Pat Duke: Plan bee - the right time to start cutting back borders
Getting the timing right for cutting back all the beds for me depends on three things. Firstly, the weather, which is currently flirting with us in a ‘will it or won’t it' go into full on autumn mode, can decide in one torrential downpour that it’s time.
I also look for the last few bees to go into hibernation and thirdly, how many flowers are still fighting the good fight and pushing out colour and scented blooms. Cosmos are still gently swaying whilst crocosmia has gone to seed.
Doing it in stages is a compromise, but you ll need to bite the bullet at some point. Admittedly, with climate change and things getting warmer, the date for bed clearing and covering in compost gets later every year.
Surprisingly the roses are still budding whilst the lavender flowers are covered in their antiquated industrial dust signalling it’s time to prune them and not upset the bees.
Just cutting off the stems will allow the plant to bush out next year and concentrate energy on producing flowers rather than seeds.
Cutting away any dead and diseased stems will stop ill health and not invite garden pests to feed on your lavender.
It’s easy to ignore lavender because it’s a low maintenance plant, but you’ll notice the difference if you just offer it the time and love it needs.
Now is the optimum time to give it a bit of help in the shape of fertiliser. Lavender is low maintenance because it does not need a lot to thrive. It only needs poor soil and not a lot of water.
Many gardeners over feed it or over water it when the best approach is to 'treat it mean, keep it keen’. Just a mulch of multi purpose compost around now will give it all it needs to replenish itself before another quick cut and brush up after the frosts have melted away.
On the Plot
Another low maintenance plant is rhubarb. Again, this will give up so many more of its tart ribs next year if a thick mulch of manure is applied over winter. As it's a herbaceous perennial, much of the growth and development happens underground so it needs nutrients and a bit of insulation.
It’s closely related to the buckwheat family and is not a fruit, and hardly a vegetable which makes it a bit of a loner on the plot, but treat it as you would grass to some degree given that its nearest relative is buckwheat which is not a grain or wheat!
Dropping a few spadefuls of well rotted manure will be all it needs until you do the same again in late spring. I’ve seen multiple rhubarb plants still bearing stems so pull them away and bring them into the kitchen for processing into crumble.
Throw any yellowing leaves into the compost. Although leaves are poisonous containing a high proportion of oxalic acid, they will add to the compost.
Whilst there is moisture around, propagate blackcurrants by taking a school ruler sized thick piece of last year's stem. Cut it on an angle above a bud. This will be the top and cut the other end horizontally below a bud.
Place in the ground flat end first. The roots are produced around a bud area and cutting on an angle just tells you which end is which.
Make sure only two buds are above ground and leave them alone until this time next year and you can move the healthy adult plants anywhere you like for around eight years of blackcurrant harvests which includes the leaves for tea as well as the purple pearls we love in a pie.
Thinking about real sustainability can be woven into every horticultural task at any time of year. Gardening in this way gladdens the heart and the wallet.
