You just cant beat it can you?
Another month with us but, at last, the flippin' summer has decided to make an appearance. There's nothing like the sun on your back to give you a bit of confidence and the Long Suffering has encouraged me to "spend a bit of time in the garden - whilst you can".
You won't need to ask me twice!
So, here's my little list of jobs for the week.
All the pretty stuff is in full bloom, so I'll be pruning our wisteria and the two apple trees. That'll take me a pleasant couple of hours and I'll work up a thirst for that bottle of cold Spitfire sat waiting for me in the fridge.
Whilst I'm doing that, The Long Suffering usually potters around removing any dead flower heads to make room for new flowers.
Mind you, despite all this wretched rain we've been having, it's important to continue watering the plants and that's usually my last job of an evening - and with the recent weather, I can tell you, I got plenty of the wet stuff! My butts are overflowing if you pardon the expression!
I'll also be doing a spot of remedial work on my tomatoes and will pinch out the tops of the plants - and the runner beans – to increase the yield! Looking at both, we could actually be in for a decent yield - thanks, of course, in no small way, to good old Rootgrow!
Finally, I want to clear a largish patch of my garden to make room for a new enlarged spud patch I want to have in place for next year - and then there's the repair work to the greenhouse and the shed .....
And do you know? I think that little lot will keep me busy this week!
But at least I'll be smiling!
Showing posts with label Watering. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Watering. Show all posts
Tuesday, 7 August 2007
Monday, 11 June 2007
Water, water everywhere .....
Those of us who live in the Garden of England sometimes worry for the future of the traditional English Garden.
The weather experts tell us that we are suffering from one of the driest years on record. Rather worryingly, if this trend continues, 2007 could prove to be a tricky one for gardeners and they are warning that many thousands of pounds may be lost by buying plants that go on to die due to a lack of water.
Many of us have also had to work without the benefit of using hose pipes and the traditional way of using high inputs of water and chemical fertiliser simply will not work since the nutrients do not have water in which to move in the soil towards the roots of the plant.
Thankfully, Mother Nature does have a solution. Which, if you think about it stands to reason - after all how do plants grow quite happily in deserts? Methinks we can learn something from studying plants in those environments.
Our boffins at Rootgrow have carried out studies into survival mechanisms and one of the most important is an entire group of friendly fungi called mycorrhizal fungi that live on the roots of virtually every plant on the planet.There is now much scientific evidence to support the fact that mycorrhizal fungi can provide a reliable natural mechanism for plants to enhance drought tolerance. Plants shown to benefit include tomatoes, roses, corn, ornamental flowers and trees.
In reduced water conditions these fungi enable the plants to function for longer and extract the maximum amount of water remaining in the soil. The fungi exude a sticky glue-like substance in the soil which hosts many beneficial bacteria as well as building the soil structure and keeping it close to the plant roots - which is important for nutrient uptake.
The benefits to the plant of its friendly fungal partner actually increases as the drought conditions get more severe. These fungi are symbiotic organisms and can not survive without a host plant. Therefore it is in the fungi’s ‘interest’ to keep its host plant alive at any cost.
So there you have it - Rootgrow is the natural solution for hosepipe bans!
The weather experts tell us that we are suffering from one of the driest years on record. Rather worryingly, if this trend continues, 2007 could prove to be a tricky one for gardeners and they are warning that many thousands of pounds may be lost by buying plants that go on to die due to a lack of water.
Many of us have also had to work without the benefit of using hose pipes and the traditional way of using high inputs of water and chemical fertiliser simply will not work since the nutrients do not have water in which to move in the soil towards the roots of the plant.
Thankfully, Mother Nature does have a solution. Which, if you think about it stands to reason - after all how do plants grow quite happily in deserts? Methinks we can learn something from studying plants in those environments.
Our boffins at Rootgrow have carried out studies into survival mechanisms and one of the most important is an entire group of friendly fungi called mycorrhizal fungi that live on the roots of virtually every plant on the planet.There is now much scientific evidence to support the fact that mycorrhizal fungi can provide a reliable natural mechanism for plants to enhance drought tolerance. Plants shown to benefit include tomatoes, roses, corn, ornamental flowers and trees.
In reduced water conditions these fungi enable the plants to function for longer and extract the maximum amount of water remaining in the soil. The fungi exude a sticky glue-like substance in the soil which hosts many beneficial bacteria as well as building the soil structure and keeping it close to the plant roots - which is important for nutrient uptake.
The benefits to the plant of its friendly fungal partner actually increases as the drought conditions get more severe. These fungi are symbiotic organisms and can not survive without a host plant. Therefore it is in the fungi’s ‘interest’ to keep its host plant alive at any cost.
So there you have it - Rootgrow is the natural solution for hosepipe bans!
What is the world coming to?
I've a confession to make.
I'm no spring chicken!
In fact, your Garden Expert is probably closer to the Victor Meldrew generation than the Ant and Dec generation and the 'Long Suffering' is always chastising me about my 'What on earth is the world coming to?' protestations.
However even she almost choked on her Shredded Wheat this morning when she opened the newspaper to see a story about members of the public being asked to water a city's trees!
I kid you not!
The residents of that fine city of Derby are indeed being asked to help ensure that newly-planted trees survice - by regularly watering them.
And the reason?
Well, according to the chap from the council "The more money we spend on watering then the less we have to spend on planting trees so if the community are able to assist us in getting these young trees established, that means we can continue with the tree-planting programme," he said.
Oh.
Well that's all right then.
What next?
Feed your local schoolchildren so that we can spend more on books?
I'm no spring chicken!
In fact, your Garden Expert is probably closer to the Victor Meldrew generation than the Ant and Dec generation and the 'Long Suffering' is always chastising me about my 'What on earth is the world coming to?' protestations.
However even she almost choked on her Shredded Wheat this morning when she opened the newspaper to see a story about members of the public being asked to water a city's trees!
I kid you not!
The residents of that fine city of Derby are indeed being asked to help ensure that newly-planted trees survice - by regularly watering them.
And the reason?
Well, according to the chap from the council "The more money we spend on watering then the less we have to spend on planting trees so if the community are able to assist us in getting these young trees established, that means we can continue with the tree-planting programme," he said.
Oh.
Well that's all right then.
What next?
Feed your local schoolchildren so that we can spend more on books?
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