It’s too late now to plant trees and bushes. You will have to wait for late autumn for that. And yes, I know the garden centres are full of trees. But don’t let them tempt you. It’s too hot. For successful planting, they need to be going into the dormancy of winter. They need a long period of cool, moist air and during which they will develop deep roots. This will give them the strength to get through the heat of summer. Pull them out of their pots now and stick them in the ground, they will go into shock. They won’t have the root structure to cope with the change.
And here are some plants you will see in the nurseries that you should NEVER plant here ever, no matter what the season.
Blueberries, Red Currents, Gooseberries, Black Currents, and Rhubarb.
Every year I hear about hopeful gardeners buying these plants with dreams of punnets of delicious fruit. That will never happen here. You might keep them alive for a year or two, and they might give you a handful of dry hard berries before they die. But that’s it.
They need extremely acidic soil with a pH of 4,5. Our soil is highly alkaline, reaching a pH of 9. And because of how pH is calculated, that doesn’t mean blueberries need twice as much soil acidity than we have. It means they need ten times as much as we have.
They love cold, wet winters and cool, wet summers. If you ever relocate to Galicia, you will be in the perfect place to grow blueberries.
So What Can You Do Now In The Garden?
This is the perfect time for succulents. Over the years, I have taken hundreds of succulent cuttings and created beautiful displays either in pots or in the garden. Unlike blueberries, succulents were made for our climate. They thrive in the heat. They’re draught-tolerant. They do prefer lower pH than we have here, but not as low as the northern plants listed above. They seem to do fine, but if you like you can lower the pH a little with a sprinkle of Sulphur powder on the soil.
You might think succulents lack the eye appeal of flowers, but with proper placement they can provide year-round interest. This isn’t about a solitary, halfdead plant in a nondescript pot though. You have to be bold to make this work.
They are easy plants to grow from cuttings. The photos show a few of the plants I’ve grown over the years from free cuttings. Some will grow from a single leaf, while others will only grow from a stem. Simply pinch off a leaf or a small piece of stem. Let the cut end heal over for a day. Then pop it into a pot of damp soil and wait to see if anything develops.
To make a statement with succulents, you must think about the effect you want to create. Sometimes, I like to plant in dramatic blocks of one colour. For example, these black Aeoniums started life as a dozen small, stem cuttings. Now they surprise and delight people when they walk around that corner and see them for the first time. I planted the cuttings close together to create this look.
I did the same close planting with the Crassula hybrids you can see with the pompom pink flowers. It takes a while for the little plants to crowd together like this, but it creates a pleasing effect.
I also like to mix different types of succulents in pots. For this, I choose contrasting shapes, colours, textures, and sizes. An unusual pot is ideal, if you have one. Again, I crowd the pot with more little plants than seems comfortable.
At other times, I will put one unusual succulent in a pot and let its uniqueness draw the eye. For example, the single Aeonium mardi gras with the dramatic yellow flower stalk or the Kalanchoe with pink edged paddle leaves.
There is so much you can achieve with a little patience and imaginations, and right now is the best time to give it a go.
Fern Penrose
Discover more on TOTN
