Clemmie Hambro’s gardening week

Oh, spring planting! It has to be one of my favourite times of the year. Even if you don’t get around
to doing any actual planting, the perusing, the reading, the wandering around garden centres, the scanning of the internet, are all part and parcel of the Great Joy of Spring. However, it is important not to get too carried away with the Great Joy, spontaneously buying a bit of this and that.

This, in my experience, can be a waste of money and plant material. You can often find yourself with the wrong plant for the wrong place and it will look limp and sulky and/or you simply won’t buy enough of one thing. And the one thing you don’t want is a messy ‘dotting’ of plants around your garden, which can look clumsy and chaotic. Even if you are aiming for an exuberant explosion in your borders, it has to be a well-organised operation.

Peruse your garden, note down what you want and the amount you think you need (it is often more of something you already have) before you progress to the purchasing stage. This is, of course, the main reason why I never get around to it. 

It is always best to plant at the beginning of spring (or autumn) in order to let the roots of your very-well-organised purchases really penetrate deep into the earth before any dry snaps come along and stress them out. The roots are the storage organ for your plant, and you want them as big and healthy as possible. We are only in March and we have been told there are drought conditions in the South-East, so preparation is key. Before you start, dig in lots of organic material. This will improve soil structure and thus water retention.

After planting; mulch, mulch, mulch. This will help reduce water loss from the soil as well as giving the roots a boost.
The first season for new plants is vital – you will need to give them plenty of water or they will never thrive. If you are in an area that is already suffering from drought, you should perhaps consider postponing any major planting plans for another year. A good drink now and then is better than a little every day (yes, I am encouraging your plants to be binge drinkers). Once plants are established they become more drought-tolerant and need less fussing over. But the most important thing of all is that whatever you plant and whenever you plant it, is that you revel in the end of winter and the Great Joy of Spring.

Spring planting

Amelanchier lamarkii
A small tree that’s pretty in all seasons, but in March it explodes into a firework of star-shaped flowers with copper pink leaves. www.mailordertrees.co.uk

Anemone blanda
These brilliant blue wood anemones are a good option for mixed borders. www.crocus.co.uk

Camellia williamsi ‘Donation’ 

A pretty and longflowering camellia. Prefers partial shade. www.trehane.co.uk

Clematis armandii
The only scented clematis with glossy, evergreen leaves. Grow on a wall sheltered from cold winds. www.crocus.co.uk

Erythronium ‘Pagoda’
Nodding, sulphur-yellow flowers. Likes a shady, sheltered spot. www.avonbulbs.co.uk

Fritillaria meleagris
The snakeshead fritillary is one of our prettiest wildflowers. Plant bulbs in late summer, early autumn before the soil
cools too much. www.avonbulbs.co.uk

Magnolia x soulangeana ‘Old Port’
Exquisite white petals, flushed pink at the base and dark pink on the outside. More of a large shrub than a tree. www.burncoose.co.uk

Osmanthus delavayi
With its profusion of arching stems, covered in tubular white flowers, it’s perfect for borders. www.crocus.co.uk

Primula vulgaris
This quintessential native British spring flower has edible petals and smells delicious. www.thompson-morgan.com

Ribes sanguineum ‘Pulborough Scarlet’
A low-maintenance, pretty shrub. ‘White Icicle’ has chic greeny white flowers. www.burncoose.co.uk

 

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Plotlines

Sarah Langton-Lockton on her allotment

My prediction for 2012, which will hold true, I hope, for many more years ahead, is that the movement for community kitchen gardens now sweeping the country will gather momentum. I call it a movement because I observe real political energy in many of these initiatives – they are not just about individuals and families tilling a plot to provide food for their own consumption.

Community food-growing has an ideological edge: it tends to be initiated by people who want to eat real food from local sources rather than food-like ready-meals or the junk food undermining our children’s health available on every high street. They are people who deplore our dependence on food imports, the near-monopoly of supermarkets and politicians’ lack of concern for food security. They believe that good farming matters, that we can all get into it, even in cities. They want locally grown food, and are interested not just in growing it themselves but in simplifying and revitalising local supply chains. Above all, they have an appetite for action.

BBC Radio 4’s The Food Programme recently featured some of these remarkable community enterprises, including
Incredible Edible Todmorden, the aim of which is to grow and campaign for local food. IET’s ambition is to make Todmorden, a small town on the borders of Lancashire and Yorkshire, selfsufficient in food by 2018. It began with a small group who started to grow food in public places to be picked, shared and eaten by passers-by. In addition to the town centre ‘propaganda’ beds there are herbs at the railway station, trees at the fire station, fruit trees all around the health centre and an apothecary’s garden at the back. Food is grown in lots of spaces around the town, organised by the community growers’ group. IET is a membership organisation: ‘If you eat, you’re in’, said spokesperson Pam Warhurst. ‘This is not a talking, sitting down, vacillating organisation. It’s about small ideas, big ambitions and lots of action.’

The extent of this action in just a few years is astonishing: there are seven orchards containing 520 trees, with a target of 1,000. Every school in Todmorden is involved, and the latest initiatives aim to provide motivation and skills for young people to start micro-businesses in food production. IET has Lottery funding for a food hub at Todmorden High School. This will include a fish and salad farm based on aquaponics. The bid included funding for a ‘foodinspirer’ whose role is to encourage people to use the food grown and to cook. At nearby Walsden, a big patch of donated land has a polytunnel, ponds and beds and is now established as a growing and learning centre, a seedbed for business opportunities as well as vegetables and trees. Many public bodies now back the campaign, not just with words, but with land, labour and money.

The project has had a huge impact on local wellbeing. Crime is down and vandalism is rare. In fact, photos attached to the raised beds encourage picking by showing when the crops are ready. And as the ever-practical members say, ‘People don’t vandalise parsnips’.

For further details visit: www.incredibleedible-todmorden.co.uk