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SOME SAMPLE GARDENING QUESTIONS, ADVICE, HELP, HINTS AND TIPS, FOR GARDENS. FOR EVEN MORE LOOK ON THE QUESTIONS ANSWERED AND INFORMATION BY THE SEASON PAGES. Question Dear Garden Helper. I have a beautiful climbing hydrangea, which has attached itself directly to my house reaching about 30 ft. all the way to the peak. We have to paint the house and I need to know if detaching the aerial roots from the house will harm the plant. After the house has been painted we would construct a detachable trellis to make future maintenance easier. I'd really appreciate any help you can give me. Thank You, Answer Pulling the plant away from the wall will set it back but should not kill it, there will be masses of roots left firmly attached to the wall, to clear away before you can paint. Climbing hydrangeas climb up rock faces as a natural habit. If you build a detachable trellis the plant will simply go through the trellis and re attach itself to the wall. Valecroft Nurseries and Gardens. Question We are in the process of building a fish pond, and yesterday finished digging a hole approx 12 feet X 4 feet x2.5 - 3 feet deep. Today there is an inch of water in part of the hole where there is mainly heavy clay and a multitude of stones. We fear that we may have hit the water table. This is the only place in our garden where it is practical to site a pond, and given the time and energy involved; we are loath to fill it in! If we were to cover the bottom with butyl, then lay heavy stone slabs over the bottom and leaning against the sides, would this prevent the liner billowing if the water table rises? It is currently the middle of summer and we have no idea of how much the local water table rises. PLEASE HELP!! Thank you in keen anticipation of your reply. Answer Line the pool hole with butyl, place a slab in the centre to stop the butyl blowing about, and then fill the pool with your hosepipe to ground water level. This evens the pressure. Remove the slab from the centre of the pool. Then slowly fill the pool, easing out the lining to fit the contours of the hole. Allow the lining to overlap the pool edges by about 2 ft, then cap off the lining with slabs or soil. Valecroft Question I live in Texas. I heard on the radio after the recent Big Flood, that it is important to fertilize the yard, because the flooding has drained all the nutrients out of most people's yards. Could you give me a few more facts about this topic including help and advice on what to do after the flood? Answer After severe flooding, fertiliser is needed to replace the feed value leeched away as the waters drained. But more important is the soil Ph value, the balance between acid (sour) soil and alkaline (sweet) soil. Flooding can make the soil very acid, which does not suit most common garden plants, therefore I recommend dressing the soil with a generous amount of garden lime. If you wish to check on how much damage has occurred, D. I. Y. Ph soil testing kits are widely available at any retail gardens outlet. Another problem with flooding is the deposit of mineral salts from the standing water; these salts can cause serious problems for your plants. These salts can lock up certain trace elements in the soil. Epsom Salts (Magnesium Sulphate) spread at the rate of 1 pound per 20 square yards will help mitigate this problem by releasing these trace elements. Also magnesium is an important element in the production of chlorophyll, the green part of the plant. This application of Epsom salts will help correct any leaf yellowing that can often occur after flooding. Tell your drugstore what you want the Epsom salts for; they will be able to offer bulk packs at less money. As a guide a sowing of lettuce seeds will give a quick indication of the state of the soil. the lettuce seedlings being very sensitive to soil conditions. If the soil conditions continue to give trouble over the longer period it is worth having your soil tested by a professional body, some of the leading university agricultural departments carry out this service for a fee. After flooding many shrubs and perennials, may look to be dead, but its always worth waiting a while before abandoning them. Damaged lawns are best left alone for a while, mowing on saturated soil will pull out the grass by the roots, the lawn will soon recover next spring. Small trees and large shrubs will benefit from temporary staking to stop them rocking in the wind. The flooding will have loosened the roots, and until the roots re-establish themselves the plants will be in a fragile state. Note that this is just a general guide, more expert help may be required if problems persist. Valecroft Nurseries. Question Hello! If we had ever planned to move it would be in the spring/summer when our garden is in its full glory. And this was what my husband said! But, stumbling into our dream house a few weeks ago we now find ourselves moving in January. My incredible garden left behind.... I would like to take some plants with me to start. What are my options? I am in Zone 7, Maryland (Annapolis) and it has just snapped temperature wise this week (mid December). My marigolds were blooming beautifully until today. My petunias still look great with foliage and occasional flowers. I want to take them as they are perennial and lilac, plus some red roses. Can they be stored in plastic until the spring outside? I was also thinking about moving them to a holding bed at my mother's until spring when I could then transplant them to the new house. Naturally that would be the most work. Is it already too late to move them now? January is out completely or not? Help! What are my options? Thanks so much in anticipation of your advice! Leah. Answer Your best option is to move the plants to a holding bed at your mothers; there is still time to do this. You could plant into plastic pots, but you must then sink the pots into the dirt to protect the roots from the frost. The roots of an open ground grown plant are very tender and easily damaged by frost, leading to plant mortality. Any time when the soil is dry and frost free will be suitable, as long as you get the roots protected immediately after digging up. Q.     Hello, If we want to keep our pumps for our pond running well, do we need to get a filter for it and how and where would we install it? (We have fish in it). Are there different types of filters? Thank you in advance for your help with my questions. Dis A.     The subject of pond filters is very wide ranging. Basically if you have fish the water needs to be cleaned of the fish by-products. You are best fitting an underwater filter, these have a cleanable or replaceable filter medium, the downside is that if your pond is large you have to wade into the pond to replace the filter element. If your pump is powering a fountain, or such, you are better with a filter after the pump in addition to the underwater one; this prevents the fine jet of the fountain becoming clogged. Again these have some form of serviceable filter medium, but the filter is out of the water. Some pool owners with larger set ups do not use mechanical filters, instead they pump the water on to a loose stone waterfall or other such feature, the sediment from the pool settling among the stones. You can also pump the water into a separate bog area, containing bog plants and reeds; this is situated slightly higher than the pool. The bog area will clean the water by settlement and biological action. The cleaned water then returning to the pool by gravity. Could you give me advice on PLANTING HANGING BASKETS Summer Hanging Baskets ANSWER.    First you must choose your basket, traditional wire hanging baskets are still in evidence but take skill and hard work to fill. The plastic pots now in vogue are easy to fill but do have some drawbacks. Also the location of the basket has to be taken into consideration. On a windy or hot site wire hanging baskets soon dry out, in a secluded or dark area plastic hanging baskets or pots can become waterlogged. It is best to use top quality compost, the plants have limited room to find nourishment and just any old soil will not do. Moss is the traditional liner for wire hanging baskets, but today there are many commercial produced liners available or if you wish to be really economical, a green plastic shopping bag will surfice. The plants for hanging baskets come in three categories, Accent plants to take centre stage and give the arrangement height, Filler plants to bulk up the arrangement and trailing plants to flow over the side. In a wire hanging basket theses trailers can be planted into the sides of the basket. There are various brands of slow release fertiliser pellets, which you mix into the compost when planting, a definite must. Geraniums, Fuchsias and double Begonias make excellent center, spot plants; for the filling use standard spring bedding plants, you can introduce a colour theme if you wish. As for the trailing plants, today there are many specialist-trailing plants available both with attractive foliage and flowers, also trailing Fuchsias and trailing Begonias give a lovely show. One trailing plant that is really popular today is the 'Surfinia' a hybrid form of petunia with a rampant growth and masses of flowers, this is best grown in its own pot. If you are away at work during the hot summer days, it may be worth your while investing in an automatic watering system for your patio tubs and hanging baskets. Most systems are gravity fed drip feed systems from a header tank. But there are more complex types which use electronic sensors to detect when and where water is needed. These systems are readily available at garden outlets, and the basic models are very cheap to buy. Question? I've been told that adding Epson Salts around peppers and tomato plant will increase the yield. Could you tell me if this is so and when and how much? Thank You Bill As a bonus it will also add to the taste. Magnesium in the Epsom Salts is a vital element of chlorophyl the green in the leaves. Applying Epsom Salts also releases other vital trace elements in the soil. Scatter a couple of handfuls around your plants about once a month but don't overdo it. VALECROFT NURSERIES PLEASE NOTE. Gardening information with tips and hints and questions and answers, on a very wide range of garden subjects can be found on the many other pages of this gardening website. Altogether too many to list, below are just a few of them. Seasonal guide, Bedding plants, alpines, perennials, heathers, lawn care, rock garden, landscaping, glasshouses, sun lounges, tomato plants, guide to planting hanging baskets, patio tubs, fruit trees, flowering shrubs, aphids, plug plants, acid soil, daffodils, tulips, lily, potatoes, conifers, beans, soft fruit, winter pansies, fish ponds, soil types, soil preparation, potting on, propagation guide, sowing seeds, lawns, turf, hedging, pruning, watering, weeds, rhododendron, camelia, guide to lawn mowers, sprayers, fertiliser, winter flowering plants, geraniums, fuchsias, carrots, hardening off, leylandii, chemicals, compost, peat, vegetables, petrol tools, electric tools, container plants, digging, cyclamen, chelsea, begonias, garden centres, wood chippings, herbs, polyanthus, primroses, witch hazel, gardens, split leaf maple, acer, zucchini, garden canes, ground, building pools, rose, carnation, astilbe, flower, lawn sod, pictures, magnolia, magnolias, soulangeana, stellata, nigra.

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