As weather forecasters pointed out before the high winds and heavy rain struck on Monday morning, it’s very unusual to have a named storm at this time of year.
In fact, this was the first time a name has been given to a spell of extreme weather in the UK since Storm Eowyn wrought havoc, here and across many parts of the country, towards the end of January.
With most trees still covered in leaves, there was certainly the potential for the wind to cause plenty of chaos this week.
The high winds of Storm Floris brought down a tree in Darroch Park, Gourock. (Image: George Munro) Thankfully Floris didn’t leave quite as much disruption in her wake as Eowyn did earlier in the year, though as readers of the Tele will know, there were fallen trees in a number of locations around the area, including Inverkip Road in Greenock and at Darroch Park in Gourock.
Hats off to all those who ventured out to make sure that the damage was cleared as quickly and safely as possible.
Gardeners will not be the only ones delighted at the forecast for drier and sunnier weather towards the end of this week and into the weekend .
But with our weather patterns seemingly becoming more and more unpredictable each year, how long will it be before the next weather warning is issued for Inverclyde?
Get planting now for spring colour
We may still be in the midst of summer – despite Storm Floris’s best efforts to persuade us otherwise – but now is the time when gardeners should be planning their designs and displays for next spring.
My advice is that a visit to your local garden centre should be item number one on your to-do list – or, if you prefer, consult your favourite mail order catalogues. It’s never too early to start thinking about what to feature in your own unique and colourful layout next year!
Narcissus flowers are a favourite with many gardeners (Image: Simon Greig) Most of the flowers gardeners will choose will be grown from bulbs, which can provide colour in your garden for around seven months of the year. If you’re not sure where to start, many gardeners’ favourites are narcissus, daffodils, hyacinths and tulips.
If you’re shopping at a garden centre, make sure you choose only bulb s that are sound and robust; discard any that are soft or spongy, as these are more likely to be infected by disease.
As anyone who enjoys a walk in the outdoors in the late winter or early spring will know, the first bulbs to flower are normally snowdrops. These will multiply once they have been planted, and have been known to last for decades – perhaps for as long as a hundred years.
Now’s the ideal time to go shopping for bulbs for your 2026 spring and summer displays. (Image: Unsplash.com) When you’re planting your bulbs, if the soil appears very wet and soggy, add some sharp sand to the base of the planting hole. This will stop the bulbs from rotting. Plant at a depth akin to the height of the bulb, and you should be able to create a good display.
If you need an extra hand, there are special bulb-planting tools on the market, and you can pick one up at your local garden centre.
At this stage I should perhaps remind readers that inside the bulb, the flower is already formed, even though it will be many months before it blooms. If you don’t believe me, cut a bulb in two and you’ll see the small, coloured flowers right in the centre.
Hyacinths bring a splash of spring and summer colour to any garden. (Image: You Garden) Most of the bulbs I’ve mentioned can be grown in pots and containers as well as in soil, and as the weeks progress I’ll look in more detail at each one I’ve mentioned here.
Child’s play
Many people think of gardening as an older person’s pursuit – perhaps something that’s favoured by those who have retired and have a little bit more time to devote to keeping their own patch of green space looking at its best.
Which is all very well, but it doesn’t do much to spark the curiosity of young people. So how do we get the next generation interested in gardening?
A bucket and spade might be more associated with sandy beaches and summer holidays – but gardeners of all ages can make use of them at home too. (Image: Canva) Well, one simple and straightforward way is to buy some small, plastic garden tools. These have as important a place in your garden shed as big, strong, metal tools. Something that’s small, colourful, safe and easy for a child to handle is a great way to show them that gardening is something for all ages to enjoy.
But children aren’t the only ones who can make full use of these smaller-scale tools. A plastic spade or rake is brilliant for gardeners of all ages looking for an easy way of filling small pots and containers with compost or sand without spilling it all over the floor or the path.
Unlike some metal gardening tools, they are inexpensive, they don’t need a lot of looking after and you can buy them in almost any shop.
Soil testing kits
If you have found that your fruit, veg or flowers aren’t growing in your garden as well as you had expected, it might be worth testing the soil to see if it’s perhaps not as gardener-friendly as you’d anticipated.
There is a wide range of soil testing kits on the market, but in my experience the best are those which use probes rather than a liquid.
If your soil isn’t as conducive to growing as you’d hoped, carrying out a pH test using a probe-based rather than liquid-based kit is a good idea. (Image: Canva) Even when the liquid in question is water, the test results are often poor and inaccurate – especially so if the water you’re using has come straight out of the tap, and which therefore may contain lime and other chemicals such as fluorine.
A friend of mine once phoned to ask about the results of a kit he had used and which claimed his soil had a pH level of more than nine, which his garden was home to plants which were peat-loving and ericaceous by nature.
When I asked if he’d used tap water to carry out the test, he admitted that he had, and so I suggested he repeat the test, this time using distilled or de-ionised water.
I’ll look at soil testing in more detail over the coming weeks.
It’s almost show time
As I mentioned in a previous column recently, the Caddlehill Allotment Society is holding its annual show on Saturday, August 23, with the Kilmacolm Horticultural Society’s annual show following on Saturday, August 30.
To find out more about the Caddlehill event, email stewartrose582@gmail.com; for more detail on the Kilmacolm show, see kilmacolmhorticultural.com/home/.
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