North Wexford

Gardeners’ Guide  with Luke Eastwood

Seasonal tips for the garden month by month with RHS trained Horticulturalist Luke Eastwood

March – Encouraging new growth

This year spring is fairly late, after a particularly harsh winter, however by now there should be signs of new growth, bulbs up and flowering especially nearer the coast.  Trees and shrubs will be showing buds of new shoots and leaves ready to emerge soon, birch trees are usually one of the first to break into leaf.

Because of the harsh winter spring pruning should be later this year, the pruning apart from restoring a better shape, encourages new growth but one should be careful not to do it whilst prolonged frosty weather is likely.

Now is also the time to give your plants a feed, this can be done in several ways – fertilizers applied regularly or a once off in the form of slow release balls such as Ozmocote or Miracle Grow. The advantage of the slow release method is that it only need be done in spring and hence it frees up time for other jobs, this may be particularly useful if you only have an hour or two each week spare for gardening. If you want to stay away from chemicals there are a number of excellent natural/organic alternatives such as manure, grass clippings, leaf mould  and wood ash. As well as these you can also buy sterilized manure, poultry manure pellets, “blood, fish and bone” and rock dust mineral fertilizer.

It’s important to make sure to get the balance right, too much fertilizer can harm or kill your plants so use liberal quantities only on the hungriest plants such as roses. It is better to feed your plants moderately several times than to kill them by overdoing it!

If you are growing vegetables it’s a good time to get the spuds in, you can chit them first – leave in a box/tray in a light and airy room to encourage them to sprout. Many veg can be grown in seed trays first if the weather is still harsh but in the case of carrots it’s best to sow where you want them to grow (preferably in a free draining soil) as they don’t like to be moved.

It’s also time to think about getting the lawnmower out, once the average temperature hits around 10 degrees the grass will begin to get going, consistent mowing is key to maintaining a healthy lawn.

February – Springtime!

It’s great to finally see the snowdrops flowering and the emerging daffodils. The ground is finally warming up after the harsh winter, however, we may not have seem the last of the snow and heavy frost. In land it’s possible to get frost as late as May so don’t be in a hurry to remove fleece from your non-hardy perennials.

In my travels around Wexford I have noticed the devastation that the coldest winter in forty years has caused in the plant kingdom. I was quite shocked to see mature Cordyline Australis specimens with all of their leaves destroyed by the frost, when I remembered that it got to -17C around the Wexford/Carlow border I realized that it should really be no great surprise.

As a result of the harsh conditions a lot of gardens will need more tidying up than usual. In general all necrotic (dead) tissue should be cut away and put into the compost heap. Some shrubs will look like they are completely dead but by taking a very small nick into the bark you can see if there is still green under the surface, if this is the case the plant is still alive. Regrowth cannot happen on dead tissue  and in some cases the dead leaves and stalks can hamper the plant’s attempts to re-establish itself. Obviously if the whole plant has died it is best to completely remove it, including the roots, to discourage disease.

Now is the time to begin thinking about planting, if you wish to grow flowering plants or vegetables from seed you can get an early start provided you can protect your seedlings from fluctuations in temperature, excessive moisture and strong winds. This generally means using cloches, cold frames, greenhouses or a polytunnel. For those who don’t have this equipment germinating the seeds in a seed tray in the airing cubboard is a good option, after which they should be moved to a window with plenty of light (preferably south facing). As plants are heliocentric (they grow towards the sun) it might be necessary to turn the tray around every few days to prevent the seedlings from becoming lop-sided. Do not be in too much of a hurry to transfer them outside, give them plenty of time to get established as  it is possible for unpredictable weather to wipe out whole plantations of crops in their juvenile stages.

Luke Eastwood is Head Gardener at Seafield Spa Hotel and Gold Course in Ballymoney.

December – Dealing with frost

Frost damage can be a major problem for tender perennials including many popular plants such as Pelargoniums. With container grown plants they can be brought inside, however plants in the ground may need protection with horticultural fleece.Frost does have its advantages, the cold will kill off many of the weeds and insect pests and also help to reduce the number of rodents that do a lot of damage to plants, bulbs especially.

In recent years the weather has become very unpredictable with snow and frost appearing all along the Wexford coastline. Usually this is a mild climatic zone but last year, for instance, temperatures of as low as -10 degrees killed or badly damaged many plants that are usually fine in coastal areas. In view of this it is wise to cover at risk plants when there is harsh weather predicted.

Make sure to secure the fleece properly as it is lightweight and with the often strong winds of winter it can be blown away if not secure. Wind protection is another thing to consider as wind can also do a lot of damage to plants such as bamboo, Choisya  ternata, Clematis etc.

Now is not a bad time for putting down manure as a top dressing on your plants, although it is best to avoid this if the ground is hard with frost. Some early flowering plants such as Viburnums, Kerria japonica, Jasminium nudiflorum (winter jasmine) will be appreciative of some early feeding, as when plants are close to flowering is a time when they can use some extra nutrients. Camellias are another plant that can be fed in autumn/winter to aid flowering but like Azaleas and Rhododendrons they need special feed suitable for acid loving plants – which is available cheaply at all garden centres.

Luke Eastwood is Head Gardener at Seafield Spa Hotel and Golf Club, Ballymoney