Winter prune prep.

[Pun]

Hi Folks,

I hope your all well and looking forward to the winter evenings in front of the fire, this is the time to get nice and relaxed and plan the spring / summer ideas,

Its also a good time to have a look now before the trees have shed all leaf,

by looking at the trees with the leaf still on it gives a better idea the wood you want to remove in a couple of months time,

I mark the wood I want to take off with marker paint or you can use masking tape, by doing this it makes it simple to remember the wood you wanted to take off  as the trees look a lot different when nude of the leaf,

 

Its also a good time now to have a look around the garden centres as they have all the trees and bushes in ready to plant before the hard frost appear,

make sure any newly planted trees/ shrubs have the best start by putting a base slow acting feed in the bottom of the hole your going to plant in,

leaf mould/ compost ect will all help and a good strong stake for the taller ones,

if the new plant is in a windy part of the garden try to help it by also as well as the stake use a windbreake ie hessian or sacking staked around the outer area of the tree base.

It's worth the extra effort and the reward is two fold, (a) you'll not waste your money by seeing the tree die due to no effort on your part, (b) you'll have a tree/shrub that not only looks good but will give you pleasure for years to come.

If your thinking as I am of doing some hedging and you've a rabbit problem, use Laurel, it has a chemicle in the leaf that the rabbit wont go near and this hedging will soon spread and show its self, it can be pruned to keep it at a managable height.

 

And last but by no means least, if your thinking of buying new gardening books dont, until youve looked in the charity shops ie Oxfam ect, the have a good selection most of the time due to people both giving the books and people leaving the books when they die,

Ive found some very good out of print books that are much better than the modern ones of to day and for a fraction of the price,

So have a nice evening thinking and planning the next springs garden.

Happy gardening.

 

 

[WJT]

Pun, thank you for that very informative post. [:)]

Very timely for me because I will be needing to do some pruning as well as planting a few trees and some hedging. You mention Laurel hedging, we have a very long one on our property as well as it growing wild in the forests all around us. Would you or someone else know if it is possible to take cuttings and plant directly into the soil? 

[Pun]

Hi  WJT.

Nice to talk to you, now I dont know if you can take cuttings of the laurel, but Im sure one of our gardening army of friends can help out here.

Its now 6pm here and Ive been in the garden for most of the afternoon doing I hope the right thing, (Ive cut down a peach tree) Blame Alan titchmarsh.

he's always saying if it's not wanted chuck it out and start again, dont be afraid to change,

"well when we bought this house 6years ago the prev/owner didnt have much idea ref gardening but lots of enthusiasm for plants /trees etc.

she lived here alone and spent many hours planting things in the wrong place and without thought as to the size of the plants etc when fully grown,

ie we had a peach tree approx 3feet away from a lilac tree 6inch away from the edge of a raised wall and the rest of the garden continues in this way,

it seemed that the lady just went out and bought the plant and when she got it home just planted it without any thought as to it's size when grown.

so  after all this time I decide to remove the complete tree and start again in this part of the garden, Its going to be all flowers in this part,

But as I said, winters is here, Ive got my long johns on and I dont care who knows it, the air is cold, and for the past 2 nights we've had frost on the car windscreen,

 

The good thing about this weather is I myself can do a lot more gardening than when it's boiling hot,

In this part of France we can use the local bin tip 3 days aweek monday, friday &saturday, So after todays tree removal you can guess my first job 9am tomorrow,

Ive met some of my best english friends at the tip, so lets hope I meet a new one tomorrow.

nice talking to you and I hope you get the reply ref the laurel.

Good gardening.

From Pun dept 23 limousin.

[hastobe]

[quote user="WJT"]

Would you or someone else know if it is possible to take cuttings and plant directly into the soil? 

[/quote]

Laurel (like many broad leaved evergreens) can be propogated using semi ripe cuttings which is best done is late summer to early autumn.  It may be a little late now for this year but perhaps still worth a try as you only stand to lose a few 'trimmings'? 

You need to take a cutting, about 10 - 15 cms long, from a healthy green shoot of this seasons  growth, cutting it immediately above the node (the rooting hormones are concentrated around the node).  Then remove all the leaves except for the top two and cut these two remaining leaves in half horizontally with a sharp knife (this reduces transpiration or loss of water from the leaves).  Then 'damage' the stem to stimulate rooting by slicing off a thin sliver of bark about 3cm long from one side.  Dip the wounded stem in rooting hormone and after tapping off the excess insert the cutting into a 3 inch pot filled with a 50:50 mix of peat and fine bark (so it drains freely and doesn't get water logged).  Insert it just deep enough for the cutting to stand upright.  Firm the cutting in, water and cover with a polythene bag - making sure that the polythene doesn't touch the plant or it will encourage rotting.  Leave in a frost free place.  If you have a propogator that allows you to provide gently bottom heat then that helps but it is not essential.  Check periodically to ensure the cuttings don't dry out and remove any leaves that go rotten.  It can take a while to root but should be ready by spring.

I have grown lots of shrubs (and clematis) this way.  I usually do several cuttings (to allow for failures) and have not used a heated propagator for this.

Kathie

[Danny]

Yes, cuttings are easy from laurel. A neighbour gave me a load this summer, in the height of the heat, and all but 2 have survived. I took some cuttings from these about two weeks ago and when I transplanted them into individual pots yesterday I saw they had loads of roots already. They grow really quickly too.

Jane

[Pun]

Hi Jane and Danny,

nice to hear from you both, not heard from you for a while,

Ive just got back from my meeting place (the bin-tip) freezing cold and no brits in sight, "they've got more sense than me"

But I did see as the tip got further away from the summer tippings that some laurel that had been tipped had rooted and was growing away full of the joy's of "well winter" so they do seem to root o.k

Well must go and have a nice hot coffee and thaw out.

good gardening..

 

[Boiling a frog]

Really sad person or what

I bet you hang about supermarket car parks and talk to anyone with a british numberplate  car

[Tresco]

I genuinely don't understand your post, BaF. [:(]

[Jonzjob]

I'll say nowt Tresk!

I have just pruned our mure platan trees. The leaves are stripped off the branches and gp to compost and the branches have been chipped for a mulch. It don't half look bare now. I prune them now because it's easier than picking the leaves up....

[WJT]

I totally lost this thread so have just seen it again now [:$].  Thank you so much Hastobe about the information on Laurel. Your post was four days ago so I have lost even more time to take the cutting [:(]. I won't be able to do it for a few days still but the weather has been really beautiful and mild here so maybe it will allow me to do it later.

Pun, the previous owner of your property must have know the previous owner of ours because we have the same problem. We have some beautiful trees and shrubs including a magnificent old Camellia but are all planted in the wrong places. Most of the ground floor windows have big trees or shrubs planted directly in front of them. It appears that there was no fore thought at all about where these plants were planted.

In any case, best of luck with all of your pruning and visits to the local bin. [:)]