Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2012 | Page 102
Gardening
with Tina
All I am going to say about
the past two months is
that there was a distinct
lack of Pimms moments.
My early strawberries
produced a wonderful
crop, and everywhere is
looking extremely verdant.
Unfortunately many tender
plants needing higher
temperatures have struggled
to grow. I know several
T in a H ug he s trai ne
d as
a profession al ga rd
en er
afte r leav in g school
a nd
spent a su m m er w
orki
in Tu sca ny as a n E ng
ng lis h
Ga rd en er. Sh e ha s
a
N at io na l D ip lo m a
in
Horticu lt ure.
crops of runner beans to a
All for lawn
combination of cold and the
As the days shorten, lawns benefit from some attention.
ravenous hordes of slugs and
The two essential treatments are scarifying, to remove the
snails that are flourishing at
layer of grass clippings known as thatch which encourages
the moment. St Swithin’s Day
disease and makes the lawn susceptible to both drought
was dry so I’m keeping my
and waterlogging. Unless your lawn is tiny a powered
fingers firmly crossed that
scarifier does the best job. The next step is aeration using
we can finally enjoy some
a garden fork to make holes after scarifying to relieve
sunshine.
compaction in areas that are walked over frequently to
people have lost their entire
improve drainage. Worn areas can be re-seeded using a
mixture of potting compost and lawn seed.
Do you have a qu estion?
If you have a question, need some advice or even
a suggestion for an article then please email:
[email protected]
A prickly proble
m
Help to stop ou
r hedgehogs
disappearing.
Take a look at
www.
hedgehogstreet
.org which give
s
lots of advice
and the chance
to
become a Hed
gehog Champi
on.
Sounds intrigui
ng.
102
www.visitislandlife.com