Reader Queries:

Q: I have a 6ft standard bay tree which I have repotted over the years and it is now in a 14in clay pot. It blows over occasionally in the wind. Is there a limit to the size of pot in which it will thrive, or must I put it in the ground, where it would be more exposed and on clay soil? - Mr S. F. Richards, Swindon, Wilts

A: Keeping any shrub or tree successfully in a pot over many years relies on three things: feeding, watering and pruning. Light liquid feeding is required all through the growing season, with a fertiliser that includes trace elements; overfeeding leads to lush growth which is difficult to manage in a pot.

It is best to let the plant become dryish (but not dry) between waterings. A plant that has been in the same pot for years may block the pot’s drainage holes with roots, causing waterlogging, and it’s a good idea always to take it out and repot it every 2-3 years, even if it’s to go back in the same pot. When it’s too big to repot, that’s the time to put it in the ground.

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Pruning and nipping out of shoots is best done regularly, allowing the plant enough new foliage to thrive but not masses of long shoots which will produce unwanted wind resistance. The roots must be pruned too, during repotting, taking off all the spiralled roots and a little of the fibrous root all over the rootball, to encourage new bushy roots.

Under this regime your bay could continue in its pot for years, increasing pot size by only a few inches when you repot, and gradually moving to a flatter, more stable, half-barrel shape as you go. That said, bay is perfectly happy with its roots in clay so, if stability is a problem, plant it out. Bay copes with windy exposure, although it can look very shabby; bitterly cold exposure will stunt or sometimes kill it.

Q: Can I seed last year’s bare patches in my lawn now, or is it too late? - Mrs M. Fitzpatrick, Watford

A: Technically you can sow grass all season; but an immediate spell of summery heat and drought is a problem – hence the usual advice to sow in spring or early autumn. But this April was astonishingly warm and very dry, so maybe it was fortunate you didn’t sow. Try your luck now.

Q: I have a young plum/greengage bush. It is a root sucker from an old plum/greengage tree planted in the Twenties. The fruit is yellow/orange when ripe and very sweet — just like a greengage — and very attractive to wasps. I have been told it is called "Magnum Borum", but I can find no reference to it. — Mr F. Hazell, by e-mail

A: It will almost certainly be the myrobalan or cherry plum (prunus cerasifera) — sounds too similar not to be true. The fruits are small and round, and although you might not plant it if you want a large volume of fruit, it is definitely good to eat. It is the purple-leaved form of this tree — "Pissardii" — that you see in town gardens covered in pale pink blossom before the leaves in spring. The late tree expert Alan Mitchell hated it with a vengeance and used to call it "Pissard's Purple", with the emphasis on the first syllable.

Q: I need to move some dwarf tulips from the garden into pots, since my newly acquired chickens are finding them a delicacy. Should the bulbs be lifted, dried and replanted in the autumn, or am I able to transplant them into pots now that they have finished flowering? Also, should my tulips in pots, which have been so successful this year, be left alone to flower again next year, or lifted and dried? — Dee Dudgeon, Scarborough

A: If you lift tulips before they have died down, the leaves will not persist long enough to make them flower well next year. On the other hand, you won't kill them. But there's no need to dry or pot up yours; you could just lift them and plant them out now into their new home, to finish dying down there.

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