Express & Star

Timely tulips and dawdling daffodils

Me and my buzzy friends thoroughly enjoyed some glorious blooms this spring. So when it came time to buy bulbs to plant for flowers next spring, I made sure I bought a beautiful mix of tulips, daffs, dwarf iris and crocus.

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However the bulbs are still on the windowsill which is clearly not a suitable storage place! Anyhow, November is the preferred time to plant tulips bulbs so there's still time. And apparently if I get a wriggle on, daffodils make their new roots soon after planting so although the best time is September and October, November will still give good results. After this I'll take out my dahlias and store them, layer the languishing bulbs in a pot to give a wicked display for a couple of months this coming spring.

The perils of wood ash

You know how a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing? Well no knowledge kills off your patio roses with a vengeance!

I have a multi-fuel burner and burn quite a bit of old wood. This year I liberally scattered wood ash around the garden, as after all it's a natural bi-product and I'm sure that I had seen or heard somewhere that it was good for the plants. Silly me.

This summer a neighbour donated a large amount of damaged sleepers which will obviously produce lots of wood ash. With all the bonfires around and winter coming, this seemed like a good idea, but after a quick detour to the Royal Horticulture Society website to check the science behind it all, I discovered - with a sinking feeling in my wellies - that I should not have put it on my raspberries, or roses, or indeed any fruit trees. They all require an acidic soil. Wood ash has excess alkalinity. Apparently one should add it only occasionally to a compost heap.

Thankfully, glad to say the rest of the garden seems to have survived my gaffe. As for my treated sleepers, their toxic ash will be consigned to the bin, just in time.

Left to right: raspberry, first rose, pear, apple

Raspberry First rose Pear Apple

Catkins on the ornamental hazel

In my back garden I have a number of small trees which are full of charm. I can get up close and personal with them all. The catkins on my ornamental hazel always come as a welcome surprise. But it is so soul-satisfying to roam in a park like Himley Hall, with its magnificent trees and see the 'bones' of these living sculptures. The 180 acres of grounds, designed by Capability Brown, can be found between Kingswinford and Wombourne, and include a great lake and some really great trees.

From October to mid-June Himley Park is open from 7.30am to dusk, so times vary.

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