By Victoria Plum
One of the lovely traditions for members of the Reepham & District Gardening Club is to be given a small plant in spring – a different sort each year.
We must look after it as well as we can through the year and then return to show it off at the Summer Show in August, perhaps to win a prize, which is voted on by the membership.
There is also a booby prize for the worst disaster. (I’ve never been brave enough to bring in the failed corpse – and there have been many.)
Anyway, I know little of fuchsias, but this year I did know that I would need to pinch out the flowers if they formed too early, to delay flowering until show time. So this I did, but only in an approximate way.
Now I know, courtesy of Kristopher Harper, who gave the talk at this month’s gardening club meeting, that I needed to consult the “pinching calendar”.
And no it’s not April 1st; this is true, not a joke. Someone has worked it out so that all you have to do is check the date of your required event and then pinch the buds out until the date shows you when to stop to ensure maximum flowers.
In answer to members’ troubles about the numerous fuchsia plant deaths, we learnt that you might find it best to use tap water for young plants, as water from water-butts could be polluted or stagnant, and cause rotting.
Fuchsias also don’t like a change in the sort of compost when you repot. Beware of bark-based compost as it might not be completely decomposed; this can also have an adverse effect on root growth.
If using plastic pots choose those with grooves at the bottom in addition to holes, as these are designed to ensure roots do not stand waterlogged on the bench. (I had always wondered why some were made that way.)
And when re-potting (only into a slightly larger size pot) place the smaller pot (with the plant to be re-potted still in it) into the larger, new pot.
Fill the new pot with compost, firming sides down with a cane. Then remove the original pot, thus leaving a pot-shaped indent, remove the smaller pot from the roots and carefully place the plant into this custom-made hole.
This way delicate roots do not need to be disturbed, and you don’t need to firm down, or risk damaging, the root ball – just let the water do it for you when you water it in, and the delicate roots will find an easy route into the new compost.
And for consistent results fertilise at each watering, but only at ¼-strength.
The next meeting of the Reepham & District Gardening Club is on Tuesday 15 October at 7.45 pm in Reepham Town Hall, Church Street, Reepham, where we look forward to “The Making of a Garden” by Graham Watts, owner of Dale Farm, Dereham.
It’s also the Autumn Bag Sale, so please bring any spare plants for sale, only 50p to members.