This is the first year ever that I have bought bedding plants
The garage wall has had a thick coat of white emulsion
painted onto it this week. I generally
shy away from painting bare concrete as it will always need repainting,
generally sooner rather than you would like.
It’s amazing how much light the newly painted wall throws back into the
living room, so for now I am very happy with the result.
It’s a big wall though and very white, so I thought it
needed a few contrasting colours to break up the monotone. The easiest and most effective solution for
this is to do something I have never done before and that is to go out and buy
annual bedding plants and hang them in baskets on the wall. I usually grow annuals myself (some people
might even remember when I had the small nursery at the bottom of the hill in
Clonbeg, Buncrana).
As I have no protective tunnel or greenhouse and there is
only a certain amount of young seedlings you can get to grow under a clear
plastic bag on the windowsill I paid a visit to the Sow and Grow garden centre
based at Gransha hospital in Derry to see what was on offer this year. There
was a great selection of annual plants and after my initial resistance at the
price tags I decided to take the plunge and see what I could get with my very
limited budget. It wasn’t long before I
spent up. I came away with a 6 pack of
petunias, 4 trailing surfinias, pansies, trailing geraniums, 5 other trailing
half hardy plants whose names escape me being out of practice growing these
types of plants. I also did an impulse buy of 5 types of herbs and 2 lavenders
for a new herb bed.
I had already bought three small semi circular planters made
from woven hazel and thought these would look well on the wall. All it took was
to drill three holes in the block wall and put in some screws to hold the
planters in place. I also had three window
boxes to fill with plants.
Cramming them in
When I was growing annual bedding for myself, or for sale, I
tended to cram as many plants into the containers as possible. This wasn’t a
good idea in hindsight as there isn’t much room for root growth in most
containers. As these plants have cost me
a lot of money I am only putting two plants into the baskets and about five
plants in the window boxes. I have also used up the remaining water absorbing
crystals I bought for my moss graffiti experiments in the potting compost mix.
Then I added a bit of normal soil for weight and some blood fish and bone
fertiliser which was the only organic fertilizer I could find in the
shops.
Hanging the baskets and putting the containers near the
white wall have instantly improved the area and for the first time in my
growing career I can see the benefits of showy annual plants, and that’s before
they grow to full size. Let’s just hope
that I remember to water them regularly and also to keep the dogs from sitting
on the window boxes.
Eaten Sunflowers
We have planted some young sunflower plants in the garden to
cover up a bit more concrete block and had to take some extremely inventive
methods to keep the dogs from trampling them. Initially I pushed a few sticks
into the ground next to the plants but the dogs decided they could be used as
posts to weave in and out of. They will be pestering me to go on talent shows
next. I have added more and more sticks
around the plants to stop them being ruined, so many that it looks like I have
been creating wildlife habitats for hibernating hedgehogs. I’m sure the sunflowers will grow quickly and
be safe in no time. I did have a bit of a mystery with the sunflower leaves
being eaten, nothing to do with the dogs this time. I initially thought it was slugs, but
couldn’t find any sign of them breaking past the slug deterrents I have laid
out. I think the problem is
pigeons. I know pigeons have a taste for
young cabbages and can strip a whole row in next to no time. There are ways to
keep pigeons off plants. Netting works as does putting old CD’s on strings.
I’ll leave it for a while as I think the plants have enough cluttering their
growth already and any hungry pigeons will have to join the dogs weaving in and
out of the sticks.
Competition Results
I will be announcing the lucky winner of the Garden Matters
Poetry Competition next week after Gareth Austin has read through them all and
decided on his favourite. Thanks for your entries.
