Please note that Garden Club activities have had to be suspended until further notice.
One of the perils of being a disorganised gardener is the tendency to buy plants on impulse without little or no consideration of what to do with them. The aftermath of a visit to a nursery usually results in wandering round the garden with a plant and trowel in hand wondering where to plant this new acquisition. Having crammed it into a tiny space in the border that is often the last that is seen of the poor thing until the next year when the label is found in among the foliage.
Sometimes though a plant manages to survive this treatment; during the early summer last year some shoots were spotted in the border. Since it looked suspiciously like willow herb it was about to be removed, when something about it stayed my hand. The shoot grew and eventually produced a spire of purple flowers. What we had was a variety of Lythrum (purple loosestrife) and an excellent elegant, long flowering plant it has turned out to be. But where and when did we buy it, and which variety is it?
Sometimes disregarding the normal advice can produce unexpected benefits. We were given some seeds of Morning Glory and Black Eyed Susan long after the conventional time for sowing, but I sowed them anyway, and the result has been a fantastic late show of flower. A lesson for the future perhaps, nothing ventured nothing gained?
Autumn is the time when toadstools and mushrooms sprout in dark corners of the garden. This year a group of small fungi of a striking shade of lilac mauve have popped up under one of our shrubs. Apparently these are an edible variety, but they don’t really look like something one should eat, so I shall leave them to the slugs and snails.
As I write, outside the window there is a plant of white flowered honesty which is still blooming six months after it started in the spring; I have never seen anything like that before. It will be interesting to see when it does eventually stop.
Things to do in November
1. Plant tulip bulbs
2. Put grease bands round fruit trees against winter moth
3. Plant bare root trees shrubs and roses
4. Lift and store dahlia and other tender tuberous perennials.
Mark Newstead
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For more information visit the Heyford Gardening Club & Allotments page
The Nether Heyford Prattler 