Plant Resurrection

So many times people have brought me a plant with one sickly-looking leaf and asked how they can revive it. It’s a bit like the Monty Python sketch: ‘My plant’s not dead it’s just resting’. Here is my advice that might just work for some plants that are just resting. Bury them.

It’s not a cruel as it sounds. For example, shrubby plants like heathers, hebes and lavenders, along with geraniums and busy lizzies, may actually form new shoots if you bury them. Just leave the last surviving leaves above ground. If it doesn’t work, at least they had a decent burial.
For plants that are just leggy or bare at the base, burying is an excellent rejuvenation technique.

Written By Alistair Ayres

What will you do with the blue hydrangea?

Buy a blue hydrangea and plant it next to concrete path and it’ll turn bright pink. The reason is that lime washed out of the concrete turns the soil alkaline. Hydrangeas need aluminium for blue flowers and even if it is present they can only access it if the soil is acid. So how do you turn it back?

Potting up your hydrangea in a tub of ericaceous compost is good start to provide the acid conditions. But it may not be enough. They may still need aluminium. For this you can buy a bluing agent especially for hydrangeas that contains aluminium sulphate. Be very careful though, it can easily scorch the roots. Add less than half a teaspoon to a gallon of water and don’t use it when the compost is dry or when the plants are under stress in very hot weather.
Personally I like white hydrangeas. It avoids a lot of problems.

At Little Green Space, there is a ready made range of seasonal boxes to tempt you. Why not give one as a gift?

Death Traps

Clay pot saucers look innocent enough but they can bring a slow agonizing death to patio plants. The problem happens during prolonged periods of heavy rain when is retained in the saucers. As a result the compost remains soaking wet and starved of air, and the plant roots slowly rot.
To protect your plants from waterlogging, fill the saucers with gravel so the plant roots won’t have to sit in water. Better still, use pot feet or bricks to keep the container above ground level.
Other common causes of waterlogging are containers without drainage holes or drainage holes become blocked. This is why you should always use a crock (piece of broken pot) or a stone to cover the holes before planting. Putting gravel in the bottom of the pot is a good idea for taller plants, as it will add stability as well as improving drainage.

Written By Alistair Ayres

(The Little Green Space Ladybird suspects that the saucer in the picture is a plastic one. For quality planters for all your window box needs, come to little green space!)

London's Number One Climber

Will it tolerate shade? What about traffic pollution? My balcony is very windy; I want a plant that will provide shelter! I really want something with scented flowers. It must be evergreen. I don’t want something that will grow too vigorously and ruin the walls! Can’t be doing with something that needs a lot of fuss, I have a busy lifestyle; it will have to take a certain amount of neglected. It gets very hot next to my porch; do you think it will survive?

There is just one answer to all these questions. Star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides). Glossy evergreen leaves, attractively tinged with red in the colder months. Delicately scented white flowers virtually non-stop throughout the summer. Stays bushy right from the base, not too slow and not too vigorous. Happy anywhere. It’s almost like it has been designed for the London gardener.

Written By Alistair Ayres

At Little Green Space we specialise in beautifying London balconies! - love the little green space ladybird

Lovely Lavender

Lavenders can make great plants for window boxes and tubs but too often you seem them all bare at the base and flopped out of shape. A lot has to with the variety you use. The dwarf varieties like ‘Hidcote’ and ‘Munstead’ are tried and tested favourites. Look at the labels carefully. Don’t buy plants simply called ‘lavender’ as they are quite likely to disappoint.

French lavenders (Lavendula stoechas), with their curious ‘buterflesque’ flowers have become very fashionable in recent years. They can do very well in containers but be aware they are a lot more tender than the other types. Young plants sold in flower are often raised in greenhouses and can sometimes become very droopy when you put them in the window box. If they droop badly, it can take a whole year for them to recover.

Pruning is essential for neat plants but never cut them back below the level of the first leaves or they will die. Wait until the new growth is well established and give them a hard trim sometime in April or early May. Once the blooms start to fade, follow this up with a light haircut before the flower stems start to turn woody.

Written By Alistair Ayres

(The Little Green Space Ladybird would like to remind tell everyone about the fabulous ready planted 'Lavender Box' window box available through Little Green Space urban gardening website!)

Simple Irrigation System

It’s been a long day, the boss doesn’t seem to understand you have a life outside of work and you still haven’t packed for your weekend away. The weather is forecast for hot and sunny. Who’s going to water your container plants?

The last thing gardening should be is stressful. I would strongly recommend anyone with a hectic life style to get a watering computer. It sounds complicated but it’s just a timer that turns the water off and on. If you can set the alarm clock on a mobile phone, you shouldn’t have much problem. It simply screws on to an outdoor tap.

The other bits you need come as kits or individual pieces. Basically, there are three elements: the black irrigation pipe that takes the water from the computer to your containers, the grey porous pipe that you use inside your containers, and plastic connectors to put the whole thing together. It’s a bit like one of those simple construction toys you might have had as young child.

Use the t-connectors to make a ring from the porous tube to use in pots and straight lengths for window boxes. It may take a few hours to set up, but you will be able to sit back and enjoy your little patch of green all summer long without every worrying about watering.

By Alistair Ayres

Success With Japanese Maples

Japanese maples are very popular as patio plants. They can be extremely beautiful but they commonly fail to deliver their full potential. The two most common reasons are they don’t like wind, scorching sun, even in London, is too much for them. In the spring, the new leaves are also very sensitive to late frosts and aphid attacks. Once the leaves are spoiled, that’s it for the season. Forget that glorious autumn colour. In nature, they grow in slightly acid conditions but they do fine in ordinary compost. What they won’t stand is drying out or sitting in water.
If I haven’t put you off, here are my tips for the cautious grower.

1. Cover the plant with horticultural fleece (available from garden centres) to get it through that treacherous period between the buds bursting and the leaves fully opening. This will protect against unexpected frosts and aphids.
2. If you haven’t got an ideal position out of the midday sun and away from windy corners, use tougher plants like bamboos to give them a bit of shade and shelter.
3. Don’ wet the leaves while the sun is on them. They scorch very easily.
4. Prune any dead bits that you find at the end of the stems. These are nothing to worry about in themselves but can lead to secondary fungal infections.
The trick is to get those leaves through the summer so your tree can show what it has really got offer in autumn.

Written By Alistair Ayres