air and working in harmony with natural forces to achieve our objectives. To do this we have to first understand the natural forces at work so that we do not harm or interfere with them.

We spent several decades using chemicals to give a quick fix to problems like greenfly in the glasshouse or germinating weed seedlings in the soil. Now we can look at the problems in more detail, what is causing them and provide solutions to prevent the problem that does not involve the indiscriminate mass elimination of lots of beneficial insects in the garden. This requires a certain level of knowledge and information about the garden, pests, diseases and plant requirements for healthy growth.

Wild gardening has it’s place, whether that is as part of garden design shows is for the organisers to decide but anything that gets the conversation going and gets people thinking about a different way and a more beneficial way of doing things can only be a good thing.

For gardening to become a part of changing attitudes toward how we mange the environment as a whole has to be good news because so many people have an interest in gardening.

We can all make a contribution to change no matter how small. Letting the lawn grow and flower and observing what emerges. It is wonderful to see swathes of self heal, daisies and clover in flower at a low level when a grass area is left unmown for just two or three weeks at this time of the year.

Perhaps our sense of what looks good needs to adjust a little to allow some space for nature to thrive. The level of adjustment will vary for every individual and it can be a gradual shift.

We need to encourage nature into the garden in an effort to increase and enhance habitat available to wildlife and worry less about manicuring our gardens to ensure that they become sustainable spaces with the dual function of enhancing and supporting biodiversity as well as meeting our needs as outdoor spaces for enjoyment.

Plant of the week

This week an allium is looking pretty funky in the garden, it is Allium ‘Hair’ and it bears purple flowers with what appear like green hair like fibres emerging from them giving a wonderful effect. The flowers are loved by bees and appear from June onwards.

Plant the bulbs in the autumn in a free draining soil in full sun. The leaves are quite fine and grass like so may be best to label the bulbs and the flowers will get to about 1m in height when in flower.

The bulbs will reappear each year and may need division after three to five years.