Jobs for August

As another wet afternoon roles in over Edinburgh I’ve been resigned to work inside .. I thought I would compile a brief job list for the August garden. Most of the tasks listed below I’ve been busy under taking over the last few weeks.

Beds and Borders

An essential task for August to maximise life in your borders is dead heading. Nip off any fading flowers to promote new buds to break and extend the flowering season well in to early autumn.

August is a good time for hedge pruning, beech,hornbeam and privet can all be cut this month.

Start saving seeds for next year. While working in the garden look out for faded herbaceous plants that are finishing their annual growth cycle.

Plant Japanese anemones, Dahlias, Sedum spectabile and Heleniums to add late summer colour and interest.

Continue to feed container grown plants.

Lawns

Don’t cut the lawn to short. If the lawn is cut to short it encourages moss and weeds to compete with the grass.

Don’t be tempted to water the lawn (no watering needed any where in Scotland !)  if it is starting to look brown and dry. As soon as the weather becomes wetter and milder the grass will naturally green up once again ready for any Autumn lawn treatment. 

Vegetable Garden

August is all about harvesting. The hard work put in earlier in the year is now starting to pay off. Runner beans, Lettuce, onions, courgettes and tomatoes plus and assortment of other veggies are ready to go in August.

 Look out for blight on tomatoes and potatoes.

What’s looking good now ?

Having had a very busy few weeks of late (as most gardeners are !) I’ve neglected the blog a little. I Thought I’d post a few pics of plants that are at their peak right now.

As April slips into May everything is gathering pace by the day, the spring display in Edinburgh has been very impressive. I’ve managed to take a few pictures as I go along that I hope will inspire people to get out into their garden at this time of year.

Early flowering Clematis alpina just beginning to come into flower.

The classic bright red tulip bringing the spring border to life.

Breaking bud on a Rhododendron

Sunny days

With the weather as it has been for the last couple of weeks it certainly feels spring like if not early summer ! Things seem to be moving at pace, early trees coming into leaf, tulips pushing through and the weeds and lawns flourishing the gardening season is well underway.  It has been good to see gardens that I maintain on a regular basis come back to life and get to know new gardens that I have taken on this year.

 The next couple of months look to be very busy, as they always are in a gardeners life ! Regular maintenance to attend to while also tackling those smaller one off garden tasks. If your still on the look out for a gardener for this year or need help on a more informal basis feel free to contact me through any means on the contacts page. I would be more than happy to visit your garden and discuss any thoughts you have.

Has spring finally arrived in Edinburgh ?

It seems for now the answer is yes ! After a long hard slog through winter we seem to be coming out the other side. Certainly if the past week is anything to go by, we have been bathed in long periods of fresh spring sunshine and everything seems to be coming to life.

 The Lawn mower has been dusted off and taken out of winter storage along with all the other lawn mowing bits and pieces, the weeds are begining to show signs rapid of growth and the daffodils are just starting to open. This time of year has got to be one of if not my favourite times, although not to put a negative slant on things I feel there will still be one or two cold snaps to come before spring is out. After all we are in Scotland.

Here’s to a successful and enjoyable gardening year.

Garden restoration part two.

This is the finished garden after a weeks work. As you can see the lawn has been completely re-laid, a few plants have come out, perennials moved and the garden has been brought back to life. Scroll down for the ‘before’ pictures.

With a few days work your garden can be awoken out of its winter slumber. Daffodils about to break and blossom emerging on the trees, don’t you just love spring. 

Turfing a lawn

As part of a garden restoration project I’m currently undertaking the client has asked me to re-turf two lawn areas. I thought I’d post a little how to article for anyone wanting to lay a new law this spring. The techniques mentioned are ones which I have picked up over the years, to the best of my knowledge they are correct, know doubt everyone does it slightly differently though. I’m trying not to make this post pages and pages long, I know how boring it can be reading a blog post that goes on and on ! So I’ll try my best to keep it concise as possible.

As you can see from the picture the lawn has been neglected for over 18 months, it could be rescued with a lot of ‘tlc’ in this case the client wanted a fresh start.

Tired un-loved lawn before

The first task here is to remove the old existing turf. This can be done two ways.By hand, involving  Blood, sweat and tears.. or use a machine called a turf lifter. Turf lifters run a vibrating blade (about the width of a spade) 4-5 cm under the surface cutting away the turf roots. Once cut the turf can then be rolled up and removed, because of the size of lawn here I opted for the blood, sweat and tears method.. keeps you warm on a chilly spring day.

Using the spade the idea is much the same, run the sharp spade under the turf cutting them in to easy to manage turfs. Ideally you are looking to remove the top growth and the roots.

More back braking graft !

Once all the old turf is no more the next job is to break up the hard compact ground beneath. The new turf wouldn’t thank you for being laid on an uneven, hard, stony bed of soil so it needs to be broken down into a nice even tilth. Again there are two ways to do this, using a rotovator or by hand with a fork or spade.. Yes the fork it was. Work your way back turning over the soil to around a spades depth.

Once complete your lawn should now look ready for planting potatoes ! The next step is to break the heavy clods of soil down to something you can lay on. On a heavy clay soil if the ground is wet you may need to hang fire until it becomes workable. Start ruffly running your rake back and forth over the soil breaking up the larger lumps, you might need to employ the help of a fork to break up any bigger clods. The more you go over the soil it will become more workable till eventually it will resemble a nice fine tilth. This process takes a little time and patience, the more effort you put in at this stage the better the final bed for laying the turf will be.

Once the soil is a level, even tilth you are ready to start laying your new turf. At this point you’ll need some heavy duty scaffolding planks to work on (similar to the ones in the picture). When laying turf always work  forward using the planks to cover the turf you have just laid, this way your weight is spread evenly on the  planks and will not damage the newly laid turf or the prepared soil.

Working off boards will help reduce damage to the new turf.

Turf is laid in a similar way to bricks. By staggering the joints like bricks, it encourages the turf to knit together quicker and become a stronger finished lawn. Make sure the joints between the turf’s are nice and tight, if gaps are left at this stage the lawn will begin to settle and these gaps may widen and cause problems further down the line.

At the ends of each row you will need to trim any excess or infill with an extra piece. I’ve found the best way to cut turf is with a serrated knife from the kitchen draw ! Try not to infill any gaps with small odds and ends of turf, they will more than likely dry up and not take very well.

Once all the turf is down it should look something like the picture below.

Finished lawn

Once all the turf is down and all the edges have been cut and finished the lawn will need watering. Unless heavy rain is forecast (or its raining while your laying the turf !) then it will need a good soak. keep the lawn damp (not water logged) until it is well established. Keep lifting up a corner and eventually you will see tiny white roots peeping through and finding their way down into the soil. You will need to keep off the newly laid lawn to let it establish, ideally for a period of 2 weeks or longer if possible.

Job done.

ECG

The Wollemi Pine

I first saw a Wollemi Pine at Kew gardens last year. When I came across it, it looked like any other young pine tree around five feet tall. It was not until I started reading the information on the sign planted next to it that I realised how significant these trees are.

They where first discovered in 1994 in the Wollemi National park not far from Sydney, Australia by David Noble. Noble was out hiking in the park with friends when he came across the pines. They are believed to be related to a group of plants some 200 million years old.

Young Wollemi Pine

Fewer than a hundred of these trees are known to be growing wild, all of which have been found not far apart from each other. Wollemi’s can now be bought commercially from a select number of nurseries, but initially where only available to botanic gardens. Royalties from the sales of the plants go to help conservation of other endangered plant species.  The picture above shows a young Wollemi Pine in the shadows of three giant redwoods at Edinburgh Botanic garden. For a greater insight into Wollemi’s and people who grow them click the Wollemi blog: http://blog.wollemipine.co.uk/

ECG

Garden restoration part one

I’m currently getting to grips with a garden which has laid untouched for around 18 months, as you can see from the pictures ! It faces north so gets little sun and is walled  down both sides with a 6ft high natural stone wall. As the lawn hasn’t received much in the way of maintenance over the past year we have decided to lift the existing lawn and lay a new one. The borders will be getting a good going over, removing a few shrubs that have out grown their space making way for some new plants.

Tools poised ready for action ..

 

In need of a little work..

 

Where to start..

 Part two of the garden restoration to come.

Scottish landscapes

This post is not technically about gardening or a plug for the Scottish tourist board ! When i’m not doing the day job I enjoy being out and about in the hills walking, climbing and cycling. I very often take a camera along and try and snap a few pics along the way, so I thought i’d share a few with you.

Ferns braking through on a hilside pine forest

In the garden we tend to be very tidy always keeping things clipped back, level and neat. Escaping out into the Scottish mountains and hillsides gives you the chance to step back a little and look at how things would be if we were not here..

Nearing the top of a Munro, Isle of Sky, Winter 2008

 

Looking down on Loch Lomand, one of Scotland's largest loch's

City trees

Anyone who lives in a city will know it can sometimes become very gray and monotone. Edinburgh has many open spaces and green, tree lined streets but there is always space for more trees.

 Trees do so much for urban spaces, apart from the aesthetic value of trees they also absorb carbon emissions,  help support a great variety of urban wildlife, a mature beech tree gives off enough oxygen to sustain ten peoples daily requirements, provide shade and cover from hot summer sun, reduce noise in a city by acting as a sound barrier.  Just some of the many benefits of trees.

Mature Scots Pine (Pinus slyvestris)

One of the most famous street trees is the ‘London Plane’ (Platanus.) It has a high tolerance of pollution and withstands large amounts of compaction on its roots. The tree has a tough layer of flaky bark which regularly peals off during the growing season shedding the worst of the pollution with it. This is not one to be planted in a small back garden as it can reach heights up to 30 metres, but with its long reaching branches seems purpose made for parks and streets.

ECG