Worplesdon Garden Club Blog

Plants, like us, need nutrients to live and grow and there are thirteen essential mineral nutrients needed by all plants.  Six of these are needed in large amounts and are called macronutrients, and the remaining seven are needed in small amounts and are called micronutrients. Of all the thirteen nutrients, the one plants need in the greatest abundance, is Nitrogen.  Nitrogen is used to make amino acids - the building blocks of proteins, as well as genetic components of the cell, the DNA and RNA.   It also increases the amount of chlorophyll and thus the green colour of plants. Nitrogen deficiency in plants can typically be seen by the stunting of stems above ground and of the roots below. There is typically a yellowing of the entire leaf-blade with the older leaves succumbing first.   In contrast, an excess of Nitrogen will result in excessive top-growth of soft shoots that have less of the woody lignin plants need for rigidity and contain less natural phenol-ba...

Recent sightings of Box Tree caterpillars in Normandy is a timely reminder to be on the lookout for these small but voracious pests that can defoliate box hedges and topiary in a matter of just a few days. Plants will eventually recover and should not be removed, but attacks are unsightly and will weaken plants. Photograph from ebts.org The caterpillars are the larval stages of the Asian Box-Tree Moth ( Cydalima perspectalis ) accidently introduced into Kent in 2007.   There can be three generations of caterpillars and adult moths in a season from March to October, so their spread from Kent has been rapid and relentless.    Photograph from ebts.org Various pesticides, both organic and synthetic can be effective, but repeated applications may be necessary and as caterpillars usually produce silk webbing over their feeding area, contact spraying can be made more challenging by the need to penetrate this protective web. Biological control by spraying foliage with strains o...

A while ago, Monty Don did a feature on Gardeners' World on how to make your own plant supports from lengths of steel rod. It’s a very simple method to make incredibly effective and inexpensive supports for your plants. You can view the clip from the programme on the BBC Gardeners' World website, but basically, you take a length of steel rod, bend it into a hairpin shape around a tree, and then bend the tails up at at right angle to the hoop.     Monty suggests starting with 2.5m lengths of 6mm steel rod, but I could only (easily / cheaply) find 3m or 6m lengths from companies providing steel rods to the building industry, so decided to go for the 6m lengths as it provided more option on final cut lenghts. The rods are cut to desired length with an angle grinder and I tried a few different lengths and have bent these around different trees to get different hoop sizes. My favourites styles are the ‘ Walnut ’ and the ‘ Sycamore ’, from a 2m rod. Here’s an example with Mexi...

Welcome to the new blog for  Worplesdon Garden Club   It is available through the Google Blogger site, but more importantly, it is available through the  Club website .  We try to do our best to inform and entertain all our Club members and have produced a monthly newsletter for many years that is emailed or posted to all members.  In recent years, we have also tried to have a greater presence on-line. Whilst it may not be accessible to all members, the current Covid-19 crisis has showed us how adaptable people can be, and how Zoom and other methods of communication can help provide a touch of normality.  This blog will allow members to dig a bit deeper into the stories mentioned in the  Newsletter  and to keep up to date with any Club announcements and ‘goings on’.  Hope you enjoy it.  Comments can be added to  posts on the blog (Google sign-in required) or through our  Feedback Page  of the  website .