Baytree Garden Centre’s Mark Cox offers tips on preparing your garden for Bonfire Night

Mark Cox of Baytree Garden Center discusses preparing his garden for Bonfire Night…

It is now that the perfectly manicured Halloween pumpkin has passed its prime. The flesh is now soft and flexible, which makes the face appear swollen. In a few days I’m sure he’ll collapse in on himself as just a slimy mess. Still, I have the annual Kidd Family Bonfire Night viewing to look forward to following my discovery of the aforementioned slime ball from out the back door.

For as long as I can remember, November 5th has meant one thing to me, abject poverty. My £14.99 fireworks budget seems to buy less and less every year and I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve almost set myself on fire. This year I secretly hired myself in a professional “We can make you ooh dot com” fireworks outfit.

To mask their efforts from the members of Kidd’s family, I ordered them to work only after dark behind the ever-growing pile of fire. I think daughter number one arranged for some of her friends to come back and as a result our 2ft high bonfire pile is now 4ft tall with the wood and fuel added by her friends. I especially look forward to seeing his face when the fantastic display begins.

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I, like many of you at this time of year, have accumulated quite a large pile of clippings from diseased or damaged plants from my garden that I have removed from contaminating my compost pile for fear of spreading the disease This makes the Bonfire Night very welcome as a bonfire is a great way to dispose of these clippings etc. Please do not burn household waste, even if it is against the law.

In preparation for the Kidd fire of the century, he had been busy in the garden clearing the leaves, because if the embers fall, we will all be safe. Also, since we’re now in November, I’ve started lifting my potted containers off the floor and placing them on specialist pot feet. This prevents the container and the plants inside from getting waterlogged. Less water, less frost damage (which is next week’s job, Rome wasn’t built in a day).

If you can, try placing your containers on mobile plant caddies. They have jockey wheels on the base and that make moving your containers around a real doddle. They are more expensive than pot feet, but they are worth it.

With my garden now tidy, the lawn and paths cleared of leaves and the bill paid all that was left was to check the fire before lighting to make sure no wildlife such as hedgehogs were nesting inside . Check done and with the family gathered and daughter number one friends at a safe distance, it was time to light the fire. All I can say is – a textbook. The fire lit up quickly and we quickly created sparkler works of art.

A few seconds after I gave my secret nod to the pyrotechnic crew hiding in the bushes, the garden was filled with light from exploding rockets all shooting off in a perfectly choreographed sequence. The loud bangs were thunderous and really took my breath away. Daughter number one and friends stood there with their mouths open as the display reached its climax. With a powerful weather boom, which made the ground freeze, the display was over as my shed was now on fire after sustaining a direct hit.

“Oooh” said the current Mrs Cox – which unfortunately for me meant I had to give a five star review for “We can make you ooh.com”. After all, they had fulfilled their brief.