THE SOIL/ LAWN/ FRUIT TREE's and cold mother nature.

[Henry100]

Evening Earth lovers,

The weather here today has been a damp but very mild day, So as i did say you have to work with and not against mother Nature,

So in keeping with gardening in the winter when we can.

Lets have a look at a few jobs that can be done to really help the future growing,

Now for those who are new to the gardening world (Welcome) Two things here for you to know about and once Ive told you both of them "you'll never forget them,

(1) Nobody has ever said Gardening is easy and not back breaking at times, But thanks to modern day machines and tools

It is not as hard as it once was And a lot of the once back breaking work can be done by tiller's  small garden tractor /Strimmers

(2) If anyone tells you they have Green fingers !!!!! Tell them to see a Doctor quick (they are suffering from finger rot)

Anyone who has the Interest and will power can learn about gardening But it is a huge subject with many directions ,

So lets look at the likes of today's weather and what we can do

                                                                                                                         "Outside"

The Lawn first, if you have tree's on or near your Lawn a lot of the leaves will have fallen and these need raking up and keeping as these leaves make a smashing compost or mulch for later use (we will talk about compost & mulching later in the months to come) Once the lawn is what we older gardeners call clean, Now is the time to Lime the , Lime is one of the really good soil improving methods used in gardening, Lime enriches the soil (this means it lifts what is called the P H Level of the soil,

The higher the PH. (7) is the normal for good growing soil (get hold of a soil testing kit from the garden center , They are not costly and very simple to use) Lime really improves the soil and the grass roots,  Lime now and by spring the Lime would have sunk into the soil thanks to the winter cold & rain conditions,  Lime again is known as the soil sweetener,

Now lets talk about the fruit trees and any other trees and shrubs that need to be pruned,

We prune trees/shrubs to help the tree's get Air and light in, and to help better fruit production,

It's fine having a million apples the size of conker nut's, But these are to small and have little if any taste because the main tree  roots    are putting all it's energy from the roots into trying to feed all this fruit, And if the tree is allowed to have branches crossing over each other !!!! Again you are choking the tree and starving it of light.

But you need to prune at the correct time of the year, Once all the leaves have fallen and the tree is nude of leaves, The sap is low and you can see the shape of your tree and what you need to prune, Also you can see any canker or damaged branches that need attention, Now the tree is opened out the strong winds can blow through the opened space and the tree will be much stronger rooted,

But you can also white wash the tree trunk (from ground level up to the first branches , LIME-Powder  mixed with water to a nice creamy  paste and then brushed onto the tree trunk will help kill nesting bugs and stop crawling ground bugs ie ants etc from nesting in the open parts of the trees trunk wood, By sorting the over wintering bugs you have a much better chance of bug free fruit.

Now read up on what trees to prune and when !!! As the stone fruit trees are pruned at a different time, if you prune at the wrong time this leads the tree to bleed sap and that's not good, So start as you mean to go on and read up .

Now is the time to turn over the empty soil area's, Such as the veg plot/ Raised bed's/ Borders Again It is the time to use Lime and leave soil open, ie do not rake it flat, let mother nature and the freezing conditions break up all those lumps of soil "But" again use the Lime, if your thinking of planting root crops (Spuds/ Turnip/carrot . Do the liming early before any root crops are planted so the lime has really sunk into the soil, If you lime these area's late just before planting your spud will have skin scab,

Lime is really worth reading up about and the good it gives to the soil and kills bugs .But it is one chemical a lot of gardeners over look .

I am sure by now the new to gardening will see how these subjects all fall into each other and why so far we have talked about the indoor winter jobs (a nice warm workshop) and any chance if a break in the weather arrives we jump at the chance to do as many as we can outdoor ones,

Just remember this The garden is more or less asleep just now And you have a load of jobs to do NOW!!!! Before the grass/weeds /  etc start to grow like a formula one racing driver, Once they're in growing action they take a lot of the gardeners time up, so do these jobs  NOW while they are not growing.

What do you think it's going to be like in the start of the spring when the grass on the Lawn wakes up ? And we need to get the Box hedging sorted, and the Lawn edges looking good ? (Old saying hedges and edges make a garden look good)

I am sure you will understand why i said get your tools and machines ready for the spring now, So when you need to use then they are just needing fuel and away you go, You do not want to spend this start of the lawn first cut or the tidying of banks held up because your machines are clogged up with dirty fuel, the carbs blocked solid ? The belts on the ride-on have snapped and you do not know what to do??

More about the winter service tomorrow ,  And a tip as to why your leaving circles on that lovely lawn every time  your on the ride -on ?

Interested ???

Talk to you tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

[gncbrule]

Hi ! Very interested, thank you ! 

I am a complete beginner in gardening, but the more I do, the more I am passionate about it. Any advice would be appreciated.