October Gardening Articles

• Late Autumn Colour

 

 

• Celebrating English Apples

 

• Autumn is the Time for Planting

 

Is it me, or is there a trend for our autumns to be longer and later?

There seems to be a pattern of erratic weather during springs but autumns are warmer, calmer and with just about the right amount of rain for good gardening. This has led to a later display of autumn colour from trees and shrubs and allowed many, that used to only occasionally perform well, to strut their stuff almost every year!

 

Having written this, I realise that I am tempting fate and every leaf on every tree could be shredded and blown into the sea making me look very silly by the time this is published!

 

With the splendour of Japanese Maples at Westonbirt Arboretum being in the centre of our area, their reliability for autumn colour is well known, but what about some of the lesser known performers that colour up later?

 

Norway and Field Maples turn the warmest butter yellow in the next few days and as a result of widespread plantings of both we can enjoy this spectacle in town and along our roadsides. Both are easy to grow and field maples should be considered for planting more widely as a good native garden hedge. Unlike Japanese maples that tend to struggle on limey and thin soils, these both do well on these soils once well established.

 

Our native spindle tree has late delicate looking soft pink leaves before they fall and, if the variety 'Red Cascade' is chosen, the fruits can be spectacular too. This spindle, and the winged form [Euonymus alatus], both thrive in soils that are thin and perhaps overlying limestone rocks. Unlike our native spindle [Euonymus europaeus], alatus is very compact and suitable for a very small garden.

 

Some evergreen shrubs produce good autumn colour, even though this is not necessarily a reaction before the leaves fall off. We have a Mahonia japonica that struggles a bit in poor soil on a dry bank and every autumn the leaves change to a gorgeous rich red and orange. Sadly, this is something hard to replicate elsewhere but another plant from the Berberis family colours up regularly as colder nights approach. This is the lovely Sacred Bamboo or Nandina domestica. The dwarf variety of this changes to a rich coppery red and, like the winged Euonymus, is small enough for even tiny gardens. This one also grows well in containers and will tolerate the shady side of the house well too.

 

With Halloween just around the corner, I mustn't forget a favourite shrub of mine. Witch Hazel has got it's name, not from witches of the magical kind, but for its' astringent qualities. The sap from the wood of this large winter flowering shrub are the main ingredient of Witch Hazel. It is thought that the name has come from its' use by the first settlers in North America to divine water sources. Be that as it may, the variety 'Jelena' not only has spectacular scented orange flowers in mid winter when any flowers are a bonus but has sensational autumn leaf colour now! Hamamelis x intermedia 'Jelena' may not be the easiest variety to find but it is well worth the search and autumn is the best time for planting.

 

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I popped in to my local Tesco last night to see what apples are on sale and I must say that I was impressed and have seen a slight improvement! What impressed me most was that there were very few English apples on sale and for once that was because they had sold out! True, the choice of varieties was predictably narrow but the Cox, Russets, Braeburn and Gala were almost all gone and only the Bramley remained.

 

I was intrigued to see the green French grown Golden Delicious and Granny Smith were still there. I had had a discussion with a farmer from South African only last week that revealed that the Cape growers had been in difficulties as a result of our switch away from this green immature type of apple and rightly so.

There is a great tradition of apple production in the West Country but this is not reflected in what's on offer in our high streets. So it is of no surprise that currently there is a big revival of interest in home grown fruit! With the above varieties readily available to buy off the shelf, many gardeners are growing less common types that perhaps do not lend themselves to mass production and, more particularly, the demands of the supermarket giants.

 

So which varieties are best for the amateur? Well, where do I start! There are masses of good varieties suitable but before choosing them we need to get to the root of the issue. The rootstock onto which an apple is budded dictates the ultimate size of the tree and can also encourage earlier cropping in the trees life. Dwarf and semi-dwarf rootstocks are the norm with M9, MM106 and M26 being the most widely used. However, for growing apples in pots, or where space is really limited, M27 is the most dwarfing of all. These dwarf root systems [M9 and M27] need very good soil and will need to be staked throughout their life.

 

Having chosen the rootstock, we can look at the more interesting bit, but again we need to give it a bit of thought. If our garden has only room for one tree we need to look for a variety that produces a fruit crop on its' own. These trees are described as 'self fertile'. A variety such as 'Queen Cox', that is a self fertile selection of 'Cox's Orange Pippin', is worth growing. Another approach would be to plant what is called a 'family' tree. This is a tree with three varieties on one trunk! The varieties will pollinate each other and also give a spread of different tasting fruit over a longer period.

 

If 'Cox' is your first choice, you may find producing good quality Cox-like fruits more rewarding by planting easier to grow varieties. Cox is renowned for being a challenging apple to grow, particularly in the west. 'Sunset' tastes like Cox and is so much easier to grow! It is also, by the way, one of the prettiest apples in flower and warrants its' place in the garden for this reason alone. 'Fiesta' and 'Kidd's Orange Red' are exceptional varieties too.

 

If you also want to grow cooking apples then the choice of varieties is more limited. Bramley's Seedling is exceptional but has several major drawbacks for the amateur gardener. It is a triploid variety which makes it very vigorous and also infertile. This means that you will need to plant another apple to pollinate your Bramley and another to pollinate that pollinator…in other words three trees! Suddenly the garden is looking full! However, if your neighbours have apples or even crab apples, the bees will probably bring pollen from their trees to yours so it is not as bad as it seems. The new cooker 'Bountiful' looks worth a try as it is more compact than Bramley, cooks well and is resistant to powdery mildew.

 

I could go on and on but I suggest that you visit one of the many Apple Day celebrations that are going on around the region today.

 

In the meantime I'm off to have a nutty flavoured home-grown 'Egremont Russet' with some delicious mature Lye Cross cheese washed down with a glass of Thatchers single variety cider!

Why have we got out of the habit?

When I left college and started my first job, it was common practice to plant your garden in the autumn. Now we seem to wait for the first daffodil to open before we even think of venturing outside! Perhaps we get fired up by the lengthening days in spring?

 

Anyway, spring is not necessarily the best time to be planting the majority of garden plants. Hardy plants are best planted now!

 

Okay, so what are 'hardy plants' I hear you say. Well they are most of the plants we grow and can withstand frost and survive happily year after year These are all perennials and can be woody, herbaceous, climbing, conifer like, deciduous, alpine and even fruit crops!

 

So why is it they establish so well if planted in the autumn?

Firstly, the soil is still warm even though air temperatures begin to drop. This encourages new roots to form rapidly. In spring the soil is often very much colder so roots are often playing 'catch-up' with the tops of plants romping away exhausting all the plants' reserves before the root system is fully functioning. Even trees and shrubs that loose their leaves now will grow new roots before spring because, although the tops become dormant, the roots continue to grow.

 

Soils in autumn have plenty of moisture and this, with the inevitable winter rains, reduces the need for regular watering. In spring newly planted trees and shrubs will need regular watering often right through the first growing year.

 

A visit to us now will reveal another good reason and that is the choice of plants at this time of year is often much greater. You may also notice at this time of year that our staff have a bit more time to give you good advice and help you choose wisely!

So what are you waiting for, don't waste the opportunity, get planting now! Your plants will be established and growing when everyone else's are still playing 'catch-up'.

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