Garden Class.
By marge
9 comments
Pruning and propergation.
Why do we prune. Why do we properate? (Division).
1.Deadwood. To make more plants
2.Damaged. To tidy up or control the plant.
3 Disease.
4 Dangling in the way.
= Deadwood, tissue changes colour, when you cut into it = the trunk/branches are green shows it’s alive. If it’s brown and brittle shows it’s dead. Maples are different, they can be red if alive or grey if dead.
If stems are damaged and a wound has appeared, you can bind it with Micropore tape to help it to heal its self.Wounds heal over to protect the plant from infection or insect attack. Wounds can take a couple of years to heal.
Grafting = Trunks can grow round something i.e., a fence, or support stick.
We use this to our advanatage when grafting roses, fruit trees etc. You can get miniture fruit trees that can have three fruits on one tree.
Damage and disease occur by = branches rubbing together. A tree can “die back” after being damaged.
Dangling = Twings growing in wrong direction. Prune any that “cross paths”.
Roses = Control long growths with flowers at the end. The hormones flow through the plant to the “growing tip”. Pruning encourages flowering lower down.
Coppicing = anything that is used as a hedging plant can be coppiced.
Pollarding = Willows = take tops off.
Hazel = can be both coppiced and pollarded.
Terms = Standard
“lifting crown”
When to prune ? Nov/Mar because the plant will be dormant as light conditions are wrong. In Spring and Summer the growing hormones are active.
What to use = Seceuters
Curved blades (blade “goes past”), by pass. For thin and flexible stems.
Parrot beak (blade and anvil), for larger and brittle stems.
Loppers = edge to edge – anvil type.
Wilkinson Sword “Rachet” based will cut thick stems well, but are expensive..
= Keep equipment clean and sharpened.
Pruning cut = diagonal, between the buds. – Internodle cut – to allow for “die back” and lessen risk of infection or damage.
1. Softwood cutting = Summer time, new growth, when pale and flexible.
2. Semi ripe
3. Hardwood cuttings = Autumn time. Ripe wood, Outer Bark cells.
In late summer, early Autumn If you look at a length of stem, you should be able to identify the three stages of development of the plant.
Layering = Hawthorne and Privit hedges can be layered, this makes the tougher and stronger.
23 Nov, 2008
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Comments
Hi Spritz, I write them on in the hope that I will remember them. Also its a bit of a check on what she is telling us, if it was incorrect someone would have told me about!
I'm not sure whether I will keep class going after the end of this term. We are hoping to go away in Jan and Feb, it seems a waste to pay for classes when I am not going to be there. (Yorkshire folk are more miserly than the Scots!)
24 Nov, 2008
In Wales it's the Cardies that are miserly. I don't think anyone is worse than them. lol
24 Nov, 2008
Hi Hywel, you've got some great blogs on the go, I was reading some of them earlier, you and the cat have certainly had a good one going. It seems to have taken on a life of it's own.
Love Marge.
24 Nov, 2008
Thanks Marge.
24 Nov, 2008
I have enjoyed your garden class blogs, Marge, and shall miss them if/when you stop.
Do you belong to a horticultural club? Before I moved here I belonged to the Downley Horticultural Society in High Wycombe. The meetings were monthly, speakers were booked on a wide range of gardening topics and were a great source of information and inspiration. When I moved I joined the local society expecting it to be similar but was disappointed to find they held seasonal shows and an annual dinner but no monthly meetings or talks. I find myself in a dilemma, to rejoin the local society and suggest ( and probably talk myself into) organising monthly talks or to rejoin Downley's society.
Sorry, I have rambled on, but I would recommend visiting several local societies before choosing one to join.
30 Nov, 2008
Hi Xela, I do belong to a garden club meeting monthly. I joined in July. It is more a social club, but we do have speakers and there are visits out to Garden Centres and someone will give a demonstration. In Feb., there is to be someone coming with herbs and will explain them.
Normal meeting nights: It is in a very small hall, it can only hold 40 people. The Treasurer tells us whats' in the bank. The chairman usually talks, gives out Newsletters, we have a drink, and go home! Total time one and a half hours. It is really comical, two or three of the ladies are reallly deaf and never get the hang of what is said, or carry on their own sort of "deaf persons meeting".
Being a watcher and observer of people, this is a happy hunting ground for me. They have all been very welcoming, because I live in another village five miles or so away.
I do love going, and the getting home before the husband opens the wine bottle is a bonus!
30 Nov, 2008
Ah, so you have the best of both worlds, class and club.
Does your newsletter contain seasonal reminders and tips too?
People are nearly as fascinating to observe as the rest of the animal world, aren't they? I remember my Mother telling me that much of my parents' dating was spent people watching, they couldn't afford any other form of entertainment just after the war. It can be very entertaining and quite educational too!
I love the idea of getting home before the wine bottle opening, perfect after a 'business' meeting.
1 Dec, 2008
Hi Xela - yes we do get hints and tips in the Newsletter, plus a recipe for seasonal produce.
1 Dec, 2008
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Thank you for shaing all your lessons, Marge. I need to go through them with my notebook and take notes of some bits I didn't know!
24 Nov, 2008