All designs and consultancy visits commissioned during March will generate a £5 donation from Plews Garden Design to the Ancient Tree Hunt.
Around 80% of Northern Europe’s ancient trees are reckoned to be in UK, but there is no official register of these venerable individuals.
The Woodland Trust needs help in the UK-wide hunt for the country’s oldest and fattest trees. For a tree, old and fat is good, as it becomes more important as a wildlife habitat.
As well as donations, individuals can help by looking for ancient trees and marking their position when out walking.
Full details and tree guides can be found on their web site; the link can be found in our ‘topical links’
All designs and consultancy visits commissioned during December will generate a £5 donation from Plews Garden Design to the Ancient Tree Hunt.
Please visit the Potting Shed for more details.
Seasonal Tips
March
We start the month with plants – daffodils and leeks for St David’s Day on March 1st – don’t get them muddled up and eat the daffodils (narcissus) instead of the leeks, though, as all parts of the daffodil plant are toxic - especially the bulb. The toxins contained in daffodils are alkaloids and can cause diarrhoea, vomiting and are potentially fatal in large doses. So keep an eye on experimental toddlers and absent minded dogs.
Leeks, however, are good for you; the allium or onion family have anti-viral properties and help keep coughs and colds at bay. It’s said that Emperor Nero of Rome regularly ate large amounts of leeks in order to improve his singing voice...
Read our seasonal tips below and enjoy watching for signs of spring in the gardens and roadsides around you.
Stop press! Plews Garden Design is now on Twitter.
Snippets of plant info & related items; useful and entertaining retweets; brief queries answered.
Find us and follow us at: http://twitter.com/plewsgd
Leaf Mould Compost
Leaf Mould Compost
Raking up leaves can be an ongoing task, but there are rewards; consider the delicious compost you can make to feed your soil.
It is particularly important to clear leaves from ponds before they decompose and release carbon dioxide into the water. A net is good for pond leaf collecting; for lawns and borders use a soft pronged leaf rake; for paths and drives a stiff brush. There are also available ‘paddles’ or scoops which make picking up leaves so much easier. In the trade we know them as ‘leaf scoopy things’, and find them useful for picking up cut debris throughout the year.
• Collect your leaves into special leaf bags (loose woven jute) or black bin liners. If you have lots of leaves, or prefer to keep them tidy, then use a leaf compost bin, which is basically a bin made of mesh. • If the leaves are dry, moisten them when bagged. • If using bin liners, puncture the sides to allow air to circulate. • Leave in the garden untouched for 12 - 24 months. The longer you leave it, the finer the material will be. • Once broken down, the leaf mould can be used to mulch around plants, as a soil improver, and, when sieved finely, as compost for seed sowing.
If you’re in the invidious position of being surrounded by trees and really have no space to store the leaves and no friends or neighbours who would like them, try offering them on Freecycle, or they can be recycled at your local green waste recycling depot or through your local Council’s green waste collection scheme. So you can still be suitably pleased at having recycled your autumn leaves!
All Year Round
If you’re bothered by leaves throughout the year, you might like to try a non- autumn composting of leaves and lawn clippings in alternate layers. This mix needs to be kept in separate compost bin to other compost. At the start, put a layer of soil, or compost from another bin into the base, ensuring there are some worms in this soil. If the leaves are wet rather than dry then add some dry, fine twiggy material. Check the mix regularly and turn/ lift the mix occasionally to increase the air flow. The trick is to keep the balance between the brown, carbon rich dead leaves and the green nitrogen rich grass clippings. This will rot down in 12- 24 months into a rich soil improver.
Autumn Planting 2009
Planting scheme highlights, Autumn 2009
A selection from some of our recent planting schemes , showing autumnal colour now and promise of more next spring.
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