That’s lush

10:49am Saturday 9th August 2008

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IT CAN be difficult to leave the garden and go on holiday, anxious about whether it will survive the lack of attention. Whatever time of year the break occurs, it always seems to be just before the garden is at its absolute best.

So it was with trepidation that I returned last Saturday from two weeks away.

I needn’t have worried. My son, who had been left in charge of watering the containers, had done a fantastic job and the rest of the garden had revelled in the sunshine and showers.

Most established plants will survive without any help for much longer than a fortnight, so long as they are in the right place.

In fact, it is good to see the garden with fresh eyes. First impressions were that everything had grown so tall and lush.

Gone are the early days of my gardening when, after a spring and early summer fling, the beds looked tired and empty by the end of July. Now there is virtually no room as dahlias, leucanthemums, helenium and michealmas daisies, to name but a few, battle it out in the border.

The newly sown area of lawn had its first cut when we returned. It had germinated well before we left and put on a good amount of growth over the two weeks. The lush, greenness seen from a distance was patchier on closer inspection, but regular cutting should soon sort this out.

Mowing encourages the growth of side shoots at the base of each grass plant. Individual plants then spread and mingle with their neighbours to produce a dense hardy mat, usually within a few months of sowing, although it is best to leave the area out of bounds for as long as possible to give the grass a really good chance of getting strong.

News from the veg patch

THE new vegetable patch has had mixed fortunes while we have been away. The courgette plant is huge with large silvery mottled leaves held on slightly prickly stems.

Hidden under the foliage are the yellow flowers, pictured above, several of which have opened while we were away, with three going on to develop fruit. One has been picked and consumed, diced raw and added to a salad, and the others will soon be big enough. If all the flower buds are successful, we should have a bumper crop.

The beetroot hasn’t done as well, mainly because the courgette has got much bigger than expected and has overshadowed the poor little beetroot plants.

The chard, however, which is just that little bit further away, is developing nicely, with one red-stemmed plant already picked and eaten. It seems strange that this one chard plant is so much larger than the other, despite being in the same position and sown at the same time.

The rocket, which had provided weeks of spicy salad leaves, took advantage of my absence and went to seed, producing a pretty crop of cream flowers.

However, all is not lost and the flower stems have been cut back to a leaf joint and we have a few more helpings of tasty, if rather raggedy, leaves to enjoy. It even looks as if a few of the plants are beginning to sprout new foliage.

The lettuces planted a week or so before we went away have almost completely disappeared. I think the slugs and snails must have got them. Only the ones quickly pushed into a couple of pots due to lack of space in the garden have managed to survive.

Weekend catch-up

IF YOU have been away, deadheading is going to be the order of the day for plants in the garden and in pots and containers.

Cutting back spent flowers on Spirea japonica ‘Anthony Waterer’, for example, will encourage many more flowers. It’s a fiddly job, but the shrub looks much better once the spent browning blooms are taken away to reveal the tiny dots of bright pink that will open out into new blooms.

Continual deadheading of dahlias, too, will keep fresh flowers coming for months, with most varieties able to keep production up until October and even later given good weather.

Garden talk

CLIVE Dawson will look at Ten Plants And A Tree in his talk about some of the more unusual plants and trees in York Cemetery at 7pm on Wednesday. Tickets are £5 and can be purchased in advance from the cemetery office.

The Green Day

HELMSLEY Walled Garden will hold its second Green Day on Saturday, August 16, from 10.30am to 5.30pm. Visitors will be able to enjoy live music, demonstrations and take part in workshops.

Blacksmith Matthew Dwyer will be demonstrating the skills of his craft and David Hutchinson, of the Charcoal Foundation, will construct a traditional earth mound kiln and gives talks on charcoal.

Admission is £4 for adults, with accompanied children free.

Open gardens

Tomorrow

In aid of the National Gardens Scheme

Barley Mow, Moor Monkton, five miles north west of York off the A59 York-Harrogate road. Three-quarter-acre garden, which peaks in July and August, with vivid herbaceous borders and subtropical planting, as well as climbers, formally trained fruit, vegetable garden and greenhouses. Open 11am to 6pm. Admission £3.

Mansion Cottage, Gillus Lane, Bempton, two miles north east of Bridlington. Secluded garden with 100ft border vegetable and recycling plot, architectural planting, shady and scented borders, grasses and late-flowering perennial bed. Open 10am to 4pm. Admission £2.50 adult.

RHS Garden Harlow Carr, one-and-a-half miles west of Harrogate, off the B6162 Harrogate-Otley road. Acres of gardens to explore, including woodland walks, streamside planting, wild flower meadow, beds, borders, alpines, fruit, vegetables, picnic areas and a reviving cup of tea in Bettys Café. Open 9.30am to 6pm. Admission £6 adult, £2 child.