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Welcome to the Garden Guru!

You will find lots of useful information on compost, composting and all things grow your own, from hints and tips to step by step how to guides on all sorts of interesting subjects.

Browse through all our garden guru's articles below to find the subject you are interested in.

If the article you  are looking for is not here, just ask The Compost Shop Garden Guru and he will get back to you as quickly as possible with the answers you are looking for!

How to grow from a cutting: where do most gardeners go wrong?

 Many gardeners seek to expand the variety in their gardens, and a great way to do this is through cuttings. Free, easy and low effort, it’s the perfect technique to share plants with friends, and to spread the enjoyment of beautiful plants between gardens and gardeners. It’s not just about saving money: just like growing from seed, there’s a real pleasure that comes from raising a plant from a cutting. The process of growing a more developed cutting means a faster result that from seed. However, despite the obvious benefits, there are those who avoid it. Taking cuttings is as easy as snipping some scissors: but then growing the full plant from the cutting you’ve taken is a challenge. Here’s our guide to producing a healthy, flourishing plant from the cutting you’ve taken.

  1. Know your stuff

Taking a successful cutting is all about ensuring you give your new plant the best possible chance. There are lots of decisions you can make to ensure your plant prospers, and there are real differences in the smallest of factors. The season, time of day and location of the cutting you take all play an important role.

The time of the season is important when taking a cutting. This is because you need to ensure your cutting grows its own roots prior to shoots appearing in spring. The best point in the year to remove a cutting will depend on the species of plant. Early spring is ideal for taking softwood cuttings from flowers. Herbs and berry plants should be trimmed later, in mid or late summer, while cuttings from trees and more mature plants should be taken later, in the Autumn. All cuttings are best taken early in the morning, while the plant is still strong from a night of rest and moisture absorption. Bear in mind that younger plants root more easily that older plants.

  1. Be prepared

Your cuttings will flourish with the right care, and it’s vital they get into the conditions they need in time. Trimming part of a plant allows only a fairly small window of time before the part you’re hoping to cultivate begins to wilt. You should refrigerate your cutting to slow decomposition, yet if you’re prepared and in a good position to plant your cuttings straight away, you’ll be able to give your garden’s new addition the best possible chance of prospering. Some vital materials to keep on standby for your cuttings search include:

  • Secateurs, a sharp knife or scissors to take the cutting
  • A clean plastic bag for your cutting
  • Rooting medium
  • Root hormone feed
  • Small pots
  • A covering to keep the cutting warm and protected- for example a clear plastic bag or cloche.
  • Heating pads to ensure consistent temperature and minimise the risk of damage
  1. Take the right cutting

The most effective type of cutting you can take is a nodal cutting- this is a cutting taken from an area between nodes, or leafs, shoots or buds, areas that tend to build up the nutrients you need to promote root growth.

Take a straight cut from a part of the stem not too brittle or too bendy- as this is likely to be the area of the stem with the best balance of carbohydrates and nitrogen.

When the time comes to take your cutting, cut 6-8 inches of plant and remove leafs from the bottom half of its length before planting into a few inches of rooting medium. Keep it in the greenhouse, under a cloche or indoors in a plastic bag (warm but out of direct, strong sunlight, ensuring to allow it to air regularly) to ensure it grows strong enough to put down roots as desired.

  1. Feed and treat it correctly

Keeping your cutting healthy as it grows new roots means it needs the right feed, but it’s not regular fertiliser but rooting hormone that’s required. As with all plants, it’s not simply a question of volume: quality is equally important. Overfeeding your plant on nitrogen for instance will weaken the cutting. Similarly, you need to be careful what you plant your cutting in: soil will contain bacteria that can harm the fragile cutting. Using specialist rooting medium is the best way to ensure you get healthy root growth. Your cutting should be kept warm and well fed until its roots grow and it can be moved into a normal pot. Take care not to shock or damage the delicate cutting, and remove any damaged or dying material from the stem as often as you can.

  1. Move it on

After you’ve planted your cutting in rooting medium, it should take 3-4 weeks for your stem to produce roots. At this point you can move it on to potting out in special potting compost.

Whatever your gardening projects in 2018, we stock everything you need to help your plants prosper in our shop. All our products are rigorously tested on our farm, and we provide great value for money by delivering everything straight to your garden! 

 

The fungal frontier: the undiscovered, simple, delicious world of home-grown mushrooms

mushroom compost & manure for sale, to John Innes compost delivered, so why not check it out today! 

 

Ericaceous FAQs: our list of ericaceous plants Q&A’s

 

If you’re looking for compost for your acid-lovers, remember to check out our shop for great deals on bulk ericaceous compost as well as a range of other specialist compost, topsoils, supplies and more!

 

We love to see ericaceous plants- nothing stands out like the famously fashionable ericaceous acer or lights up a garden like an azalea. While we here at The Compost Shop have conditioning the soil for your ericaceous plants covered, there’s still a lot to know about these plants. So if you yearn for a striking Japanese maple, a rustic heather or a delicate rhododendron in your garden, read on and discover a whole new dimension to your gardening.

A (non-exhaustive!) list of ericaceous compost questions

 

  1. Why are they called ericaceous plants?

The name comes from Ericaceae, the name for heathers. These are classic acid-loving plants, and can create striking boundaries in your borders. Among this huge & diverse family are some surprising heathers, including some you definitely don’t picture on the typical rolling ‘heathland’- cranberry, blueberry, rhododendrons and azaleas.

  1. Can I use ericaceous compost for other plants?

It’s possible, if you mix your compost in with other compost or even lime (to neutralise the pH) and avoid using it for very chalk-loving plants. However the effort would be extensive and the results possibly unreliable. Ultimately compost stores well if kept correctly, so it would be advisable to use the correct compost as far as possible, and keep your erinaceous supply for the plants that benefit from it the most.

  1. How can I tell if I have acidic soil?

This is an important question. Using a map such as this one, from Cranfield University, can help, as can surveying the types and health of the plants that grow in your garden already. However the best way to be certain is through a reliable soil pH testing kit bought from a reputable supplier. This should give you a definite picture of your soil condition and if you conduct all three of these steps you’ll be in a good position to judge your soil condition accurately.

  1. Can soil pH change?

This would not happen naturally, however there are ways in which humans can adjust the profile of patches of soil to grow particular plants- at the simplest, most localised end of the scale is using something like ericaceous compost to plant a small shrub in a pot or pocket in the ground. On the other end of the scale is perhaps widespread liming of the soil by farms, or adding minerals or chemicals to adjust pH in favour of certain crops. Indeed, over 50 years the government of the Cerrado region of Brazil transformed their agriculture thanks to up to 25 million tonnes of lime per year being spread on fields, boosting soybean production to feed cattle and export.

  1. What happens if I plant something in the wrong pH soil?

Many plants show symptoms of poor growth when planted in the wrong soil: the minerals in the soil obstruct healthy uptake of nutrients. Unhealthy, yellow-colour leaves, weak growth and poor root development will make it clear your plants aren’t doing as well as they could. Many people misinterpret these as symptoms of disease, which can unfortunately lead to the same mistakes being made over and over again.

If you have any more questions about ericaceous compost, or the ways in which it can benefit your garden, speak to our team or check out our ericaceous compost information page. 

 

 

 

Need to buy bulk ericaceous compost? We stock a wide range of tried & tested soil improvers to boost your acid-loving plants

From small gardens to public spaces, look no further to buy bulk ericaceous compost!

Do you revel in the fiery glow of a Japanese acer? How about the tingle of excitement that comes with plucking the first blueberry of the summer? Does the burst of colour of a healthy azalea light up your garden?

If your spring has only sprung when the delicate beauty of rhododendrons brightens your borders, we salute you! You’re a gardener with high ideals and goals because these plants aren’t your ordinary run-of-the-mill planting project — at least not in most parts of the country. These are acid lovers or lime haters  plants that need a lower soil pH up to about 7.

Buy bags or bulk ericaceous compost here — we cater to gardens of all sizes

Also known as ericaceous plants, these aren’t the only plants that thrive in low-pH soil — lots of plants need the acid soil to prosper. Plants that have evolved growing wild on forest floors especially tend to prefer acid soil — as dead leaf matter tends to increase acidity, this is their normal growing environment. Many types of heather, and some types of berry-bearing shrub such as winterberry, cranberry, and bilberry (as well as the aforementioned blueberry) benefit from slightly acid soil. There are plenty of other plants too — makes sure to check the preferred soil conditions of plants you hope to buy.

If they’re acid lovers, don’t panic — this just means you have to take an extra step in your planning — because, with the exception of some areas, most of the UK isn’t naturally acidic. You should use a reliable, quality pH testing kit to determine your soil condition before you invest in ericaceous plants. There’s a good chance that your garden won’t be accommodating to these types, and you will need to acidify the soil using ericaceous compost.

At The Compost Shop, we cater to everyone and every size of project, from small back garden borders to parks and public spaces — so whatever your needs, if you’re looking to buy bulk ericaceous compost, we can help!

Check out our shop or contact our team on 0871 971 0988 to learn more about the services we offer.