Table of Contents
A GREENHOUSE READY FOR WINTER
If you have a greenhouse, now is a good time to prepare it for next winter.
Choose a nice, dry day and move the tender plants to a cool but protected area while you work. Remove any old tomato and cucumber foliage. Remove tools and pots and clean them thoroughly for spring use.
Use a small brush to clean staging and difficult spaces and corners. Sweep the floor with a larger brush or use a vacuum cleaner. Wash the glazing with a disinfectant and a warm cloth before allowing the panes to dry completely.
Next, you should think about insulating your greenhouse to protect it from frost. Horticultural bubble wrap is UV resistant and durable, and is not the same as packaging plastic, which will degrade quickly.
If you have a greenhouse, now is a good time to prepare it for next winter.
It can be attached to the frame with tape or pins and reused for several years to save plastic waste.
It is also a cost-effective way to keep your greenhouse frost-free. Fleece can be used as an alternative but, unlike bubble wrap, it does not let in light, which is essential for plants left indoors during the winter.
Use a thermometer to monitor the temperature and a small heater if necessary. Clean moss and leaves from the gutters and place them in the compost pile.
SOW MICREGREENS
Sow the seeds on the surface of the soil, keep them watered, and cut off the shoots when they reach a few centimeters in height.
The days are getting shorter, but you can still grow nutritious microgreens. All you need is a seed tray with multi-purpose peat-free compost and a windowsill.
Try radishes, sunflowers, spinach, broccoli, mizuna, cilantro, and fennel. Sow the seeds on the surface of the soil, keep them watered, and cut off the shoots when they reach a few centimeters in height.
GET RAKE
Leaves left on the ground can become a slip hazard or smother grass and edges.
The leaves are now falling thick and fast from the trees. Sweep with a wide-tipped rake or stiff brush and collect them with leaf collectors or two sheets of pressed wood.
Leaves left on the ground can become a slip hazard or smother grass and edges. Make a container with chicken wire where you can put them to rot and form mold on the leaves, an excellent fertilizer for the garden.
READER QUESTION
Callicarpa is a good shrub for late fall and winter, with jewel-like purple berries.
Why does the beauty berry I planted look sickly?
Katrina Miller, Dorchester.
Callicarpa is a good shrub for late fall and winter, with jewel-like purple berries. It is best to grow it near a path or window so you can enjoy its beauty. If yours isn’t doing well, it probably has to do with where and how you planted it. If it is in soils prone to waterlogging, it may have rotted.
Or, if planted in a pot or too high in the ground, it may be drying out. Give it a good mulch and make sure it doesn’t compete with other plants. Additionally, it is best to plant callicarpa in threes to maximize pollination.
PLANT OF THE WEEK: EUONYMUS EUROPAEUS
This native shrub and ancient hedgerow species is commonly known as spindle, because its wood was used to make spindles and other small wooden tools.
This native shrub and ancient hedgerow species is commonly known as a spindle, because its wood was used to make spindles and other small wooden tools.
It looks particularly impressive in autumn, when its leaves turn a vivid pinkish red, combined with hanging clusters of pink fruits that remain on the plant long after it has lost its leaves.
It prefers full sun and a calcareous or clay soil, although it will tolerate partial shade. Measuring 3m high and 2.5m wide, it is ideal as an eye-catching tree in a front garden or winter border. Its fruit provides food for birds and pollinators.