HEDGING

Steven Meyen is the Forestry Development Officer at Teagasc and is passionate about natural hedging. Hedges, Steven says, have determined the Irish landscape for the last two hundred years. They provide shelter for livestock and a windbreak for crops while preventing soil erosion and assisting in disease control between farms. They have an immense ecological value and help Ireland's image abroad as the Emerald Isle. Once hedges are planted, the only cost involved is for regular maintenance. Fences have to be replaced. Hedges, Steven feels, are eternal fences. It doesn’t matter if you are planting a native hedgerow on your farm or a line of Escallonia around the house; the basics for successful growing are the same.


Planting a container grown hedge
You can plant container-grown hedging plants at any time of the year, provided the soil is not frozen or waterlogged. However, if your garden is very exposed and windy it is recommended that certain varieties of hedging are planted in April. You might notice large leaved evergreens such as Escallonia look a bit battered if they are planted at the beginning of winter. Bare rooted plants can be planted from November, this will give you plenty of time to get the perennial weeds out of the area.

Careful where you plant
When planting a hedge, consider the location, access points and traffic safety.
Avoid planting the hedge too close to a wall or fence because it will make hedge management more difficult and animals will be able to graze the juicy new tips.


Avoid waterlogged, exposed or very shallow sites.

Preparation
Careful ground preparation will ensure healthy, fast growth giving competing vegetation less chance to smother the new vulnerable hedge. The ideal planting area needs to have about 2 ft (60cm) depth of topsoil to plant your hedge into.

Work in well-rotted manure to improve the soil, especially where an old hedge was removed.

If you have no objections to chemicals, spray off a one-metre strip with glyphosate from April-June before planting. This is followed in early summer by adding manure (if necessary)

Another option for people who practice organic methods (and who are not in a rush) is to carry out the ground preparation without spraying and then to cover a one-metre wide strip with black polythene for one year.


Planting the hedge
Digging a hole twice as wide and deep as the hedging plant's container will give the hedge a good chance of success. Backfill the holes with a 50 / 50 mix of topsoil and compost. Mix the soil you've removed from the planting hole with well-rotted organic matter. The organic matter you incorporate can be leaf mould, well rotted kitchen compost or well rotted farmyard manure.

The hedging plants need to be planted at the same depth as they were in the pot. Failure to do this will hold back their development.

Water your hedging even before planting. Immerse the pots in water-filled containers for about 10 minutes before planting, after this time remove them and allow the surplus water to drain away.

Cover the surface of the soil at the base of the hedge with a generous layer of mulch, such as bark mulch. This will help discourage weeds and reduce the amount of water loss from the soil.

Bare rooted hedging
The rules regarding planting bare-rooted hedging are similar to containerised hedging with the following exceptions. Bare-rooted hedging plants should be kept moist at all times before planting. If the fine roots on the hedging should dry out you may have many failures within your hedge.

Try to get the planting pits created beforehand, and buy your plants and pop them in the ground that very day. Any plants you cannot plant that day should be heeled into some moist topsoil until the next day.

With bare-rooted plants, the planting pit created should allow you to carefully spread the roots out across the bottom of the hole. Shake the stem of bare-rooted hedging plants lightly whilst back-filling your soil mix, this will ensure soil trickles down in between the roots.

Bare-root hedging may be more susceptible to wind rock and wind throw in the first few years after planting than container-grown plants. Because of this, you must keep a watchful eye on them especially during the windy winter period. Resettle “shook” hedging lightly with your heel when needed.

Solis

Mac’s garden centre
Whilst some of us have had a long break from any form of gardening duties, there are some dedicated horticulturalists that work through all weathers. There doesn’t have to be blooms in the borders for landscapers like John McDermott from Mac’s Garden Centre in Ballymagan to be out working. John and his team have spent the last few months undertaking a large landscaping project at the Solis Lough Eske Hotel, the only 5 star hotel in Donegal. The hotel boasts a 43-acre garden only 5 kms from Donegal Town. Creating a new garden around the Elizabethan style hotel wasn’t all that John has been doing. John started selling plants last year and because the demand is so great he has had to expand. The multispan polythene tunnel is full of summer promise and the display areas are bulging with new stock ready to adorn the gardens of Inishowen. John is also taking orders for hanging baskets and window boxes, for lots of colour this summer.

Architectural planting schemes
John is a firm fan of architectural planting schemes, especially grasses. Phormiums grow well in Inishowen. Planting smaller grasses around these add all year interest as they catch the low sunshine and wave in the wind. John has a fine selection of ornamental grasses, such as Acorus, with their compact habit. Astielia westland red and the spiky Fascicularia bicolour. This plant is actually a bromeliad and rewards us with a fantastic blue flower and white bracts, so not all architectural plants are flowerless. Planted close together to form a dense mat, these plants will give years of pleasure for very little work. Placing them into an area that has been covered with weed block material and given a surface dressing of stone or woodchip will make the job all the more maintenance free, allowing you to get on with planting those early vegetables.

Planting the vegetables
April is a good time to be planting vegetable seeds and in the garden. Asparagus, beetroot, broad beans, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, courgette and spinach are just a few of the seeds that can be planted out now. If you are limited for space to grow your own seedlings under protection, then small plants might suit you better. Local shops are now stocking packets that can be planted straight outside. Salad crops can be planted from seed now. Basil, chives, lettuce, radish, parsley and spring onions can all be placed out into warm prepared beds or containers.

Clean up your pots for the summer
If you are thinking about using plant pots and containers from last year, these could do with being cleaned too, before anything is planted into them. All sorts of pests and diseases can lurk in the crevices. It isn’t uncommon to find a nest of woodlice or loads of baby slugs living in the gaps in between each pot. (Sorry if you are eating your breakfast!) These could go undetected until they have eaten all of the young plants that you placed in them. Don’t let the dirt build up on your favourite garden ornaments either (unless of course you want that old style look) Get the brush and soapy water out and start scrubbing.

Early flowering plants
John has some fantastic early flowering plants in at the moment. Camellias are just about out and there are two types to choose from, Japonica, supreme red, and Williamsii donation ‘pink’. The rhododendrons and azaleas are looking good at the moment too. I always think it makes sense to take regular trips to the garden centres at all times of the year to buy plants that are looking good in season. This way you will be guaranteed something of interest all year round. Just because we don’t like to go outside when it’s cold and wet, doesn’t mean that plants don’t thrive on it!

THAT'S SHALLOT

Caroline McGonigle from Dumfries has been with the Swilly Gardening Club from the beginning and is always pleased to offer advice at the monthly meetings. Here are some of her tips about what to do in the garden this month. “Now is a good time to plant shallots into prepared soil,” she advises. “You might find that some shallots you have bought in the past have a habit of bolting, (that is going to seed too early). I have found that you need to buy quality seed that has been heat treated, the smaller the better, making sure they are firm” Caroline also likes to have salad onions growing. “I find that the Snowball variety give good results, they are, as you would imagine by the name, a white variety.”

Fleeced

Caroline also advocates the use of a light white fleece to keep pests off the growing vegetables. “White fleece is a very reliable source of protection against carrot fly and other pests in the garden. It is lightweight and doesn’t flatten the young plants. One important job in the garden is to make sure that the soil is well fed.”

“We are very lucky to be able to get seaweed to put on the garden,” Caroline continues. “If you can get some cow muck as well, all the better. This would add to the quality of the crops you grow. I dilute the muck in water and use it as a tonic.” Before Caroline finished her talk she gave us one more piece of advice. “Warm up a small area of the vegetable bed with black polythene or old carpet to start early salad vegetables, if you have a greenhouse, you can start sowing the seeds now.”

Caroline isn’t the only person giving advice this week. Gareth Austin from the Lifestyle Garden Centre has just taken over the Gardening Show on the Mark Patterson show on BBC Radio Foyle (Wednesdays from 3:55pm). He will be taking over the live event, replacing Brendan Little, who was in the hot seat for ten years. Gareth starts by letting us know that you can start to plant most seedlings now. “ The range of vegetable and flower seeds increases every year,” he says. “You will always find something to suit your taste.”

Gareth’s tips for the week

If you haven’t already given the lawn it’s first cut of the season, remember to use the blade at the highest setting and then reduce the cut gradually.

Start to plant early York cabbage, sprouts and cauliflower. For small gardens grow 3 in a grow bag for some fun. Nice and simple!

Continue to plant early seed potatoes, look out for Rocket, Arraon Pilot and Duke of York for very early spuds. Again try growing some in a compost bag.

Start to sow the super scented sweet peas in pots ready for planting outside when the threat of frost has passed.

Pot up some small Lobelia plants into bigger pots for great show this summer.

Now is the time to start to plant summer flowering bulbs such as Dahlias, Cannas, Lilies and Begonias. These dislike frost so watch out for cold snaps.

Freshen borders with a light hoe to nip the heads of freshly appearing chickweed and young annual weeds.

Refresh the borders with a new light covering of bark chippings.



Spring bulbs on lawns

The sight of spring bulbs on the lawn is very cheerful at the beginning of the growing season. The leaves do stay around a while afterwards though and sometimes makes the grass look untidy. Steps can be taken to keep grass and bulbs healthy. Gareth advises when spring bulbs have finished flowering, to feed the ground with a good quality tomato fertiliser, which will help to make the flowers bigger next year. Leave them to die off naturally if possible, but if space is limited feed the bulbs as above and then cut the foliage about a fortnight later before the grass gets untidy. The fertiliser will replace the nutrients lost when you cut the foliage!

DENNIS DOHERTY

Swilly Gardening Club

There was a great turn out at the Swilly Gardening Club last week. Members old and new turned up at the angling centre in Buncrana to hear Dennis Doherty talk about the spring lawn. Dennis has plenty of experience of working in the great outdoors, as he was the green keeper at Ballyliffen golf club for over 30 years and his expertise shows. He gave some top tips for looking after lawns.

Looking After Lawns
“Grass will need some fertiliser at this time of the year,” Dennis begins. “ I use 2 oz per square yard of a 5.5.10 ratio. For lawns with moss growing in it, apply sulphate of iron mixed with sand. Sulphate of iron tones the lawn and turns the moss black which can then be raked up, leaving room for the grass to develop,” he carries on. “Sulphate of iron also helps to control red thread disease, but be careful as it can stain driveways,” he warns. “Mowing the lawn is something that we will need to be doing now and if you want a perfect example you will have to cut it up to three times a week!” Dennis knows that this would be highly impractical for most people and accepts that one cut a week is more realistic. “Change the direction of the cut often to stop ridges forming in the soil. If you see patches of ground that look unhealthy fork the area to aerate the ground then add sharp sand into the holes to improve drainage.”

Vine weevil
One of the biggest problems for plants in containers at this time of year is vine weevil. Dennis recommends using fresh soil or compost in the containers every year. “ The vine weevil beetles love to lay into soft compost and containers make an ideal breeding ground. The small white grubs can totally destroy your plants as they eat any roots they come into contact with.” He cautions “Use fresh compost and for larger specimens, that you cannot empty, you could use a chemical to kill them. For those of you like to be organic, try a nettle spray. Put the cut nettles into a container and steep for a week or so. Spray this onto the soil and let is drain in. This has been known to kill the pests.”




Make your own mini propagator
This idea came from Colm Grant at the gardening club in Buncrana. The protected environment is the perfect answer for people who want to grow a few plants from seed or cuttings, but are limited for space. This is a great way to re-use plastic containers and will hopefully keep them out of the landfills. The mini propagator is small enough to fit on any windowsill and can even be left in the greenhouse without watering for a long time, as the condensation that builds up runs down the sides back into the soil. It comes with it’s own control switch too. If the temperature needs to be reduced or air circulation increased, it’s just a simple job of unscrewing the lid!

Step 1
When you have finished with your plastic milk container (you can substitute this for any drinks bottle) give it a good wash inside and out. Cut the bottle in two leaving more room on the top section for air circulation.

Step 2
Cut two tags either side of the top section to a depth of about 1 inch (2.5 cm). This helps to keep the lid in place.

Step 3
Fill the bottom section with good quality potting compost or sterilised soil. Tamp this down so there is a 1inch gap between the soil and the top of the container.

Step 4
Sow your seeds or place cuttings into the soil.

Step 5
Carefully place the lid over the base, (putting the top part inside the base to allow condensation to run back down to the soil) and let the tags hold the lid firmly in place.

See here for photo's

Check the mini propagator often to make sure your seeds are growing well. When they have germinated or the cuttings have rooted, take off the lid to harden them off before transplanting out into larger pots or outdoors.