August 2010
Newsletter

• I know I say it every year, but autumn really is the ideal time to be planting, as the earth is still warm and roots will quickly get established before the onset of winter. Autumn-planted trees, shrubs and perennials have a head start on those planted in the spring, and will burst into life more robustly at the first hint of warmth.
• If you plant a new tree, remember to support it with a tree stake until it has had a chance to get its tap root down.
• Water your new plants in well, and continue to water them regularly through the autumn
  (and, if we have a dry one, through the winter as well).
• It’s a good idea to mulch around new plantings. Mulching provides a layer of organic matter that does several things:
  •    it slowly releases fertilizer during the coming months.
  •    it suppresses weeds.
  •    it helps retain water.
  
• It’s also worth mounding a good layer of compost or horse manure around established specimen trees and shrubs, such as fruit trees, roses and wisteria. They’ll really benefit from an autumn feed, and will produce stronger growth and more flowers in the spring if mulched now.
• Start planting spring-flowering bulbs now for a fabulous display next year. They look wonderful planted to create a natural drift effect, by taking a big scoopful of your chosen bulbs in your hands, and then just throwing them in the area you want them to grow. Plant each bulb where it lands (a planting instruction leaflet is available at the garden centre).
• Creating a crocus carpet under deciduous trees looks particularly spectacular, and adds real interest to an otherwise “dead” space before the trees burst into life.
• Plant tulip, daffodil and allium bulbs in your beds and borders to produce height and colour above the emerging foliage of your herbaceous plants next spring.
• Canny gardeners know that now is the time to trawl through the ½ price herbaceous stock in the garden centre! The pots of dying back plants may not look very inspiring, but put them in the ground and you’ll be glad next spring and summer that you bagged yourself a bargain, as you’ll have a bigger, chunkier plant than if you’d waited to buy the same thing when it was just about to flower.

Lawns

Giving your lawn attention now will certainly mean you reap the rewards next year.

• Start by giving it a firm rake with a bouncy metal pronged rake (scarifying) to remove old “thatch” (dead grass) and moss. It will leave your lawn looking a bit tatty, but is essential to clear the congestion that builds up over the growing season.
• Now you need to aerate the whole area, either with an aerator designed specifically for the job, or with a fork.
• Then spread a thin layer of lawn dressing (a combination of top soil, sand and fertilizers) or just plain horticultural sand, and rake or brush it in, so that it fills each of the little holes created by aerating. The addition of sand or lawn dressing is vital in our London clay soil, as it will improve the drainage and avoid winter water logging.

It’s also an ideal time to lay a new lawn. There’s a leaflet available in the shop to explain how to do so, and you can order your turf through us too. Just ask for details, or look on our website www.alleynpark.co.uk

It’s a lot of hard work now, but truly will pay dividends in the spring, when you can rather smugly admire your lush garden which will be bursting with life!

Kitchen Garden

• Keep picking raspberries.
• Remove fallen fruit before it rots.
• Continue feeding fruit trees and pots.
• Fix grease bands round the trunks of apple trees to trap the wingless female winter moths as they try to climb the trunk to lay their eggs (which would turn into bud eating caterpillars!).
• Marrows, pumpkins and squashes can be picked when mature, and then allowed to ripen in the sun for a few days. If you then hang them in a net in a frost free place they’ll keep for two or three months.
• Root vegetables can be lifted and stored, but it’s best to leave parsnips and swedes in the ground to be frosted as this improves their flavour.
• If you have a glut of potatoes, lift them on a sunny day, spread them out and allow them to dry for an hour or two. Then store them in paper sacks, in a cool place. They can last several weeks like this, as long as you check regularly for any that start to rot.
• Dig up tomato plants and hang them upside down in a warm, bright, dry place to allow fruit to ripen. Any left over green tomatoes can be used to make chutney.
• Sow over-wintering broad beans in situ, and plant out spring cabbage.
• Prepare areas for new planting next year by digging in good quality, well rotted horse manure.

Opening Hours for September: 9.00am - 6.00pm Monday to Saturday, Sunday 10:00 am - 4.00pm

Tel:020 8670 7788 www.alleynpark.co.uk