Tag Archives: garden quotes

Garden lore

Subjugated gardens abound, and I can see why. Unless discipline is maintained from the moment the spirit-level is laid across the earth, you are nourishing a vast, tactile, heavy-scented siren which will keep you forever in its thrall.

Hortus by Mirabel Oliver (1990).

Choosing plant containers

While round bellied pots are often more pleasing to the eye, you will save yourself a lot of trouble if you only plant short term annuals or leafy plants in them. More permanent woody plants fill up the space with dense packed roots and it becomes very difficult to extract them for repotting when the root mass is larger than the opening at the top of the pot. All container plants need repotting at least every two years to stay in optimum health (and who wants an unhealthy looking container plant on display?) but to extract one from a round belly pot requires cutting the roots with a knife until you have it small enough to pull out. Too often you can end up breaking the pot. Straight sided vase shapes or cylinders are a much easier shape to work with for woody plants.

First published in the Waikato Times and reprinted here with their permission.

Garden lore

There is nothing like the first hot days of spring when the gardener stops wondering if it’s too soon to plant the dahlias and starts wondering if it’s too late.

The Essential Earthman by Henry Mitchell (1981).

Late spring planting
The cool start to spring may have lulled you into a false sense of security when it comes to planting trees and shrubs but the warmer days this week should be warning that it is getting late in the season. If you are still planting, make sure you plunge the plant, pot or bag and all into a bucket of water. Either hold it down until the bubbles stop rising or leave it sitting in the bucket for 20 minutes or more. This makes sure that the root ball is saturated before planting. Just watering on top won’t penetrate if the plant is already dry. The water will just run straight through and not be absorbed. After planting, water again and get up to 10cm of mulch laid on top to stop the soils from drying out too quickly.