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BEANS TAKE A BATTERING AFTER NOCTURNAL PLANTING

By Richard Wright - Friday, April 4, 2008
BEANS TAKE A BATTERING AFTER NOCTURNAL PLANTING
The young broad bean plants, whose stems were snapped in the recent gales.
GARDENING
GARDEN carnage caused by the biggest blow for 21 years failed to uproot my newly installed greenhouse.
Reluctantly being forced to using drilled coins of the realm as fixing washers, because I had nothing else, seemed to do the trick and the secondhand aluminium house that must be 20 years old, at least stood up to the gales.
Sadly, the same could not be said for my Optica broad beans, which can be fragile of stem when first transplanted.
Gardening is most often a trade off and when it comes to broads, you trade the security of planting under cover with post-transplant fragility.
Even if they are hardened off in a cold frame, freshly transplanted beans are more vulnerable to wind rock and stem snapping because they have not got the support of a developed root structure.
I always choose to start my broads off in the conservatory (now the greenhouse) because they germinate quicker in the warmth and mice will not eat the emergent shoot and bean.
The bean is at its most nutritious and succulent as the shoot and root force their way out and it stands a big risk of being gobbled by the growing army of rodents.
On my hands and knees, in the dark, I was satisfied to have made good use of precious minutes of dry time and had planted out a double row of Optica, having tracked down the seed of my favourite bean.
Optica, as I’ve said before, is brilliant for the smaller garden because it grows only half a metre or so tall. Its small stature also means that, once established, it also requires no support.
I picked a spot sheltered from south-easterlies behind windbreak mesh.
The gale came, untypically, from the west. Que sera.
The message to broad bean fans is that at least it is not too late to try again.
Pop seeds in individual pots or indeed in seed trays and within about three weeks they’ll be big enough to fend for themselves. Unless there’s yet another storm…
Then, at least there is only the blackfly of June to look forward to because the later the bean, the more prone it is to pest attack.
l Optica used to be in the Dobies’ catalogue but in the rationalisation that has occurred following merger and takeover among our seedsmen, Optica now crops up in Unwins’ range.
The replacement to those lost to the gale popped into my letterbox the next day after my on-line order.

DRESSING DOWN FOR PROBLEM LAWNS
A GOOD midwife colleague and chum of my wife was looking forward to the re-birth of her lawn.
She rolled out the green carpet of turf and it looked lovely — for a while.
Then the worms got busy casting their little piles of digested soil up through the surface.
Many types of earthworm are valuable to turf as aerators. Those that produce casts are not.
Their casts remain toxic to grass for several days after being forced up to the surface and should certainly be scattered, while dry, with a broom before mowing, otherwise they’ll be squashed down over the surface of the grass, killing it.
Now, I’m not fond of chemicals but some form of control is needed if the problem is severe and my bible book The Lawn Expert recommends carbaryl applied in autumn after the lawn has been cut, preferably when the turf is damp.
It’s one of the ingredients in Autumn Toplawn and has a low toxicity, tending to spare the non-casting species.
I haven’t seen Carole’s St John’s Road lawn (or lack of it) in Ryde but I assume the worms are the main killers.
What can sometimes happen with turf is that leatherjackets are also imported during winter and spring feeding on roots leading to telltale yellow patches.
Watering-in Autumn Toplawn will kill them too.
A ‘natural’ solution is the good old nematode parasite that can be readily bought and which will chomp its way out of the host’s jacket.

TURBULENT TIMES FOR SEASIDE PALM TREES

Brian Harris helps a cabbage palm withstand the gales
THE IW Council told us the patch of cabbage palms were chosen for the Ryde Esplanade location because of their resistance to gales and salty spray.
The precious £10,000 trees were also held in place by the latest breathable resin, steel cages and ground anchor systems.
Such are the plans of mice, men and council officers when confronted by 80mph gusts just days after planting.
Please meet the latest ground anchoring system — otherwise known as Brian Harris.
He’s a member of Ryde Town Management Comm-ittee that paid most of the money for the palms and was keen to show his support for them.
Brian sent me this tongue in cheek e-mail together with the picture:
“I find your light-heartedness in your column, when dealing with subjects such as poems and trees, somewhat disturbing. These matters are extremely serious, especially during such turbulent times.
“I myself spent no less than ten seconds saving one of the new seafront trees from being destroyed in the recent hurricane. Indeed, such was my gallantry, that it was felt worthy of note by a person armed with a camera, as can be seen by the attached photograph.
“Any suggestion that my actions are concerned with electioneering is completely unfounded.”
Yours faithfully,
Brian “VOTE FOR” Harris.

EARLY BIRDS CAN CATCH GARDEN SHOW DISCOUNT
TICKETS are now on sale for the Robin Hill Spring Garden Show 2008, which takes place on Saturday, April 26, and Sunday, April 27.
You can buy discounted early-bird tickets from the park or the County Press Shop, Newport, until April 18.
You will need to take the discount coupon printed below. The show is now in its third year and for 2008 a number of mainland nurseries will be exhibiting in the floral marquee, alongside top Island nurseries. At least ten RHS show-winning nurseries will be there, including the Island’s own RHS gold-medal winners, IW Lavender.
The programme includes a guest appearance on Saturday afternoon by Alan Titchmarsh, celebrity gardener and soon-to-be high sheriff of the Island.
A chainsaw carving competition will see four sculptors competing to produce carvings that will be judged and auctioned, with 50 per cent going to the Hampshire and IW Air Ambulance and the Kerry Green Trust. TV actor Geoff Hughes, who will be exhibiting his woodland machinery at the show, will be in charge of the auction.
Many other displays and demonstrations will include Wight Wizard dog agility, gun dogs, falconry and morris dancing, plus a How Green Is Your Garden exhibition showcasing water conservation, recycling, alternative energies and other environmentally sound practices.
Early-bird tickets offer a ten per cent discount on standard ticket prices: £5.85 for adults and children aged four and over (standard price £6.50) and £4.95 for disabled concessions (standard price £5.50).