THE GARDENING YEAR STARTS QUIETLY

THE GARDENING YEAR STARTS QUIETLY

Recent weather has curtailed progress of any outdoor gardening activities. The gales continued to blow and now my greenhouse has lost over twenty panes of glass, as well as the ventilator and the door which blew off. Another two days were taken up with collecting shattered glass fragments blown over a huge area of garden. Gales also blew down about thirty feet of fence panels, so I may change the fence to a ranch style which should not be so vulnerable to strong winds.

We have also had a lot of rain, and not much frost or snow, as I pen my thoughts early on Hogmanay, but knowing that when the magazine appears on Saturday 11^th January 2014 we could well be seeing a wee bit of serious winter.

Who knows what global warming has in store for us in 2014.

It has been too wet to walk over the soil surface, other than for harvesting the numerous fresh vegetables available following the brilliant 2013 summer. However we did have a long dry spell just before Christmas when I got most of my fruit bushes pruned as well as some roses. The dry spell also encouraged a full team effort, (me and Anna) to get all the surface weeds removed and clear up all the leaves.

My main rose bed and all my climbers will be pruned and tied up in mid January to mid February depending on weather. Apple trees will also get pruned at this time to encourage a balance of fruiting wood and strong young growth. I will also continue to lower the crown on our old Bramley apple tree to allow most of the picking from the ground. I am told I am getting too old to clamber up trees to reach that perfect apple just slightly out of reach at the end of a long slender branch.

Pruning grape vines

My other pruning task to be completed in January is my grape vines both in my gale damaged greenhouse as well as all my outdoor vines. I am hoping that the greenhouse vines are well hardened off and quite tough so should not suffer removal of the greenhouse in winter and building a replacement around the main rods. My ten foot long greenhouse has a permanent framework of five upright rods spaced two feet apart in a row on the east side of the greenhouse. It is side shoots from this that produce the bunches of grapes. I grow my tomatoes on the west side as well as the south end. They all seem to be happy growing together.

I prune every shoot on my grape vine back to one or two buds in January, as if left till February or later they are liable to bleed as sap rises up quite early in the season by which time the cut ends should have healed over.

Indoor tasks

Geranium cuttings taken last autumn are now all well rooted and can be potted up in individual pots. I will add extra grit to my compost to improve the drainage and pot them up in the smallest pots available as geraniums are prone to damping off in winter. I also grow them cool otherwise they will grow too big for windowsills, and I don’t know when I will have a greenhouse ready for them.

My Amaryllis bulb pot started off with one strong flower spike, but then another three flower stems appeared. Finally two of the smaller bulbs in the pot have produced flower stems, so it is going to be an absolute cracker. The foliage and flower stems are all quite tall so they needed four bamboo stakes and ties to give them support.

Keep them moist but not wet and feed once a month at this time of year, but once a fortnight in spring and summer. Although they prefer to remain pot bound to encourage good flowering, I will need to pot mine up after flowering as the bulb growth has been very strong and the pots are now distorted and the top very heavy and liable to topple over unless they get a stronger pot with a wide base.

Plant of the week

Elaeagnus pungens maculata is an evergreen shrub with golden variegated leaves. It will grow on just about any soil and can reach up to 4 metres eventually, so is perfect for screening and adding bright colour to the garden in winter. It is happy in sun or shade, and although the flowers are very insignificant, they are said to have an exquisite perfume. My five foot tall elaeagnus planted eight years ago has yet to reward me with its perfume, but I am patient. It does not need any pruning other than removing any straggly shoots or those that revert back to green and lose their variegation.

It can be propagated by semi ripe cuttings in mid summer.

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NEW IDEAS FOR 2014 WITH HINDSIGHT

NEW IDEAS FOR 2014 WITH HINDSIGHT

Last week we reviewed the garden and allotment to analyse how plants and crops performed with a late spring, a brilliant summer then a poor autumn. We can never tell what the weather has in store for us, so we plan crops for what we hope will be a normal year.

Flowers

Some plants are very reliable and will give a great display no matter what kind of year we get. Geraniums, tuberous begonias, gladioli and chrysanthemums never let me down. When I lived in Darlington the drier sunnier climate allowed us to grow fantastic African marigolds. Now I always reckon Dundee is Scotland’s sunniest city, (I’m sure I read it somewhere) so my African marigolds should be just fine. In 2012 they were an absolute washout, but I tried them again last year. Growth was massive, but flowering was never a show stopper. This year I will have a few but they have to perform or they get deleted. Fuchsias did not like the hot weather, but they are special so will be grown again this year.

I have always loved roses, but black spot really tests them now there is not a decent chemical to spray them with. Some varieties have stronger foliage and can resist an attack, but many of my favourites such as Margaret Merrill and even Iceberg can suffer very badly.

Vegetables

Following the disastrous 2012 wet year when clubroot attacked every brassica, turnips, Swedes, radish, wallflowers and even my mustard green manures, I made many changes. Mustard green manure was replaced with red clover and tares, and most brassica varieties had to be bred for clubroot resistance. Most of these new varieties had been bred here at the James Hutton Institute, and results have been fantastic. I have had such heavy crops and no losses that we had far more than we could eat or freeze so a lot was given away. So this year it is back to Swede Marion or Gowrie, cabbage Kilaton and cauliflower Clapton. I still grow Brussels sprouts Wellington, but may try Crispus this year as it is clubroot resistant.

Fruit

Hopefully this year will see my first huge sweet berries from my new Big Ben blackcurrants, and also my new row of raspberry Glen Fyne.

I have tried cape gooseberries for too many years now. Last year’s great summer helped the growth and fruiting, but autumn was poor so the young fruits would just not ripen up. Outdoor plants were a waste of time and even in the greenhouse they did not impress me.

This is the goji berries last chance. If it doesn’t fruit, or the fruit is not absolutely delicious it gets dug out.

Outdoor grapes were a huge success, but then it was a great summer and all the varieties are early ripening so the poor autumn did not affect them. However, as they are only just planted, other than Solaris, which is in its third year, they will need training and good growing to see if they can continue to give good results.

Rondo, Regent, Solaris and Phoenix all gave some grapes that ripened just fine. Siegerrebe struggled to grow so it will need another year or more to try it out.

Outdoor cherry Cherokee was really good last year, so hopefully this will continue with an even better crop as the dwarf tree gets bigger.

This has to be the year my new varieties of pear, Beurre Hardy and the Christie, grafted onto my Comice in 2011 bear some fruit, as I did not get one fruit last year. Also my outdoor peach Peregrine failed to fruit last year, so hopefully it will crop heavily in 2014.

Apple grafts from local heritage varieties Park Farm Pippin, Lord Roseberry and Pearl will also give me some crop this year, hopefully, provided 2014 turns out to be a relatively normal year free from gales, blizzards, floods and tornadoes. Only time will tell.

Plant of the week

Cyclamen persicum has always been a favourite pot plant for autumn and winter flowering, always trying to time peak flowering around Christmas, but usually getting it too early. They come in a range of white, pink, mauve and scarlet colours. Keep them cool and moist but never wet and they are happier on a less sunny windowsill. They can flower every year with the right conditions. Water, some feeding and cool growing conditions after flowering will build up a strong corm. Dry it off in summer to give it a rest before starting it off again in autumn. If it needs repotting keep the corm above the soil surface to prevent any rotting of the new foliage or flowers.

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LOOKING BACK ON A GREAT YEAR

LOOKING BACK ON A GREAT YEAR

The success of garden plants is not really under our control. The weather determines whether they will be successful or not. After the disastrous 2012 cold wet year we were not really expecting a great year as we now feel climate change might just mean warmer rain but a lot more of it.

This year started off very late. Winter lasted a long time, and then spring was three to four weeks late and not all that exciting.

However summer did eventually arrive, temperatures climbed, the rain stopped and never really returned for the whole summer. People and plants responded with great delight. Garden and allotment got planted up, weeds got wiped out, the hose appeared and was used frequently, and when all the work was completed the sun lounger appeared after lying unused for over a year. As we relaxed on the patio enjoying the warm of our Scottish heatwave, the scent of climbing rose Gertrude Jekyll wafted over the scene. Flower beds have never been better with geraniums, marigolds and tuberous begonias all flowering in profusion.

Fruits in abundance

Strawberries were the first to respond to the dry sunny weather. Huge crops of sweet berries were picked over a long season with a range of different varieties and no losses due to botrytis.

Currants, gooseberries, raspberries, brambles and saskatoons all produced prolific crops. This created a major problem, as you can only eat so much fresh fruit. The freezer soon got packed to full capacity with fruit and vegetables. We were chomping our way through fruit, vegetables, salads and soups daily, and we had not even started harvesting the plums yet.

My only answer was to find more demijohns and start converting the spare fruit into wine, so now I have over thirty gallons of top quality fruit wine which should be ready for tasting after a couple of years. However some may not last all that long if early samplings show good results.

Apples and plums were unbelievable, giving us massive crops, but pears and my outdoor peach tree did not give one fruit. Shoots produced in 2012 did not get any warmth in summer or autumn to ripen up the wood so no fruit buds formed. Hopefully they will fruit prolifically in 2014.

Vegetables everywhere

Just like the fruit crops most vegetables responded to the brilliant summer. I used clubroot resistant varieties of cabbage, cauliflower and Swedes which proved to be a very worthwhile decision. Beetroot was so successful that I have still three rows in the ground but earthed up for frost protection into winter. Onions were a failure this year as white rot took hold the previous wet year and has now infected the crop this year. Summer salads are easy, but my autumn salads are all in full crop in December with plenty fresh leaves available for salads and stir frying.

Tomatoes under glass had a bad start with the delayed spring, but eventually made up and gave ripe sweet fruit till autumn. Grapes were also excellent, though warm weather in autumn was in short supply so ripening was very slow. Outdoor grape Brant gave a very heavy crop which was turned into more wine.

 

Flowers

It was a brilliant year for the roses as well as the summer bedding plants, gladioli, chrysanthemums, and even the spring bedding gave a great display, though a few weeks late. However my half hardy fuchsias did not like the heat wave and sulked till late summer as cooler days arrived then they had their day, just as I was about to turf them out. Outdoor fuchsia Mrs Popple had no problem with the hot summer and was covered in flowers for months right up till the end of November.

Each year seems to be totally different from the previous year so who knows what 2014 will be like.

However as the weather deliberately defies logic it is just as likely to give us an even warmer and sunnier 2014, just as it did in 1975 and 1976. With that pleasant thought in mind I will sign off this fantastic year and raising my glass, filled with vintage Saskatoon wine to the next brilliant year.

Plant of the week

Poinsettia will always add a festive touch and a bright splash of colour as the large coloured bracts are very showy. It is possible to retain the plants for a few years, but it is hardly worthwhile as they are not expensive, and they are very demanding in their growing requirements, especially the twelve week period of short days to induce bract production.

Keep the plant warm and water sparingly and never leave it sitting in water. It is a tropical plant so give it plenty of sunshine on a windowsill.

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DARK AND DAMP DECEMBER DAYS

DARK AND DAMP DECEMBER DAYS

Garden activities have been a bit curtailed not only by the short days but also by too much rain. Temperatures are just fine for this time of year, but you should resist walking over the soil if it is wet. However some activities such as pruning my raspberries, currants, saskatoons and gooseberries can be done as the soil is firm and I can always add a mulch of compost to protect the surface.

As the festive season approaches priorities change as the needs of the Christmas tree for decorations takes precedent over the need to get my compost spread and dug in, at least as long as it is still wet outdoors.

It took me nearly three hours to find and clear up all the broken glass from my greenhouse, after the last gales in early December twisted the structure and shattered over a dozen panes of glass, spreading shards all over the garden. I will now need a dry fortnight as I will have to remove all the glass so I can bend the aluminium structure back into shape to allow the glass to fit in. I think my grape vines will be fine as recent frosty weather was just cold enough to harden the stems off without causing any injury. The greenhouse base will also need more strengthening as it came away from the breeze block base pulling out all my bolts. I have no chance of getting bored over Christmas and New Year as someone has got a wee reconstruction job to do. I don’t think Santa Clause will be bringing me a new greenhouse.

Dry weather is also necessary to allow me to spray my peach tree with fungicide to prevent peach leaf curl. Previous sprays of Bordeaux mixture last spring together with a warm dry summer really helped to keep peach leaf curl at bay, but if wet weather continues it is very ready to reappear.

Anna has been busy in the kitchen making a festive spiced pumpkin soup with one of our confused pumpkin courgette hybrids. Saving your own seeds from that huge perfect pumpkin is not always a bright idea if it just happens to be growing next to some really good courgettes. However the flesh has been great with not so many seeds, but the outer skin was a bit tougher than normal.

The resultant soup was delicious.

Allotment life

Not much happening up at City Road other than finishing off the pruning and tying in the raspberries, (with a running knot) and tying the bramble Helen back onto my shed wall.

Digging continues as long as it is dry enough or the soil surface has some frost on it.

Mild days in late autumn and early winter has allowed a lot of leafy vegetables to keep growing. I have any amount of salads still very tender and as yet unaffected by cold weather. To pick a tender outdoor lettuce in December is quite a feat. Other leafy vegetables such as Swiss chard and kale for stir frying are also plentiful, and cauliflowers for hearting up next spring are really quite big. Spring cabbage April has started to heart up and some could be used now, but we have not even started on the January Kings as we are trying to finish off the autumn cabbage.

Brassicas have been very successful this year as I mostly grew clubroot resistant varieties.

Flowers

Care had to be taken when clearing up leaves in the flower borders as most bulbs have started growing and many have young tips showing above soil surface level. As soon as all the leaves are off my coloured stem winter border it will get a compost mulch before the bulbs put on any more growth. The garden is still surprising us with flowers still unaffected by winter weather. Climbing rose Iceberg had some brilliant flowers out in mid December, and Irish bell heather Daboecia is a mass of small white tubular flowers. However I still wait on my Jasmine and Hellebore to show a bit of flower. My three year old Amaryllis which I fed and watered all summer before drying it off to ripen up the bulbs has now burst into growth and is showing four flower spikes. I have kept it very pot bound and it seems to have worked. Hopefully the flowers will open in January.

 

Plant of the week

Irish Bell Heather, Daboecia cantabrica comes in pink and white colours. The tubular flowers open in summer and autumn, but this year they have continued well into winter. This heather is evergreen and grows in all soils but prefers full sun for flowering. This low growing heather is quite dense so makes a terrific ground cover plant for the low maintenance garden. I grow mine in a mixed drift heather garden next to azaleas and a specimen white stemmed birch in the middle for effect.

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