My dear Fellow gardeners,

What wonderful weather – I hear that this is not even our Indian Summer, for it has to be cold before it becomes warm again. I heard on the radio that this weather is expected to remain with us until November – I think that we will all enjoy that, for we are still procrastinating about bringing in flowers, bulbs, plants etc. I’m afraid that you will have to cut the grass one more time. It is nearly October, bringing with it two family member’s birthdays. That is the fun part and the other is work for you;

The hints for October are as follows:

• Pull out any annuals that have finished blooming; add them to the compost pile.
• Plant bulbs, iris, small tulips, daffodils and hyacinths in pots, store out of the light in a cool place, preferably an unheated shed. Keep an eye on them for shoots, then bring them inside or into the light, water well and feed with a fertiliser, a high middle number for the flowers.
• Bring in the tender bulbs such as Dahlias, Cannas, Gladiolus and Tuberous begonias, and any other special bulbs, and elephant ears, etc. clean them off and store in a cool place for the winter. I bring in my geraniums – and any other pot grown bulbs etc. Leaving them in the pot, I just sprinkle with water and put down in the basement. Keep an eye on them, do not let them totally dry out; around the end of December they may need a drink of water and again at the end of February. Once they start to shoot out, bring them into the light.
• Gather the leaves for mulching purpose. Leave the ones intended for the lawn, on the lawn. Let them dry and then run the lawn mower over them a couple of times. (Do bag them and leave them at the roadside, I will be along to grab them !!!!!!)
• Mulch the garden beds once the ground starts to freeze.
• Purchase soil for hilling up roses, and filling in the holes in the garden, especially where you have divided or moved plants.
• Do not prune back roses or clematis; leave the stems of dead flowers to hold the snow in place so that it can act as a comforter for those sleeping plants.
• Empty the composter and place the resulting compost on the borders, and flower beds, add manure and supplements to break down through the winter, giving you a head start on the flowerbeds in the spring.
• If you must, now is the time to bring in your amaryllis and re-plant in good potting soil and they should be blooming come Christmas time.

October is a good time to start a compost pile, in a secluded part of the garden. This one is different to the pile where you deposit all the usual green leftovers. As, you are working and gathering up the garden waste, twigs, leaves, weeds, stems etc., just keep piling it up. When enough has accumulated to a depth of a foot high, soak it thoroughly with water (good thing you haven’t put the hose away!?), tramp it down, wearing your “wellies’ and sprinkle generously with a commercial fertiliser that is rich in super-phosphate and potash, 10 pounds for an area four by six feet. By making layers, one on top of the other, the pile is easily and quickly built.

This combination of natural combined with artificial manures forms an extremely viable material for improving your garden soil next spring. In the process of decay, the commercial fertiliser (by its chemical action) helps to raise the temperature which hastens the breakdown of the vegetative tissues and helps to destroy the weed seeds. In the finished product, the commercial fertiliser supplies an abundance of those elements that are most commonly deficient in your soil. The plant materials not only increase the mineral content of the soil, but provide the organic material that is essential to produce soil texture and composition. You can layer the waste materials as I suggested, but you can also add manure – even fresh manure and a couple of pounds of Epsom salts. This will be a very rich mixture to add to your gardens next year.

When compost is made up of mostly leaves, it is better to use only the soft leaves off trees, maple, basswood or sycamore. Leaves of oaks, the needles off your evergreens and similar plants do not decay quickly and are better to be used as mulch.

The ideal compost mixture contains two parts dry material (older) to one part green (fresh). Normally you cannot collect the material in this exact ratio, so just use what you have and use your common sense - just don’t let all this good material go to waste!

You must add soil to the compost pile for the micro-organisms in the soil play a vital role in the decaying process.

Little attention or special care is needed by the compost pile but you can aid the process by remembering the following…

a) In the summer, wet down the pile thoroughly at four to five week intervals, or oftener if the weather is dry, or not at all if we have another summer like 2004.
b) Spade or fork the compost heap several times to assist an even decay through the whole mass. c) A removable covering of sod will help to keep the moisture in the compost.

You may be interested to know that conservative estimates of the value of natural manure lost or destroyed each year in Canada alone, ranges up to $70,000,000. So if everyone with a garden made a practice of building a compost heap, this figure would be considerably reduced. However, it would also reduce employment for many people!!!

This is a good time to dig out that picnic basket and go for a walk in the woods; its ankle deep carpet of leaves, does not need vacuuming, or cleaning but it is one of the most healthful, beautiful and stimulating experiences for us. I remember a long time ago, we would collect nuts, seeds and mushrooms. I never seem to make the time anymore – such a shame.

My father-in-law, whom I never had the chance to meet, was a gardener; his clumps of peonies, pine trees, red and blackcurrant, plus the gooseberry bushes, and the huge piraeas are still flourishing. As is a beautiful, black walnut tree. These were all planted in 1940 – a living inheritance indeed.

The black walnut really deserves its place in the garden; it produces fine wood, and valuable food seeds. It is also one of the most picturesque of the ornamental trees. When it is fully grown, as mine is now, it may be over 100 feet high, and, with its twisted branches and large compound leaves, it has a majesty that few other trees possess. The yellow-green spherical fruits grow in clusters at the tips of the twigs and when the leaves fall off, are either conspicuous on the tree or lie hidden in the leaves on the ground below, - watch out with that lawn mower, because they may become dangerous, projectiles. Each nut has a thick fleshy coat called a hull, which, when fresh, gives an excellent brown dye; and a tasty wholesome kernal, which is the seed.

I have been asked for another “Garden Story”, so I will tell you about the ‘Accommodating Rhododendron’, written by Rose G. Kingsley. Do remember that these stories were written by “English Ladies” living in the “Empire”.

“My old Munshi sent me a present of shikar one day that he had shot in Godap, on the edge of the desert. It was a cheap gift, as it consisted of two hares – unclean animals, which of course he, as a good Mohammedan, could not touch, nor could they be eaten in any self-respecting India Civil Service official’s house. In the wondrous letter that accompanied them, a triumph of Indian-English, he informed me that, ‘One shot in a.m. will, I think, match the breakfast time, and the one shot in the p.m. can be used anytime. I have tied a tacket to the one shot in the evening.”

Now rhododendrons are somewhat like Munshi Mahmud’s p.m. hare; they may be used at any time and anywhere, dear, accommodating people. For if a gap has to be filled, Rhododendrons can be lifted (i.e. transplanted) even in the midst of summer to fill it, as their roots do not spread far and, with plentiful waterings, they will grow on as if they had never been disturbed . Bewildering in variety, rhododendrons are an absolute necessity in every garden, large or small, not only for their glory of colour (scarlet, crimson, white, pink and purple) in May and June, but for the shelter they afford where shelter is required. They are also prized for their perfect hardiness, for their immunity from the errant rabbit’s teeth, and their generally accommodating ways, suiting themselves to almost any soil, aspect or climate. When to these we add the flame and gold of hardy Azaleas, it seems as if colour in the modern shrubbery could indeed go no further.

Good gardening to everyone, hats, gloves, sunscreen big time, insect repellant (I got bitten by a mosquito to-day, hats and good, tough shoes, when you are using the lawn mower!

Lovingly, Beryl