GDNG - Rain, rain go away--we want to garden! (Brooks?)

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ET ISSUE 2136 Saturday 31 March 2001 Rain, rain, go away. We want to garden!

You're dying to get out but the veg patch is unworkable and the beds awash. Start planting indoors, says Ursula Buchan

GARDENERS are decidedly restive. The first day of spring has come and gone, but those traditional spring tasks that mark the end of winter and help to cheer us up still seem tantalisingly out of reach. The reason, of course, is the weather. According to the Met Office, this winter has yielded 13in of rain across England and Wales, 35 per cent above the long-term average.

Early April showers: the last six months have been 'unmitigatedly awful'

We should be grateful for small mercies, I suppose, considering that 19in or an almost unbelievable 94 per cent above the average, fell from September to November 2000, making it the wettest autumn since records began in 1766.

Vegetable gardens are reported to be under water, lawns as mossy as a Japanese garden, bare-rooted trees and roses left unplanted, seeds and even bulbs rotting in the ground, east winds and snow affecting early flowers.

The vernal urge to get on with things is as strong as the blackbird's nesting instinct, and we do not like being thwarted. Moreover, we were thwarted last autumn as well. Jobs which might have eased our anxiety now, such as digging organic matter or even grit into heavy soil to improve structure and aid drainage were often impossible.

Even the professionals are wringing their hands. Christopher Bailes, curator of the RHS Garden at Rosemoor, near Torrington, in Devon, describes the past six months as "unmitigatedly awful".

His advice is to "work around the conditions". He suggests that if you feel you have to get on the ground to prune roses, for example, then only walk on planks, which spread your weight. Mulch with organic matter where possible to prevent further puddling.

As for lawns, spike them to let air and water through and to discourage moss, which thrives in waterlogged conditions, and use a sandy top-dressing. Vegetable gardeners should spend their time sowing seed indoors. Mr Bailes admits that it may be a mistake not to clear out perennial borders in the autumn, and mulch the soil to protect it from capping. "The tidy-minded are sitting pretty, unlike the rest of us."

Despite his obvious frustration, Mr Bailes is philosophical, as all good gardeners must be. He knows that most plants will not be harmed by temporary inundation. There is even a gleam of sunlight from behind the dark clouds. Rosemoor suffers from late frosts in April and May, which do particular damage in early springs when growth is already well advanced but still tender. As plants are often influenced more by temperature than day-length, he does not anticipate so much damage this year.

What about garden owners for whom the gardening year traditionally begins at Easter, whenever it occurs? It is fortunate that a late spring coincides with a late Easter this year.

With the holiday still two weeks away, the Horticultural Trades Association, which represents thousands of garden centres and nurseries, is publicly sanguine. Although there have been plant losses, so much nursery stock is grown in polythene tunnels in the winter that the association is confident that there will be plenty of plants for gardeners to buy once they do venture out to garden centres.

John Tugman of Farplants, a wholesale nursery co-operative which distributes nationally, is concerned that if the weather continues to be wet for the next four weeks, the commercial sector will suffer. Many plants grown for the spring market will cease to attract the casual buyer. He advises gardeners to buy containerised plants now - they are in excellent condition and there are good deals to be had - and plant them when the soil dries out.

I felt a strange reluctance to tell him that the Met Office's long-range forecast until the middle of April is for milder but still "unsettled" weather. Gardeners and nurserymen must continue to grit their teeth, if not their gardens.

Site specifics

www.met-office.gov.uk

www.bbc.co.uk/weather

www.rhs.org.uk/garden/mn-rhsrosemoor.asp

www.gardenworld.co.uk

If you can't wait . . .

Sow seed of vegetables in pots, trays, cellular modules or Jiffy 7s. Cover in clingfilm and put in a windowsill propagator or on a light windowsill. Once germinated, prick out where necessary. When seedlings are sturdy plants, put them in a cold frame if you have one, or a light porch to harden them off, and plant out when the soil is no longer sticky. Even if they are larger than is ideal, they will be easy to plant.

In extremis, put 'first early" potatoes in large pots of multipurpose compost. And stop worrying: seed sown when the soil is no longer cold to the touch will romp away in the longer days and may well catch up.

Spike lawns with a fork or a wheeled spiker. Help water to run away in waterlogged areas by forking holes in the soil. If your garden remains flooded, consider a drainage system, or a pond, or put in bog plants. Once the soil does dry out in the vegetable garden, fork it over and incorporate a general fertiliser to replenish what has been leached from the topsoil.

-- Anonymous, March 31, 2001


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