Gardening news – sparrows, winter bedding, legionella outbreak

In this week’s gardening news we bring you an update on sparrows, winter bedding and a recent legionella outbreak…

Gardening news - sparrows, winter bedding, legionella outbreak

Sparrow populations helped by untidy gardens

Sparrows helped by wild(er) gardens
Sparrow populations have stabilised after many years of decline, helped in part by less manicured gardens. Gardeners who have been leaving parts of their gardens to grow wild in a bid to help dwindling wildlife populations may have contributed halting the decline of sparrows, according to the results of a British survey.

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Gardening news - sparrows, winter bedding, legionella outbreak

Legionella cases linked to compost

Legionnaires’ disease outbreak linked to compost
A recent outbreak of Legionella longbeachae in Scotland has been linked to compost, prompting health experts to recommend that warning labels are put on bags of compost. While the risk of contracting the disease remains low, gardeners are advised to wear gloves when handling compost, not to breathe in the dust and to wash their hands immediately after use.

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Gardening news - sparrows, winter bedding, legionella outbreak

Winter bedding plants give a much-needed splash of colour

Autumn clean-up and winter planting schemes
As summer comes to an end and the autumn clean-up begins in earnest, it’s the perfect time to be thinking about winter planting schemes. Overcome the dull, cold days by adding a welcome splash of colour to your garden with winter bedding plants such as pansies, violas, wallflowers, stocks and forget-me-nots.

Summer’s over, what next? Michael Perry asks

Tulip Everlasting Mixture

Tulip Everlasting Mixture

I think it has happened.

When leaving the house today; the feeling of autumn seemed to have descended. Although bright and sunny, the temperature was cooler and there were misty windows. Darn, I’ll have to start wearing socks again!

So what do we do now summer’s ‘over’?

In terms of summer bedding, there’s no need to hurry, just enjoy it while it lasts, trimming and dead-heading here and there. You might want to clear some areas to make way for bulb plantings though…

Now’s the ideal time to plant a tapestry that will burst into life next spring- just at the point where you’ve forgotten you planted it! Think colour, think fragrance and think non-stop interest. Plant up a lasagne of bulbs such as tall tulips (‘Everlasting’ Mixture is great as it comes back year after year, each time as good as the last), sprinkled with the newest and best rainbow daffs (‘Rainbow Butterflies Mixed’, and in the foreground some of our newest and rare crocus cancellatus.

Primrose Primlet Berryblossom Mixed

Primrose Primlet Berryblossom Mixed

And, bedding isn’t just for summer – there are some fab winter and spring varieties you can try too! Save £££s by planning and buying now; the world really is your oyster. There’s as much to choose from as there is for summer! Pansies, primroses, polyanthus, wallflowers, double daisies, violas… the list goes on! A couple of my favourites are pansy ‘Frizzle Sizzle Yellow Blue Swirl’ and the lovely primrose ‘Berryblossom Mixed’.

And if you’ve wanted to try fruit for a bit, now’s the ideal time to give it a go! Strawberries planted in the autumn will actually give 50% more fruit than those planted in the same year. And <a href=”/fruit/fruit-trees”>fruit trees</a> are best planted as bareroot right now – so get out with your spade!

Follow me on twitter @gardening_greek keep up to date with all the latest plant developments!

See you for now,

Michael

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