|  | The man who always has the answer for gardeners with a problem, Reg Moule has been a popular voice on BBC Radio Gloucestershire for many years. Now Reg is available to answer your gardening questions online - What are you waiting for? Ask Reg your question... Ask Reg your gardening question DECEMBER QUESTIONS & ANSWERS: Abi from Bray, Berkshire asks:
I moved into a new house; hired a tiller to remove most of the ivy and will use 'growing success' to kill the ivy. Now what is the best way to disinfect the soil and I have a large area???? | Reg answers:
Hi Abi,
Once you have killed off the ivy there is no need to disinfect the soil and, even if there was a reason to do it, there are no longer any soil sterilisation products approved for use by amateur gardeners.
I think that the best way forward is to kill the ivy, cultivate the soil and then dig in plenty of organic matter such as well rotted farm manure, or mushroom compost. Both of these are readily available at garden centres but mushroom compost can make the soil a little alkaline, which could make growing acid loving plants, like Rhododendrons Azaleas etc, more difficult.
With Best Wsihes,
Reg. | Dr. D.W. Kaikini from Isleworth, Middlesex asks:
My newly laid lawn appears to be affected with patches of Fusarium. I would appreciate your advice re. treatment and where one can purchase the product. Many Thanks. | Reg answers:
This is a turf problem that often appears during mild, damp spells during the autumn and winter. Another factor that helps to encourage the infection is poor aeration, so spiking the area may well help to discourage the spread of the fungus. The only treatment still avaiable is a product called Bio Kills Moss On Lawns, containing the active ingredient dichlorophen, that is sold only as a ready to use mixture in a yellow spray gun pack. Even this is due to be phased out over the next 18 months, so you may not find it in all garden centres. | Jason Seemungal from Carmarthen asks:
Hi, I would like to know how to make my own ericaceous compost, can't seem to find this information anywhere. I don't want to buy it in bags as I need a large quantity. Thanks. | Reg answers:
Hi Jason. You can make your own ericaceous compost quite easily using a mixture of peat and sand or loam, peat and sand to which you add a product called Chempak Ericaceous Compost Maker. This is a blend of the correct nutrients to create a suitable acid root environment to suit all ericaceous plants, once it has been added to a basic medium blend as described above.
Some garden centres will stock the product but it also be obtained by mail order from Chempak, Geddings Road, Hoddesdon, Herts EN11 0LR. Tel:01992 441 888. e-mail: [email protected] | Bluebell in Gloucester asks:
How do I prune perennial wallflowers? | Reg answers:
Perennial wallflowers are lovely cottage garden plants that should be trimmed back each year immediately after the MAIN flowering period, as they keep making small flushes of blooms outside the main flowering period. Shoots that have bourne flowers should be cut back to where non-flowered shoots are emerging. | Nigel Phillips from Quedgeley asks:
The cutting off the top of a pineapple I took 18 months ago is outgrowing the pot & room. How big will it grow? | Reg answers:
The fruiting pineapple Ananas comosus (aka A. sativus) is not usually grown as a houseplant other than as a curiosity raised, as you have, from the top of a fruit, due to the way it develops into a large plant. They can reach up to 3-4 ft (90-120cm) tall and 4-6ft (120-180cm) in width.They are really giant herbaceous plants and they can be quite dangerous too due to the tooth-like spines on the foliage. | Mary Harris from Cheltenham asks:
A last minute Christmas present idea , where can I purchase the soham rose, bare root, please ? | Reg answers:
Hi Mary,
The best way to obtain a Soham Rose bare root is by contacting: Harkness Roses, The Rose Gardens. Cambridge Road. Hitchen Herts. SG4 0 JT Tel : 01462 420402
E-mail: [email protected]
Best Wishes,
Reg. | Sarah Clarke in London asks:
I have an indoor fig tree which after progressing well, new shoots etc.. seems to be ailing. All the leaves are dropping off, is this purely a seasonal thing or is there something I am neglecting to do? | Reg answers:
Hi Sarah,
I presume that the fig tree in question is one of the Ficus benjamina varieties, or weeping figs as they are known, because they are renowned for having periods of leaf dropping for no apparent reason. Usually this happens during the onset of autumn or in the early part of spring and to some extent it may be the plant responding to the change of season but there are other factors that can also help to promote leaf dropping. They are : 1. Keeping the plant in a position where light levels are too low. Sometimes this can be diagnosed when the majority of foliage is being lost from the side of the plant that is furthest away from the source of available light. Remedy: turning the plant regularly or moving it to a lighter spot. 2. Hot, dry air dries the leaves out, causing them to drop. This happens quite often beginning just after the central heating is used regularly after being off during the summer. You see, central heating makes the air in the home very dry so for the plant - it is a little bit like it has been put in the Sahara desert.
Remedy: Place the pot on a wide saucer of moist gravel and keep the gravel moist as well as watering the compost in the pot. This will mean that as the warm air rises around the foliage it will collect moisture from the gravel instead of sucking it out of the leaves. 3 Another possible cause would be either under or over watering or even excessive feeding.
Remedy: Push your finger into the compost to the depth of your first joint, then pull it back out and feel the end to see if it is moist. If it is then the plant does not need watering, if it is dry then give some water. During the October to late March period the plant will only need feeding once every 4 weeks as it is not growing much, just surviving until spring
when growth surges again. Some of the lost foliage will be replaced in spring anyway. I hope that this advice will help you to revive the ailing ficus. With Best Wishes, Reg. |
Watch out for more questions and answers next month... You can submit your questions to Reg by clicking here
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Gardening Guru Reg Moule has been solving green-fingered problems for years. 
