Late summer

Hosta’s divide easily, you might have to tackle the big ones with a spade though

DIVIDING PERENNIALS

I don’t talk about perennial plants much. It’s not that I don’t like them, far from it; I think that they are a beautiful addition to any garden. It’s just that we don’t have many in our own garden. We have an Astilbe hiding in a very dry area underneath a conifer, which is probably about the worst place for it as they like very moist soil, and apart from a few herbs like lemon balm, we have a few large daisies that have been pot bound in a fish box by the shed for the last two years.

We have mainly shrubs in the garden with no herbaceous borders and very little bare soil, so that means no weeding. I bought two very good hoe’s from John and Mary in Malin at the beginning of the season and they are still in the shed with their wrappers on…. that’s the way I like it.

HERBACEOUS PERENNIALS
A friend of mine asked me to check out their perennial patch this week to seeabout giving it a facelift. The bed was planted about seven years ago and things are looking a bit tired.

Ideally, perennials should be lifted, divided and replanted every three to five years, so it’s time for some work to be done on their plants to keep them in good shape and colour. The rewards will be healthy, vigorous growth and a crop of new plants to expand their planting scheme. I can’t resist digging up some Jacob’s ladders and hosta’s to demonstrate the different kinds of roots….


WHY DIVIDE?
There are a few good reasons to divide your perennial plants:

· Clumps have started to die out in the middle. The classic “doughnut” shape with an empty hole in the centre is a sure sign that a perennial clump needs attention.
· Flowering performance has declined. The clump may have become congested, or the roots old and woody.
· Soil nutrients have been exhausted around the clump. Signs of this might be stunted growth, yellowish leaves or lack of bloom. Dividing and moving to a new location is a wise idea. Sometimes simply fertilizing the plant will make it smarten up.
· Perennial weeds like creeping buttercup or grass have infested the clumps. When this happens, usually the best approach is to dig up the entire clump and divide it, picking out every single piece of weed root that can be found.

Dividing established clumps can provide plenty of new plants for a new garden bed, or to share with friends and neighbours.


When to divide
Plants should be divided when they're dormant, in late autumn or early spring. Fleshy-rooted perennials, such as peonies, should be left until the end of their dormant season in late spring, before being divided. Their buds will begin to shoot, which will indicate the more vigorous areas of growth, and therefore the best way of dividing up the plant.


How to divide

· Lift the plant by loosening the surrounding soil, taking care not to damage the root system.
· Once lifted, shake off as much loose soil around the roots as possible and remove any dead leaves and stems with secatuers.
· Make sure all buds are visible before dividing.


Fibrous-rooted plants

· Place two hand forks back-to-back near the middle of the plant.
· Gently push the handles back and forth so that the prongs gradually tease the plant apart.
· Repeat the process with each portion to divide the plant into more sections, making sure each section has a healthy bud.
· Discard the old, woody growth from the centre of the plant.
· Some fibrous-rooted perennials, such as primula, form a loose crown of many stems so they can be pulled apart by hand without damaging the plant. You can also take off separate stems growing at the edge of the plant, just make sure each portion has its own roots.

The fibrous roots of the Jacob’s Ladder divide easily. Try not to get too carried away though as you could get hundreds of divisions.

Some common fibrous rooted plants include: Artemisia, Asters, Aquilegia, Golden Rod, Herbaceous Campanulas, Forget-me-not Herbaceous Geraniums, Meadowsweet, Perennial Spiraea, Perennial Sunflowers, Primroses and Yarrow.



Fleshy-rooted plants
Dig up the plant and with a sharp knife separate the woody crowns.

· Make sure that each new piece has strong roots and several bud growths.
· Plants with fleshy roots can be divided with a spade.
· Make sure the new shoots are visible before dividing.
· Trim each division with a knife, discarding any old, woody material and damaged growth.

Again if it’s an old big clump that's been in the ground for several years or more then throw away the centre part. Plants with fleshy Crowns include: Delphiniums, Lupins, Astilbe and Hosta.


Dividing rhizomes.
· Dig up and select young outer pieces.
· Use a sharp knife to separate the rhizomes.
· Select pieces that have at least one or two fans of leaves from the outside of the clump and discard the centre rhizomes.


Plants with rhizome roots include: Flag Iris, Lily of the valley and Orris Root.


Replanting
After the plants have been dug and divided there are a few steps that will need to be taken:

· Replant divisions as soon as possible, making sure that the roots don’t dry out. In general, divisions should be planted at the same depth as the original plant, leaving enough space between plants to develop.
· Ensure that roots are evenly spread out in the planting hole before gently firming the plant in.
· Add soil improvers such as well rotted manure or rich compost into the planting places.
· Water the base of each division immediately after planting, and keep the plants well watered while they settle in.


There are a few perennials that don’t respond well to being divided which include: Alyssums Candytuft Carnation, Delphinium, Euphorbia Foxgloves, Geraniums, Lavenders and the perennial Sweet pea amongst others.

Once you start to divide plants, you will get a feel for those that will do well when divided.

FUNGI IN THE GARDEN

BACK TO SCHOOL

I can’t help noticing that there are a lot of berries hanging from trees and bushes. The rowan trees are fit to burst and although there are plenty to go at, the starlings are still fighting over the small red fruit. Blackberries are filling the hedgerows and the chestnut trees are bowing with the weight of their conkers….well apart from the tree in Swan Park. I didn’t see any there this morning, maybe there have been too many sticks thrown at the tree over the years and it’s decided to have a rest for a bit.

I used to enjoy this time of year when it was time to go back to school after the long summer holiday (well, after the initial shock of having to get up in the mornings). It wasn’t that I loved going to school or anything like that, it was more to see my friends again and find out what everyone was doing. I spent most of my early years thinking that everyone was having more fun than I was and I didn’t want to miss any craic…

LONG WALK
From the age of four I walked the three miles to get to school. It sounds a bit historic now but all of us kids walked, the school run in the car wasn’t so common. We always managed to form into small groups for company as we walked along. I’m just grateful we had shoes for the journey and didn’t have to walk for ten miles over fields like all of the adults used to tell me that they had to do. Of course I’m carrying on this irritating tradition of telling children how good they have it now, albeit slightly toned down, although I do tell my lads that I wore potato sacking on my feet (in good old Monty Python tradition). They just roll their eyes and give me withering looks.
GETTING YOUR BEARINGS
There were plenty of distractions along the route to school. One of my favourite places to visit was the scrap yard that we passed half way to school. I would pop into there to get my weekly supply of ball bearings that came off of the scrap cars and machinery. I just loved the smoothness and feel of the solid balls of steel and used to trade them at school for coloured marbles and answers to homework questions. They weren’t the most practical things to collect, if you put too many of them in your pockets, your trousers tended to drop around your ankles.

CONKERS
Conkers were also a favourite. There was a great old tree on the way to school, and I would often be late to class as I had a good old scrummage amongst the leaves to find a casing that still had its shiny copper prize inside. Of course so did a lot of the other kids and the competition for them was as fierce as the tournaments we had in the playground. I confess to occasionally cheating though. There were times that I used a conker from the previous year, there was a name for them, (dobber, perhaps, but maybe that was something to do with marbles…..) These were supposed to be tougher in combat, but in my experience it just made them more brittle. I also baked them, pickled them in vinegar and occasionally chopped them in half and filled them up with plaster of paris and then stuck them back together again. Nothing really worked though. A two’er was as far as I went with any of my competitions; maybe it’s all in the wrist action. I didn’t ever get to defeat more than one other conker player until mine broke off its shoelace causing the shrapnel to fly off into someone’s face, ah those heady days before health and safety (and computer games).
ABUNDANCE
Blackberries were always in big supply starting back to school too, they could be a bit messy though. One time I put a load of them into a plastic bag and left them too long in my schoolbag, the following day (well maybe it was a week or so), I got them out and the resulting mush was moving…..full of maggots. It put me off for a couple of days but learnt that you should either eat them straight away or not put them in plastic bags. It wasn’t as bad as the time someone intentionally left a tub of maggots and a bit of meat in someone’s school locker over the summer holiday. By the time the unsuspecting pupil went to put his books away after the summer break, he was greeted with a swarm of bluebottles flying into his face, they were flying around the school for weeks….such fun.




IN ONE EAR
There is one insect that I am still not fond of though, maybe it stems from sleeping in a friends garden shed when I was ten. The shed had just been put up and the smell of creosote was strong, but that didn’t put up us off wanting to camp out on the splintery wooden floor.

All went well until I woke up in the night itching. I was covered in earwigs…Apparently if you are unfortunate enough to crunch one in your mouth, it’s a taste you will never forget. I had them all in my sleeping bag but thankfully not in my mouth or ears….They don’t actually go in your ears (I didn’t know that at the time though) as they get their name from hiding in the ears of corn.
There seems to be a lot of them around this year though. The ones we have in the house though are hiding everywhere. If you open the back door, they come scurrying into the kitchen, pick up a towel in the bathroom and there are a couple of them having a party. Most of the lettuce and shallots from the garden have some hiding in the nooks and crannies too. It’s bad enough squishing a slug in the lettuce but when I get an earwig popping out of my perpetual spinach, I’m taken back to the night in the shed.

I should admire the way that the “wiggies” put up their pincers to scare you away, or thinking that they could tackle me into submission by looking aggressive. I don’t though and must confess that they are the only things I will intentionally tread on. It’s mainly due to shock though as they do tend to surprise me.

Check your clothes before you put them on in the morning…….

A bit like Autumn

EASILY DISTRACTED
Autumn is moving in quickly. The temperature has dropped and fallen leaves are starting to build up in the corners of the garden. I was in Swan Park today and noticed that the elderberries are ripe and the sycamore helicopter seed pods are ready to drop. There’s still plenty of growth left though, so it’s not time to pack the mower away into the shed just yet. Grass, contrary to popular belief, never really stops growing, it just slows down a bit to allow you to conduct a few indoor jobs like tidying the garage.

So I am rummaging around our garage looking for something as the rain is stubborn and won’t go away. I can’t quite remember what it is I’m looking for as I’m very easily distracted. I have just unearthed an old Daily Diary from my college days back in 1991.


DAILY DIARY
The particular course I did at college was Amenity Horticulture, which meant that 80% of the time was spent being practical out of doors with a spade, notepad and piece of twine, leaving just 20% of the time for me to fall asleep in the classrooms. I was never that good at sitting so it was an ideal ratio. Throughout the course we were asked to log our work and observations throughout the year and compile a diary. At the time is seemed like a bit of a chore, but it’s the same as photographs, they become more historically valuable as the years pass.

PUT THE KETTLE ON
This needs a bit more attention so I tuck the diary under my arm and put the kettle on. Sitting comfortably in my armchair, I flick the diary open to the index page. I was very organised back then and everything is laid out in alphabetical order. It’s amazing what topics we covered. From alpine display beds through potting geraniums as well as day trips to nurseries to see how F1 seeds were produced, we packed everything in. Bizarrely, one of the most interesting and memorable trips for me was a visit to the local Tesco car park to assess the effectiveness of their low maintenance planting schemes around the car parking spaces…. How sad is that?

The diary also has my day-to-day interactions with the rest of the students throughout the year. The age group of the class members ranges from sixteen to sixty so there was always plenty of banter going on. I just started writing about everything that we did and thinking about it I have never stopped, it’s just that my location and circumstances have changed and I now write for the local newspaper instead of a college course…

REFERENCE
The idea of the diary was to use as a reference for when we were in the big wide world of work. It makes for a more animated read than a stuffy textbook and you have a giggle at the same time.

I’m on my second cuppa now and delve deeper. I remember we were also asked to do a monthly observation to witness the changing season. I found this invaluable at the time, as before the course I worked in a sand quarry and stared at large mountains of silica sand every day. It could have been any time of year as it looked like the Sahara Desert no matter what season it was (We sold sand to the Arab countries as a matter of interest, it was mixed in with nylon fibres to use on racecourses). I had never noticed the trees changing colour or seed heads appearing. The only time the quarry looked different was when it was covered in snow.

I started the observations with a visit to Westonbirt Arboretum (in Gloucestershire) to see the fabulous autumn leaves of their trees; acers, euonymus, oaks and cherry to name but a few. I then took to noting all of the plants around my own area that were radiant at different times of the year. I would recommend anyone who has an interest in gardening to do this as it really makes you realise just how quickly things change.

Another thing that the course taught me is that the more you learn about gardening, the more you realise just how much you don’t know…..

TRAINING COURSES
That’s why training courses can be a vital part of the journey to horticultural enlightenment. I was looking at the Greenmount courses up near Antrim. They have loads of courses on offer including amenity, organic and greenkeeping. If you are interested in a career in horticulture (and after all it is a growing industry ha ha) check out the courses on the website www.cafre.ac.uk

If you garden just for fun than a day or weekend course may be more feasible. The Organic Centre in Rossinver have loads of interesting courses running all year round. It’s getting to the mushroom season, so why not sign up for their Foraging For Free course or the Mushroom Hunting day? You can also choose a “Polytunnel” Course, A “Natural Remedies For Winter” weekend, “Alternative Energy”, “Growing Trees from Seed,” “Planning a Garden”, “Make Reedbeds” or “Organic Gardening Made Easy”. That’s just a small selection of what’s on offer, check out their website
www. theorganiccentre.ie for more information. If you get enough of your friends and family interested, you could hire a bus and have a fantastic, educational day out…

I had a tutor who told me that if I could remember three Latin names of plants and occasionally bring them out in conversation, then people would think you know what you are talking about and be impressed. It’s worked well for me for years…..or so I like to believe.