SUMMER STRAWBERRIES

SUMMER STRAWBERRIES

Once you pick your first completely ripe strawberry from your own strawberry patch you can taste a wee bit of heaven and you know summer has arrived. We all strive to get them as early as possible but they must be allowed to ripen fully on the plant as once picked the ripening process stops. They do not improve with storing.

The earliest variety I grow is Mae and I usually grow two rows, one of which I protect with a low polythene tunnel to enhance ripening by a couple of weeks. This also protects them from rain splashing on the fruit and keeps blackbirds from pecking at them. However I also lay fresh straw along the rows to give complete protection from rain splashes. Strawberries under tunnels will need irrigation during any dry spells so the straw is quite essential. Once flowering starts the fruit will need pollinating from bees so lift up the polythene six inches or so on all sunny days.

The row of Mae not under a tunnel will give me a succession of fruit before my other main crops start. This row will need to be protected from birds by netting, though I have noticed that on our allotment site where there is ample food for birds this are not a big problem. Several plot holders do not bother to net and do not get much damage from the local blackbirds. Last year I did not net my strawberries and only lost a few from birds.

I picked my first few berries from my tunnelled row on 30^th May this year, and hope to continue to pick fresh fruit from a range of varieties well into October. This is possible with perpetual varieties such as Flamenco. This perpetual variety is not a heavy cropper, but you get a continual supply of berries from mid summer till autumn. Flamenco has a great flavour but some fruits are often misshapen. They will continue to fruit into November even after a few frosts. They look great and very tempting but lack of warmth and sunshine produces a large berry with the texture and taste of a wee bright red turnip.

There are numerous varieties of strawberry available from nurseries and garden centres all over UK, but as they are grown in so many different localities you need to try several varieties to find the best ones to suit your area and soil conditions. Over the years breeders have improved varieties by creating disease resistance from red thread, then botrytis grey mould. Now varieties are bred to be more successful under polythene tunnel production and demand from supermarkets require strawberries to be available over a long period. We have excellent main crop varieties such as Elsanta, then for the earliest fruit Mae, Honeoye and Elvira. The main season can be extended with later varieties such as Rhapsody, Symphony and Florence.

There are several perpetual varieties to try, but some are very shy to produce runners so it is very difficult to increase your stock if you find a good variety. Flamenco does not have this problem.

To keep the strawberry bed in good form to crop it for three years, cut off all the old leaves immediately after fruiting has finished and remove the straw. This can all go onto the compost heap. New leaves will soon appear to feed the crown for initiating fruit buds for the following year.

Autumn is a great time to plant up new rows with freshly dug runners. Make sure they go into soil that is weed free and well cultivated adding in plenty of organic matter as the bed will be down for several years. Plant in rows three feet apart with the plants spaced a foot apart along the row. At times with some varieties having plenty of runners I double up my spacing along the row to get a bigger crop in the first year.

If land is not available till spring then order cold stored runners to plant from March onwards.

During the growing season you can remove all the runners so the crowns produce the biggest fruit, or allow some to grow to form a matted row. This gives a heavier crop but sometimes with smaller fruit in the second and third years.

Plant of the week

Shrub rose Ispahan is a pink highly scented old fashioned Damask rose growing up to eight feet tall. The leaves are quite tough so it does not suffer much from the normal range of rose diseases.

It is a very old rose introduced from the Middle East in the 13^th century during the Crusades. It can still be found growing in the wild in Iran.

It is one of the first shrub roses to flower and although it has its main flush in summer it will continue to flower till the autumn.

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ALLOTMENT FLOWERS

ALLOTMENT FLOWERS

Allotments have traditionally been places where you grew potatoes and a few other vegetables and some fruit such as strawberries, blackcurrants and maybe a gooseberry. Rhubarb was essential as it was very easy and most people had some spare crowns they could pass on to newcomers. In the days of old when there were very few ladies on site, flowers were frowned upon as you could not eat them. It was definitely a man’s world. Allotments today have moved forward to meet the needs of the leisure gardener who may not have a garden at home so the plot is the area for outdoor recreation. There are just as many ladies as guys with plots, and kids are very welcome to participate, do some watering and grow the sunflowers, pumpkins and whatever they fancy. The lessons and pleasure of eating your own home grown plants from seeds or cuttings stay with most kids as they grow up.

Allotments have usually had a shed for tools and somewhere to shelter when it rains, a greenhouse for the tomatoes and maybe even a Black Hamburg grape vine, and now today a patio or somewhere to sit is essential. Outdoor living during the summer months requires a patio, a table and chairs and maybe a barbeque. To complete the picture the allotment needs to be attractive to the eye so flowers are now present on most folks plot. Tubs and hanging baskets adorn the patio surrounds, and flower beds and borders blend the sheds and fences into the landscape.

Chrysanthemums, gladioli, dahlias and sweet peas are very popular for cut flower, and all sorts of annuals and perennials can be used for flower borders from spring till autumn.

City Road has a wealth of flowering borders adjacent to the main path creating a very attractive approach through the site. However hidden away in the plots you can find flowering shrubs such as hypericums, philadelphus, brooms, roses and herbaceous foxgloves, iris, day lilies, pinks and osteospermums. Some gardeners have grown natural wild plants to brighten up their plots, and annual poppies are always very popular, provided seed heads are removed to stop them taken over.

One plot even has a pond with gorgeous white water lilies. Hopefully when the tadpoles enjoying a wee swim at the present moment, grow into frogs they will seek out the numerous slugs and have themselves a wee feast.

Spring time sees a wealth of daffodils, tulips and crocus, then Iceland poppies take us into summer with all sorts of plants. Fruit trees are also becoming very popular with apples, plums, cherries and pears adding height to the spring flowers.

Herbs are becoming very popular as attractive plants on site and useful in the kitchen. Chives, lavender, rosemary, sage and thyme are plentiful.

Plant of the week

Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum) is one of the best climbers for scent. It flowers in mid summer and is very easy to grow. It likes moist fertile soil that is well drained and flowers best in full sun. Give it a fence or some kind of support to twine around and in time it will grow ten or more feet tall.

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ENJOYING THE SUMMER IN THE GARDEN

ENJOYING THE SUMMER IN THE GARDEN

At long last the Scottish summer has arrived and has surpassed itself with a lot more than just our normal three consecutive days of brilliant sunshine. We have a lot to thank for with global warming.

The garden has been unbelievable. Summer flowers are not waiting to put on a decent bit of growth before they settle down to flower. There are flowers everywhere. Hanging baskets and tubs full of geraniums, petunias and impatiens are at their best, but with still plenty of time to grow bigger and provide even more flowers. Even the winter flowering hanging baskets full of pansies are still flowering so though they have been replaced they are now sitting on large pots on the patio. As long as they get dead headed they will continue to flower.

However begonias, lobelia and nemesia are all growing strongly but not yet coming into flower. Their time will come.

In the herbaceous border the oriental poppies, peonies and flag iris have all finished, but now the delphiniums are taking central stage.

Both bush roses and climbing roses are at their best and my shrub rose Ispahan and Lavender Lassie are covered in masses of scented pink flowers.

Summer flowering shrubs provide the backbone in the garden landscape with the larger ones giving privacy around boundaries. Philadelphus has masses of pristine white scented flowers in mid summer and can grow very tall. Buddleia and some Escallonias  all in flower now can also reach for the sky. Coming down in scale the Hypericums, Cistus, fuchsia and Senecio just love these long days of hot dry sunny weather. I am just hoping that it will still be there when this comes into print.

The hot dry weather has been great for weed killing as hoed weeds left on the surface just shrivel up, and paths, hard standing and other areas where weedkillers, mainly glyphosate has been used are perfect to wipe out pernicious perennial weeds.

Down on the allotment strawberry picking is in full swing, so for breakfast it is strawberries in the muesli, then strawberries with Greek yoghurt and a drizzle of honey for lunch, then in the evenings it is just strawberries to enjoy as we watch the World Cup. There might even be some left over to enjoy once Wimbledon starts and Andy gets into his stride.

Staying on the healthy foods, lettuce, radish, spring onions, Swiss chard and the first of our Purple Top Milan turnips are all ready for the plate. Most of the overwintered cauliflower Aalsmeer have finished, but for some reason there is one left that just seems to grow bigger and bigger but as yet the curd has not formed. It is going to be a cracker, I hope.

Broad beans have responded to the warm weather and are in full flower with plants standing over five feet tall. However dwarf French beans had a very poor germination, then the slugs had a feast before I got the pellets out. This might not be their year, but it is too early to condemn them yet.

Peas are all growing very strongly. I have recycled my pruned shrubs for supports for them, so Salix britzensis looks after my Kelvedon Wonder and my dead Goji which I dug out now supports my Hurst Green Shaft. Both the willow (Salix) and the Goji prunings have rooted and started to grow.

Is it the weather or my green fingers. That Goji was dead, but now it wants to live after I dug it out. That is just plain weird.

Potatoes are all now in full flower and looking very strong, but I will wait another couple of weeks before I lift a sample of my early variety Lady Chrystl.

Plant of the week

Senecio greyi is a medium sized evergreen shrub with grey foliage and in mid summer gets covered in masses of bright yellow daisy shaped flowers. It is perfect for maritime locations and dry soils with good drainage. It flowers best in full sun.

It is very easy to propagate from softwood cuttings in early summer or ripe cuttings later on.

The yellow flowers associate very well with mauve flowers of Erigeron and the bright purple succulent Delosperma cooperi which all flower at the same time and will all grow in drier soils.

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POTTERING AROUND

POTTERING AROUND

Relaxation in the garden is difficult in early summer, even after most crops have been sown or planted and harvesting has not really started as there is always some wee job needing attention.

The old leaves of crocus, daffodils, tulips and other spring flowering bulbs have all died down so these can be removed and added to the compost heap.

Any bare soil left behind once all the leaves have been removed can be planted up with annuals from seed or summer bedding plants such as Impatiens, Marigolds, geraniums, petunias or lobelia.

Dead head rhododendrons and azaleas so the bushes can direct all their energy into growing the young shoots that will ripen up in autumn and produce next years flowers. Add these to the compost heap.

The damp mild weather has encouraged the growth of annual weeds so remove these before they get too big and again add to the compost heap mixing them in with any grass cuttings from the lawn.

Even after completely using up all last years garden compost and starting another heap in early March, my new compost heap is already gaining size as I add shredded tree and shrub prunings and all our kitchen waste.

This was turned at the beginning of June to assist rotting then some fertile soil added to the top so I could plant a few spare tomatoes and pumpkins. Slug pellets were necessary to control compost heap slugs and snails, but now they are all growing quite strongly and small tomatoes are beginning to develop.

Good growth is assisted by the heat produced as the compost heap rots down, and now these outdoor tomatoes are flowering on their second truss. Both these plants and my greenhouse tomatoes, now flowering on their third truss, will get weekly feeding, removal of side shoots and tying up as they grow tall and need good support. Never underestimate the weight of crop as the tomatoes ripen, as supports need to be very robust.

Indoor and outdoor grape vines have now all developed the grape bunches so summer pruning has started. As I grow mine on the cordon system with one upright rod that produces several fruiting laterals, the pruning is simple but constant from now right up till late autumn. Any barren shoots with no sign of a bunch are removed. All other fruiting laterals are tipped at two leaves after the fruiting bunch. There after every shoot is tipped at one leaf so the plants can turn their energy into developing the fruit rather than producing excess growth.

Keep the ventilators in the greenhouse wide open all summer and open the door as well on warm days to prevent any build up of mildew, botrytis or other diseases likely to affect tomatoes or grapes.

Now is a perfect time to propagate numerous plants, e.g. fuchsias, by softwood cuttings. Take these about two or three inches long and put into a free draining compost then after watering cover with a polythene bag for a month. Once they are rooted they can be potted up. Some plants such as the succulent Delosperma can be propagated by pulling off pieces and putting them into pots of compost where they root very quickly.

Hanging baskets do not have an abundance of compost so need regular feeding to keep them growing and flowering. Give them a general feed once a week.

Some taller growing herbaceous plants such as delphiniums need tying in as they can grow quite tall. Mine will grow up to six feet tall, and give great value with the bright blue flowers.

Plant of the week

Cistus purpureus is a small evergreen shrub with grey foliage and deep pink flowers with central crimson blotches. It flowers in early summer and is perfect for seaside locations and drier soils as long as it gets watered enough after planting to get it established. Plant it in full sun.

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