Wealden Times | WT232 | September 2021 | Winter Interiors supplement inside

Garden
Phacelia tanacetifolia
to go on and on, its subtle colour changing as it matured.
Rose hips are colouring up now. Good old R. rugosa
makes such a good hedge and its hips are a treat. This
year our moyesii hybrid, Rosa ‘Geranium’ has not only
flowered well for the first time producing bright red
single flowers but the flowers have been followed by
elegant orange red hips. Sometimes roses take their
time to get going but it is always worth the wait.
Compost and composting
If you have a small compost bin, now would be
the time to take out any ‘ready’ compost from
the base and put it to one side for adding to
your borders or vegetable patch later on.
If you are cutting long grass, and I think that most
of us will be, add it to your compost heap damp as it
will rot down faster. If your compost heap is near a
water source/hose, dampen it as you add the layers.
And if you have a wormery, think about
getting it in to somewhere sheltered and
frost free as the month progresses.
Soil
The quality of your soil is hugely important: adding
a ‘low nutrient’ mulch of something like newly fallen
leaves or leaf mould now is a good way of protecting
any open ground. In the first part of the month you can
still sow green manures such as grazing rye, winter vetch
and Phacelia tanacetifolia – the latter being a premier
nectar source for hoverflies and all manner of bees.
Green manures also protect soil structure, prevent
soil erosion and the leaching out of nutrients and
essential minerals and importantly provide a green
carpet for overwintering beneficial insects.
According to the Bugs Matter project, there
has been a 50% decline in the number of insects
‘hitting car windscreens’ in Kent in the last 15
years. We can help reverse this sobering statistic.
Fewer insects inevitably means fewer birds.
119 priceless-magazines.com
VerdisWT229.indd 1 13/05/2021 14:40