The Ash Tree

We have a wonderful ash in our garden, about forty to fifty feet tall, and very broad for the height, although it may reach as high as one hundred feet. This tree is common throughout the UK, a true native, but is no less special for it's frequency. It has very open foliage, due to it's branched leaves (leaflets), and therefore plenty of light is allowed to penetrate the crown, making it rather good for the larger garden and a little too large for mine! These leaves are sometimes a foot or more in length, but the leaflets prevent them from appearing heavy or ponderous.

The bark is grey in colour, both on the trunk and branches, and on younger trees is quite smooth. As the ash matures, however, this bark splits into fissures and furrows, and is often found covered with shaggy lichens. The flowers are barely noticeable, and are often bypassed even by insects - the tree relies on the wind to disprese it's pollen. These flowers have no petals or sepals and are also rather irregular, some showing stamens but no pistils - a flower without a pistil cannot produce seed.

The fruits (or 'keys') containing the seed ripen in autumn and hang upon the tree in bunches often throughout the winter. Each key has a propeller shaped 'wing', allowing it to travel long distances upon the wind.
The ash is of the same family as southern Europe's olive tree, and is related also to the common privet. It's wood is tough and elastic, and is used for tool handles and hockey sticks, and in past times in the construction of tennis raquets.

Many of us, I think, are guilty of passing by, and indeed under, our wonderful trees without noticing their great size and beauty. I will endeavour to remedy somewhat this personal fault, and perhaps bring to this blog a few more posts about this countries woody crowning glories. If you have any suggestions, please comment and let me know - I will be more than happy to open my eyes, do a little research and write a small piece....

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Winter Work

Winter is surely with us, as evidenced by my repeatedly frozen garden in the mornings, but there is still plenty to do in the garden. Here's a top ten list of jobs for the next month:

1. Tidy all your hardy perennials, ready for next years growth.
2. Sow early peas and broad beans.
3. Clear untidy borders and put some mulch down.
4. Service the lawnmower and clean up summer tools.
5. Put shrubs in pots in the greenhouse or growhouse.
6. Check fences and sheds for damage, ready for those windy days!
7. Check hose pipes and micro irrigation / auto watering systems for wear, then pack away.
8. Prune established trees, and plant new ones.
9. Take rose cuttings, and set in trenches.
10. Plant rhubarb crowns, but manure the ground properly first (horse is my favourite).

I normally uncover about another 50 jobs, but I'm happy if the 10 most important get done by Christmas!

Love this quote:

"Nature has undoubtedly mastered the art of winter gardening and even the most experienced gardener
can learn from the unrestrained beauty around them."

 -   Vincent A. Simeone

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Shed Mad Weekend

This weekend I built a small shed, purchased from B and Q in the UK. It's only a basic model, and will be used for storing my tools and mower, and also for blocking off a small corner of the garden at the side of the house. This portion is a little dark and contains the gate to the front of my house, the (hot and cold!) outside taps, hose pipes and micro irrigation hose connections, plus various garden odds and ends like stored timber and so on.

 The construction process was pretty straightforward, really, the only difficulty being adding the roof felt. The felt with which it came was a little on the cheap side, and I found that it tended to tear rather easily and made the job that bit trickier. With liberal use of felting tacks, though, I sorted it out and tidied it up fairly well.

I found also that it was useful to have a helper or two when screwing the sides together, just to hold things in place and enabling me to make sure that everything was square and solid. The most time consuming part of the entire thing was preparing the base and ground. I had to level out a very rocky area in dribs and drabs between rainy days, and then proceeded to lay out paving slabs for the shed base to sit on. It's common to use a full concrete base, especially for larger buildings, but I wanted to retain the flexibilty that comes with a removable or mobile footing - if I decide I want to move the whole thing to the left a bit, then I'll simply empty the shed, drag it onto the patio, relay the slabs, and move the shed back.

The next task on the list, probably for this coming weekend, will be to fit some shelves and hooks, and perhaps brace a couple of weaker spots. Then I'll fill it up beyond normal capacity so that nothing can ever be easily found or extracted, as is customary. Come spring it will need painting, then I will probably add a small lean-to structure on one side and re-felt the roof.

Care for your shed - it's not just for Christmas, you know.


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Sweet, Sweet Strawberries

This afternoon I checked on my Autumn-potted strawberry runners, and found myself much pleased both with the numbers gained from my original 13 plants - 36 - and with their quality. It set my mind to casting back to the height of summer, not the heavy heat of August, but the lighter, brighter times of June and July. Anticipation and reward are the words that come first to hand; the strawberry crop is in full flood, with bowls for the neighbours and fist-fulls for the family.

Once the very last, succulent fruit has been regretfully removed thoughts turn once more to propagation, and even more of the wonderful plants for next year. This delicious fruit occupies a fairly unusual, and possibly unique, position, in that it can be fruited within a year of the formation of the plant. Almost instant gratification, at least in gardening terms.

This last season's plants were grown exclusively in a cylindrical jute planter - compact and neat, and with the added advantage of keeping the fruits off the ground. Usually, straw would be spread around the base of each plant and between rows to protect the flowers from late frosts and, later, to prevent the fruit from being soiled in wet weather. Use of the planter made everything rather easier, and required perhaps only a little more water than conventionally sited plants. Only when I came along in late summer with my little pots and pegs, to set the runners, did I realise that vertically sited plants may cause me some small trouble - how to 'float' the runner pots. This was eventually overcome using slightly more resilient and firm pegging, and I simply allowed the new miniature plants to be suspended from their parents. Thirty six successes from thirty six attempts proved the method, I believe.

The next job, over winter, will be the (fairly) careful preparation of new ground , and associated manuring. I am fortunate enough to have access to an almost limitless supply of entirely free stable manure, well rotted and easily retrieved. This subject is something I have been looking into, and I intend to cover it in more depth in a future post. Suffice it to say, the horse holds more attraction for the gardener and allotment holder than any other farm animal.

Next year will, of course, require me to return to ground based planting and standard methods to enable me to accommodate my expanded stock. The main advantage of this, apart from the rather pleasing ground cover (not to everyone's taste, but to me rustic and lovely), is the potential for an even larger crop of sweet and juicy fruits, to be freely given to all who visit.

Please bring your own cream.

There is something infinitely healing in the

repeated refrains of nature - the assurance that dawn comes after night,

and spring after the winter.

- Rachel Carson
The Sense of Wonder

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Sunflower Adoration

I have, yet again, succumbed to my annual temptation to plant a few sunflowers. The joy of sunflower cultivation is not, perhaps, considered to be the highest form of horticulture except in the sense of altitude - much enthusiasm is expended upon gaining the greatest of heights, with little left over for the plant's other, undoubted, qualities. In this respect cultivation of this superb flower is, for many, most akin to the cultivation of giant vegetables. Indeed, I have in the past found myself to be solely concerned with achieving the tallest of plants (about 8.5', measured but inaccurately).

These days I have tended simply to grow them for the sheer pleasure of it, with an eye instead for the warmth and light they bring to the garden. The fabulous, and much ignored, foliage is also a delight, particularly for small children who always seem to be just as fascinated by the dimensions of a single leaf as they are by the loftiness of the entire plant. additionally, my neighbours are treated to a daily dose of sunshine as the sunflowers peek over our dividing fence.

For those who are considering a crop for next year, why not try planting in groups or a double staggered line, rather than the usual fence- or wall-bound single strip. Some of the very best sunflowers are not tall, notably Helianthus Cucumerifolious which forms wonderful bushes of around 3' in height. There is, too, a dwarf form of the common sunflower - nanus plenus. Plant together for compact variety. Although mostly thought of as annuals, there are also many perennial varieties, for example Multiflorus Maxumus, and so many varieties of both as to be almost overwhelming. Take a look at Growing Sunflowers for a list of the most popular.

 Sunflowers do not require special conditions to start them off, just sow outdoors straight into the ground; and if, like me, you are not too bothered about growing the rarest, or reddest, or tallest etc, then just plump for something that will fit the eventual planting site, and sit back and enjoy. A stout cane and a modest amount of water will tend to ensure a visual treat, and the flowers will continue to please long after much of the rest of the contents of your garden are due for the compost heap. When the flower heads have finally had it, don't be in too much of a hurry to chop them down. Leave them a little longer, and you will be able to harvest a small mountain of entirely free seeds, ready for next year.

I have estimated a gathering of between 500 and a thousand seeds from eight good-sized heads this year, and so have given many hundreds away to friends and colleagues alike with plenty left over for my modest spring requirements. A good number will be held in reserve also for a little guerrilla gardening; more of that later, but for now, let the critical scales fall from your eyes and consider setting aside a small spot for the humble, yet mighty sunflower.

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Micro Irrigation

Micro Irrigation Systems

During the summer, having grown fed up of watering cans and hose pipes, I constructed an automatic micro-irrigation system, from water timer to mini sprinklers. It's a fantastic bit of kit - good fun to sort out, fascinating to see in action, flexible, useful and water efficient.

Hozelock End-Line Adjustable Mini Sprinkler

If you've ever felt a bit fed up with lugging the aforementioned watering can about the garden,  soaked yourself yet again while struggling with the hose pipe, or are simply concerned with being a bit more water efficient, try micro irrigation. It's still early days for me, but watering 12 containers, a mini grow house and 20 metres of border is done at the the turn of a tap, and completed in about 5 minutes while I get on with something else altogether! In fact, I don't even have to turn the tap on at all, if I don't feel like it or am on holiday: I have a timer attached directly to my outside tap which can be set to water the garden one or more times a day, for a variable period, at whatever time of day I see fit.

rotating mini sprinkler

I have about 30 miniature sprinklers and sprayers attached to 15 metres of 12mm bore supply hose via a total of 10 metres of 4mm bore micro tubing. The supply hose is itself attach to some standard garden hose to extend it and take it to the proper part of the garden. Between these two hoses is a pressure regulator - the components in this sort of setup fit together using a push-fit  system. Normal tap pressure (anything over about 1.5 bar) may cause the various parts to fly off, thoroughly soaking a few small areas at the front end and leaving the rest to turn to desert!

I'm going to expand the system as I dig out new borders in my (new to me, moved in in the winter) garden ready for next summer, meaning that the only bit of watering that I have to get involved in by next year should be shifting the lawn sprinkler about. I would highly recommend this for all gardeners with access to an outside tap, especially those with containers or a greenhouse, or for people blessed with larger gardens and long borders.

I'll try keep you all updated with new posts on the progress and expansion of the system, and maybe add a few photos of my setup. In the meantime, check out the Hozelock system (the one I'm using) on Hozelock's website, or at Swell UK ltd, online.

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