Gardening Page

This is always a tricky time for us gardeners: we want to get on with the start of the growing season but the risk of cold weather damaging our plants is very great

The more house-proud garden lover will have cut back the growth from last year’s flowers long ago but, by leaving the old stems in place, tender emerging shoots are protected from the sort of cold snap we are currently experiencing. In my garden the clear-up is some time off and I find the sight of frosted stems an attractive one; Miscanthus grasses, which I tend to lift and divide in the spring are, at time of writing, glistening in the clear, crisp morning sun. As always with nature it is the stage of growth rather than the Gregorian calendar which is in charge of these operations.

The same is true of many shrubs; the buds of my Hydrangea are starting to open, shielded beneath a light canopy of papery flower heads from last season. Cut back too early the pithy stems and young growth can easily be damaged by the cold. I would love to tidy our hedges of Rosemary and Escallonia, clip back tender Cistus and other late flowering shrubs, but these tasks will have to wait until all signs of frost have past.

Lawns can also be damaged by mowing too early and although we should be safe enough now I am writing this during a frosty period and can hear the mowers of jobbing gardeners all around the village.

February and March are seed-sowing months at our house. The first few trays of seedlings begin their life in odd corners: the utility room, the kitchen, spare bedrooms and especially the conservatory; you need a tolerant family! Then, once the quantities become too great to ignore, the heating is turned on in the greenhouse and they are all moved out.

It then becomes a matter of juggling space as new batches of plants germinate and eventually require potting on. Ideally I would have cold-frames to harden them off and create further growing space in the greenhouse, but by that stage I have produced more plants than we can cope with anyway. I have to remind myself I am no longer a nurseryman.

If this all sounds like hard work I should say I do it for the pleasure rather than for any real economic benefit. I am finding that many clients with demanding jobs are also discovering the relaxation to be gained from creative gardening tasks and from the gentle exercise involved in some of them. I consider it the ultimate stress buster!

While it may have been too early to start many outdoor growing jobs, this has been ideal weather for garden construction and landscaping. We have already built several gardens locally this year and have many more on the drawing board. With bookings at record levels for the time of year we are recruiting more staff and further excitement (and a great deal of hard work) is being provided by our move into new offices on the Wyevale site.

Several recent appointments have involved me reviewing work done by other (so called) professionals and a more depressing task it would be hard to invent. Time after time I see poor workmanship and materials, sometimes dangerous but often just unattractive. We offer an “expert witness” service but I can’t say I enjoy it. Writing twenty-page reports to explain to a court just how incompetent or dishonest a tradesman has been is a long way from my idea of an enjoyable weeks work. On the other hand, there is satisfaction to be gained from knowing you have helped your client and discouraged a rogue.

The biggest problem for these unskilled builders and gardeners seems to be the technical issues surrounding changes of level. Supporting walls are not sufficiently well constructed and eventually fail, while inappropriate materials such as old railway sleepers are commonly used. Many homeowners eventually discover that the cheapest quote represents the poorest value and the cost of correcting a sub-standard job can be very high. It is doubly frustrating to see my own designs badly installed but most of these do not have a drawing or even a quote to refer back to when it all goes horribly wrong.

My least favourite builder makes no effort to do an honest job, demands cash in advance and is not available when problems occur. Often the waste materials will end up despoiling some local lay-by, field or beauty spot and the client will be intimidated throughout the process. It goes without saying that the work will be of the poorest quality. I value my property, family and sanity too much to associate with these people myself, but it is self-evidently true that many people are not nearly so fussy.

It would be nice to think that mostpeople recognise the need for a specialist when it comes to planting. I have been enjoying watching a T.V. program featuring Monty Don and his ‘round the world garden trip, but cannot be alone in finding his preference for native plants slightly irritating. It is perfectly fair to observe a tropical paradise, far-flung cliff-top perch or some other area of natural beauty and applaud the use of local plants in specialist gardens, but our own landscapes would be all the poorer for excluding exotic species.

While it is important to consider where plants grow naturally and it would be absurd to create an English Cottage Garden in the middle of a Brazilian jungle, successful planting comes not from artificial political boundaries but by considering the geography, geology and biology of a garden and its planting. To take an example of a garden we designed in France: the soil was poor and the climate hot and dry for much of the year. The garden we created used plants from the Mediterranean, South Africa, Australia, North and South America, anywhere in fact, where plants are adapted to those conditions. We use similar plants in the sunnier patches of our own garden and those of clients: not native, but excellent where the environment is suitable. Beds set into a patio and backed by south facing walls are ideal.

If you have shady areas there are many appropriate ornamentals and it is worth remembering that there are no no-go areas for plants. You only have to look in the countryside to see this is true: even badly disrupted patches are soon covered with plants in this country. So it is that in the shade we select species adapted to woodland and woodland margins around the temperate world, many of which are at their most attractive in the spring. Because woodland soils tend to be acidic and full of organic matter the plants that grow in association with them may prefer these conditions. This is where the gardening comes in and with the addition of leaf mould, compost and other organic materials the top layers of soil can easily be made suitable for the shade loving plants from continents near and far.

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