Postbag Edition: RHS Wisley Greening Skills Garden

Questions and timecodes are below. Where applicable, plant names have been provided.

Q – I have some very sad looking ferns due to the hot weather this summer. Should I leave them to recover in the spring or is it compost time for them? (04’35”)

Matthew Pottage –

Aspleniumscolopendrium, hart’s tongue fern

Dryopteris, wood fern

Adiantumvenustum, evergreen maidenhair

Blechnum chilense, chile blechnum

Ruscusaculeatus, butcher's broom

Danaeracemosa, alexandrian laurel

Q – Do we know what climate conditions in the proceeding winter, spring, and summer would contribute to a mast year for trees? (07’37”)

Matthew Pottage:

Crataegus, hawthorn

Hedgerow

Quercusrobur, english oak

Q – When my courgettes are five or six centimetres long, they go yellow and stop growing - What am I doing wrong? (11’10”)

Q – My Schefflera has been growing lots of blackmold this year – what’s wrong with it? (14’02”)

Q – I have an old. King size, feather, and down duvet. Can the feathers be successfully added to the compost heap and any hints on mixtures for it? (18’47”)

Q – What’s wrong with my Bonsai Apple Tree? (21’36”)

Q – When is this a good idea to chop and drop and how does it affect the soil? (23’47”)

Q – Can you re-use the compost that was previously used infected with clubroot? (28’17”)

Q - Can we leave fallen acorns to become mulch, or should we clean them up? (31’33”)

Q – My black bamboo has lost its green colour – what can I do to revive it? (33’53”)

Q – What is the most unexpected place you have come across a plant? (37’23”)

Matthew Biggs –

Buddleja, butterfly bush

Pippa Greenwood –

Mimosapudica, sensitive plant

Matthew Pottage –

Cactus