Tele gardening advice with our expert George Irvine

Are our gardens short of water?

It seems a rather odd question to ask when the deluge of the weekend is just beginning to abate.

Admittedly, plants require water to survive but what happens if our plants get too much water. Firstly, the roots can rot and secondly air gets displaced from the spaces between the particles in the soil or compost. And as we know plants also need air to grow successfully.

Also important is the fact that too much water can wash many of the nutrients out of the soil and all Plants require nutrients to grow well. This is especially true of grass and lawns can become damaged by too much water. Once the ground dries out a bit the sensible thing to do is to incorporate as many nutrients as possible to replace some of those which have been washed away.

Where you have plants growing in tubs and containers I would advice you to lift the feet up off the ground by using pot feet or even a few old bricks so that excess water can drain out of the container.

Make sure that you keep all your drains clear to prevent a build up of water and make sure your gutters are kept clear.

Herb garden to keep your kitchen supplied

If you have been growing herbs over the past few weeks and have established a herb garden the ideal place to have it located is in close proximity to the kitchen door. Give all the herbs, even the perennial herbs, plenty of space grow and replace any herbs that have died off or withered. Any excess herbs can be collected and taken indoors and frozen for use over the winter months.

Climate change can health problems for gardeners

Over the past couple of weeks I have been asked by readers about the dangers that madges and ticks can cause to the human body. Midges are well known to nibble away particularly on a close damp evening when you want to sit out on the patio have a glass or two of wine. The way to move them on is to light a little flame – or even a scented candle- and the midges will soon scarper.

Not so the Ticks – they are just a tad more unusual- and they can cause quite serious health scares such as lymes disease.

There is a highly effective repellent which is ideal for gardeners and can be obtained at your local garden centre. The Tick Magic also works on Midgies and it is one hundred percent natural ingredients - no dubious chemicals to scare you and it is easy to use. You can find more information from the manufacturer’s web site -tick-magic.com. or go along to Cardwell Garden Centre and ask for tick magic at the till.

Garden talk will feature Gardenfest entries

The next meeting of the Gourock Horticultural Society’s Garden Talks take place on Tuesday 24th October in Cardwell Garden Centre commencing at 2pm. The programme will contain photographs of all the entries submitted in this year,s on-line garden contest and there will be a commentary on each picture.

Any readers wishing to attend will be welcome to come along and enjoy an hour or so and meet with kindred ‘green-fingered friends’ Clearing the Vegetable Garden.

Before the frost comes along it is best to look at any crops which may still be growing in the vegetable garden. Crops such as beetroot and small turnips – white and yellow- can be lifted from the ground , Onions should be pulled up and placed on a wire tray and put in the greenhouse bench to dry. Shallots should be treated in the same manner.

Once the onions and shallots have dried the roots can be trimmed and the necks and foliage cut down. The onion bulbs can be stored for use over the winter and a simple way to do this is to cut the legs from an old pair of tights and fill the legs with the dried onions.

These can then be tied and hung up in an airy, garage, shed or cellar until required for the kitchen during the winter months Green crops such as cabbage can be lifted and taken into the kitchen and after cleaning, can be chopped up and frozen. Crops such as leeks and sprouts can be left in the soil until later and can be left over winter.

As we finish harvesting these crops, we can clear the ground including gather any weeds which we can put into the compost bins.

Clearing the flower garden

Apart from perennial plants which will stay in the flower beds all winter, we need to clear away all our old summer bedding annual plants.

These should be pulled out of the ground and collected and put in the compost bins and when doing this take the opportunity to clear away any weeds which may be growing around other perennial shrubs and plants Once cleared of plants and weeds rake the soil and leave exposed for frost to break the soil down to a fine tilth Dahlias are best left until the stems begin to go black due to the frost attacking them. Then and only then should you lift the tubers to dry, clean and over-winter them Some Tips About House Plants.

Over the coming weeks I will be offering some hints about house plants because more and more house plants are killed by kindness than anything else. House Plants do not need to be watered daily- once per week is usually enough.

Do not place house plants on top of or near radiators or other heat sources, and if you have pots sitting on a window ledge close the curtains at night. Many householders are bemoaning the amount of little black flies which are invading their homes both in daytime and at night. I will try and offer some solutions to this problem in next week’s gardening page.