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I need to confess now that what you will be getting here is a "Do as I say, not as I do " piece of advice. Sometimes in gardening its really best policy to take a tough line with plants, unfortunately my tendency to be v lazy coupled with a bit of a sentimental attitude to plants means I often don't do very well.
A couple of examples:-
Today I was looking round the big poly-tunnel and noticed that some of the strawberry plants I had in there weren't looking too good, in fact a bit stunted. Now someone who was better organised would have spotted this months ago and probably never even put these plants in there in the first place. Not sure what the reason for these plants being poorly is, may be a virus, but as I have quite a few other plants I just got shot of these poorly ones.
I have a lovely double white lilac near the door to my cottage which flowers at this time of year and has a beautiful scent. I'm not sure how old it is - probably about 50 years or so. Over the years its suckered up from the roots and has 6 or 7 lager stems and 10 or so more small ones - its not grafted so the suckers flower true. Last year I noticed some of the older branches looked a bit straggly, but I thought I'd just leave them to see how it went. This year it has flowered spectacularly, but the old branches definitely have fewer leaves than they should and the flower panicles on those parts of the tree are smaller. Anyway I've now taken a bow saw to it and cut out about 5 of the older branches completely. Its left a big gap in the middle now, but I don't think it will be many years before that gets filled up again with new growth.
Better to be ruthless early, than mess around for ages, and then have to take radical action anyway.
A couple of examples:-
Today I was looking round the big poly-tunnel and noticed that some of the strawberry plants I had in there weren't looking too good, in fact a bit stunted. Now someone who was better organised would have spotted this months ago and probably never even put these plants in there in the first place. Not sure what the reason for these plants being poorly is, may be a virus, but as I have quite a few other plants I just got shot of these poorly ones.
I have a lovely double white lilac near the door to my cottage which flowers at this time of year and has a beautiful scent. I'm not sure how old it is - probably about 50 years or so. Over the years its suckered up from the roots and has 6 or 7 lager stems and 10 or so more small ones - its not grafted so the suckers flower true. Last year I noticed some of the older branches looked a bit straggly, but I thought I'd just leave them to see how it went. This year it has flowered spectacularly, but the old branches definitely have fewer leaves than they should and the flower panicles on those parts of the tree are smaller. Anyway I've now taken a bow saw to it and cut out about 5 of the older branches completely. Its left a big gap in the middle now, but I don't think it will be many years before that gets filled up again with new growth.
Better to be ruthless early, than mess around for ages, and then have to take radical action anyway.
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