SEMSGARDEN

SEMSGARDEN

Category: Gardening

Explore tips, guides, and ideas for all things gardening. From growing beautiful flowers and lush indoor plants to maintaining a thriving vegetable garden, discover practical advice for gardeners of every level. Learn techniques, seasonal care, and innovative gardening solutions to make your garden flourish.

  • Harvest the fruits later in the season

    Harvest the fruits later in the season

    In the orchard, remove leaves, water well, feed, and fight against infections to extend the harvest period and have abundant pickings.

    Keep pests away

    Whether it’s pears, peaches, apples, or grapes, bagging is a tedious but natural method to protect them from wasps, carcasses, and other possible pests. When the fruits begin to ripen, remove the husks a few days before harvest so that they take advantage of the sun and light to perfect their ripening. They will be better after sunbathing.

    Trapping the wasps

    Wasps are greedy if the ripening fruit contains enough sugar. Fool them with pheromone traps or commercial models to fill with a sugar solution. You can craft your traps. Cut the neck of a plastic bottle to make a funnel. Fill the bottom of the bottle with water and syrup or honey, then lay the neck upside down on top so that the attracted wasps can enter, but are unable to exit.

    Adapt watering

    Outside of year-round planting, it is completely unnecessary to water your stone or pome trees, even at the end of the dry season: this would require too much water and the fruits would lose taste quality. . While this rule applies to trees with strong growth, it is quite different for small fruit berries. Indeed, strawberries or rising raspberries, although carefully mulched, may still need a water supply. Water copiously in one go at the time of flowering, ideally with a drip, so as to provide 15 mm, or 15 l of water / m².

    Nourish to stimulate

    There is no such thing as a boost in organic fertilizer. Indeed, this type of input must be mineralized by the microfauna and the microflora of the soil to be restored to the plants, a transformation that takes a few weeks. You can therefore provide occasional and measured organic fertilizer for demanding crops at the start or middle of the cycle. Spinach, for example, will benefit.

    Remove the leaves from the vines

    At the end of summer and at the beginning of autumn, the ripening of the grapes is completed. At this point, the bunches should receive maximum sunlight. Cut with secateurs the leaves covering the clusters for the trellis trellised on a wall, only those on the rising sun side when the vines are guided on a wire. This operation promotes the ripening of the grapes, but also ensures better ventilation in the heart of the vines, limiting the development of gray mold or botrytis type fungi.

    Reduce the spread of disease

    During this period of alternating heat and humidity, the spread of fungal diseases like moniliasis can be extremely rapid. So pick up the spoiled fruit that has fallen to the ground and carefully inspect those left on the tree. Also, remove damaged fruit to prevent contamination. Finally, evacuate the fallen leaves: this abnormally early fall often results in contamination by a fungus.

  • Use the right treatment product

    Use the right treatment product

    In order not to multiply unnecessary treatments, it is necessary to clearly determine the problem which arises before deciding on the action to be implemented. It’s not always obvious…

    Identical symptoms can indeed come from attacks by parasites, diseases or even cultivation errors, such as an excess or, conversely, a lack of watering.

    The correct diagnosis requires careful and regular observation of the plants in the garden. Getting a magnifying glass is helpful, as the parasites are sometimes tiny. Without forgetting to look under the leaves, this is often where they hide. Everything is then a question of learning …

    Do not hesitate to call on professionals who will determine the origin of the damage, or to launch into the consultation of reference books. Once the diagnosis has been established – if it is not a cultivation accident – the product chosen will be effective againstdisease or parasites .

    Better to know how to recognize auxiliary insects, this time to preserve them. Because confusion is possible … A ladybug larva evokes for many an unwanted insect, yet it is a useful devourer of aphids !

  • Pinch the wisteria to promote new blooms

    Pinch the wisteria to promote new blooms

    Wisteria produces very twirling young stems immediately after flowering. Pinching them helps to discipline the plant and promote flowering by concentrating the sap.

    When to pinch wisteria?

    The well-placed branches of the young plants are not pinched, to let the wisteria form its framework.
    On the formed subjects , pinch the long tender shoots. Act during the summer. It may be necessary to repeat the operation a second or third time.

    Necessary material

    • Shears

    How to pinch wisteria?

    Leave only two leaves on each new branch, still green.
    On tree wisteria, leave only one leaf per shoot.
    On important matters, a shear size, although approximate, is more than enough.

    After the pinch

    Wisteria in trees tend, to compensate for the loss of their shoots, to emit creeping stems at the base. Cut them flush.

  • Zoom on bamboo

    Zoom on bamboo

    The bamboo has many advantages, the first of which is to push faster and therefore actually be a renewable raw material. In the garden, you can use it as a living plant or as a craft material.

    Bamboo is a universal grass , spread over much of the globe. It is easily cultivated and can even become invasive when the conditions are particularly pleasing to it. In addition to its decorative appearance, you can make braided hedges, leading its shoots like a trellis .
    Bamboo is also used after harvest and drying. When purchasing, the rods must have a regular appearance, without gray areas or pitted black. Solid, they resonate if you knock them against each other, at least the bigger ones. For thinner tips, just check that they are not crushed or broken.

    Thousand and one uses

    Bamboo is used for everything. In the garden, in addition to its use for the creation of the screen and the fence (see related articles), it is used to make plant pots, flower boxes, furniture with an exotic design (bar, sunbathing) , armchair…). In the form of canisses, it protects well from the sun. For the interior, it is available in parquet. Its fibers are used in making textiles and its shoots are consumed. In Asia it is used for scaffolding and to build entire houses.

  • Tree fern (Dicksonia antartica)

    Tree fern (Dicksonia antartica)

    An ancestral plant in the garden.

    Culture sheet: when and how to plant a tree fern?

    Family: Dicksoniaceae.
    Dimensions : in nature, the plant can reach 15 m in height. In our climates, it will reach 5 to 8 m, after many years.
    Distance and depth of planting: in the ground, the plants must be separated by about 3 to 4 m so that the fronds spread out well without being hampered. Plant the fern in the spring when the earth has started to warm up. Planting is possible in the fall in mild climates.
    Growth: it is very slow, the trunk, called the stipe, growing every year by only 3 to 5 cm.
    Appearance: this fern is a sight on its own. Its massive and upright trunk is formed by the successive layering of the fronds (leaves of the ferns). Its root system is aerial, surrounding the trunk with a brown felting. It is he who captures the humidity and mineral salts necessary for the growth of the plant. In May-June, the fronds appear at the top of the trunk. Rolled up in butts inside, they unfold in erect fronds which then take on a spreading habit, then falling. They are a beautiful shiny green and their petioles bear red hairs. At the end of summer, they reach a length of 1.50 to 2 m.
    Soil : The quality of the soil is of little importance because the tree fern has few underground roots.
    Exposure: a semi-shaded situation will be perfect. Choose a place protected from the winds by walls or hedges because the very long fronds break easily.
    Climate : placed outdoors, the tree fern supports colds of around – 15 ° C provided it is well protected.

    Origin: where does the fern come from?

    The genus Dicksonia comprises about thirty species distributed in the mountains of Malaysia, Australia, New Caledonia, New Zealand. D. antartica appeared on Earth about 350 million years ago, as can be seen from fossils dating from the Carboniferous period. The genus is dedicated to James Dickson (1738-1822), an English botanist, author of several works including one on ferns .

    What are the different species and varieties of fern?

    Only D. antartica can be grown in open ground in some areas. There are superb specimens on the west coast of Scotland and in English Cornwall, humid areas protected from the cold by the Gulf Stream. Other tree ferns, smaller, adapt to container culture, which allows them to be sheltered in winter. This is the case of D. fibrosa and D. squarrosa which reach about 6 m in nature, but hardly exceed 1.50 to 2 m in our climates.

    How to use and associate ferns in the garden?

    In the ground, a single copy of tree fern is enough to give an exotic atmosphere to the garden. accompany it with plants with remarkable foliage such as hostas, astilboides tabularis, ornamental rhubarb, chestnut leaf rodgersia.

    Culture: where to plant a tree fern?

    In the ground or in a pot, it is very simple. You have to push the base of the stipe more or less deeply (it depends on the size of the plant) so that it is quite stable. The earth serves only as an anchor point .

    How to maintain a tree fern?

    The element that the tree fern needs the most is humidity in the air , which must be very important. On the coasts of the Breton or Atlantic coast, in Normandy, she is at her ease.

    How to water the fern?

    Elsewhere, it should be regularly given water by sprinkling it in the heart of the fronds and by wetting the fibers of the trunk well. As winter approaches, it will be necessary to protect it if it stays outside.

    How to prune a tree fern?

    Start by cutting the fronds, then surround the trunk with a coarse mesh netting, all the way up to the stem. Close this “tube” with strong ties, then slide handfuls of dead leaves between the trunk and the wire frame. Firm enough to obtain good insulation. Finish by attaching a piece of transparent plastic to the head of the plant with a string. Remove this protection in April.

    How to multiply a fern?

    It is possible by sowing, but this technique is reserved for very patient gardeners! Like all ferns, D. antartica produces seeds (spores) which develop under the fronds. When they’re brown, it’s time to seed them. To do this, spread a piece of frond on the surface of a box containing potting soil. Hold the slingshot with the help of small jumpers. Place everything in a warm and especially humid greenhouse.

  • Plant bamboo in a large handmade container

    Plant bamboo in a large handmade container

    How to plant bamboo in a custom-made container on your patio.

    Material needed for the construction of the tank

    Bamboos need a lot of soil. To make a custom-made container you will need:

    • 3 joists 18 cm wide for the length of the boxes.
    • 2 identical joists to form the width. They will be cut to divide the tank in its length.
    1. Drill holes at the base to drain the water.
    2. Lay a geotextile canvas at the bottom and on the walls.
    3. Place clay balls at the bottom of the tank.
    4. Mix universal potting soil and loam and incorporate compost into it . Bamboos are greedy plants. Also combine a special grass fertilizer.
    5. An anti-rhizome barrier will be necessary to prevent the rhizomes, most of them creeping, from passing under the tubs and spinning elsewhere.

    Planting bamboo in tubs

    Then move on to setting up the bamboos. They will appreciate exposure to the sun or partial shade:

    • Plant the phyllostachys nigra  (black bamboo) after having soaked them well. The clods can be difficult to remove. In this case use a saw.
    • Place the clods on the bed of earth.
    • Fill the container with soil up to the stubble.
    • It is then possible to add a mulch with pine bark to decorate the tank and maintain the humidity on the surface.
    • Water copiously. Bamboos are greedy in water and if their needs are met their growth is rapid. 

    10 varieties of bamboo to choose from, from large to small

    • Phyllostachys aurea: pale green culms turning yellow

    Height: 6 to 9 m

    • Phyllostachys nigra: green culms when young and turning black with time and sunny exposure.

    Height: 6 to 8 m

    • Semiarundinaria fastuosa: dark green culms tinting red in autumn for older plants.

    Height: 5 to 9 m

    • Hibanobambusa tranquillans: bamboo with broad foliage.

    Height: 3 to 5 m

    • Semiarundinaria yashadake ‘Kimmei’: elegant yellow culms streaked with green. The color turns purple in the fall.

    Height: 3 to 4 m

    • Fargesia jiuzhaigou: bamboo with a drooping port. The culms are yellow on older plants and turn red in the sun. 

    Height: 2 to 4 m

    • Fargesia rufa: bushy and drooping habit. The young culms are slightly pink. 

    Height: 1.50 to 3 m

    • Hibanobambousa tranquillans ‘Shiroshima’: beautiful foliage with large variegated leaves of cream bench. 

    Height 2 to 3 m

    • Pleioblastus pumilus: a compact habit from top to bottom with very dense dark green leaves. 

    Height: 0.30 to 0.80 m

    • Pleioblastus viridistriatu ‘Auricoma’: a ray of sunshine with its bright yellow variegated foliage. It loses its foliage in winter. 

    Height: 0.30 to 1.50 m

  • Cultivate biodiversity, forget the lawn

    Cultivate biodiversity, forget the lawn

    Without wanting to recreate wild nature, it is possible to approach it by welcoming a wide variety of flora. The little animals will soon follow! Combine plants and small animals well to welcome wildlife to the garden without being invaded: follow Rustica’s advice.

    Did you know ? Plants have a social life. Some can only thrive with company! The plants bring mutual benefits: shade, support, protection against the wind, pests … The more species are numerous, the more the garden becomes welcoming for the fauna, which then finds refuge and food there (and the more the fauna is diversified). , the more pest attacks are controlled). However, many animal and plant species are now threatened. To promote biodiversity in the garden, nothing better than to introduce wild plants, ideally indigenous. You just have to “forget” to remove some alliaries and chelidoins in the beds; compose planters filled with cereals and flowers (poppy, cornflower, etc.); leave a fallow land at the foot of the hedge or at the bottom of the garden; build a pond; keep a low wall, dead trees. Ideas abound!

    ZOOM: Another lawn

    Spreading fertilizer, fighting against moss, passing the mower throughout the beautiful season, copious watering… So much effort, time spent and waste to obtain the green carpet of our dreams!
    Why not reduce the surface, this will be the opportunity to introduce a new diversity to the garden . So welcome ground covers (creeping bugle, dead knife, nummular lysimachus …) which will spread under the trees, where the lawn is struggling to grow. Create a gravel garden on which to wander: a number of plants (wallflower, saxifrage, mullein, valerian, verbena, etc.) can be dispersed there according to their spontaneous sowing.

  • How to maintain and care for a potted bamboo

    How to maintain and care for a potted bamboo

    Keep a green bamboo all year round and help it through the winter. 

    Tips for planting a potted bamboo

    To install bamboo on your terrace, prefer compact shapes to hide the opposite: squat bamboos with dense foliage such as fargesia rufa. Planting bamboo in pots allows you to take advantage of its evergreen foliage and very decorative stubble for some varieties. This is the case of phyllostachys nigra with black culms or of phyllostachys aureosulcata ‘Aureocaulis’ with very original culms of bright yellow color in zigzag. 

    How to plant a bamboo in a pot:

    • Choose a pot according to the size of the bamboo, large enough for the root ball to fit in without forcing. 
    • Rehydrate the root ball by immersing it in water. 
    • Place a geotextile felt in the bottom of the pot and its edges, then pour a layer of clay balls over a few centimeters.
    • Partially fill with horticultural soil and place the root ball on this bed of soil.
    • Fill in the spaces with soil and tamp as you go. 

    Care tips for potted bamboo

    Maintain a bamboo in summer
    Water the bamboo copiously. They need water, and the rhizomes will be more easily contained if they are watered properly. In pierced tubs, it is important to regularly check to see if the rhizomes are coming out of the holes. Placed on a terrace fitted out on slabs, they can cause damage by slipping into open spaces. 
    Regularly move the tubs and cut the rhizomes that protrude. 

    Maintaining a bamboo in winter
    When it freezes heavily, the bamboo can no longer draw water and therefore feed its foliage. Observe the leaves carefully: if they are closed, the plant lacks water.
    To protect bamboo against cold and frost on the surface,wintering veil (or dead leaves ).
    Place the protection at the foot of the bamboos to prevent the frost from penetrating to the roots.
    Water out of periods that are too dry. 

  • How to clean and protect from pampas grass

    How to clean and protect from pampas grass

    The long silvery white plumes of this giant grass give it all its charm. They can reach more than 3 m in height. When winter comes, we must clean the base of the stems and the withered leaves.

    What tools to prune the pampas grass?

    Material:

    pruning shears
    gloves
    string or solid tie
    protective veil or perforated plastic film

    Advice :

    Depending on the geographical location of the garden, remove the winter protection from February so as not to interfere with the departure of the vegetation.

    Decorative pampas grass:

    Before the plumes are fully ripe, they can be cut and dried upside down. They will make sumptuous dry bouquets. Spray a little hairspray to keep them whole as long as possible.

    Maintenance: how to cut flowers from pampas grass?

    Before the first frosts, cut the floral stems and plumes with a solid secateurs. Put on gloves, because the leaves of this grass are quite sharp. Prune as close to the stump as possible otherwise, there will end up being a mound in the middle.

    Size: clean the tuft

    Clean the clump by removing the dried leaves. You can also cut some of it when the pampas grass begins to become invasive. Shred all waste and bring it to the compost, spraying it with a decomposition activator.

    Pick up and tie stems and leaves

    Then pick up the remaining leaves to form a straight tuft. Tie them together with a string or a very strong tie. Attach at several heights when the foot is old. If the winter is very cold in the area, the center of the clump can be protected by garnishing it with dead, dry leaves.

    Cover to protect

    To prevent rainwater from rotting the plant, cover it with a winter protection veil or plastic film held in place by strong ties. Use a perforated plastic so that the foliage continues to breathe and that there is no condensation inside the envelope.

    When to prune pampas grass?

    Each fall, remove the faded leaves and cut the flower stalks. Then install winter protection.

    How to dry and maintain the “feathers” of the pampas?

    The flowers of the pampas grass dry easily and will not require any special treatment except to put them upside down, to prevent the stems from bending. However, you will have to remember to shake them regularly to prevent them from becoming dust nests!

    Where is pampas grass found?

    Originally from South America, pampas grass is now cultivated almost everywhere in our latitudes. When the climatic conditions are mild and temperate, it can even quickly become invasive .

  • Redoux in winter, no rush in the garden

    Redoux in winter, no rush in the garden

    After a particularly cold and snowy late autumn and early winter, the weather gives us mild temperatures that panic the vegetation and animals. But this warmth in the middle of January should not encourage us to do anything and everything in the garden because winter is far from over. A small inventory of actions to be taken or postponed as long as the risk of severe frost is still to be feared.

    A few days with very mild temperatures were enough for the vegetation to restart. As soon as the weeds started to grow, the buds of the shrubs swelled, the hellebores, winter jasmines and sarcococcas were covered with flowers and the spring-flowering bulbs rose from the ground. I even saw bees come to forage on the few flowers in my pots.

    But this very early start to the vegetation and the length of the days, which ostensibly lengthens, should not make us forget that there are still two winter months left and that the risk of severe frost is still significant. Usually, the coldest time of the year in France is around January 20 and February.

    Gestures and gardening work to do in mild weather

    Take advantage of these pleasant periods of time to continue cleaning in the garden:

    • cut the dried leaves of sleeping perennials,
    • pull up summer or autumn vegetables left in the vegetable garden,
    • empty the pots and planters of now roasted annual flowers,
    • eliminate weeds, especially perennials such as thistles, bindweed or quackgrass.

    As long as it does not freeze, it is necessary to carry out the pruning of the trees which need it and the soft pruning of the fruit trees. Don’t forget the berry shrubs (blackcurrants, raspberries, currants, and blueberries) and fruit lianas ( kiwis , blackberries and vines ).

    When the ground is well thawed and if it is not too wet, it is necessary to continue the planting of trees and shrubs with deciduous foliage, in particular for the plants sold with bare roots. You can also install a new hedge, boxwood borders, or a new rosebush. Take advantage of the ambient mildness to transplant a tree is placed.

    There is still time to bloom your windowsills, balcony, and garden with biannual flower seedlings that will last all spring. Forget-me-nots, daisies, pansies, violas, and wallflowers will offer generous flowering in a few weeks. You can marry them with primroses which can be kept from one year to the next and bloom again easily without too much care.

    Actions and tasks to avoid and postpone at the end of winter

    Even if your roses are showing obvious signs of recovery, they should not be pruned in the heart of winter. Pruning in January could prompt them to immediately re-shoot new tender shoots that would be toasted by another episode of severe cold. And for once, flowering would be seriously compromised or delayed.

    The same is true for all deciduous summer-flowering shrubs: altheas, pheasant trees, buddleias, caryopteris , hydrangeas and hydrangeas, shrub lavatera, perovskias, etc.

    Wait a few more weeks before cleaning and cutting back any dried-out leaves from the grass clumps. The best time is when new green leaves appear, sticking out through the old foliage.

    Do not replant forced bulb pots (crocuses, hyacinths, daffodils, or tulips) outside right away, even if they are hardy species. After forcing under shelter and a more or less prolonged stay in the house, they are much more sensitive to cold snap, the foliage not being hardened. As long as severe frosts are possible, it is preferable to install them under a frame or in a very bright and unheated room, but frost-free.