Writing in the latest edition of the BBC Gardeners’ World magazine, he pointed out one of the key problems of trying to keep plants in these conditions: “Dry, sandy soils are every bit as difficult. They are easy to cultivate after heavy rain, being rapidly free draining, but they cannot hold onto moisture or nutrients.”
But keen gardeners should worry not as he said that ‘dry, sandy soil’ can simply be added to with ‘organic matter’ to help it sustain the new plants, as he continued: “Again, the addition of organic matter – well-rotted garden compost or manure – will improve their ability to sustain plants, but such amelioration needs to be continuous, and you would be better advised to select plants which, once established, are used to drought. And that spot in dry shade – the ultimate double whammy?
“Yes, there are plants that will grow here, even though your choice will be more limited than usual. Above all, don’t lose heart. Remember the old saying: “Right plant, right place.”
As the much-loved broadcaster continued he singled out his top plants to make a space for in your gardens this autumn as he warned against trying to grow ‘brilliant summer bedding plants in deep shade’.
He added that in situations such as this gardeners should instead opt for planting the likes of: “Spring flowers such as snowdrops, bluebells and wood anemones have adapted over thousands of years to bloom early and take advantage of the available light before the overhead leaf canopy is fully developed, by which time they will be making seeds before they die down and enter summer dormancy.”
Meanwhile, as the Daily Express reported,he spoke to Stephanie Mahon on a recent episode of the Talking Gardens podcast he named the two plants he’d happily ‘banish’ from gardens forever, ‘pampass grass’ and ‘large flowered gladioli’.
Describing the appearance of pampass grass he didn’t hold back as he said that it looked ‘like a collection of feathered dusters sticking out of a mountain of grass’ and warned anyone trying to remove the plant that they’ve ‘got a real task ahead of them.’
Alan first appeared on our tv screens on BBC’s Nationwide before then landing the presenting role of the Chelsea Flower Show for the channel in 1983. Since then, his career has continued to go from strength to strength after he started presenting Gardeners World in 1996 before leaving in 2002.
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