What is the question most asked by readers of this column? Not what you'd expect, perhaps, writes JANE POWERS.
IF YOU WERE to guess the question that is most frequently asked of this column, what would it be? Would it be, for instance, when to prune roses? Or, perhaps, how to achieve a lovely green lawn? Or maybe the question that is exercising Irish gardeners’ minds is how to get rid of bindweed, or scutch, or dandelions?
But no. It is none of these. The subject that causes the most consternation, and is most commonly mentioned in e-mails from readers, is – believe it or not – compost. It seems that you’re all mad about compost. And so am I.
I could talk about compost all day, I could write about it all day (and have on several occasions) – but I’ll ration myself strictly here, because I want to move on to other vexatious matters. Therefore, we have time to pause only briefly to consider the two most important elements in the compost bin: nitrogen and carbon. Nitrogen-rich material is soft and quick to decay, and is frequently green – grass clippings, limp lettuce leaves, herbaceous material. Carbon-rich stuff is more resilient and dry, and is often brown; it includes dried plant material and autumn leaves. A successful compost heap is made up of roughly half “brown” and half “green” by volume, and is well-mixed.
And now for the top three compost worries expressed by readers of this column: sludgy gloop, flies, and the rodent problem. Let’s talk first about sludge (or gunge or gunk or slimy rotten stuff: your descriptions are many). Whatever you call it, this noisome situation is, quite simply, a matter of too much nitrogen-rich material – usually grass clippings and/or kitchen waste – clumped together and decaying fast. You can stop its gloopy gallop by mixing in some more carbon-heavy matter to rebalance the mixture. If you don’t have enough of the right kind of “brown” waste in the garden, use shredded cardboard or newspaper.
Flies, you may have noticed, are sometimes attracted to this kind of gunk, especially if it includes kitchen scraps – so again, rebalancing with “brown” will help. Never leave waste from your kitchen compost bucket on top of the heap; either bury it a few inches down, or add something else on top. Which brings us to the rodent problem, or “people of tail”, as we say around here when we’re being coy, and don’t want to mention the rat word.
If you live in the city, or in a town, or on a farm, or near a river, or anywhere really, you are never far from a rat. Although they may not be visible (they are nocturnal), they are passing through all our gardens regularly. Rats are omnivorous, and find much of interest in a compost heap: seeds, fruit, vegetable peelings, bits of food. If you avoid adding meat, fish, fat or cooked food to your compost, they will be less likely to investigate it. Nonetheless, they may still visit. It’s up to you whether you employ traps, poison or a terrier (all should be treated with respect). Always wear gloves when working around the composting area.
Now, reluctantly leaving the compost behind, let us move on to some of the other subjects that cause readers to take to their keyboards. Seed-grown plants that don’t resemble their parents are a constant conundrum. For instance, an enthusiastic gardener grows a lovely, toothsome courgette one year, saves the seed, sows it next year, minds it and coddles it, and finally the plant delivers something (after all that trouble) that is a completely different beast from the previous season’s triumph. The reason: courgettes are promiscuous. They will swap pollen with any similar plant within bee-flying distance. So if you or your neighbour has a different variety of courgette growing nearby (or indeed, a squash or pumpkin), the genes will get mixed up, and the offspring will not be an exact copy of either of the parents.
Most vegetables will cross with another of the same genus, so if you plan on saving seed, grow only one variety. Lettuce, though, is largely self-fertile, as are most tomatoes (but not potato-leaf or currant varieties), so you are usually safe saving seed from these, even if you grow more than one kind. However (and this is important), if the original seed is an F1 variety, the progeny will not be the same as the parent. F1 seeds are the first generation that arise from crosses made by seed companies, where characteristics (such as vigour, disease-resistance, colour, size, etc) from two varieties are combined. Such seeds are not designed to be saved.
Another popular question is, “How can I block out the neighbours’ garden/house/windows?” Which prompts the thought: what’s wrong with your neighbours? Rather than shutting them off, try the cheaper and less labour-intensive tactic of getting to know them. Nonetheless, if blocking is essential, make sure that you are not obstructing their light, or outlook. A trellis (keep it simple, for everyone’s sake) is an inoffensive way of shielding a view. A hedge takes a few years to grow, but lasts forever, and acts as a haven for wildlife. Pleached trees, also described as “a hedge on stilts”, take up less ground space than a hedge. They can be bought at great expense (or trained oneself). Sometimes, a well-placed tree is all that is needed to hide an eyesore, or cause a distraction.
Bamboos suit urban gardens, and can be grown in relatively confined spaces. Give them a wonderful start in life with plenty of well-rotted manure in the planting hole, and keep the soil moist (not sodden) during their first summer. Sasa and Pseudosasa varieties have far-ranging nomadic roots, so should be avoided, unless you have half an acre you don’t mind sacrificing.
Before we finish, I have to tell you about some of the other questions that this column receives, which all have something in common. These are the questions where the answer is far more efficiently found on the internet, or by asking in a garden centre – rather than waiting for me to answer days or weeks later. There are two excellent resources on the web for this kind of thing. The first is www.garden.ie, with wheelbarrow-loads of pre-answered questions supplied by our champion man of the soil, Gerry Daly. And the second is the Royal Horticultural Society (www.rhs.org.uk), which has a vast store of information.
If you still can’t find what you’re looking for there, write to me – and I’ll ask in my local garden centre, or look it up on the internet for you.