GROW SOMETHING BIG

GROW SOMETHING BIG

Gardeners have always loved to rise to the challenge of getting the biggest plant possible. Once you have mastered the techniques of getting good crops many like to take it a wee bit further and then size does matter. Once it gets under your skin and results come in, the dedicated gardeners like to take their produce to the shows in open competition. However for most of us we are happy to grow a huge pumpkin or a very tall sunflower.

Pumpkin Hundredweight

These are the simple pleasures we use to get our young kids involved in a bit of gardening. With most plants it is simply a matter of dedication and attention to detail so each type can grow in a lavish world where everything it wants is laid on.

Dahlia Karma Gold

Start with well prepared soil, with good drainage and plenty well rotted compost added, adding extra fertiliser depending on plant then give irrigation as necessary and weekly feeding for the roots. Pests and diseases and weeds are not allowed so keep an eye on them and take action immediately.

Pumpkins and courgettes respond to maximum feeding, watering and pruning of excessive young shoots. You also need to start with a variety that likes to grow huge like Hundredweight or Atlantic Giant Pumpkin. Start them early in a greenhouse to give them a long growing season then allow plenty of space to grow but do not take too many fruits from each plant.

Onions are another favourite that need rich soil, feeding plenty of room and a long growing season, starting off with a good variety like Kelsae. Most gardeners would be very happy with outdoor grown large onions, but if you compete at shows then most likely the onions will be grown in pots or special beds in a greenhouse or tunnel. Avoid over watering as onions are very prone to white rot.

Onion Globo

To grow giant leeks is not easy as the techniques are kept closely guarded secrets, especially feeding and strains of exhibition varieties are often handed down from father to son. Germination is usually from an autumn sowing and plants potted up gradually in ever richer soil. They can grow outdoors but many prefer glasshouse or tunnel protection for better results.

Cabbage, cauliflower, Swedes and other vegetables all follow similar growing styles.

Potatoes are another favourite when going for size and the variety Amour will get you off to a good start. It has huge tubers for the show bench as well as a cracking baked potato.

Flowers are a different story when seeking a large head as some respond to rich soil with feeding such as sunflowers and dahlias, but others such as carnations, iris and lilies do not need rich soil, but good soil structure and free drainage is essential.

Lily Chelsea

Chrysanthemums and dahlias for exhibition or just for large heads require selecting the best varieties, growing them strongly and only growing one or two heads per plant so all the plants energy is concentrated in growing a large flower.

Sweet Peas grown for size are usually grown as single stem cordons. Ground preparation is essential, so select a site with very fertile soil and enhance this by taking out a trench in autumn and forking in compost or well rotted manure into the bottom. Leave this over winter but back fill with good soil ahead of planting in early spring. Seeds are sown in the greenhouse in autumn and grown on. Young plants are tipped after a few leaves then the strongest shoot is retained. Use six foot tall canes to support the cordons removing all side shoots and tendrils. Liquid feed weekly.

Spur pruning grape vine

Wee jobs to do this week

Grape vines grown both indoors and outdoors are best pruned between December and the end of January otherwise they are liable to bleed as the sap rises quite early in the season. Under glass they are grown as upright rods spaced about 18 inches apart and 6 feet tall. All sideshoots are cut back to one or two buds. This system is also fine outdoors, or grown with a fan shaped permanent framework as long branches are given ample space. Again all shoots are cut back to a couple of buds. Commercially vines are grown on the Guyot system of pruning where fruiting laterals are only kept for one year then replaced. There are some excellent You Tube videos on this technique.

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GROW FRUIT TO IMPRESS

GROW FRUIT TO IMPRESS

The world we live in seems to change at an ever increasing speed and the older generation struggles to keep up with technological improvements. We spend hours trying to understand how to work the tablet, mobile phone, new printers and smart gadgets. The instructions on disc are in English, but not in a language easy to understand unless you have a grasp of symbols. Our kids get round this through education from primary schools onwards, then spending hours in the bedroom free to roam around cyberspace. I visited a friend’s new house and remarked how impressed I was at the ample open space for the kids to play on.

Cherry Cherokee

They all laughed as they told me kids don’t do that any more. Afraid that was my generation. Anyway, back in the world of gardening things are advancing but not at quite the same pace. The need to produce food to save money has gone for most folk, so now our allotments are a social meeting point of like minded souls and a place to chill out with some fresh air and relaxation after a wee bit of strenuous exercise. We grow for healthy food to eat and produce crops to impress our friends. We now grow rocket, mizuna, sweet corn, Swiss chard and now kale and rhubarb are back in fashion as must have healthy foods to eat.

Fig Brown Turkey

Fruit crops are going through the same changes, so now we have raspberries and strawberries fruiting from early summer till autumn, apples suited to the very small gardens and now everyone is having a go at the unusual and exotic crops. Nurseries, plant breeders and scientists are all out to improve plant performance and extend the range of plants available. Our gardens and allotments can be a great source of pleasure as we amaze our fellow gardeners with new, unusual and sometimes exotic fruit plants.

Fig Brown Turkey is quite successful in Scotland outdoors if given the shelter and warmth of a south facing wall and grown in a pit to restrict root growth and encourage fruiting.

Peaches are also successful up north outdoors with the same south facing fence or wall, but because of the peach leaf curl disease use the variety Avalon Pride which gets some disease but not enough to curtail growth and fruiting.

Grape Brant growing outdoors

Cherries are also possible outdoors with varieties like Cherokee especially if grown on the dwarfing rootstock Gisella 5. This keeps the height down to about six feet so nets can be used to keep birds off the fruits.

Saskatoons are easy to grow and are quite similar to blueberries but fruit a few weeks earlier. They produce a far heavier crop than blueberries and also need protection from birds.

Grapes grown outdoors in Scotland are a new venture. At present there are many hardy varieties to choose from. I am having success with Brant, Phoenix and Rondo with Solaris showing promise and Seigerrebe which crops early could be another to watch. It is a very heavy cropper, but grapes are small, though very sweet so can be a problem with wasps.

Strawberries can now fruit for 6 months from mid May by selecting a range of varieties and giving a row of earlies some polythene tunnel protection.

Raspberries can fruit from summer to autumn with a few varieties including Polka and Autumn Treasure for the late crops. Glen Fyne is brilliant in summer with the newer Glen Dee just planted.

Scottish Heritage apple Pearl

Apple and pear trees now come in many different forms to suit both large and very small gardens. Fans, cordons and espaliers were normal for walls but now we have narrow columnar shapes and low stepover plants. Where space is restricted you can buy a family tree with several varieties grown on one tree, or you can graft new varieties, (try Pearl a heritage type) onto your own tree as it is not too difficult. I will show this technique in a March feature for grafting in early spring.

Wee jobs to do this week

Sharpen up the garden shears

If frost or snow prevent outdoor activities take the chance of going through the gardening tools to make sure you are ready for the year ahead. Repair or replace broken or worn out spades, rakes, hoes, shears, garden lines, brushes or hoses that leak. Take a file and sharpen shears and hoes.

As I will be doing some grafting in March my knife will get sharpened with a carborundum stone.

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A WINTER’S DAY IN THE GARDEN

A WINTER’S DAY IN THE GARDEN

The festive season is now well over, the Christmas tree and lights, is packed away for another year, and the bottles of amber nectar have been emptied, but plans for the garden and allotment are well advanced, so once my head clears a wee trip round the garden is on the cards, weather permitting.

Frost and snow and a few gales are most likely at this time of year, but there are always a few bright, but cold days when life in the garden struggles on. The winter of 2010 was our last serious cold snap when I couldn’t even reach the greenhouse as the snow was so deep, but the grape vines and overwintering lettuce still survived.

Snowed up

However outdoors it was a different story as many plants of a more tender nature got wiped out. Agapanthus, Leptospermum and my well established date palm paid the price. Eucalyptus lost a few leaves, but survived and Fuchsia Mrs Popple and my tall palm trees, Cordyline australis got cut down to ground level, but both came back again eventually. We keep a close watch on the weather forecasters, but promises of heatwaves and threats of impending gloom as low pressure systems screaming across the Atlantic head in our direction, but often just miss Tayside. It is this unpredictability that makes success in gardening quite an adventure.

Cornus Westonbirt

However the sun is shining so I have a flower border in need of composting and digging before the snow arrives. While outside adjacent to this border, is my grape vine border sheltered with south facing walls planted up with snowdrops quite happy to be in full flower from December through to February. Even a covering of snow does them no harm as they will just wait till it melts then open up as normal. Looking further afield you will see many other daffodils, crocus, tulips and aconites and other bulbs pushing up into daylight at every opportunity.

 The yellow flowered climbing shrub Jasminum nudiflorum is another plant quite happy in a colder climate but ready to open up its flowers on a sunny day. Viburnum bodnantense Dawn with scented pink flowers is another charmer to brighten up the winter months, and Mahonia Charity can be quite striking as an architectural specimen in a heather garden with its long racemes of yellow flowers.

Snowdrops in December

When you enjoy being in the garden twelve months of the year, not just from spring to autumn, you learn to grow those plants that are at their best in winter. The coloured stemmed Cornus, willow, Salix britzensis, green stemmed Kerrias, grey stemmed Rubus and coral red Maples are brilliant if mass planted in drifts. If you have room add a white stemmed birch, Betula jacquemontii for size and drama, and at ground level plant more drifts of heathers at their best in winter. Erica carnea comes in white, pink and red flowers and Calluna Goldsworth Crimson and Beoley Gold have striking golden and bronze foliage enhanced after a few frosty days.

Up at the allotment we can still harvest fresh kale, a winter cabbage and cauliflower Aalsmeer as well as a few parsnips, leeks,

Winter cauliflower Aalsmeer

Swedes and rocket. However no sprouts for me as I dug them all out after they failed to button up, though I am told blown sprouts are delicious in a stir fry. Too late!!!

Another dry sunny day and I can add some well rotted compost as a mulch around my fruit bushes, especially useful around gooseberries as it seems to stop attacks from sawfly maggot.

Leaves in the garden are now all raked up and added to my new compost heap mixed in with other garden debris from the autumn tidy up, so after a couple of months this will get turned and I hope to have good compost ready for spring planting of potatoes and early summer planting of courgettes and pumpkins that really benefit from plenty of organic matter to grow into and retain moisture.

Water festive pot plants carefully

As cold weather comes and goes keep checking the bird table for food and top up the water dish. If the water is frozen, knock it out and replace with warmer water that will last a few hours before freezing up again. Any apples going off in store are fine for the blackbirds once all the brown bits are cut off and it is sliced in half.

Wee jobs to do this week

Indoors, water and feed orchids, azaleas, amaryllis and poinsettias carefully, but don’t flood them. Give them light and some warmth, but keep well away from radiators and draughts.

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GARDEN PLANS FOR 2017

GARDEN PLANS FOR 2017

Festive holidays may be a time to relax, but getting involved in next year’s garden plans can also be very relaxing. Armed with a few new plant and seed catalogues we can sit back in comfort as we decide what new ventures lie ahead for 2017.  Decision making is always assisted with the help of some festive liquid refreshment, most of which was home grown such as the gooseberry wine, coming out as top favourite but closely followed by the Saskatoon and apple. The currants, black, white and red all make distinctly different wines, and the Chokeberry (Aronia) is in another world altogether. Anyway I usually start plans for each year based on the previous year’s results.
If some crops were outstanding in 2016 I will repeat them again this year.

Ronda grape on trial

Thus tomato Sweet Million, a very productive and sweet cherry type and Sungold, another cherry in yellow, but just as sweet, will both be in the schedule. Potato Amour produced a huge crop of immense sized spuds with a great flavour and Casa Blanca is perfect as a salad potato full of flavour. Charlotte, another salad type was also a winner and Sarpo Mira gave a great crop so will come back for 2017. I was not impressed with Genson, so it will not get a second chance.

Staying with root crops, I was very impressed with my gardening magazine freebie Beetroot Cylindrica, so will get more for 2017. Parsnip Gladiator was very tasty but the long roots were not as thick as other types. Brassicas had a poor year mainly on account of severe clubroot infections. If the variety of cabbage, cauliflower or Brussels sprouts are not resistant to clubroot they will fail on my soil, so I will only use clubroot resistant types, and experiment with different sowing dates.

New raspberry Glen Dee

Brussels sprouts Bedford Fillbasket never filled any basket as every sprout blew wide open, so Sprouts for the festive lunch came from our local supermarket. I will need to go back to that old variety, but very reliable, Wellington.

Another gardening magazine freebie was a packet of mixed salad leaves. Within this mixture of the good the bad and the ugly appeared a fantastic red frilled lettuce, Lollo Rosso, which will definitely be on the list for 2017. It is very attractive and is crisp and full of flavour.

Anna samples strawberry Albion

In the fruit garden, the autumn raspberries Polka and Autumn Treasure were both very impressive with the latter cropping from late august till the frosts. Summer fruiting Glen Fyne gave a huge crop and the newer variety Glen Dee shows a lot of promise for 2017.

Bramble Reuben has had a couple of seasons to sort itself out but failed miserably. Described as a primocane, with huge fruits borne on shoots grown the same year. As mine never flowered till November both last year and this year I have had no crop at all. However I am leaving the canes for another year to see how they perform as a normal floricane. I did that in 2016 but with weak shoots only growing five feet tall the fruits produced were miserable, with an average size of 1.5 cms, hardly the size of a small plum as in the catalogue description.

Euonymous ground cover

New strawberry Albion fruits from mid summer till late autumn, but is a wee bit hard, so will get another year. Strawberry Colossus did not fruit last year so I am hoping to report back with good news of huge berries this coming summer.

My pear tree cropped so poorly that it is scheduled for grafting some Concorde shoots onto the tree to see if this will help with pollination in the future.

Garden flowers improvements to show in 2017 will be more mass planting of tulips, oriental lilies and dwarf azaleas to assist ground cover. Euonymus ground cover is already proving very attractive giving a bright splash of colour all winter.

Completing Lady in Red painting at end of 2016

Wee jobs to do this week

Favourable autumn and winter weather has allowed the garden to get tidied up, and the allotment digging to be completed, and now back indoors in the studio I am finishing off my last painting for 2016 as my “Lady in Red” does some shopping in Dundee High Street, so as I relax into the festive spirit the only wee job left for this week is to wish all my readers a happy New Year.

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LOOKING BACK OVER 2016

LOOKING BACK OVER 2016

The Festive season is a time to relax and enjoy the benefits of our labour over the past year. We have filled the freezer with fruit and vegetables, there is ample fruit and vegetables in storage, and plenty leeks, swedes, cabbages, winter cauliflower, kale, winter lettuce, rocket, Swiss chard and parsnips still quietly growing through the winter months. It is a time to look back and review the year, looking at the successes, failures, varieties we grow, sowing dates and how much we have worked with the climate that can never be relied on as no one knows what is normal any more.

John and Anna wish everybody a very Merry Christmas

However it is the climate more than anything else that determines how plants will grow. The UK climate varies dramatically from north to south and east to west, but looking back my Dundee area hasnae done too bad. Early on we came through a reasonably mild winter which had snowdrops beginning to flower the previous December, just a bit like this winter as mine are all showing white tips as I write. The year will go on record as a mild dry year, with always just enough rain to keep plants growing in between warm dry weather. The south of UK got plenty heatwaves, which we were promised would travel north, but the heat seemed to wither away round about the borders.

Fuchsia Mrs Popple

Spring arrived early and never got too warm so displays of daffodils, crocus and tulips were brilliant and lasted a very long time. Fruit trees flowered abundantly, and there always seemed to be plenty bees around to pollinate them. The apples gave the heaviest crop ever and had to get some serious thinning. Fiesta was my biggest winner as fruit was huge, very flavoursome and is still very fresh in storage. Discovery and Red Devil both cropped heavily. Pears looked great in full blossom, but only produced three fruits, so either a late frost stopped fertilisation or my four varieties on one tree are not compatible. I thought Conference, Comice, The Christie and Beurre hardy would help to pollinate each other, so next March I will graft some Concorde onto the tree to see if that helps.

Figs also had a great year, as did all my currants, gooseberries, raspberries, strawberries, saskatoons and brambles. New autumn raspberry Polka was excellent with large fruits and spine free stems. Autumn Treasure was also good, but fruited a fortnight later. My new primocane bramble

Red tuberous begonias

Reuben was a disaster as the new canes never flowered till November, then withered away. I will leave the canes in place and see how it fares as a floricane type.

New perpetual strawberry Albion was cropping right into November, but the flesh is very firm and not as soft as we expect from a summer strawberry. I will retain it another year and review progress.

The dry mild summer brought out the best in flowering plants with geraniums, begonias, fuchsias  and roses all at their best, but petunias were miserable as they really like it to be a wee bit warmer.

Vegetables had a mixed year, as disease was hard to control, so the onions suffered some white rot, brassicas got clubroot and potatoes got blackleg and late blight, though I still got a great crop with Amour producing huge spuds. Broad and French beans, peas, courgettes

Tulip Monte orange

and pumpkins all had a great year, but root crops have not been as big as in previous years.

Indoor and outdoor grapes had a very good year, but the lack of a warm sunny autumn did not help to ripen up the fruits and increase the sugar content, other than with Muscat flavoured Seigerrebe which ripens in August and was this year’s star attraction. Just a pity the fruit is so small.

The dry autumn allowed me to complete all my composting and digging ahead of winter and now raking up leaves will soon be completed so next year’s compost heap will have a good start.

Now I am well ahead of gardening tasks, I can sit back, enjoy the festive season, and with a glass of three year old Saskatoon wine in hand let’s look to 2017 and make new plans. Cheers!!!

Check over fruit and veg in store

Wee jobs to do this week

Rake Check over stored apples onions potatoes beetroot carrots as well as dahlias, begonias and gladioli and remove any with signs of decay in case it spreads to healthy plants.

Check chrysanthemums stools growing in the cold greenhouse for overwintering greenfly on young foliage. Try to keep them frost free and growing away slowly.

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BLACKCURRANTS

BLACKCURRANTS

Blackcurrants are now almost an essential fruit on allotments and in gardens. They have come a long way over the years. Native to northern Europe and northern Asia our soils and climate are perfect for their successful cultivation and fruiting. Their popularity was encouraged after the last war when a shortage of fresh fruit such as oranges rich in vitamin C was likely to affect the health of the nation. The variety Baldwin was very popular as were Wellington XXX and others. However many of these were prone to pests and diseases, especially reversion, a virus disease spread by the gall mite which was quite common making the bushes worthless. The Scottish Crop Research Institute, now #James Hutton Institute, took on the task to sort these problems.

Rex Brennan and scientific team sample the blackcurrants

Another problem causing poor yields was late frosts affected some varieties prone to flowering too early. Research work started about sixty years ago with Malcolm Anderson and continues today with Rex Brennan along these lines and also looking to increase berry size, vitamin C content, flavour, health benefits, sweetness and resistance to other diseases. The new range of varieties in the “Ben”series now account for about 99% of all blackcurrants grown in UK, 95% of which goes for Ribena production. One of the first to be released was Ben Lomond in 1972. In the garden Ben Hope and Ben Connan are hard to beat, but Big Ben, with larger sweeter berries that are great to eat straight off the bush is giving strong competition. Blackcurrants are very high in vitamin C as well as vitamin A and B, the minerals iron, manganese, phosphorus, copper and many others and the fruit has high levels of anthocyanins.

Blackcurrant Ben Connan

We can eat the berries fresh in summer, especially #Big Ben, and freeze surplus for future use in jams, jellies, juice, compote, summer puddings and it makes one of my favourite wines, especially after laying down for three years. If patience is not your strong point, try a Blackcurrant Cassis which will be ready for Christmas if crushed immediately after a summer harvest and put in a large glass jar with sugar, a few blanched almonds and steeped with a dark rum. Strain off the liquid a few days before Christmas for a warm festive tipple with a fantastic flavour.

Blackcurrants grow on most soils but prefer them fertile and free draining, but still retaining moisture. Plant two year old bushes in prepared soil, spacing them about five to six feet apart. Then prune all shoots to a few buds above ground level, dress with some fertiliser and add a mulch to control weeds and retain moisture. In future prune to retain young shoots and remove old less productive wood. Give an annual dressing of fertiliser and continue to mulch and keep weed free. Bushes should grow to about six feet tall and yield up to ten pounds of fruit per plant.

Blackcurrant bushes after pruning

Breeding over the last sixty years has eliminated most pest and disease problems, but young shoots can still attract greenfly infestations so keep a watch over them and if necessary spray with an insecticide used for rose pests, or if you wish to go organic then cut out any infested shoot tips.

Propagation of blackcurrants is very easy and rooting is usually 100% successful. Take strong one year old shoots from healthy bushes after leaf fall and before growth starts again in spring, and trim them to about ten inches long. Line out in a nursery row, spacing the cutting four to six inches apart and inserting them into the ground about six inches deep. Keep them watered if dry weather prevails in summer and remove all weeds. They should be rooted and ready to lift and replant with more space a year later to make a strong bush for permanent planting.

Wee jobs to do this week

Land now composted and dug over for winter

Recent winds and frost have helped trees and shrubs to drop their leaves so take the chance on any dry day to get them raked up, collected and added to the compost heap. Autumn has been remarkably dry this year, so getting the garden and allotment ready for winter is well ahead and all of this year’s compost heap has been spread and dug in so these fresh leaves will begin a new compost heap. This will be added to with kitchen waste, trimmings from winter vegetables and whatever the next ten months has to offer.

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WINTER PRUNING FRUIT TREES AND BUSHES

WINTER PRUNING FRUIT TREES AND BUSHES

Most fruit bushes and trees have now lost their leaves and are completely dormant so this is a perfect time for the winter pruning. A frosty day is perfect, or if the ground has a covering of snow, this will prevent any surface soil damage.

Apples and pears

Remove branches too close to ground level after getting weighed down with heavy crops, and thin out shoots to keep the centre of the trees

Apple Fiesta

open for good air and light circulation. Remove any over vigorous shoots growing straight upwards and cut back a few other shoots by about a third to maintain a well balanced shape and encourage fruiting spurs. Sometimes a mature pear tree can produce too many spurs resulting in a massive crop of smaller pears, so thin these out if necessary.

With some forms of apple trees growth is controlled by spur pruning, such as with espaliers, fan trained trees, columnar forms and stepovers. Growth is pruned in late summer cutting back side shoots in half, then in winter these are further pruned to a few buds to encourage the formation of fruiting spurs.

Plums

Do not prune these in winter otherwise they are liable to infection from the silver leaf fungus disease. Wait till spring for young trees and mid summer for older mature trees.

Blackcurrants

Try to retain and encourage strong young shoots by removing some old wood every year. Young shoots usually grow lower down on older fruiting branches, so cut these back to the young shoots.

Anna picks #blackcurrant Ben Connan

Any branches that got bent over with heavy crops should be removed as the fruit on these is liable to get soil splashed onto them when it rains.

Red and whitecurrants

These fruit on spurs established on older branches, so retain about ten older branches growing from the crown and cut back by half all young shoots on them in summer and then in winter cut back to just a few buds. Replace older branches over the years from new shoots growing from the crown.

Gooseberries

These are best grown on a single clear stem to keep fruiting wood well above ground level, so prune out all low growing shoots as well as some in the centre of the bush, otherwise it can get too crowded making picking a nightmare. Cut back any very long shoots to encourage fruiting spurs.

Raspberries

John prunes autumn fruiting raspberry Polka

Summer fruiting raspberries fruit on six foot tall shoots grown the previous year, so these are retained and last summers fruiting shoots are removed to ground level. Thin out excessive growth to allow spacing of about four inches between shoots after tying in to the top wire with a running knot.

Autumn fruiting raspberries are easier to manage as they fruit on shoots produced in the same year, so everything gets cut to ground level as soon as fruiting has stopped in early winter.

Brambles

Blackberries are like summer raspberries that fruit on long shoots produced the previous year. Depending on variety these shoots could be very long so they are best trained along wires fixed to a fence or wall or other free standing permanent solid structure. Remove all of the old shoots that have fruited and tie in the new young canes to replace them.

Wee jobs to do this week

Erecting the bird feeders

Now that frosty weather is with us we need to look after our feathered friends, even though they will still return in summer to eat our strawberries, currants, saskatoons and blueberries. I keep replenishing a water dish with clean warm water so it can last a few hours before freezing up again. Once the ground gets frozen birds can struggle to find food although in early winter there is still plenty of berries around. Keep bird feeders topped up regularly all winter.

Art Studio

Back in the art studio I am finishing off another oil painting for my #Lady in Red #art exhibition.

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THE WINTER GARDEN

THE WINTER GARDEN

The winter months can be a quiet time in the garden as most plants are dormant, but with a wee bit of research you will find there are quite a few plants that have their day in winter. Bringing these together to create a winter garden can give a focus of interest from November till the end of March.

Although we may not get a blaze of dazzling flowers, we do get a surge in the feel good factor on coming across the Chinese Witch Hazel, Hamamelis mollis and Jasminum nudiflorum in full flower on a sunny January day, and Viburnum bodnantense Dawn’s pink flowers have a terrific scent. Down at ground level the heather Erica carnea flowers all winter with red, pink and white flowers and the Christmas rose, Helleborus niger has pink, mauve and my favourite with a pure white flower. Another impressive specimen with tall yellow flowers is Mahonia Charity.

Chinese Witch hazel

Many variegated evergreen shrubs show off their brightly coloured leaves in winter without having to compete with the spring or summer flowers. Euonymous Emerald N’Gold, and Emerald Gaiety, (the silver variety), Elaeagnus pungens maculata with a yellow variegation and  Lonicera Baggesons Gold are some of the brightest shrubs in winter, but some can grow quite big so need plenty of room. The Lonicera is also a favourite for nesting birds as the dense foliage gives them ample protection and camouflage, so please do not clip these shrubs into modern round, square or other unusual shapes to keep them under control.

Give them plenty of space and let them grow naturally.

As autumn gives way to winter there is a period of several months when it is the berried plants that take centre stage from trees to ground cover. The rowans come in a range of colours from white to pink and yellow to red. They also have fiery autumn colour as the leaves drop leaving behind a prolific crop of berries to feed the birds for a couple of months.

Joseph Rock

The Cotoneaster genus has a huge range of red berried shrubs varying in size from the massive Cotoneaster frigidus up to 20 feet tall to the normal C. simonsii then coming down the scale to C. horizontalis with its herring bone pattern and down to the ground cover C. dammeri.

If you are looking for a plant to cover a north facing wall the firethorn, Pyracantha comes in a range of colours and the thorny habit gives perfect cover for your local blackbird at nesting time.

If you have room for a specimen tree several maples have bright coloured stems, such as the coral bark maple Acer palmatum Sango Kaku, and some have peeling bark, but it is the white stemmed birch, Betula jaquemontii that gets my top marks for an impressive tree to stop you in your tracks.

Several shrubs have dazzling coloured stems in winter, very visible once all the leaves are off.

Dogwood and snowdrops

Rowan with golden berries and autumn colour

Cornus alba Westonbirt and Mid Winter Fire are two beauties and the Cornus stolonifera flaviramea has yellow stems. If you want variety, try the grey stemmed Rubus giraldianus which appears as if it was covered in frost. However it has very thorny stems which can be a nuisance for spring pruning. Kerria japonica has bright green stems but also gets covered in a mass of yellow flowers in spring.

The willow Salix britzensis has orange stems that can grow ten feet tall in one season. All these shrubs which are grown for their coloured stems are best treated as stooled bushes, (except the Kerria,) which get cut back to ground level at the end of March just when they are ready to burst into growth. It is the new one year old shoots that have the brightest colours. These shrubs can be planted together in a large drift for greatest impact, and plant some crocus and tulips between them for spring colour as they can all grow happily together.

Wee jobs to do this week

Arthur Bell in November

Most roses will now be dormant so they can be pruned now, but leave any buds still clinging on, hoping to flower on a sunny day as fresh roses in early winter are great to enjoy. Otherwise for bush roses remove some old shoots but leaving behind all strong young shoots and hopefully you will have about five or so young shoots which can be tipped by about a third of their height.

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Limited Edition Prints on a special Festive Offer 

Dundee artist John Stoa has published quite a few limited edition prints which he is now offering at reduced prices during the festive season and into winter.

See his prints on his website print pages at www.johnstoa.com with some samples here.

Evening Lights from Broughty Ferry

Guardian of Peace

Mist over the Tay

Winters Evening West End

                                                   

WINTER CULTIVATIONS

WINTER CULTIVATIONS

Now that the growing season has finished most summer crops have been harvested. The land is looking bare so now it is a good time to start preparing the ground for winter cultivations. However there will always be some winter vegetables to keep us in fresh produce for a few more months to come, so these areas can be dealt with later. Where green manures were sown after harvesting summer crops, the land will be fine over winter and can be cultivated last.

Dave digging in the clover green manure

It is a good idea to have some idea of next year’s rotational plan so compost can be allocated to where it is needed as some crops are gross feeders and others like root crops do not need fresh manure or compost. Hopefully the compost heap will be well rotted down and ready for use, but at this time of year there is always plenty of leaves and spent crops to start another compost heap for the following year. If you have access to any form of well rotted farmyard manure this can be spread over the ground and dug in during early winter, but if it is still fresh then better to mix it in with other composting materials. Up at City Road allotments we are blessed with a wood shredder so all fruit bush and other prunings can be shredded and added to the compost heap. However do not add diseased materials such as rose foliage infected with black spot, onions with white rot, potato leaves with blight or brassica plants infected with clubroot disease. Similarly although all annual weeds can go on the compost heap, do not add any perennial weeds as these will survive.

John digging up the compost heap

The type of worms that break down fresh compost are usually quite plentiful in most soils, so no need to buy in special packs of composting worms.

Although I try to complete all my winter digging before the end of the year, progress is determined by weather. Do not go onto the soil if it is wet as this could destroy the natural crumb structure, but if dry days are in short supply a slightly frosty surface should be just fine. Single digging to the full depth of the spade is normal practice, but if you have to incorporate a lot of manure or compost or if you are digging in a green manure crop it is better to take out a trench so there is space to invert the soil and keep compost and plants under the ground. At this time of year leave the soil surface as rough as possible to expose a bigger surface area to weathering. This helps to create a surface that is easy to rake down to a fine tilth in spring.

Dave shredding prunings at City Road Allotments

Some areas however may need special treatment of double digging incorporating manure or compost in the lower spit. Where ever new trees, shrubs, roses or fruit bushes are to be planted permanently, this will be the only chance to give them a good start to improve fertility and drainage.

Sweet peas are another plant that will benefit from double digging especially if you want exhibition quality blooms. Double digging involves taking out a trench and forking the bottom while adding manure or compost. It greatly assists fertility and drainage, allowing roots deep penetration of the soil, and although it is hard work, it is a great exercise provided you go canny.

While compost is being spread on the soil, keep some available for mulching fruit bushes and roses and even herbaceous border plants.

Areas planned for cabbages, cauliflower, kale and brussels sprouts will benefit from a dressing of lime to increase the alkalinity which these plants prefer, but allow a couple of months between spreading lime and manuring, otherwise some of the goodness will be lost as nitrogen evaporates.

Wee jobs to do this week

Chrysanthemum Pennine Ice

Early chrysanthemums grown outdoors will now be finished flowering, so check over this year’s performance to see which are worth retaining for the next year, such as the dazzling white spray Pennine Ice, and discard any that have not lived up to expectations as you can always try out some new varieties next year. Cut back all stems to about six inches and tie a label on to mark the variety. Shake some soil off the stools and repack into trays with fresh potting compost and water in. These boxes of stools can be kept in a cold greenhouse over winter and new young shoots will appear about March ready for cuttings and starting the new season all over again.

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