We moved here to the far west of Cornwall a couple of years ago and are
just just starting to get the garden in some sort of shape. The mild
winters are nice: last year's frosts were a bit of a exception, but the
wind is a challenge.

Pendeen is restarting its gardening club to form a focus for gardening
activities in this area. Get in touch if you are interested.

Regards
Peter

http://www.pendeengardeningclub.co.uk

--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ---

On 2014-01-03 14:40:49 +0000, Peter Wilkinson said:

We moved here to the far west of Cornwall a couple of years ago and are
just just starting to get the garden in some sort of shape. The mild
winters are nice: last year's frosts were a bit of a exception, but the
wind is a challenge.

Pendeen is restarting its gardening club to form a focus for gardening
activities in this area. Get in touch if you are interested.

Regards
Peter

http://www.pendeengardeningclub.co.uk

--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ---

There are a few people from parts of Cornwall who post here but this is
your man for an interesting talk for your new gardening club! Charlie
Pridham and his wife Liz are at: http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk/
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

In article ,
says...

Let me know if you find a satisfactory method of staking things. We've
been in the area for twelve years now, overlooking the sea and very
exposed to SW salt gales (like...as I type, it's absolutely roaring
outside!), and lose shrubs regularly, staked or not.

I avoid staking and find stone-anchoring much more effective. Just two
or three heavy boulders close to the stem; once the plant is established
they can be removed. And plant small. A small plant has chance to grow
a root system big enough to anchor the future topgrowth. Large/tall
plants on a small root structure are in a losing battle from the start.

I'm gardening on an island coast clifftop in West Scotland, it's mild
and very wet, lots of salty wind, often galeforce.We've spent weeks this
winter battened down under winds from 60 to 90 mph but haven't lost any
plants. The vast majority of my garden is evergreen (in all colours)
plants otherwise I'd spend nine months of the year looking at sticks.. I
choose wind resistant and wind filtering plants ; small or narrow leaves
are good; and pack them in close. Plants that can take anything include
bamboos, fatsia japonica, ceanothus, double gorse,cordyline,corokia,
griselinea, eleagnus,fuchsia, hebe, ozothmnus, phormium,pittosporum,
rugosa roses, sambucus, melianthus, cornus, hazels, buddliea,
agapanthus, verbena bonariensis, hawthorn, leptospermum and camellia,
rowan, irises, euphorbia, and crocosmias.

Janet (Isle of Arran)

On Fri, 03 Jan 2014 17:15:16 +0000, Chris Hogg wrote:

Most of my shrubs are double staked or triple staked in a triangle, but
stakes break, pull out of the ground, ties break etc.

Bigger stakes. B-)

Our 8x6 shed is staked down they don't break or rot. They are
re-purposed tree stakes about 1 1/2" sq and 5' long, driven in as far
as I could get 'em, around 18".

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Friday, January 3, 2014 7:51:34 PM UTC, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 03 Jan 2014 17:15:16 +0000, Chris Hogg wrote:



Most of my shrubs are double staked or triple staked in a triangle, but

stakes break, pull out of the ground, ties break etc.



Bigger stakes. B-)



Our 8x6 shed is staked down they don't break or rot. They are

re-purposed tree stakes about 1 1/2" sq and 5' long, driven in as far

as I could get 'em, around 18".



--

Cheers

Dave.

This reply is to all the posters above:

Thanks for all those kind replies: advice and contacts for gardening club.

Climate: Yes, I realize its not the Isles of Scilly! But we do seem to be able to plant potatoes about now and harvest in April (well, we did last two years)

Wind: The big problem. F7 is routine and F9 not unusual. Two 50mm by 2m stakes with twisted inner tube elastic between them holding the plant seems to work, but its ugly and out of the question for 20-30 hedging plants.

We are banking on a shelter belt of Olearia virgata laxifolia (from Trevena cross, as it happens) but they seem to be leaning a bit. I think I over-fed them and they have got a bit top heavy for the light soil. Big rocks seem to be helping.

I think I have found a useful resource...

Regards

Peter

On 03/01/2014 20:26, wrote:
On Friday, January 3, 2014 7:51:34 PM UTC, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 03 Jan 2014 17:15:16 +0000, Chris Hogg wrote:



Most of my shrubs are double staked or triple staked in a triangle, but

stakes break, pull out of the ground, ties break etc.



Bigger stakes. B-)



Our 8x6 shed is staked down they don't break or rot. They are

re-purposed tree stakes about 1 1/2" sq and 5' long, driven in as far

as I could get 'em, around 18".



--

Cheers

Dave.

This reply is to all the posters above:

Thanks for all those kind replies: advice and contacts for gardening club.

Climate: Yes, I realize its not the Isles of Scilly! But we do seem to be able to plant potatoes about now and harvest in April (well, we did last two years)

Wind: The big problem. F7 is routine and F9 not unusual. Two 50mm by 2m stakes with twisted inner tube elastic between them holding the plant seems to work, but its ugly and out of the question for 20-30 hedging plants.

We are banking on a shelter belt of Olearia virgata laxifolia (from Trevena cross, as it happens) but they seem to be leaning a bit. I think I over-fed them and they have got a bit top heavy for the light soil. Big rocks seem to be helping.

I think I have found a useful resource...

Regards

Peter

I don't know what hedging you are using but I planted around 2000
hawthorn and Lonicera nitida all at around 45degrees, with a post wire
fence to give security and added support.
Planting at 45 degrees gives a thicker base and allows the plants to
develop a good root system before the wind really hits them, also if the
plants overlap they give each other support.
David @ a windy side of Swansea bay

On 2014-01-03 20:26:58 +0000, said:

On Friday, January 3, 2014 7:51:34 PM UTC, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 03 Jan 2014 17:15:16 +0000, Chris Hogg wrote:



Most of my shrubs are double staked or triple staked in a triangle, but

stakes break, pull out of the ground, ties break etc.



Bigger stakes. B-)



Our 8x6 shed is staked down they don't break or rot. They are

re-purposed tree stakes about 1 1/2" sq and 5' long, driven in as far

as I could get 'em, around 18".



--

Cheers

Dave.

This reply is to all the posters above:

Thanks for all those kind replies: advice and contacts for gardening club.

Climate: Yes, I realize its not the Isles of Scilly! But we do seem to
be able to plant potatoes about now and harvest in April (well, we did
last two years)

Wind: The big problem. F7 is routine and F9 not unusual. Two 50mm by 2m
stakes with twisted inner tube elastic between them holding the plant
seems to work, but its ugly and out of the question for 20-30 hedging
plants.

We are banking on a shelter belt of Olearia virgata laxifolia (from
Trevena cross, as it happens) but they seem to be leaning a bit. I
think I over-fed them and they have got a bit top heavy for the light
soil. Big rocks seem to be helping.

I think I have found a useful resource...

Regards

Peter

For what it's worth, we know the gardens on Tresco quite well. Without
the shelter belt that was so thoughtfully planted before the
interesting work got going, that garden could not exist today! It
means that the view from the Abbey Gardens is very restricted to a
glimpse here and there towards the sea but it does mean there is a
garden!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

Yes, Chris, I think your analysis with the hedging blowing over is spot on. Trevenna Cross said we *could* take off a third, not that we *must* . Being evergreen doesn't help the windage either. Will prune them today...
Book looks interesting too.

Peter

http://www.pendeengardeningclub.co.uk

"Chris Hogg" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 03 Jan 2014 14:40:49 +0000, Peter Wilkinson
wrote:

We moved here to the far west of Cornwall a couple of years ago and are
just just starting to get the garden in some sort of shape. The mild
winters are nice: last year's frosts were a bit of a exception, but the
wind is a challenge.

Pendeen is restarting its gardening club to form a focus for gardening
activities in this area. Get in touch if you are interested.

Regards
Peter

http://www.pendeengardeningclub.co.uk

--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ---


Er....yes, me. Pendeen's a bit far away though. We're on the Lizard.

It's mild, but not so mild that you can grow anything. It's not as
mild as on the Isles of Scilly only 30 miles away, for example. I
tried a lot of South African stuff when we first came here, proteas
etc., and lost almost all of it (but not quite all; I still have one
protea!). Don't go by average temperatures, but go by the lowest for
several years. You can lose an awful lot in one night of frost even if
it's the only frost in the year (BTDTGTTS!).

Let me know if you find a satisfactory method of staking things. We've
been in the area for twelve years now, overlooking the sea and very
exposed to SW salt gales (like...as I type, it's absolutely roaring
outside!), and lose shrubs regularly, staked or not. Most of my shrubs
are double staked or triple staked in a triangle, but stakes break,
pull out of the ground, ties break etc. Two shrubs gone in the last
fortnight. Camellias cope quite well IME. I have lots! I grow what
survives, by trial and error, and there's plenty of error!

Look out for 'Seaside Gardening', by Christine Kelway, Collingridge
1962. Long out of print, but s/h copies available through the Advanced
Book Exchange, for example http://tinyurl.com/plpmn6q. Failing that,
she's also done another: 'Gardening on the coast'
http://tinyurl.com/o5prpax, although I've not read that one.

Trevena Cross nursery, on the way to Helston, is good for plants.
http://www.trevenacross.co.uk/
Also Cross Common nursery, in Lizard Town.
http://www.crosscommonnursery.co.uk/

Good luck!

--

Chris

Gardening in West Cornwall overlooking the sea.
Mild, but very exposed to salt gales

If you can get hold of a copy "Shrubs for Milder Counties" by W Arnold
Foster which tells how they managed to create the garden at Eagles Nest on
the top of Zennor Moor. is full of ideas on plant choices creating wind
breaks (and staking !) A visit to Long Cross Victorian garden on the north
coast may also yield some ideas


--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk

If you can get hold of a copy "Shrubs for Milder Counties" by W Arnold

Foster which tells how they managed to create the garden at Eagles Nest on

the top of Zennor Moor. is full of ideas on plant choices creating wind

breaks (and staking !) A visit to Long Cross Victorian garden on the north

coast may also yield some ideas





--

Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall

Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella

and Lapageria rosea cvs

http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk


I just bought: 'Shrubs for the Milder Counties' by W. Arnold-Forster from Amazon. Thanks to those posters who suggested it.

Peter

On Friday, January 3, 2014 2:40:49 PM UTC, Peter Wilkinson wrote:
We moved here to the far west of Cornwall a couple of years ago and are

just just starting to get the garden in some sort of shape. The mild

winters are nice: last year's frosts were a bit of a exception, but the

wind is a challenge.



Pendeen is restarting its gardening club to form a focus for gardening

activities in this area. Get in touch if you are interested.



Regards

Peter



http://www.pendeengardeningclub.co.uk



--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ---

My copy of Shrubs for Milder Counties just arrived - great book. I wish I had it when we moved to Pendeen in 2011! Anyway, thanks for the recommendation.

Peter

http://www.pendeengardeningclub.co.uk