Monty Don provides advice on watering houseplants
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Monty Don, best known for his role on Gardeners’ World, has shared a plethora of gardening tips during his career. With cold weather sweeping across the UK, gardeners may be wondering what, if any jobs can be done at this time of year, and the expert has shared advice in his latest blog post.
Monty explained: “The best time to much is whenever you get round to it, because the pros of a good organic mulch, which are weed suppression, moisture retention and improved soil structure and fertility, always outweigh any cons such as suppressing little treasure seedlings.
“However, we do try and mulch all our borders in January because this gives time in autumn for the borders to die back gracefully and allow birds to eat all seeds and berries.
“But, it is also early enough not to suppress the growth of bulbs such as alliums and tulips that start to appear by the end of February.
“Whenever you mulch, the same rules apply…use a well-rotted organic material such as mushroom compost, garden compost or bark chips.”
The expert explained that he uses pine park on the grass borders for a “little extra acidity”.
He added: “Be generous with it. Spread the mulch around all existing plants at least two inches thick and twice that is twice as good.
“In principle, the thicker the mulch, the better it will do its work so it is more effective to mulch half the garden every other year than all of it annually but inadequately.”
There are several benefits to mulching in January including helping to retain soil moisture and improving soil matter.
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What’s more, it can also help to suppress weeds and deter some pests.
When spring comes around, mulch can help to warm it up and gardeners don’t need to water their garden too much if there is mulch down.
Gardeners can also make their own mulch, and last year, Monty Don shared the “easiest” way to do so.
In his November blog post, the expert said to gather leaves and store them in bin bags, to make homemade leafmould.
He wrote: “Leaves decompose mostly by fungal action rather than bacterial which means that dry leaves can take an awful long time to turn into a lovely, friable, sweet-smelling soft material that true leafmould invariably becomes.
“So either gather leaves when they are wet or be prepared to dampen them with a good soaking before covering them up with the next layer.”
Leafmould that is more than two years old is considered to be “good quality” and can be used as seed-sowing compost or garden compost.
When it is younger than two years old, leafmould can be used as mulch, soil improver, autumn top-dressing for lawns or winter covering for bare soil.
Another January job gardeners can do this month is to prune fruit trees and soft fruit.
Monty explained: “This is always my big January job and if nothing else this is something I like to have finished by the end of the month.”
The expert warned gardeners not to prune plums, apricots, peaches or cherries until late spring, and only if absolutely necessary.
When it comes to pruning apples and pears, the aim is to produce a tree that has plenty of light and air reaching the centre.
Monty explained: “Start by removing any crossing or rubbing branches.
“Cut back any overlong or straggly branches to a bug to promote vigorous multi-stemmed regrowth. Keep standing back and reviewing the shape so that it both looks handsome and retains a strong, open structure.
“Always use very sharp secateurs, loppers and saws and never strain, always use an implement that is working well within its capacity.
“That way you retain control and risk least damage to the tree, and yourself.
“Traditional advice was to paint any large wounds made by pruning but current thinking is that it does more harm than good as it seals in moisture and disease. By far the best course is to leave a clean cut and let it heal over itself.”
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