Island Life Magazine Ltd October/ November 2012 | Page 90
Gardening
with Tina
The year is drifting to a
close, and I doubt if many
of us gardeners, or not,
will be sorry to see the
back of it. So many events
have been washed out it is
something of a miracle that
the weather was so kind
through the Olympics and
Paralympics. The gods of
Olympus were clearly saving
all the sunshine for them. The
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.
reservoirs, rivers and aquifers
Slugging it out
that we depend upon are
Although I am fervently hoping that the slug and snail
now replenished after last
rampage of this summer will be an exception rather than
winter’s drought that brought
the rule, I have been investigating using more mollusc
hosepipe bans and the
proof plants in future, and I’ve been looking at the cunning
downpours in April.
strategies used by plants to repel all borders. Pungent
only saving grace is that the
herbs, mint and rosemary and lavender deter these
insatiable pests with their aromatic oils, whilst euphorbias
use toxic sap. Ferns and other plants have fine hairs which
clearly make them cough and ornamental grasses are just
too high in fibre for their delicate digestions. Definitely food
Do you have a qu estion?
for thought.
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Reuse and recycl
e
Do your bit fo
r the environm
ent
by reusing plan
t labels, scrub
of
f
the writing wit
h wire wool an
d
wash out flow
er pots and seed
trays ready for
the spring.
90
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