Greencraft Landscaping Blog

Lazy days relaxing in the sun, watching the bees, the hoverflies, the butterflies and the midges – the sound of distant church bells or is this just a memory of times long gone . . . . . .

Now we sit in the sun and listen to mowers, strimmers, aircraft overhead, the sirens of passing emergency vehicles and the hubbub of modern life, or if you’re smart you plug yourself into your MP3 to get away from it all.

Somewhere along the way we seem to have lost, what was it now, peace and tranquility, well in that case, the only remedy is to create our own. So dig out the deckchairs and sun loungers, dust them down for another year, place in your favourite spot, then with a long, cool drink, close your eyes and find your own imaginary peace and tranquillity.

The above reads more like an obituary to the garden, and I apologise to our younger readers who have missed so much.

Back to business – June, a month of mowing and hoeing and weeding and feeding. If you mow at least once a week without the grass box, the mowings will act as a mulch, be taken down by the worms and eventually become food for the roots. If earlier in the year you happened to notice water laying on the lawn, fork in some sharp sand now to assist drainage. Hoeing, if at all possible, do this regularly. It not only keeps down the weeding but again acts as a mulch; remember the weeds are taking the moisture from the soil which your plants are dependant upon.

If you have time, spray the roses against black spot, this is best done in the evening. Carry on deadheading, it does pay dividends and if the early flowering herbaceous plants are cut back they will have a good chance of flowering again later. The May flowering perennials can now be divided and replanted, using space to fill in the inevitable gaps that appear. Remember to water them in thoroughly. Helianthemum, Pansies & Pinks are just a few of the plants that can be propagated this month. Cuttings should be about 2” (5cm) long with the bottom leaves removed. Insert 1”(2.5cm) in a 5” (12.5cm) pot of a sandy compost and place in a shady spot in a greenhouse, cold frame or windowsill. Don’t cram too many into the pot – six to eight maximum.

Now is a good time to wander around garden centres, making notes of anything that looks especially good – you then need to drop hints for birthday, Xmas gifts, etc. – it does work and gets you a full twelve months colour in the garden if you do it regularly enough.

I have probably mentioned this before, but if you are considering buying a Wisteria, now is the time to do so, but only if it is in flower. If it is flowering now, it will do so again next year. If it isn’t, you may well have to wait another five years or so.

Whilst wandering have a look at the Campanulas and Penstemon which seem to keep on flowering for ages. Regular readers will know these are two of my favourites along with the Helleborus Orientalis for late winter and early spring blooms. Happy relaxing - don’t work too hard now!

Let’s hope that by the time you settle down to read this, the good weather will have arrived. I don’t want to wax lyrical about Spring, but I think you will agree, this is a great time of year, always full of promise. I always think that March is a 50/50 month whereby, once we are able to get back into the garden, half our time is spent tidying up after last year which automatically is preparation for the new one.

Whenever we pick up a gardening magazine, periodical or newspaper we find we are being told what we should be doing in the garden now. I do wonder whether these writers spend their January’s in the Maldives, Bahamas or Canaries? It’s cold, wet and miserable out there in the garden and there really isn’t any need to go. It’s nice and warm indoors, and dry, and if we want a drink, we can, without having to take frozen gloves off. Let’s compromise, let’s think about this sensibly, and if the temperature creeps up to 20°C in February, we could venture out to the garden, then and only then!

Next month of course we have Valentine’s Day. Now there are a number of versions as to it’s origination, however, this seems to be the one accepted by most theologians St. Valentine worked as a priest during the reign of Emporer Claudius who had Valentine jailed for disobeying him. This theory puts the date around 496 A.D.

The story is that Claudius II needed an army and was short of volunteers; believing this was due to men choosing to stay with their wives rather than go to war, he banned marriage. Valentine considered this preposterous and so secretly continued to perform the marriage rites, until inevitably he was caught and sentenced to death.

Whilst in prison he was often visited by the jailors daughter who had befriended him, and on the day of his death, February 14th he left her a message thanking her for her friendship and support which he signed, ‘From your Valentine.’

From then on, Pope Gelasius set aside February 14th to honour St. Valentine about 496 A.D. I say ‘about’, as this pope’s papacy ran only ran from 492-496 A.D. This remained a church holiday until 1969, when Pope Paul VI removed it from the calendar, which seems rather ironic as this was a time of supposed free love, etc.

Another version, though much more vague still refers to the jailor’s daughter but states he was martyred on February 14th 269 A.D.

Did you know that the crosses we put on our cards and letters as kisses, originate from medieval times when few people could write and so signed their name with a cross, which was then kissed to show sincerity.

Back to today or tomorrow even, have a look at the garden through the window, any bleak or dismal areas can be easily brightened up with one or two shrubs. For shade consider Choisya ternata Sundance or for a sunny area what about Nandina domestica Firepower – two of my favourites. Just wrap up warm and visit your local garden centre or better still two or three to ensure you are getting some good ideas and a bargain too. Any shrub looking good now will probably look better come summertime. And don’t worry about planting them now – just stand the pots against the house and leave them until the weather improves.

For you die-hard horticulturalists, I have some themed gift ideas for your Valentine.

• An early flowering cherry tree – if you scout around you should be able to find Prunus mugus mume, Prunus alboplena or Prunus autumnalis which should be flowering around February 14^th.
• Helliobores or Christmas roses are another winter flowering beauty to give at this time of year.
• Dicentra spectabilis, or Bleeding Hearts is a perennial, but well worth a mention due to it’s fantastically unique rose-pink flowers which really do look like bleeding hearts.
• Containerised roses – rather than opting for cut roses which will only last a couple of weeks if you are very lucky, why not treat that special person to a pot rose which can be planted out in the garden and will bring pleasure with summer-long blooms year after year.
  

Towards the end of the Second World War a young lad who was sent shopping daily, always took a shortcut to the village via the old boating pond, known locally as ‘the lake’.

Very often he would see an elderly gentleman talking to one of the gardeners and before long they were on nodding terms, not knowing then that were to become very good friends.

It all began the day the summer bedding geraniums were being lifted and the winter polyanthus planted. The lad had stopped to watch for a moment or two when the old chap offered the boy some geraniums, telling him how to store them over winter, and with that the friendship in the boy’s heart was cemented. It later transpired that the old chap was the Parks Superintendant, and almost unbelievably, his name was Mr. Muckcart.

Every spare moment from that time on he would seek out the Park Superintendant and hang onto his every word. The gardening bug was born, and by now growing like mad.

The war came to an end, he did his studying at every opportunity, in between National Service and finally purchased three acres of land, on which he started a propogation nursery.

This in turn led to landscaping private gardens which inevitably led to commercial works. By now he was employing over thirty people and was by this time very much involved with the design and consultancy which eventually brings us up to date where we are very happy to have him in the background as advisor. Although, more often than not he is alongside us as a crucial member of the Greencraft landscaping team.

Write an article on what readers should be doing in the garden during January & February, she said – I didn’t have time to answer, the phone went dead.

Working in the garden this time of year, they must be masochists! The men in white coats will be along soon! I suppose we could all light a bonfire, put our chairs around and all sing carols – bit early in the year for that I know! Lets all sit on our chairs, be very still and the first one to freeze is out. Better still lets all go indoors, sit in front of the fire, glass in hand and talk about anything but the garden.

I sat thinking, should I remind her, even bears sleep through the winter, I know for sure I’ve never seen one in my garden at this time of year. Anyway, down to business . . . . . . . . .

We hear a lot of talk of global warming and if this really is happening we can help, in our own small way and counteract emissions by planting – especially trees.

Of course there are hundreds of spectacular trees, but substantially less for the standard, modern garden due to size restrictions. The Malus or Crab Apple has wonderful springtime flowers followed by the fruits in autumn which colour up from yellow through orange to a deep red. The Prunus or Flowering Cherry has an abundance of beautiful, delicate springtime flowers; many species having coloured foliage in spring and again in autumn. Lastly, the Sorbus or Mountain Ash also known as Rowan is a spring flowering tree with wonderful autumn colours to the leaves, and coloured fruits ranging from white yellow, pink to red. Many of these remaining on the tree long after the leaves have dropped. Ancient folklore recommends one in every garden to ward off witches!

Listed below is a selection of trees ideally suited to the smaller garden:-

•    MALUS FLORIBUNDA or JAPANESE CRAB – flowers pale blush, fruits red and yellow.
•    MALUS JOHN DOWNIE – this is the best fruiting crab apple, good for jelly. Flowers white, fruits orange/red.
•    MALUS RED JADE – Weeping tree with pink & white flowers and red fruits.
•    MALUS GOLDEN HORNET – White flowers with bright yellow fruits
•    PRUNUS ACCOLADE – Graceful habit with a profusion of pink flowers in April.
•    PRUNUS KIKU SHIDARE ZAKURA “CHEALS WEEPING” – Bronze young leaves with rose pink flowers.
•    PRUNUS SUBHIRTELLA AUTUMNALIS – Semi-double white flowers from November to March.
•    PRUNUS PANDORA – Shell pink flowers. Coloured foliage in spring and again in autumn.
•    SORBUS CASHMIRIANA – Pink flowers in May with fruits white or pink flushed retained long after leaf drop.
•    SORBUS EMBLEY – Leaves copper when young, bright red in autumn, white flowers and red fruits.
•    SORBUS JOSEPH ROCK – White flowers, yellow fruits, leaves with beautiful autumn colours remaining long after leaf fall.
•    SORBUS VILMORINII – Fern like foliage, turning to red in autumn, fruits pink, then white – a charming species.

Add a tree to a garden and the eye is immediately drawn to it. There aren’t many sights more beautiful than a tree in bloom and now is the time to plant. Most garden centres will have a good selection of container grown trees, and if you look for one 2-2.5 metres high (about 6-8 ft) this will create an instant impact and is just manageable to manoeuvre into place unaided. For those of you brave enough to visit an old fashioned nursery, you need to ask for a 6-8cm girth tree, and you will get more of a bargain if you buy bareroot or openground, meaning they have been grown in the ground ( as opposed to a pot) and more often than not, lifted directly for you! Remember you will also need a stake and tie, and then you are all set to go.

When ready to plant, lay a sheet of polythene on the ground alongside the planting hole or tree pit and put the soil onto this as you dig out. Break up the bottom of the hole and extend the sides to accept the rootball with plenty of clearance all round. Remove the container and place the tree in the hole, making sure it is at the same depth as it was previously growing, and backfill with soil, heeling in firmly all round the trunk. Bang in the stake, fix the tie, and you’re done.

If the ground is frosty you can still plant, just remove the frost crust 5-7cms (2-3”) and set to one side, plant as directed and replace frost crust on top again. We can always topdress with a fertiliser in the spring. This is the ideal job for this time of year and will give pleasure for years to come.

The men at the front door in white coats – they must have the wrong address!!
____________________________________________________________
Written by John Odell

Christmas Break
This time of the year marks the middle of our winter planting season.  Greencraft has been very busy up to Christmas planting trees and bare root whips to all our sites.  We have a window in our landscaping year from November to March to get all the trees in the ground.  The Christmas break helps to regroup and plan the last phase of planting for the season.  As we return to work in the first days of the new year, we steam straight back into planting.

Trees and whips are planted once they have stopped growing, lost their leaves and they have shut down for winter.  This means that there is no fluid movement in the stem and the tree can be lifted out the ground complete with roots.  If an actively growing tree is lifted out of the surrounding soil, the rising sap would cause air pockets and kill the tree.
When asked what I do and I reply “landscaping” people say what do I do when it slows down in the winter.  Well quite simply it does not.  Apart from tree planting there are always many hard landscaping projects to keep us busy.  It can be a bit more of a challenge this time of the year because certain operations are temperature dependant.  Concrete and mortar does not like to freeze and it is hard to unroll turf when it is frozen.  Resin Bond gravel needs to be laid in temperatures above 5 degrees Celsius and painting needs to be done in the dry.
The best thing about winter is that you are preparing landscapes for the spring bloom.

Firstly I would just like to apologise for the lag in blog posts - I’m blaming Christmas!!

Anyway, I thought I would share some thoughts with you on the importance of Quality Assurance in the world of commercial landscaping and feel confident it is Greencrafts endless site visits to get things just right that contribute to our success and repeat business.

Of course, clients expect a first class service at all times, but sometimes this is not always feasable. Other trades are working all over our planting areas . . . . . .  or worse still other trades are trampling all over newly planted areas!! One some occasions we have even have painters empty out their paint ketttles on brand new plants - hardly the best start to their new life on site!

All these aspects of working in commercial landscaping need to be taken into consideration and site managers need to be alterted to these issues as and when they occur. Otherwise weeks down the line when the plants are failing through no fault of Greencraft’s and we are expected to replace there could be arguments as to who foots the bill.

In addition to scheduling work with other trades on site, we usually are beholden to the soil that is supplied by site itself. It is paramount that this conforms to British Standard BS3882, and they should be able to supply you with a certificate to show its recent test. As, once again this could be a reason why shrubs and trees fail if the soil is not up to scratch. So often as soil gets excavated and moved about on site, subsoil is replaced as topsoil and just doesn’t have sufficient nutrients to efficiently support growth. There is also the ongoing problem of compacted earth which is a hazard on the best of projects as heavy plant and machinery by its very nature will compact the soil. The answer to this problem, on a well organised site, is to ensure the groundworkers scarify the subsoil prior to laying topsoil. This will enable drainage and allow the shrub and tree roots to breathe. As the most common reason for tree and shrub failure is lack of oxygen and not a lack of water as most would imagine.

Taking all these elements into consideration is no mean feat especially as they are usually beyond our control to a certain extent.

However, what we can monitor more closely is the way in which our own landscape operatives apply their knowledge in the field. Planting pits need to be dug to an appropriate size; usually 20% larger than the rootball. All trees and shrubs must be watered in thoroughly regardless of weather conditions - yes, even if its raining! Mulch needs to be applied evenly, without letting the smaller shrubs drown in it. These are all simple instructions that need to be adhered to to ensure a successful planting scheme  that should help to avoid fatalities further down the line.

Finally, we always issue our clients with an Operations and Maintenance Manual which gives them basic instructions as to the welfare of their landscaping scheme so they can enjoy it for years to come.

With the approach of Christmas came the close of college and a long awaited and deserved break from my landscape architecture course.

Although break isn’t quite the correct terminology as the workload has actually increased but within the confines of ones own home. So, me and the cats and have set to taking photos. They have come out particularly well despite being scared of the flash!

Two plant identification exams and technical drawing assignments later I was still battling on.

My colleagues and I had gone on a tour of London’s South Bank learning how to differentiate between granite, slate, basalt and every other hard material known to my tutor. I think there may be an awful lot more on the agenda in the Spring walkabout’s warmer weather, as by the time the sun set we were so frost-bitten we couldn’t give a damn between one bollard and another!

My dedication was rewarded the following week by a horrendous cold, but on the upside I talked my boss into buying me a new laptop so I have now managed to download AutoCAD in preparation of January’s crash course. The new techy toys nearly make it all worthwhile! Just eight hours of tutorials to undergo before then. Well, Christmas visits to relations can get extremely tedious so now I have the perfect excuse!

College stuff to do by January:-

• Fill my sketchbook - visit Tate Britain, visit Tate Modern, visit De La Warr - take notes and sketch.
• Watch arty films and review in sketchbook. Find images of Jan Svankmeyer & American Gangster.
• Take loads of Indigenous Colour photos of Hastings and print them - fill sketcbook.
• Print La Majorelle photos for sketchbook & match paints if possible if have enough time!!
• Collage from Norway Exhibition for sketchbook
• Mount photos of Sensuous, Nightmare, Memory
• Make a film . . . . . . . .argh!!!! 
• Complete Plant Design Assignment - 12 sheets of A1
• Take photos of model and mount.
• Find images of plants through the seasons to add to Seasonal sheet.
• Sketch quarter plan within whole garden plan and photocopy endlessly.
• Annotate all pieces North.
• Name and label all sheets - yes I know that sounds obvious!!
• Read everything I have been given so far!!!

Don’t dare go to the library as it will become glaringly obvious what you don’t know. Be grateful for the little you do know.

In the meantime must remember to dress the tree, do the Christmas shopping, cook the turkey and have a holiday!
The first term’s called the "Honeymoon Term"! Yes, you know what that means, it can only get more intense!

The term "Ecocide" first gained media attention after the Vietnam War when it became obvious that mans willful destruction of the IndoChinese ecosystems by means of chemical warfare had a serious impact on all that relied on this land for survival.

Approximately 20% of South Vietnam was destroyed by Agent Orange and its partner defoliants. Not only does the inherent herbicide, dioxin destroy the environment with immediate effect, but has a serious impact upon all species which are still being monitored 30 years later, as they potentially hurtle towards untimely extinction, such as the Giant Ibis and wild Asian Elephant. Other means of mass eco destruction included the bulldozing of jungles and Napalm induced forest fires.

Despite the horrendous implications of these acts of war against nature, very few countries include it in their penal law, Chenobyl being the first case in the Ukraine, where individuals responsible could face imprisonment for 8-15 years.

Princess Diana amongst others campaigned hard for more resolutions and common knowledge on landmines because of their effects on the human race but what of the wanton destruction of nature without which none of us could survive?

This is of course not a modern phenomenum, and cases of ecocide can be tracked throughout history. The most startling and evocative must surely be Easter Island located in the southeastern Pacific, where the original inhabitants deforested their island in the construction of enormous Y frames for the erection of their giant head statues. The reasons behind these monuments is another story entirely, but suffice to say their convictions created destitution for generations to come, as lack of forests led to lack of topsoil, and hence a lack of crops.

My interest in ecocide was ignited by an invitation to offer advice on ways to counteract the effects of ecocide within the Marshes of Iraq. This is the latest region to have suffered at the hands of war. An area that once supported people, their farm animals and an entire way of life was dislocated and cannot return until the foundations of this delicate aquatic ecosystem are found to be clean and chemical free. With the re-introduction of many species of particular grasses and reeds we can assist in redressing this devastation but the earth has been harmed and will take time to heal.

I only hope that as we become more aware to ecological issues and the demands we are putting on Mother Nature we can also find alternative ways to support our increasing populations as opposed to the slash and burn approach mankind has hitherto adopted.