Too many trees to choose from...

Trees, trees and what a surprise another tree! It is that time of the year again when I get to break out of the office and visit the plant growers to reserve the tree and shrub stock for the new season. The purpose of the visits is to build a good relationship with other nurseries and find out how the horticultural industry is changing. I can then look at the quality of the plants and reserve the best to be delivered to us in the autumn. Nicholsons Plant Centre still has a sale on to clear out the current season’s stock then in September the sale’s area will be stocked again with a fresh supply of garden plants, ornamental trees, specimen trees and topiary.

A load of old bales!

Back in the 12th century a bishop of Winchester came up with the idea of throwing in a load of barley in a pond to keep it clear, and so 800 years on gardeners are still using this method.

The most efficient way of keeping ponds clear of algae is to semi-submerge barley straw wrapped up in Christmas tree netting, or in the case of some gardeners, in the lady of the house’s tights!

Barley straw rots down faster than other straws and as it rots down it uses up the available nitrogen in the water which algae needs to feed on and grow. So removing the nitrogen leaves very little for the algae to live on and leaves clear water. A very environmentally friendly use for the straw.

Visiting Chelsea

On a recent visit to Chelsea flower show my colleague and I were very impressed with Luciano Giubbilei’s Garden for Laurent–Perrier, with its simple clean lines and textural contrasts. For us it was the best large garden in the show with none of the busyness of The Daily Telegraph garden planting or strange sculptural shapes like the white Brussels sprout that appeared to have landed in the otherwise beautiful Cancer Research UK garden.

I love the small urban gardens-full of new ideas and fun with fresh details and colours. The Nature Ascending Garden was the best for me this year with its built in eco features and strong use of colour. The mix of rampant planting and restrained but stylish detailing made a perfect mix.

I found a lot of the Courtyard Gardens disappointing though, as on the whole they seem to simply reproduce a chunk of countryside that exists already. While this is technically quite clever it is as a photo is to a painting. I want to see inspired design and fabulous new ideas for small spaces-I want to see an exquisite little piece of art!

Of course the exception was The Freshly Prepped Garden by Aralia with its outdoor kitchen and luscious veggies (including the most photographed radish in the country). I wanted to take this one home! Imagine how much more time could be spent in the garden if the kitchen were outdoors and there was no need to keep popping back indoors for more Pimms . . .

(Karen's first blog entry, uploaded for her by Nicholsons)

New Grants for Forestry !

The Forestry Commission have made new grants available to assist tree planting and woodland management.
Supplements are now available for planting close to large centres of population ranging from £500 to £2000 per hectare on top of the 'standard' £1800 per hectare planting grant.
Woodland planning grants are now available with a minimum of £1000 being available per scheme to encourage woodland owners.
Farmers can also now claim the Single Farm Payment money as well as getting annual payments for 15 years on farm woodland.
A new budget for Woodland Improvement Grants has also been announced.
See our web site or speak to Tim or Mike in 'Forestry' for more details

Big Trees for Great Bourton

We were recently asked to plant 2 large container grown conifers at the rear of a property. The problem was that the trees were too large for the access routes.

The solution was to use a lorry mounted Hiab crane to move the trees in over a wall from the road. This actually made for a very rapid planting operation!