Planning your garden for next year

In the latest of a monthly series on what to do outdoors, VALERIE SINCLAIR suggests that a little thought now will provide a garden you can enjoy all year round

NOW IS the time to think about making improvements and re-organising your garden for next year. Holes can be dug for filling with compost and fertiliser and finally new trees and shrubs, allowing them time to settle in over the rainy period. Remember that some plants like vines, clematis, broom and genista do not like to have their roots disturbed. It is better to buy pot-grown varieties from your local nursery.

Useful as a tree can be to create a focal point or to provide vital shade, it is the shrubs which form the backbone of a garden, blending so well with herbaceous perennials roses and bulbs.

You might also consider the value of evergreens. They enhance the garden when other trees and shrubs are leafless. Variegated hollies bring colour into the garden and lighten up the winter sunshine, while the silvers and greys provide interesting contrast throughout the year.

Remember to spray newly planted trees and shrubs with water once a day. This will reduce loss of water from the leaves and encourage them to root in the soil. Most failures are a result of planting too deeply or lack of water after planting. All trees should be given a supporting stake to hold them in against the strong winds which prevail in Cyprus.

Always choose plants, shrubs and trees that will create both a pleasant garden but also an inviting habitat for butterflies and birds. Your garden may be superbly landscaped and planted but if it fails to attract wild creatures it will seem barren and lifeless. If you want to encourage butterflies, nectar — the main food of the breeding adults — can be provided by traditional herbaceous borders and annual bedding displays. Not surprisingly, flowers that attract butterflies cover a long season. They included stocks, godetia and nasturtiums. The buddleia and honeysuckle attract a wealth of butterflies as do a number of herbs such as rosemary, chamomile, coriander, basil, scented geranium and lemon verbena.

Flowers are the main attraction for butterflies and bees but birds look for fruit to feed on and foliage to protect their nests. Among the shrubs that tempt birds are lavender, cistus, rosemary, lilac, viburnum, latana and flowering currant. Ivy provides excellent cover for them. Many roses, particularly the wild variety, produce large quantities of hips which make very nutritious bird food.
This article was taken from The Gardening Year in Cyprus, a Practical and Useful Handbook for the Amateur Gardener. Copies are available for £2 by calling 26 270368

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.