Home & Garden – Autumn/Winter
Thankfully we had a very good summer …warm and just enough rain. TheGarden and Outdoors was the place to be. As my company name (The Other Room) suggests, your garden should ideally be just that, another room to your home. To fully appreciate it, ideally you should lavish as much forethought on its function and use in order to create the optimum space. In doing this is will be somewhere you look forward to using as the weather warms up and longer days keep us inclined to be outside more and more. This year in particular, it was so warm that outside entertaining hardly needed scheduling and even breakfast ‘al fresco’ was easily a regular event. If you haven’t, as yet, created the ideal ‘chillax‘ zone , then maybe it is worth thinking about. Planning now,in time for next year, means you can look forward to the summer with a whole new fervour. Patio area, Pergolas, Japanese Garden, Canopy area, LED lighting, Water features, Koi Pools, built in Patio heaters, and large planters with Olive trees and LED starlights …It can be yours. Even if you don’t have Patio Doors/Bi-Fold doors you can still make your garden feel like an extension of your living space. Call me to visit your garden and home and have a brief chat about these possibilities . Meanwhile …In the Garden In the garden, if you have space, create a shuttered area where you can store leaves/dead weeds and unused veg (cauliflower/cabbage leaves carrot tops etc ). This waste, turned occasionally can create a medium to add to your garden to greatly improve the tilth and nutrient status. It really is great stuff …and free! Give roses a good hard prune of all leggy stems and sucker growth. (a sloping cut just above the leaf bud). It is an ideal time to add some well rotted manure (ask your local Farmer/Riding Stables) .Heel in well after to prevent wind rock. Keep Alpines clear of fallen wet leaves and debris to stop them rotting and top up shingle mulch. Infill any hedge gaps with young Hedge Whips and increase ground cover with more low growing semi dwarf shrubs. I recommend calling Merton Hall Nursery at Cottenham for a selection of very very inexpensive, good quality plants. Well worth the trip for an order between you and friends/neighbours. Now is a good time to plant trees .Be sure to check height /spread and how invasive it will be in situ. Be sure to Stake it properly with correct tree ties. On larger trees I recommend planting with a 5cm pipe alongside leading to below the roots. It ensures that in drought periods you can really get water to where it is needed. Divide and spread herbaceous plants or even swop with neighbours. If they have prospered well in your garden they will likely do well in neighbouring gardens. Planting these new divides should be on slightly drier days (to prevent root rot ), adding compost, heeling well in, and a watering in lightly. Keep on top of the persistent annual weeds. Particularly weeds in patios or and mortar joints. The moisture in them can accelerate frost damage. In extreme weather I would advise protecting with fleece more vulnerable plants and using bubble wrap on ceramic/clay planters (this will help the chill factor on the roots too). Give your mower deck/underside a good clean and a light wash over with a brush of oil. This will keep rust at bay. On non frost days, give walls, steps and patio a good scrub with Patio Cleaner being careful...
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