Author: alpington-yelverton-admin

Alpington with Yelverton Parish Council Website Administrator

Oct 2023 – things to do in your garden

Autumn has now officially arrived! Bringing with it the familiarity of its misty, dewy mornings and beautiful display of foliage colour and leaf hues, it may be the turn towards the end of the year, but there is still so much to enjoy in our gardens.

October is also a fickle month – one day it’s an Indian Summer and the next day frost may arrive. In 2019, Northern England had its first frost on the night of 1st/2nd October, so we can easily be caught out this month.

Some plants or shrubs to enjoy in October

Pyracanthas (Firethorn) – this shrub will be displaying their beautiful orange, yellow or red berries at this time.
Sedums – these provide a stunning display of Autumn colour in the flowerbeds. They also make lovely cut flowers.
Nerines – bright pink flowers adding a real splash of audacious colour in October.
Chrysanthemum – these impressive flowers light up the garden in hues of pink, orange, red or light green.
Dahlias – these often flower into October, providing welcome late colour in beds and pots, until the first frost.
Rudbeckias – a reliable late flowering perennial, their bright yellow blooms cheer any Autumnal day.
Ornamental grasses – as the stems and seed heads fade, they make a beautiful airy addition to borders or flower arrangements.

General Garden Maintenance

• Autumn is a good time to work on the lawn. If warm enough, repair any patches by raking up the soil, covering with compost and grass seed. The lawn can also be raked to remove thatch, spiked to ease compacting and improve drainage, and given an autumn feed.
• Rake up and remove autumn leaves, if left on the lawn, leaves can kill the grass underneath.
• Prune climbing roses by a third, to prevent wind rock over the Winter months
• Autumn is also a good time to plant perennials and shrubs. The soil is warm and there is less leaf growth, so the plant puts energy into roots
• If you have deciduous trees in your garden, consider saving the leaves to make leaf mould for use as a mulch or compost next year. Rake up and pile the leaves into a wire netting pen or put in black bin liners. Note: putting air holes in the bin bags prevents leaves rotting down to a slimy mess.
• Continue cutting back perennials to keep the garden tidy. Peonies, Leucanthemum, Nepeta (Cat Mint) Delphinium, Hardy Geraniums, Phlox can all be cut down to ground level now.
• Less hardy perennials, such as Penstemons, are best left with the top growth in place for now to provide protection from frosts.
• Bring any half-hardy or tender plants like Pelargoniums, citrus fruits, olive trees, and any tender exotics indoors before the first frost bites.

Flowerbeds and Pots

• Plant winter bedding a such as pansies and violas in the container where they are going to spend the winter, and then place the container in the greenhouse or in a sheltered spot to give the plants a bit of time to get established. This introduces the plants to the real outside weather – as you would summer bedding and should encourage them to flower throughout the Winter.
• Cut Everlasting sweetpeas down to the ground.
• Divide up herbaceous perennials and move plants around. They become congested with age so dig up the clump, divide it and replant the best sections.
• Continue planting Spring bulbs, but wait until the end of October or November to plant any Tulips.
• With deadheading and feeding, Dahlias will often flower into October, or until the first frosts. Once frost has hit, cut down the blackened foliage and lift and store the tubers somewhere cool and dry over winter.

Fruit and Vegetables

• Tomatoes are slowing down in the greenhouse now so it may be time to cut them from the vines to ripen indoors on a sunny windowsill or in a warm cupboard.
• Main crop Carrots can be lifted if needed, or left where they can remain all winter. If your vegetable plot is wet with heavy soils the carrots may rot, you may need to lift them and store. After digging up, cut off the top foliage and store in cool dark dry place, such as a garage and check regularly for bad carrots.
• If sowing late lettuce and rocket in the vegetable plot, it may need protection, such as a cloche to ensure it germinates.
• Lettuce and Rocket are quite hardy and will continue growing well into late autumn and early winter.

Hyperfast Full Fibre Broadband for Alpington and Yelverton – Reminder

You might have seen our previous post on Country Broadband’s plan to bring full fibre broadband to the village. They’ve informed us that the initial period for expressing an interest is coming to a close in about a month’s time, so now is a good time to have another read if it’s something you might be interested in.

I’m actually not sure at this point how many households have expressed an interest so far, but just a reminder that if the village project is to go ahead, they need 25% of households to “preorder”, which involves no money or bank details, it is just sending an email with your name address and email address. See exact details below, and in the previous post.

This project is supported by the Parish Council, who have been involved from the start.

The full details are in the previous post here.

But some reminders:

How to Pre-order

To preorder, please send an email to daniel.watson@countybroadband.co.uk, saying ‘I would like to preorder fibre broadband for the rollout in the Alpington area’. And include the following details:

Further Information and Contact Details

If you would like to contact the company further regarding any questions concerns or queries, please get in touch as I’m here to help.

Please contact them on either of the following

Email: Daniel.watson@countybroadband.co.uk

Phone: 07538 399903

Coffee Morning – Sat 16th September – Wheel of Fortune

A coffee morning will be held on Saturday 16th Sept 10.30-12 in the Wheel of Fortune pub garden in Alpington.

Free admission.

Coffee and cakes, Raffle, Tombola, and a selection of crafts, gifts and bric-a-brac, books and plants

(Please note – payment will be by cash donation as we have no electronic card facility)

Organised by the Friends of St Mary’s Church.

Aug 2023 – things to do in your garden

Although August is the last true month of summer, the garden and veg plot are still at their best.

Some plants to enjoy in August

  • Callistemon- (the bottle brush plant) is native to Australia, but the shrubs are now popular ornamental shrubs due to their vivid flower spikes. Grow in a warm, sheltered spot.
  • Echinacea – these hardy perennials give borders late flowering colour. 
  • Lychnis coronaria – (rose campion) these magenta flowered plants thrive in the heat and will produce the best leaf colour in dry soils. Deadhead regularly to prolong the display. 
  • Phygelius – (cape fuchsia) ideal for subtropical borders and pot displays. The flowers should last into September, if dead-headed regularly.
  • Phlox – hardy and reliable herbaceous perennials, phlox are a late-summer essential. Cut back to the ground when the foliage begins turning yellow in late autumn. 
  • Veronicastrum – (Culver’s root)  elegant perennials with tall flower spikes, loved by pollinators. They grow best in damp but well-drained soil.
  • Bergamot (monarda) has mounds of foliage topped by dazzling red, pink or purple blooms. The aromatic leaves give off a lovely, spicy fragrance when crushed. too. 
Photo by Adrianna Calvo on Pexels.com

General Garden Maintenance

• Now that this year’s nesting season is over for the birds, cut and prune hedges into shape.
• Summer prune Wisteria to encourage flowers next year, by cutting off the long whippy growth and unwanted laterals at the base.
• Prune shrubs like Weigela, Philadelphus and Choisya which have flowered earlier in the season, to reshape the shrub and encourage growth for next year
• As the summer goes on the Roses become more prone to black spot. Collect the fallen infected leaves and destroy (not in the compost bin) and spray to control the disease.
• After flowering, trim spent flowers from Lavender and clip the plant into neat shape. This will help to keep the plant in a good shape for the next year.
• Dead-head your flowers frequently to ensure your summer display continues to bloom for as long as possible.


Flowerbeds and Pots

• Ericaceous shrubs such as Camellias and Rhododendrons are now forming their flower buds ready for next spring’s display. If August is dry, the plants will have fewer and smaller buds, so water well to avoid this. If you have not fed your ericaceous shrubs yet, catch up by feeding in August and September using a proprietary ericaceous feed.
• Cut late flowering Lavender for drying, choosing newly opened flowers for the best fragrance and hang up in a cool, dark place.

• Give Dahlias a liquid feed and tie the shoots of tall varieties to sturdy stakes as they grow.

• Keeping hoeing and hand-weed borders so weeds don’t have time to set seed.

• Water and feed sweet peas regularly, pick the flowers every few days and remove seed pods.
• Plant autumn bulbs, including Nerines, in pots and borders.

• Feed, water and deadhead summer bedding regularly, in pots, borders and hanging baskets.

• Cut back early summer perennials, such as hardy Geraniums and Delphiniums, after flowering for a second flush.

• Feed and deadhead roses to keep them flowering strongly.

• Pick off flowers on Coleus plants to maintain their colourful leaves.

• Sow biennials, such as Foxgloves, Honesty, Forget-me-nots and Wallflowers, for blooms next year.

Fruit and Vegetables

• Continue to harvest beans, courgettes and salads regularly.
• In hot weather hose down the greenhouse floor in the morning to control temperatures.
• It is possible to get a second crop of broad beans. When the broad bean plant has finished, cut down the stem close to the ground to about 15 cms near a growing point and give it a feed. It should re-grow and produce a second, smaller crop.
• There is still time to sow quick growing salad crops such as Lettuce, Rocket and radish.
• Onions, Garlic and Shallots should be ready to harvest by the end of the month. When it goes brown, bend over the top growth and ease the bulbs out of the earth carefully, resting them on soil to dry out before bringing in for storage.
• Onions must be stored in the light, so in a greenhouse would be ideal. They must be bone dry before being stored. If damp, they will rot.
• Garlic is similar, wait till the top growth turns brown, usually in late August. Store in a dry and light spot in the warmth, rather than a cold area.
• Keep feeding tomato plants and watering regularly. Remove excess leaves to encourage fruit production and pinch out the top growing point to stop the plant growing any taller.
• Maincrop potatoes can be harvested once they have flowered and should be ready to harvest in late August. You can leave them in the ground for a while after the top growth has died back.
• Carrots can get “green shoulders” caused by the carrot pushing up in the soil. In order to prevent this, put some soil or compost around the top of the carrots which are exposed to the light.