May has sneaked up on us with rain to soften our parched land after the many dry days in a row intensifying the glorious leaf shades. I often bike through our public gardens enjoying the changing seasons, the brilliance at this time of year coming out on top. I acknowledge the vision of those who selected and planted those trees to create such visual beauty.
After rain snails arrive into gardens, they will find a dark sheltered spot among pots or behind plants growing up against a wall, flax and agapanthus are especially bad for harboring fast multiplying snails ready to destroy plants in spring. I have read that it is no good transporting snails to a vacant area away from your garden because they have homing instincts and travel long distances to return to THEIR garden of choice. I cannot bring myself to stamp on them or drown them in a bucket so if you are like me you can gather up as many as you can find and put them in a plastic bag, close it tight and put in the freezer. This way they will go to sleep and not wake up, yes I know "what is she on about"? working with Nature is what gardening is all about with me and snails belong in gardens until you remove them.
Compost is to be applied to gardens here after the rain which will help keep moisture in the soil. Compost / mulch will be beneficial to trees, shrubs and plants by keeping the ground warmer during winter and being there when roots start needing nutrients in early spring.
Conifers have been out of favor for a number of years but I consider conifers along with tree's the bones of any garden and now that leaves are disappearing from deciduous trees I am appreciating the wonderful conifers I planted many years ago. To find the right conifer for a particular spot needs a little homework because size and preference to shade and texture need to be considered. A conifer can be used as a focal point, to add interest at the end of a vista in an other wise bleak winter garden. Find an image of the right conifer for your garden and get the information required then order because Garden centers do not carry many varieties these days. Conifers planted along side erica's and callunias are the perfect combination for a low maintenance planting to make a winter garden interesting.
Pots that have been full of summer colour will now be looking very tired, replace the growing medium as all nutreiants will be exhausted. If very large pots, half fill with soil / compost then top up with a heavy potting mix and fill with winter flowering annuals like pansies, Pollyanthas, primulas, dwarf wall flowers, all of these have shallow roots. Some I have filled with succulents because I noticed that a lot of my succulents have flowered and become stalky which means that it is time to forgo the Mother plant and plant out her babies. Each rosette can be broken off with a little part of stem and pushed into river sand to quickly develop roots to become a Mother plant. These Baby succulents look great in pots over the Winter months, You can fill all of the vacant space or push in around the edges and plant Hyacinths or any dwarf Spring bulbs in the center. The succulents give your pots some interest before the bulbs come up. There are so many different succulents, in shades of red, orange, silver, fresh green.
Lawns slowed down during the dry spell but perked up again after the rain, lawn seed sown should be up and growing before the threat of frost, I have sown grass seed on the bare patches (only in very sunny areas) in the hope the ground will stay warm long enough for it to germinate. Don't waste lawn fertiliser on grass now, save it for spring but a dressing of dolomite lime now will have worked down by spring to sweeten grass roots.
Vegetables: Plant board beans, cabbage, carrots, and spinach here on the coast, further inland forget about the vegetable garden apart from planting a green crop to be dug in and left to break down over winter.
Our garden, Rockvale gardens at Weston is open daily displaying wonderful autumn colours, however a welcome by Scruff (Cairn Terrier ) can be a little off putting by visiting Garden enthusiasts until he gets a tummy rub.
Cheer Linda.
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