Garden Studios

There are only a few last chances in gardening. Generally speaking things will catch up in case you are late planting them, but at the present of year there’s a have to decide to the floor those plants dug up from nursery rows while dormant and planted bare-root – with out a soil clinging to them.

When container-grown plants first came to prominence inside the early 1960s, the necessity to plant trees, shrubs and roses within the dormant season between November and March was alleviated. With their roots safely established in a container – often a polythene bag or a catering-sized tomato can – plants may be safely transplanted at any time of year. This meant the planting season was extended through the full one year of the year and bare-root planting became less popular.

This is a brilliant situation in case you are creating a garden in June or July. You could produce instant effect by planting a container-grown rose. 

But if you’re planting in those five months of reliable dormancy (which might be now coming to an end) you’ll often be going to unnecessary expense by planting stuff that were cherished in containers and, by virtue of the labour all for their production, would cost you considerably extra cash.

I am not suggesting you don’t have any truck with container-grown trees, shrubs and roses; faraway from it. They have got transformed gardening, and our gardens could be the poorer without them. But at the present of year, with a purpose to plant roses, shrubs or small trees, they’re going to all transplant very happily within the bare-root state. Hedging plants, mainly, represent much better value for money (often a question of pence) when bought as young bare-root plants. And in the event you have 

a longer term of hedging to plant, they are going to have a less deleterious effect in your bank balance.

Roses have always established rapidly when dug up in autumn, winter and early spring and replanted in decent soil enriched with a generous helping of well-rotted manure or compost. So it kind of feels sad that more gardeners don’t avail themselves in their adaptability and save several pounds in so doing.

So go searching your garden for any gaps and be happy to plug them with trees, shrubs and roses which have been dug up over the past few weeks. If the roots are trimmed (removing long and straggly ends) and they’re soaked in a bucket of water overnight, they’ll romp away in the course of the following couple of months and you’ll spend the cash you save on other garden beauties.

Don’t miss Alan’s gardening column today and each day within the Daily Express. For additional information on his range of gardening products, visit alantitchmarsh.com.