Gardening

Gerry Daly explores the beauty of the nerine lily and gives us some tips for this month in your garden.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Neon Nerine Lilies
With beautiful spidery flowers of bright neonpink, the nerine lily is commonly called the Guernsey lily because of its association with that island. Since the nerine is originally from South Africa, the story goes that the bulbs were taken from a ship that was wrecked on the Guernsey coast about 300 years ago. This lovely bulb spread throughout Europe from Guernsey, carrying its association with its first European landing site.

The most commonly grown nerine lily is Nerine bowdenii. This species will tolerate hard frost as long as the bulbs are grown in well-drained, even gravelly soil. As a precaution, in cold areas, they may be covered with loose branches, newspaper or similar material. Occasionally the top of the bulbs is damaged, and a few bulbs killed, but they mostly survive well.

The bulbs do not like to be disturbed too often and once they have been planted, they should be left for five or six years at least. But if the priority is to build up numbers quickly, the clumps can be broken up more frequently. And it is good to have a large number of bulbs so that the effect of the flowers is considerable If you do not have any nerines, get some.

The flowers are so decorative that they manage to light up the whole garden in October. Until the numbers of bulbs start to build up, it is best to plant a reasonable clump of about six or ten bulbs. If the bulbs are scattered about in smaller numbers, they will not have much effect and it is better to have one decent clump than a few spotty plants.

The ideal place to plant nerines is at the front of a bed or border where they will be visible and have most impact. They are often planted in a narrow bed at the front of a house or along a path, always in full sunshine, if you want lots of flowers. The nerine is often seen around houses from that period — the bulbs living on long after their planters are gone!

Using Garden Tools

leaf blanket
When gathering leaves or other plant debris, the volume is usually quite large and it can be awkward to collect. A simple solution is to use a large sheet of tough polythene, cloth or canvas. Pile the leaves in the middle and pull the four corners together to allow the pile to be dragged to the compost heap or leaf pile to rot down. This can also be used to gather hedge trimmings and grass mowings. It is easily folded up after use and can be a substitute for a wheelbarrow, especially in a small garden.

Care for the environment:
Autumn leaf mould

As the leaves fall from the trees this month, gather them up and stack them in a cool, damp place to rot down. They can be held in position with a length of chicken wire formed into a broad cylinder. Any kind of tree leaves can be used, but hard leaves like oak and beech are best. Leave this in place for a year or even two years and it will break down into excellent leaf mould that can be used for potting up, mixed with an equal portion of harden soil, or it can be dug into the soil when planting to improve its texture. This leaf mould is as good as peat and it reduces the use of peat extracted from bogs. It is an excellent, natural way to recycle fallen leaves.

This month in your Garden

• prune once-flowering roses, if not done
• remove vegetable crops that have gone over
• tidy up and turn compost heaps
• remove fallen leaves from garden ponds
• sow sweet pea seeds in pots
• dig over empty vegetable ground
• dry off tuberous begonias and store dry
• harvest and store apples as they ripen
• take and insert hardwood cuttings
• lift and clean gladiolus corms
• plant strawberry runners in good soil
• tidy flower borders as necessary
• apply lawn mosskiller, if necessary
• plant spring bedding as soon as possible
• pot up herbs for winter use
• plant all kinds of spring bulbs outdoors
• repair and re-sow damaged lawns
• plant evergreen trees and shrubs
• dry off hippeastrum bulbs