Author Archives: Gaby Heagerty

What To Feed Garden Birds

The nation has a love affair with feeding garden birds. For some, it is the simple pleasure of watching some of our most beautiful and colourful wildlife. For others it comes from a compassionate need to nurture and assist in cold periods.

By and large feeding garden birds in winter does help birds survive but putting them in a better physical condition for the breeding season which typically starts in February. There are also some studies suggesting that birds that are fed produce larger broods with heavier more viable chicks.

Whatever your reason for feeding garden birds there is quite an overwhelming number of different feeds on the market and choosing the right mix for your garden is important.

Choosing bird feed

By and large the four main choices are peanuts, seeds, mealworms or suet and what you choose will be down to what birds you have in your garden or what birds you want to encourage.

PEANUTS… an old favourite for tits and greater spotted woodpeckers. Make sure you use a purpose made peanut feeder (as they do differ from seed feeders and they enable the birds to grab on to the side of the feeder and peck away in their natural feeding position).

MEALWORM & CALCIWORMS: These dried up insects are the food of choice for ground feeding birds or birds that feed from the flat. Therefore, you need a feeding tray or bird table. They are the food of choice for robins and blackbirds.

SEEDS: Seeds are the biggest category of bird feed. The safest bet is to buy a seed blend which will appeal to a wild variety of birds. However, you can also be selective. Just ensure your bird feeder is suitable as the following types of seed do have dedicated feeders to avoid waste and mess.

NYJER SEED: principally for goldfinches and redpolls and therefore this food maybe ignored in some gardens.

SUNFLOWER SEEDS: attract a wide selection of birds but in particular finches and tits. Sunflower hearts are more attractive to birds as they do not have to de-husk the seed.

SUET/FAT: Suet and fat are a good choice for winter. The foods are sold in various shapes and sizes from a ball to logs and blocks and they will either contain berries and seeds or mealworms and nuts. Tits in particular love these.

Feeding Frequency

Whatever food you choose, ensure you feed a little and often as this will keep the food fresher. Don’t forget to clean your feeders from time to time too to maintain hygiene and always wash your hands after feeding the birds. Store your bird feed in an airtight container. If you live with or near cats, ensure that feeders are kept out of the way.

Finally, as well as feeding garden birds don’t forget to plant for wildlife too. Trees and shrubs not only provide shelter for birds, but they are a source of natural food too.

How To Plant A Tree

While our gardens may be entering their dormant phase, you can continue to enhance your autumn and winter garden by introducing trees that will add colour to even the dreariest days. Autumn is the perfect season for tree planting due to the warm moist soil.

If you have purchased a new tree (hopefully from us) and want to plant it, here’s a step-by-step guide to giving your tree the best start.

How to plant a tree

> Give it a good water before you take it out of the pot. Remove the tree from its pot and gently tease out the some of the outer roots where possible.

> Dig a hole to the depth of the rootball and loosen the soil below the hole. You also want to dig/loosen the soil to at least three times the root system diameter to help the roots grow outwards for stability. Round holes are easier to mow around if you are planting in a lawn and interestingly it is believed that square holes help root penetration at the corners on heavy soils.

> Position the tree in the hole so the point where the trunk base widens to meet the main roots (known as the flare) is level with the natural soil surface of your land. Sprinkle some mycorrhizal fungi on the roots (look for the product Rootgrow in our garden care section)

> Refill the planting hole adding a good tree planting compost with a mix of the soil removed from the hole. Ensure there are no pockets of air around the roots.

> Gently stamp over the area to firm the soil around the tree but don’t over compact it.

> Push a tree stake in at 45 degrees so the end of the stake faces the prevailing wind direction (the SW) ensuring that your stake does not hit the main rootball. Alternatively, you can stake parallel to the tree trunk placing the stake on the windward side.

> Secure the tree to the stake with a rubber tree tie (available from our garden accessories department) If necessary, you can also use a tree guard to protect the base of the trunk from deer and rabbits.

> Place a thick (10-15cm / 4-6in) layer of mulch around your tree to retain moisture and reduce weed growth. Avoid putting the mulch too close to the trunk.

> If you are planting in the autumn, you shouldn’t have to worry about watering but if we do have an unseasonably dry period then it is worth watering.

> Keep your tree planting area free of weeds and watered in dry hot periods for the next three years whilst your tree fully establishes itself.

Trees at St Bridget

We have an extensive selection of trees including evergreen, deciduous, ornamental and fruit-bearing varieties and would be pleased to help you make your tree selection.

We are certain to offer the ideal tree for your outdoor space, that will not only add colour and beauty to your garden, but create much needed shelter and food for wildlife as well.

Dealing With Box Tree Caterpillar

Box Moth Caterpillar is a relatively new pest to the South West of England. We thought you ought to know that a fair few customers have found Caterpillar on their Box bushes this month! Because of this, we thought we’d share hints and tips from our Plant Team on how to deal with this common problem.

Cydalima Perspectalis, known as Box Moth Caterpillar is a moth larvae that feeds on Buxus (Box) plants. In summertime, they can be seen with webbing on plants and can strip leaves causing die back. The Plant Team at St Bridget are happy to offer advice for the loving care of all the garden plants we grow.

What Can You Do?

If you spot an infestation, wearing gloves, pick off all the caterpillars that you can spot. You can also use various pesticides that you can buy, including organic options. Or if you’d prefer, there are natural enemies such as nematodes and parasitic wasps.

Time to Think Alt-Box?

There are alternatives to Box plants that you might want to consider growing including Euonymus or Pittosporum. Why not come into the Garden Centre and have a chat with our Plant Team about suitable replacements.

Can We Help You?

If you can’t see any caterpillars, but your Box plant isn’t looking too good you might be suffering from Box Blight. Please take a close up photograph or two and email it to us at gardening@stbridgetnurseries.co.uk and we’ll be able to advise you.

For more information on Box Moth Caterpillar we strongly recommend the Royal Horticultural Society. Take a look at their helpful advice here: www.RHS.org,uk

How to Lay Turf

Turf is pre-grown grass seed that’s been cut from the ground with a slice of top soil. It’s like a grassy carpet that can be laid to create a new lawn from scratch or to fix patchy areas in an existing lawn. You can lay turf throughout the year, as long as the soil isn’t waterlogged or frozen or the sun too hot. However we recommend spring and early autumn as the best times.

Preparing the Ground

Remove vegetation, roots, plants and stones ready to prepare the soil. Vegetation may need to be treated with a suitable weedkiller to avoid it growing up through the new turf, if you use a herbicide, we recommend waiting at least 10 days before laying your new turf.

The ground needs to be made ready to lay the turf on top. There needs to be a sufficient quantity and quality of top soil to nourish the grass roots and to level to the desired slope, flatness or other contour. We advise 5-15cm (2-6 inches) of topsoil is needed for grass to thrive. However, this does depend on factors such as the drainage and aspect of the land.

To prepare the soil, rotivate then roll and rake over the surface. Rotivating will ensure the ground isn’t too compacted, which is bad for drainage. Grass needs well-draining soil otherwise moss is likely to take over. Rolling the loose soil will speed along the process of settling it to its natural level. Use your feet to firm down the soil if you don’t have a roller. Then finally, raking it will make it easier for the growing roots to take hold into loose soil.

Laying the Turf

Start laying from a position where you won’t need to stand on the prepared soil. Then continue by placing a plank on the first rolls to spread your weight evenly.

Lay the turf rolls in a brick bond pattern and push them together as close as possible. This helps to avoid the joins being noticeable. In warmer weather some shrinkage is normal after laying so these steps help to make the newly laid lawn look as good as possible. Where this happens, the effect will disappear as the grass grows, you can sprinkle some fine soil or sand into any gaps to help.

At the end of a row of turf where a piece is cut to fit, it is best to avoid finishing with a very small piece. If necessary, cut the previous piece and use a longer strip to finish. Again, this reduces the problems of shrinkage.

Curved and slanted lines require the turf to be cut to fit. You could use an old kitchen knife to do this. DON’T do anything else to your lawn until it can no longer be lifted at the edges. Once you can no longer lift up the corner of a turf it has grown in and it’s ok to give its first haircut. The general rule is only ever cut off one third off the length. So if it’s growing very fast you will need to be patient and take a few mows to get it down to the length you want it. Leave 7 days between each cut. By doing this you’ll avoid the grass looking yellow.

Turf from St Bridget

We get our turf rolls in freshly cut on a Friday from fellow Exeter business HCT. Because we want turf to be laid fresh, we don’t overstock it and typically our turf is all sold over the weekend. To avoid disappointment, we strongly advise pre-ordering your turf from us to ensure it is reserved for you. Sadly we are unable to deliver turf.

Each roll of turf covers 1 square metre and weighs 15-18kg per roll on average.

To reserve your turf please call the garden centre on 01392 876281.

Watch out for late frosts and cold winds

We’ve had several customers show us photos of plants in their garden that have had the leaves suddenly shrivel up or brown. The cause in these examples were actually wind damage or what we call ‘scorch’ caused by the cold winds we have had lately and the occasional frost.

Potential Plant Damage

Cold winds remove moisture from evergreen foliage more quickly than it can be replenished by the roots; this can cause leaf browning particularly at the tips and margins. Ground frost occurs when the temperature of the ground falls below freezing point (0ºC/32ºF) and air frost occurs when the temperature of the air falls below freezing point. The cells within a plant can be damaged by frost with the worst damage occurring in plants that have had repeated freezing and thawing events.

How to Avoid Plant Damage

While new plants establish themselves they are particularly vulnerable. It is best to hold back planting until the risk of frosts has passed completely (end of May), storing your plants in a well lit conservatory or greenhouse or cold frame while you wait (don’t forget to water them).

If you have already planted them though you can cover your plants with horticultural fleece (which we sell by the running metre). This lightweight fabric prevents damage from wind and cold temperatures. You can also wrap bubble wrap around your pots to help keep roots warm.
Applying a layer of bark around the roots of your plants is known as mulching. Mulching is a great thing to do in your garden borders as the bark acts as a blanket to the soil (keeping it warmer) and it also helps to suppress weed growth (as it blocks out the light to the soil). In addition, a mulch helps retain moisture in the soil.

PREPARATIONS FOR YOUR KITCHEN GARDEN

March is the perfect time to start preparing your kitchen garden for an abundant harvest later in the year!

Start Sowing Your Vegetable Seeds

Starting off growth indoors or in the greenhouse is the perfect way to maximise the growing life of vegetables but you need to ensure temperatures are at least 10C before transferring young plants outside.

Alternatively, hardy vegetables are more resistant to frosts. By sowing their seeds indoors now, you help start them off to a strong growing life, but you won’t need to worry about ensuring warm temperatures when you need to move them outdoors.

Cover areas of soil with black plastic or landscape fabric to help it warm up before you sow any seeds outdoors. Avoid sowing crops too early as there is still the risk of hard frosts!

Plant asparagus crowns (in well manured trenches) and softneck garlic varieties. We have these available to buy in the garden centre.

Plan Your Herb Garden

You can’t beat using herbs that have been freshly picked from the garden. You don’t have to have a separate herb garden, since most herbs are very attractive with ornamental flowers and foliage, and beautiful scents – making them great additions for mixed beds and borders. Even if you don’t have a big garden you can grow most herbs in pots on the patio where they’ll be handy to pick.

Many herbs can easily be grown from seed or you can buy young plants to grow on.

This month is the time to start sowing seeds for herbs inside so they are ready to move outdoors when the weather becomes milder and the threat of frost has subsided.

Both our garden centres stock herbs all year round and the varieties we stock will vary with the seasons so pop in to see what is flavour of this month.

GARDENING FOR WILDLIFE

There’s so much we gardeners can do for wildlife. Large or small, lawn or courtyard, our gardens provide a patchwork of green spaces for wildlife. While your space might not provide the complete habitat some species need to breed, it may provide the food they need to find that new mate or place to build a nest. So making a conscious effort to provide wildlife with shelter, food and water in your garden is a great idea.

Help Birds Build Their Nests

Put nesting material out for birds. Placing it in an empty fat ball feeder is perfect but leaving it on a bird table or on a wall is equally suitable. Wool or hair groomed from pets or humans is perfect for birds to heave into their nests. Don’t forget to put up nest boxes in your garden too, to make the perfect home for your garden birds. We have a lovely selection of nest boxes in our garden centre with different sized entrance holes to attract different garden birds.

Keep your bird feeders full too, as the breeding season puts a great strain on the garden birds. All that singing takes a lot of energy, so make sure the food you offer is high calorie and good quality.

Welcome Back Hungry Hedgehogs

Hedgehogs will begin to emerge from hibernation – they’ll be hungry and thirsty. Don’t feed bread or milk as it is bad for them. A shallow dish of water and some specialist hedgehog food (like our Brambles range available in store) or dog food will be welcomed.

Ensure Access to Your Pond

Make sure your garden pond has a ramp to help wildlife get in and out of the pond. A gentle ramp of stones is best as the use of a stick could pierce your pond liner.

If you’re looking for inspiration on how to make your garden more wildlife friendly, visit our garden centre and speak to one of our knowledgeable team.

SOW SOME SEEDS!

Whilst February is still too cold to sow many seeds directly into the soil outside, there are still plenty of seeds you can start to grow inside. The most ideal conditions would be in a propagator or greenhouse but a warm bright window sell works just as well.

When you buy a packet of seed always look on the back of the packet as they always tell you when to sow and how to sow. It’s no good choosing something that needs to be sown at great distances between each seed if all you have is room for a single tray! Take a look too at what space the plant needs when it gets bigger and what height it grows to so again you can ensure it suits your needs.

There are LOTS of plants you can choose from so come prepared with a short list of your favourites so you can start to narrow down the selection.

Our top picks for sowing in February are the following…

FLOWERS – we suggest: Cosmos, Lavender, Sweet Peas and Busy Lizzies.

Pink Cosmos [1]

VEGETABLES – Starting off growth indoors is the perfect way to maximise the growing life of vegetables but you need to ensure temperatures are at least 10C before transferring young plants outside.

Choose from: Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Peppers, Chillies and Lettuce.

Tomatoes on the vine [2]

Alternatively, hardy vegetables are more resistant to frosts by sowing their seeds indoors now you help start them off to a strong growing life but you won’t need to worry about warm temperatures when you need to move them outdoors, just offer them a bit of protection in the first week or so (i.e. cover with horticultural fleece). We call this gradual introduction to the great outdoors as ‘hardening off’.

Hardier vegetables that you can sow now include onions, peas, leeks and spinach.

Onions planted in soil [3]

For all your seed sowing needs you will need

– Seed trays, module trays or pots with drainage holes
– Seed sowing compost
– A riddle (gardener’s sieve) to help sieve your compost and get rid of big bits and lumps.
– Seeds
– A dibber (to help make suitably sized holes in your compost) or you could use a pencil instead.
– A propagator with lid or cling film to place over the top of your pots to help build up heat and humidity in the soil.

We stock all of the above and would be pleased to help you make your seed selection. We also have a number of great gardening books that you may find useful.

Image accreditation:
[1] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pink_Cosmos.jpg
[2] https://unsplash.com/photos/4LiUI-Y2mI8
[3] https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-close-up-on-onions-planted-in-soil-10041322/

THE WINTER FRAGRANCE COLLECTION FROM ST BRIDGET HITS PEAK PERFUME!

Did you know? Pollination goes on all year long! Flowering plants have evolved to produce scent to attract any pollinators that may be in the neighbourhood (bumble-bees, butterflies, moths, and bats).

Winter flowering plants are in bloom when honey-bees are not active so must rely on other pollinators, such as bumble-bees, and other flying insects, to move pollen from one flower to another, fertilising the plant. As there are fewer pollinators active in the colder months, scents need to be strong to signal further – which happily is what we humans find so attractive.

On a clear sunny winter’s day these plants come into their own. Best for a path-side, patio pot or under a mature tree, but which to choose?

There are a surprisingly wide variety of ornamental plants that flower at this time of year and many of them pump out stunning scents. We grow a fantastic range of these winter fragrance plants, from Daphne and Hamamelis to Sarcococca and Viburnum.

You’ll find a full list of our Winter Fragrance Collection at the bottom of this blog.

On a sunny day our Plant Area smells fabulous, come on down and have a good nose around our collection.

Sarcoccoca species

Commonly known as Christmas or Sweet Box, this lovely evergreen shrub produces a sweet honey-like scent. Its pretty creamy-white flowers appear from December through to March.

Sarcococca is an easy-grow low maintenance plant, it Thrives in dappled and deep shade, on fertile, moist, well-drained soil. Tolerates a wide range of soils including chalk, clay, loam and sand. And tolerates both Acid and alkaline soils.

Daphne odora

Daphne odora is a sought after flowering shrub for the woodland garden, mainly for the fragrance of its small flowers that bloom in winter. It produces a sweet and clean scent, a bit like jasmine and a little like orange blossom.

Daphne odora thrives on moist, well-drained soil with plenty of organic matter. Prefers mildly acidic soil in a dappled shady spot.

Hamamelis x intermedia Varieties

Common-garden name: Witch-Hazel. Hamamelis is a slow-grow deciduous shrub which flower on bare winter stems. Flowers come in rich shades of yellow, orange and red, and produce a citrus scent from December to March.

Hamamelis thrive in sunny or dappled shady spots. On moist, free-draining, neutral to acid soils.

Do you have a spot for a Winter Fragrance Plant?

Come and see (and smell) our collection for yourself.

To check what we’ve got in stock, give the Plant Team a call on 01392 876 281, we’re happy to reserve a plant if we know you’re popping in.

We’re open from 9 till 5 Monday to Saturday and 10 till 4 on Sunday.

St Bridget’s Winter Fragrance Collection

Daphne odora
Daphne orodra Aureomarginata
Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Diane’
Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Jelena’
Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Pallida’
Lonicera fragrantissima
Sarcococca confusa
Sarcococca hookeriana Humilis
Sarcococca ruscifolia
Sarcococca ‘Winter Gem’
Mahonia x media ‘Charity’
Mahonia x media ‘Winter Sun’
Viburnum x bondantense ‘Dawn’
Viburnum fragrantissima

This list was made by the Plant Team on Monday 30th January.

Availability is limited as we grow plants in small batches.

When a plant is sold out it can be a while before more plants are grown big enough for your garden.

START THE YEAR WITH HAPPY HOUSEPLANTS

We get a lot of questions about looking after houseplants at this time of year. Many people feel the need to fill the gap left by taking their Christmas tree down with other indoor greenery. Houseplants are a brilliant way of adding a calming presence to any room – plus they have lots of health benefits too – perfect for creating a good start to the new year.

If you have a houseplant it should have come with a care label. If it did make sure you have a read to see what amount of light and temperature the plant likes. If you don’t have a label then please feel free to ask one of our team for some advice when you next visit in store.

The main killer of houseplants during the winter is over watering. We often get concerned when the soil looks dry and because we are heating our houses. Whilst you can kill plants from lack of water, during the winter a plant’s watering needs will reduce. To check if a plant needs water put your finger down the side of the pot. If it feels dry about an inch below the surface and if the pot feels light then a water is necessary. If the pot is heavy though, leave it a day or two before checking again. It’s easier to bring a plant back from lack of water than overwatering! Nearly all foliage plants need high humidity levels around their leaves, to achieve this you can use a hand held mister and mist daily or stand your pot in a saucer filled with damp pebbles/chippings. As long as your pot isn’t sat in water your plant will love the moist air that will come as the water evaporates upwards.

If you have a flowering houseplant, remove any flowers that are faded and going over. Whilst a plant is flowering a weekly to fortnightly feed with a flowering houseplant fertiliser is also a good idea.

If you fancy treating yourself to a new plant, looking good in our houseplant section at the moment are:

Chamaedorea elegans

Ctenanthe

Gynura

Spathiphyllum Cupido
Dieffenbachia Compacta
Alocasia Pink Passion