I’m starting this week off with a plug. It’s not the small
plant type of plug though, it’s about my lad setting himself up as a ‘Gadget Man’.
(Stay with me here though as I have linked it to horticulture) He’s decided to
turn his passion for all things computer based into helping people who are a
bit out of touch with new technology by giving workshops to show how to get the
best from mobile devices such as iPads. He’ll sort out most other things too
but he has found one of the biggest issues people have with these things is
setting them up in the first place. A lot of things are cloud based now so it’s
handy to have these in place to back up the treasured family photos and selfies
when you are out and about, or is that just me?
To get the word out on the street I have been giving Ronnie
a hand distributing leaflets advertising the service. The leaflets are small A5
size and are large enough to list of what he is offering but also small enough
to fit into the letterbox.
Nosey
I’ve probably been to a few hundred houses so far and it’s
given me a great opportunity to be nosey and have a look at other people’s
gardens, some of which you just don’t see from the road. Postal delivery people
are so lucky; they get to see them every working day. I noticed that some houses
have metal post boxes on the front gates
to save having to venture down long drives, but I ignore them and walk down anyway hoping it’s not because
of a big angry dog they have a gate box. I’ve been lucky so far.
No two gardens are the same. They all have their own
personalities, be it a pile of neglected car parts and intrusive couch grass or
highly manicured gardens with not a blade of grass out of place. There are a
lot of gardeners who place planted up plant pots around the house, some of them
look very attractive, but a majority of the ones I was in my travels had a
collection of dead plants in them. The main reason this has happened is that
people didn’t keep an eye on them in the dry spell and they died through lack
of watering. The only plants that seem to survive seem to be self-set black
willow trees or reeds, again self-set.
This tells me a few
things.
·
The owners intentionally let the annuals die off
and the pots will eventually have winter bedding such as pansies put into them.
·
The owners need to get a watering system
installed, especially if they have loads of pots and baskets.
·
The owner’s lifestyles are too busy to notice
the plants are dying as they dash to the car.
·
The plant roots have been eaten by vine weevil.
·
There’s a cat in the garden using the pot as a
toilet.
·
The pots are too small for the plants
·
There are too many plants in a root restricted
area and they dry out too quickly.
Proportion
It’s not a
criticism though before anyone sends me an email, as I have plenty of dead plants
in pots too. My reason is a bit of all of the above and also because I have too
many to check, especially the pots that have been buried under massed of summer
growth. The plants that stand the best chances of survival are the ones where
the roots have escaped from the drainage holes in the base and fixed themselves
into the soil. This is a good way to keep the pots upright too I have found. Of
course it won’t work if the pot is sitting on a concrete path or driveway.
Another
observation about the pots (and I stress observation, not criticism) is that
most of the pots aren’t in proportion to their surroundings. It can look a bit
odd when I meandered down the drive of a big house and find loads of tin 20cm
pots around the patio or front door. The proportion issue doesn’t end there
either; some other garden features are just too small for their places. I think
it might be something to do with impulse buying in the shops, especially the
Euro shops or Lidl. You see something that looks great close up and in the
picture and has the added benefit of being able carry it out of the shop and
into the car.
Most pots
and garden ornaments for bigger areas can’t really be carried in a bag. It
reminds me a bit of the Father Ted sketch. Father Ted was telling a confused
Dougal about the use of perspective and scale with the use of a plastic cow
whilst on a caravanning holiday in a field.
“These are
small, but the ones out there are far, far away”
