Plan & Plant

• What unpredictable weather! Here, we had a wet, miserable weekend with howling winds shaking leaves off trees and the digging put on hold thanks to wet, sticky soil and puddles everywhere. I know lots of you will have had a lovely (if chilly) weekend with bright sunshine, so I hope you made the most of it. The sun’s still quite warm when we do see it and wet soil will soon dry out again with this wind.

  More importantly, the soil is warm, so as soon as it’s dry enough, this is a good time to start planting any new plants and dividing old ones. The autumn development of plants (particularly deciduous ones) can be very deceptive, because although they look dormant, that’s just the bit you can see. Down at the roots, things are still happening.

  Roots continue to grow (albeit at a much slower rate than in spring and summer) for several weeks after the top stops. Trees and shrubs planted over the next six weeks will get a head start next spring, because their roots will probably stay active until Christmas. This means that when spring comes, the business of making new roots to support the plant as it grows is well under way and more energy can go into growth.

   

  In the past, one of the main pitfalls of planting container-grown plants in autumn was the fact that many had only just been re-potted. So, when you knocked the plant out of the pot, you ended up with a pot in one hand, the plant in the other and a pile of fresh compost on your feet. This was crazy, especially when you remember that the whole idea of buying a containerised plant was so you could transplant it with minimum root disturbance.

  There is now a simple, practical alternative, as nurseries are beginning to introduce plants in bio-degradable pots. All you have to do is pop the whole thing (pot, compost and plant) into the hole. The pots are made from pampas grass fibres, coir (coconut fibre) or, more recently, rice husks and they take about two years to completely rot away in the soil – although the plant’s roots will have grown through into the surrounding soil long before that. This is one of the most useful developments to have come out of the organic movement in gardening. Look out for them when you’re in the garden centre.

   

  Remember that anything you plant at this time of year will still need to be well-watered. Yes, I know we’ve had a wet summer and most of the country is still getting soaked, but water does more than just give the plants a drink. A thorough watering settles the roots into their new surroundings by washing soil around the roots (so that there is close contact between them and the soil) and it also removes any air pockets left in the soil during planting.

   

  Well, I see it’s stopped raining so I have no more excuses. Time to go and sort out the herbaceous plants we seem to keep acquiring…. can’t wait….. is that rain again? Better have some coffee and give it a minute.

   

  See you next week.