PLANT OUT THE TENDER PLANTS

PLANT OUT THE TENDER PLANTS

Summer is a bit late this year so I have been in no rush to plant out my sweet corn, courgettes, pumpkins or runner beans. Early June still gives plenty of time for these crops which will soon put on strong growth once the warmer weather arrives. Most of these plants have been raised from seed inside on a warm windowsill, then after germination, transferred to the cold greenhouse. It was late May before the weather warmed up sufficiently to put them outdoors for hardening off.

In the meantime land allocated for them has had a clover green manure crop sown down in March. Growth was quite slow this year due to lack of warmth, but eventually I got quite a thick stand of clover for digging in a fortnight ahead of planting.

Sweet corn

The ground was raked level and some fertiliser added. I usually take out a shallow furrow to mark the rows. Sweet corn was planted in one large square block with plants spaced about eighteen inches apart each way. The plants require wind pollination as the female cobs get their pollen from the male tassels. If the land is in good heart and kept weeded and watered in any dry spells they should be just fine as they are little troubled by pests or diseases.

Pumpkins and Courgettes

These both like the same 

growing conditions of well cultivated and 

composted soil, added fertiliser and watering and feeding in summer. Again they do not suffer much pests or diseases though mice can nibble young courgettes. Allow plenty of room for them to grow with spacing plants three feet apart. Two courgette plants are quite enough for normal use and three plants for a larger family with ample spare courgettes to hand out to anyone passing by the plot. In a good summer they can produce an embarrassing number of courgettes, and when they grow too big to use as a delicacy because you are not eating them fast enough, find a good soup recipe as this is not only delicious and very healthy, but any surplus can be frozen and stored. I grow about five pumpkin plants and try to get one or two fruits from each. When growth starts to wander all over the plot it is time for a wee prune provided you have got a couple of decent sized fruits. Harvest them once they have attained the bright orange colour usually towards the end of October and store them in a cool but frost free place. They should last till the following spring. With large pumpkins it is best to cut them up into smaller slices for roasting then the skin is easy to remove. The flesh can be used as a vegetable or soup or as a sweet in a pie and stores a long time in the freezer.

Runner beans

These also enjoy a rich well drained soil that holds moisture and prefer a more alkaline soil rather than one too acidic. Plant out about a foot apart in early June or sow seeds at that time. Grow them on a wigwam support, trellis, tall fence or the traditional double row of eight foot canes leaning inwards and crossing at six feet with horizontal canes tied in to secure the frame. They will soon find the canes and twine around them as they reach upwards.

Wee jobs to do this week

Give support to all tall growing herbaceous plants such as oriental poppies, peonies, delphiniums and pyrethrums as we seem to be in a period of strong winds.

Now that warmer weather has arrived weeds are starting to become a nuisance so keep the hoe going or pull them out and add them to the compost heap as long as they are just annual weeds.

Keep checking the tips of roses, blackcurrants and gooseberries and other plants with young succulent shoots as greenfly will very quickly multiply. At this stage they squash quite easily.

Gooseberries are also prone to attacks by the sawfly larvae, so be vigilant and continue to squash as necessary.

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UNDER GLASS

UNDER GLASS

The greenhouse has been straining to cope with young growing plants waiting on a decent spell for hardening off. Dahlias and African marigolds have been out during the day but as our weather forecasters keep threatening us with an overnight frost they go back indoors for protection over night. Geraniums have been hardened off ages ago but cold nights and severe winds have shredded a lot of the leaves. They may look a bit sad, but they are tough and will grow out of it once summer arrives.

A second sowing of cabbage and spring onions were grown under glass, but have now been hardened off and planted out.

Early spray chrysanthemums have all rooted well and have been potted up so they are also outside for hardening off. They are destined for planting on the allotment to brighten it up and provide cut flower for the house. Fuchsias and Impatiens are still under glass as I don’t want to chance exposure while this cool windy spell prevails.

My sweet corn has been moved outside to harden off as glasshouse space is fully used up with tomatoes planted in one border and tuberous begonias, young geranium cuttings recently rooted and aubergines taking up other borders and paths.

Courgettes and pumpkins grown from seed are coming along just fine but cold winds prevent me putting them outdoors to harden off as my garden is quite exposed to winds.

Tomatoes are again planted in borders hoping I can get another decent crop in really good soil which has had plenty rotted compost added a few months ago. The border also got a dressing of a general fertiliser to get the plants established. I support my cordon grown plants with strong polypropylene binder twine dropping down from heavy duty wires tied to roof brackets. The plants are twisted around the twine as they grow. All sideshoots are removed as soon as they are long enough to break off. The first truss is in flower so feeding has commenced. A few spare plants have been potted up and will be planted outdoors against a south facing warm wall.

Grape Black Hamburg has now produced small bunches on the sideshoots coming off the upright rods so pruning has commenced. This continues almost every week till autumn, otherwise growth would be rampant at the expense of grapes. It is always worth repeating information on pruning grapes as I see so many unpruned vines taking over greenhouses. Once sideshoots show a wee bunch of grapes let them grow a few inches then nip the ends off leaving two leaves after the bunch. Thereafter nip every sideshoot after just one leaf so it can concentrate on developing the grapes.

I am trying a new grape under glass to see how it likes our Scottish climate. Siegerrebe is not new having been around for over eighty years. This pinky white grape was bred in Germany for wine and dessert use and is said to favour colder climates, so should be very happy in Scotland. I will take a few cuttings and try a plant outdoors once they root and put on a years growth.

Aubergines sown a few weeks ago have been potted up into small pots, but growth has been quite slow as they wait on warmer weather to arrive. This is a new crop for me but we all like to try something different.

Wee jobs to do this week

Plant up tubs, hanging baskets and flower borders with summer bedding plants which should now be perfectly hardened off. Most of these are quite easy to grow from seed, bulbs and corms, and you can top up to extend the range with a few special plants from garden centres. To add height to flower borders I can always find room for a few dahlias, chrysanthemums, Oriental lilies which have a strong exotic scent and even some gladioli.

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FRUIT CROPS

FRUIT CROPS

Top fruit

The dormant season may have passed but there is still time to plant fruit trees and bushes as most plants are containerised today. There is a wide variety of top fruit trees and soft fruit bushes in garden centres, but care is needed in selecting the right varieties for your own locality. Some shops and garden centres are selling plants that may not be suitable for Scottish gardens. The Scottish climate is wetter and cooler than the south of England, so some popular varieties down south such as Cox and russet apples are not great up north. However, Discovery, Katy, Fiesta and Red Devil are all good for our climate, and Bramley is still an excellent cooking apple in Scotland.

Apple Discovery

Pear Beurre Hardy and Concorde seem to do well, but Conference struggles to ripen up properly and the best flavoured Comice is a sucker for scab disease.

I lost my plum Victoria to silver leaf disease, but have replaced it with another as it has always been one of the best varieties.

Peaches grown outdoors are a gamble on getting a good year. Pollination of flowers is a real struggle and in our wetter cooler climate peach leaf curl is a major problem.

Cherries are a better prospect now that they can be grown on a dwarfing rootstock such as Gisela 5, but you need to know that they are on that stock otherwise they will grow so big that netting is impossible and the local blackbirds will reap the harvest.

Soft Fruit

Strawberry Flamenco

There are just as many new varieties of soft fruit arriving on our doorsteps, so just when you think you have the latest, out pops another type sweeter or bigger or with less thorns than the last one.

I still await my new Big Ben blackcurrant to show me if I really do have a bigger and sweeter berry than my lovely Ben Conan. I enjoy eating fresh blackcurrants straight from the bush when fully ripe, but are we ready to munch our way through a whole punnet then go back for some more.

This will also be the year to sample my first autumn fruited raspberries Polka and Autumn Treasure said to be much bigger than Autumn Bliss, and at the same time my new blackberry Reuben claimed in catalogues to be much sweeter and twice as big as other brambles. Reuben is a primocane bramble fruiting on canes grown in the same year.

Sophie picking grape Phoenix

 

My other venture into the unknown is my variety trial of grapes grown outdoors on south facing fences hoping to find the perfect Scottish grown grape. Earlier plantings gave a lot of promise before phytophthora root rot took out two good varieties, Rondo and Regent, both of which had given me small bunches of ripe grapes. These have now been replaced on land hopefully free from this disease. Solaris has been grown for several years and although slow to establish, did give me a couple of small bunches of Muscat flavoured grapes last year. Muscat Bleu and Polo Muscat are now well established so maybe I will get some grapes this autumn. Phoenix has somehow survived on my diseased ground, and had three bunches last year. Growth has started well this year, so could be another

Saskatoons ready to pick

winner if we can get a good warm and sunny autumn.

New varieties of saskatoons such as Martin, Northline JB30 and Pembina as well as Smoky and Thiessen have arrived in Scotland and will soon be available.

Strawberry Mae is just about ready under tunnels, then fresh strawberries will continue all summer with Elsanta, Florence and Symphony, then into autumn with Flamenco.

Wee jobs to do this week

Start thinning out any seedling of radish, lettuce, parsnips, turnips or even beetroot before they get too big. Lettuce thinnings can be used to increase supply if required and planted as an intercrop between sprouts or other slower growing fruit or vegetables.

Annuals sown in rows can be thinned out or used as transplants. Some types sown in cellular trays can now be planted out as plugs. I use Livingston daisies and poppies this way. They are perfect for adding colour to areas devoted to my aconites and snowdrops which will soon be dormant.

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A DAY ON THE ALLOTMENT

A DAY ON THE ALLOTMENT

As the risk of frost gets less, we can now start to sow those less hardy vegetables such as dwarf French beans and runner beans direct into the soil, provided we are out of this cold spell and the soil has warmed up. These can also be raised indoors from seed to gain an extra couple of weeks, but I find the later outdoor sowings soon grow rapidly once the warmer weather arrives. I got a bad result two years ago with an indoor sowing of French beans when the poor quality of peat free compost was so bad that all the seedlings rotted off. Outdoors, Dwarf French bean seeds are spaced a few inches apart in a single row and then thinned to four to six inches, but runner beans are planted around the base of a six foot tall wigwam support which they can then twine around.

Broad beans are now well established and starting to put on a bit of growth so now is the time to put in some stakes and twine for support. Keep them weeded and keep on the look out for blackfly on the growing points. Remove the growing points if they are a problem.

Early peas are also in need of support, even the lower growing Kelvedon Wonder which can reach four feet tall. I use the prunings from my coloured stem border as the cornus and salix get cut back to ground level every year at the end of March. The cornus reached four feet long and the willow (Salix britzensis) grew nearly ten feet last year, so is perfect for staking my peas after cutting back a wee bit. Peas also suffer attacks from pigeons, so I protect them with a couple of rows of black thread. It is an old fashioned trick but still works. Last year I lost my Goji berry which was trained up a six foot fence, so I will now use this fence for a sowing of Pea Alderman which will use the entire fence as it knows how to grow tall.

Now that family feeding is just down to two people, there is precious little sense in growing masses of cabbage and cauliflower that are all ready to eat over one month, so I now grow them in small batches over the whole season. The first batch was sown in March and is growing just fine, but now my next batch is ready to succeed them. I will sow a small batch of cauliflower Clapton and cabbage Kilaxy, both of which are clubroot resistant. This will be followed at the end of the month with a sowing of cabbage Tundra to give me my autumn and winter hardy cabbages.

Potatoes are now growing and in need of earthing up, which also helps to kill weeds.

Salads grown under my low tunnels have been giving me some early fresh radish, spring onions and lettuce leaves. They should continue for another month then the ground will be used for another sowing of peas.

Rhubarb has also been very plentiful this year as the long cool but dry spring seemed to suit it just fine.

Other crops are all at an early stage but growth has been good on onions, leeks, turnip and now my parsnips are appearing and will soon need thinning out.

Fruit crops are all showing plenty of promise. However I am waiting to see if the cold snap at the end of April has affected the fruit crop fertilisation of apples, pears, cherries and peach.

I keep checking my gooseberries for presence of sawfly maggots, but they are nowhere to be seen.

The ground underneath the bushes has been regularly disturbed then mulched in spring which must have helped to discourage them.

Wee jobs to do this week

Remove cordon trained tomato sideshoots as soon as they are big enough to handle to retain the plant strength for fruiting, and continue to feed every week with a high potassium tomato fertiliser.

Greenhouse grapes are also grown on upright rods just like a cordon with fruiting laterals growing every ten inches or so up its length. Remove any lateral that is barren and pinch out the growing point on all fruiting laterals at two leaves beyond the fruiting bunch. Thereafter as new side shoots grow keep all of them tipped after just one leaf otherwise the vine will take over the greenhouse at the expense of grapes.

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SPRING FLOWERS

SPRING FLOWERS

Early May is tulip time, and this year our dry warm spring has brought numerous other plants into flower. Our season is running at least two weeks behind normal as winter and early spring have been remarkably cool, though dry. Bulbs, rock garden plants, spring bedding plants and many spring flowering shrubs are now all competing with each other for the best display of flowers.

Bulbs

Snowdrops and aconites finished a long time ago and will soon be dying down so make sure you save seeds and scatter them to increase the size of drifts.

Doronicum

Anemone blanda is still in flower but soon they will also produce seeds for establishing bigger clumps. Daffodils, narcissi and tulips don’t spread from seeds so cut the seed heads off after flowering to save the bulbs energy for growing bigger before summer dormancy.

My earliest tulips started to flower in March with Scarlet Baby accompanying a bright yellow saxifrage. This lovely combination was also reflected a couple of weeks later with tulip Monsella and Red Riding Hood planted amongst a drift of golden herbaceous Doronicums. I intend to keep this theme going so next autumn there will be a drift of tulip Scarlet Baby getting planted amongst a large drift of blue pulmonaria.

Hyacinths have been outstanding planted and naturalised amongst my herbaceous plants. Timing is perfect as the hyacinths are in flower when herbaceous growth is only just beginning, and then they die down as the taller plants need the space.

A bed of peonies which will flower in early summer have now got an under planting of tall oriental and highly scented lilies. They will flower in mid summer and being quite tall will fit in with the peonies just fine.

Darwin Hybrid Tulips

Ground cover

Aubretia, phlox, doronicums and Japanese azaleas are now all at there best, and the spring bedding of wallflower, pansies and polyanthus are giving us a fantastic spring display. They are made all the more brilliant as this dry sunny weather has been fantastic for tulips which are lasting longer than usual.

Shrubs and trees

Forsythia and kerria have never looked better and now the scented viburnum carlesii and carlcephalum are in flower, but the best shows of colour are seen in numerous azaleas, rhododendrons and camellias. However for size and impact it is hard to beat magnolias, especially varieties of Magnolia soulangiana. My garden is too small for this one so I grow the smaller Magnolia stellata. Cherries are now stealing the show as they have height as well as flowers. The upright form of cherry Prunus Amanogawa is perfect for the small garden and the flowers are scented as well as quite prolific.

Tulip Yokohama

Even my fruiting cherry Cherokee has given a great display. Other fruit trees such as pears, apples and peaches have all had a great time flowering profusely. This could be a great year for top fruit.

Wee jobs to do this week

Keep a check on recently planted vegetables and flowers and water if weather turns dry. Any plants such as salads or early strawberries under tunnels will need watering as rain will not reach them under the polythene.

Gooseberry bushes are prone to attacks from the sawfly maggots, but these are easily spotted and removed, but if there is a heavy infestation removal can be a bit messy. Not all gardening jobs are pure excitement. While on this topic it is worthwhile keeping an eye out for cabbage white butterfly maggots, as these are even bigger than the gooseberry sawfly, but removal just as essential.

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SERIOUS PLANTING AND SOWING

SERIOUS PLANTING AND SOWING

Planting the broad beans

In a normal year we make a start to sowing and planting on the allotment in March. Timing always depends on getting a few dry sunny days to warm up the soil, so plants can get started even if this is followed by a return to cooler weather. This year there has been a total lack of any warm days right up until Easter Sunday when the sun shone, the cold icy winds abated and it lasted for a whole week. Although we are now running a few weeks late the soil has warmed up enough to make a start. Potatoes are now all in the ground but I don’t expect to see shoots till the end of April, and that will be fine just in case we get a late frost. Broad beans Giant Exhibition Longpod are now well established as they are quite hardy and won’t be affected by cooler temperatures.

Sophie watering the salads

Similarly, onion Hytech seedlings were planted out in mid April after hardening off, and now look just fine. Onion seed sown in cellular trays germinate in groups of one to three plants and are then planted about four inches apart. Do not separate plants from cells with several seedlings as these will grow quite happily in clumps or singly.

Leek Musselburgh has now been sown in between a couple of rows of new strawberries. The strawberries are spaced at three feet apart so there is plenty of space for my leeks to grow and bulk up before they are lifted for transplanting a few weeks later.

Carrot, parsnip and turnip have now been sown in the root crop section for rotation.

Good sweet corn germination

The space allocated for sweet corn has been sown with clover to catch a green manure crop which will get dug in two weeks ahead of planting. The sweet corn has been sown in cellular trays and placed on a warm windowsill. Germination takes about two weeks, then the seedlings grown on for a few more weeks before potting up into 7cms pots. They then grow for a further three weeks or so before planting out in early June.

An early batch of salads, (lettuce, spring onion, radish and beetroot) raised on a windowsill in cellular trays are now well established on the allotment under a low polythene tunnel. However they need watering with this dry weather.

Early peas Kelvedon Wonder is now sown, but Alderman peas will be sown a few weeks later to give me a succession of fresh peas.

Sowing peas

Fruit crops

Strawberry Mae under tunnels is flowering, but lack of warm weather has held back growth so plants do not look very strong at present. Other strawberries have only just started to grow.

Other fruit trees and bushes are all running a good couple of weeks later than usual.

Peach Peregrine growing outdoors on a south facing fence was in full flower in mid April. This year there has been plenty flowers on the tree, but considerably later than normal. This should, theoretically, help pollination as there are now plenty bees around, but unfortunately there is also plenty other flowers everywhere so bees being spoilt for choice, are ignoring my peaches. Hand pollination is carried out every second day, but cold temperatures affect pollen production and fertilisation so time will tell how successful this has been.

Apples, cherries and my pear tree are all flowering profusely so it could be a good year for fruit, provided there are no climatic abnormalities still to come.

Wee jobs to do this week

Snowdrops and aconites usually produce a lot of seed. Do not lose this as it can be gathered and spread around drifts to increase there size. I have a drift of aconites of well over one thousand plants that started of several years ago from a purchase of a small container of six plants.

Earth up potato shoots as they appear as a late frost is still likely at this time of year. Global warming seems to be a bit late this year, so don’t take any chances.

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DUNDEE BOTANICAL GARDENS

DUNDEE BOTANICAL GARDENS

Dundee Botanical Gardens were started in 1971 by Dundee University to meet the needs of the botany staff. The first curator was Edward Kemp who established a natural Scottish environment at the gardens using the south facing slope. It is one of the great pleasures of being in Dundee that it is possible to take a walk from the Highlands to the seashore without ever leaving the city. This ramble can also take you all the way from the Mediterranean to Asia, and still without crossing the city boundaries. Set in 21 acres in the west end of Dundee, the Garden includes large tropical and temperate glasshouses and an outstanding range of plant life.

Here the plants are arranged geographically so that visitors can walk through the world’s temperate regions from the Mediterranean to East Asia. The British Native Plant area contains plant communities adapted to conditions high in the Angus glens down through woodlands to the seashore. Enter the Glasshouses and you find contrasting rainforest and desert habitats, while the historical development of plant adaptations is shown in the Evolution Garden.

It is an endlessly fascinating journey, one which highlights how various flora and fauna might be associated with each other when they are in their natural environment. It can also be spectacular, such as when the rhododendrons are in full flower in April, although the emphasis, as Alasdair Hood, Curator of the garden, points out. “I always think the most significant thing we do is we encourage people to observe the diversity of nature. So, when they walk around and take time to look at the plants they will see things like Sycamore flowers and Southern Beach flowers and realise that trees flower too. The Garden has now matured, though forty years ago it was just a hayfield with one tree in it. That original sycamore is still here but the gardens have grown by a third and there are more than 5500 different species of plants.”

The Garden changes all the time. A new herb garden is being placed just outside the windows of the coffee shop. By next Spring, visitors will be able to take their refreshments with all the scents of the herb garden lingering in the background. The Garden’s was founded as a place where science, education and conservation could take centre stage, as well as providing a garden for the entire community of Dundee. Those goals are being carried forward by the University, the Friends of the Botanic Garden and now with the help of the Dundee Botanic Garden Endowment Trust.

The Trust was formed in 2013 to assist and support the Garden as it continues to create a vital centre of knowledge and appreciation of plant life. The income generated by the Endowment Trust will contribute and support the development, enhancement and annual running costs of the Botanic Garden. The Trust will also help inspire community involvement in the garden, with a regular programme of public events. If you would like further information on how you can support the Dundee Botanic Garden Endowment Trust or if you would like to make a donation online through BT MyDonate please contact: Gordon Ramsay – Development Officer

Telephone 01382 381136 or Email: g.w.ramsay@dundee.ac.uk

Wee jobs to do this week

Plant out early cabbage, cauliflowers and sprouts raised from seed sown in early March. Place collars around the stem to prevent cabbage root flies from laying eggs next to the stems. These plants will also need to be netted from pigeons looking out for some fresh young greens.

Check over young shoots on roses for the first generation of greenfly and if not too severe they can be rubbed off with your fingers. Greenfly can also be a pest on the tips of young  blackcurrants shoots and gooseberries.

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CLIMBERS

CLIMBERS

Our gardens are either surrounded by fences and walls, or they encompass buildings which are sure to have some bare wall that can be enhanced with plants. There are plants for all walls no matter which way they face. Some are self clinging such as ivies and Virginian creeper, others need a support to cling to such as clematis and honeysuckle and others need to be supported and tied in as with jasmine, roses, grapes and other fruits. As well as blending buildings into the landscape many have very attractive foliage, autumn colour and flowers some of which may be highly scented. Some types are excellent for giving security to vulnerable windows on account of possessing thorns such as the firethorn, (Pyracantha). Then again if you are into edible landscapes then choose a fruiting form of climber such as outdoor grape Brant or a thornless bramble.

Pruning outdoor grape Brant

The difficult walls and fences are those facing north as they get precious little sunshine, but it does seem to suit hydrangea petiolaris, camellias, jasmine, ivies and pyracantha.

Climbing rose Morning Jewel

It is the south facing walls where you can really excel with something a bit more exotic. This is where I try out a range of outdoor grapes to see if I can come up with one that will ripen up in our unpredictable climate. The variety Brant is brilliant, but is more ornamental rather than commercial as the bunches are quite small, however Phoenix looks quite promising as does Solaris. These vines can be very vigorous so make sure you have the pruning technique sorted out.

Another good plant for the sunny south wall is the common passion flower. I tried this one next to my climbing rose Dublin Bay. It just loved it and gave me plenty of curious flowers, but then it tried to take over the whole wall. It was too rampant so it got the chop.

Climbing rose New Dawn

For a good scented climber honeysuckle in many different varieties will fill the bill, but they don’t need a south wall, so try the exotically scented common Jasminum officinale. Another one to try is Jasminum polyanthum, but it is not the hardiest and will be killed if it gets a severe frost. I tried one which was very successful for about six years then one bad winter sorted it out. It never recovered.

It is very popular as a climbing houseplant up a small cane and it sells as the scent is terrific, but it soon outgrows its space.

If you want a good display of flowers it is hard to beat climbing roses and clematis.

The common Clematis Montana may be very rampant but it just covers itself in flowers in spring so is well worth finding a spot for one where it can grow unrestricted. The large flowered hybrids can also be show stealers and are easier to contain.

There are numerous climbing roses to try out but the secret to good flowering is some late summer pruning after the first flush, then another more severe prune in winter.

Grape vine Brant on house walls

Edible climbers

Grapes have still to prove themselves in Scotland, but many other plants can be very successful.

Fences and walls are also popular places to grow a wide range fruit trees and bushes. Apples, pears, peaches, figs and cherries can be grown as fan trained trees and blackberries, tayberries and loganberries will all enjoy support on a wall or fence.

Wee jobs to do this week

Weeds will now start to grow into a serious problem, so hoe if the ground is dry enough or hand weed. Annual weeds can go on the compost heap, but perennial weeds must be disposed off. For large areas and paths glyphosate weedkiller is still the best and only herbicide available, especially to control pernicious perennial weeds. Some types such as mares tail will need sprayed two or three times at monthly intervals for a complete control. Spray on a dry day when no rain is forecast for the next day or even longer, and do not cut back weed growth prior to spraying as the chemical is absorbed by the foliage only, not the roots. In fact it is inactivated on contact with the soil which makes it a safe chemical to use in the garden.

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GREEN MANURES

GREEN MANURES

The urban gardener of today has a greater problem keeping his soil fertile compared to yesterday, when I was just a wee laddie. The town was smaller, which meant the countryside was nearer and access to farm manures was never a problem. We all had some contact with a local farmer who kept cows, pigs, hens and horses so using farmyard manure was part of normal garden practise. Life has evolved and now organic manure harder to come by so we build up our fertility by other means.

The compost heap is essential for all allotment gardens if you want to grow a worthwhile crop, and there are numerous things you can add to the heap. Annual weeds, vegetable kitchen waste, grass cuttings, shredded paper, wood shreddings from pruned bushes, autumn leaves, old bedding plants and old compost from tubs and hanging baskets.

However we do not need to stop there as soil improvements can continue all year long by using green manure practises. This involves sowing a fast maturing crop from seed which is then dug in as it comes into flower but before it gets a chance to seed. In spring you only need a couple of months to get a good green manure cover, and in autumn crops sown in September can be left as long as

possible as the ground is not needed till the following year. Some types of green manure such as the vetches (tares) are winter hardy so are great if you want to leave a ground cover over winter. The foliage is still active so no nutrients are lost from leaching in a wet winter, in fact they are absorbed by the plants and stored, to be released after the crop is dug in and it rots down.

Green manure crops used tend to have strong deep roots which break up the soil then add humus as

they rot down. A dense vegetative layer will help to suppress weeds. Clover, field beans and tares are very popular as they have root nodules which absorb nitrogen from the air and store it to be released later as nitrogenous fertiliser when the roots rot down. Mustard is also very popular as it is so reliable and quite vigorous, growing up to five feet tall giving plenty of green matter to dig in. However if your digging skills are a wee bit rough it might be easier to cut the tops down at ground level, rake them off and add them to the compost heap so digging can proceed without leaving a lot of green shoots sticking up. Mustard unfortunately is in the same family as all brassicas, so if you have a clubroot problem on your plot do not use mustard as it will carry the fungus over to the next year. This will also affect radish, turnips and swedes.

You can get two green manure crops in with a wee bit of planning. Late planted crops such as runner beans, sweet corn, courgettes and pumpkins, which don’t get planted till June, allow enough time from a March sowing to get a good green manure crop to grow sufficiently big before getting dug in at least two weeks ahead of planting. Then in late summer after harvesting your early potatoes, sweet corn, onions and broad beans and other crops there is still plenty of time for another green manure sowing. This is when tares are best used as these overwinter just fine. Use clover, field beans or phacelia for a spring sowing.

Always prepare the ground as normal for sowing a seed crop raking to a deep tilth and adding some general fertiliser. This boosts growth and the fertiliser is not wasted as it will be returned to the soil when the green manure crop is dug in and starts to rot.

Wee jobs to do this week

Start to mow the lawn if the mild winter has given the grass a growth boost, but keep the blades set high for the first couple of cuts. Remove the old grass from the lawn and compost it. Any bare patches can be scarified, adding a dusting of fine top soil and reseeded with a lawn seed mix.

Cut back dogwood, willows, and other shrubs grown for their coloured bark. I take mine right back to ground level and although this may seem severe at the time they soon regrow and by the end of the season they are four to ten feet tall.

Stake any tall growing herbaceous plants such as delphiniums, oriental poppies, peonias and pyrethrum before they get too big.

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SOW SOME ANNUALS

SOW SOME ANNUALS

Hardy annuals grown from seed is one of the best ways to bring in summer colour to the new garden where newly planted landscape plants have still to grow so there is plenty of empty space. Established gardens often have an area dedicated to annuals as there are so many attractive plants that can be grown quickly and cheaply from seed.

Annuals do not need rich soil and may flower better if the ground is quite poor, though to get good germination and establishment it is worthwhile ensuring the soil surface is well prepared and broken down to produce a good tilth. Do not use any fertiliser otherwise you may get lush growth at the expense of flowers. They will flower best in full sun on well drained soil even if it is a bit dry so long as they have enough moisture to get them established.

Sowing and planting

Seed sowing can be started at the end of March to mid April direct onto the ground where they are to grow. If you only have a small patch of ground then just broadcast the seeds lightly and rake them in. However if your border is a fair size and you are growing a range of annuals it may be better to mark out drifts with sand then sow each type in rows in its own patch. When these grow to a few inches they can be thinned and transplanted to where ever they are needed. This method also makes weeding a lot easier. It gives a more natural appearance when planting up drifts if the different plant types overlap. Some types such as Livingston daisies and Osteospermums can be sown in plug trays and grown on for a few weeks before planting out. They will need to be kept well watered until they get growing.

My favourite selection

They can all be grown from seed, as well as plug plants from garden centres if you want to try out something new, or to gap up if seed has given a poor germination.

Top of my list has always been the Shirley poppies as they are very easy to grow, very colourful and often find themselves the subject of a painting. Californian poppies and Poppy Ladybird are also firm favourites. The best fully double pink poppy is varieties of the opium poppy Papaver somniferum which arrived as a stray weed in my garden but put on such a fantastic show that I saved seed for future years. The Iceland poppy is treated like a biennial sown at the end of summer then overwintered to flower the following year from early summer onwards.

Godetia, Livingston daisies, osteospermums and candytuft are very showy at the front of borders and clarkia, cosmos, cornflower, larkspur and amaranthus better at the back.

If you have young kids around grow some statice or helichrysum (everlasting flowers) at the front as they love to feel the rustling flower petals.

Calendula and nasturtiums are easy and give a great show, but keep them dead headed as if left unattended they can become very invasive in the following years as the seed remains viable for years and germinates readily.

Wee jobs to do this week

Once shoots begin to grow on outdoor hardy fuchsias they can be lightly pruned to remove any shoots that have died back, or others that are a bit straggly.

Check growth on the variegated Elaeagnus and remove any shoots that have reverted back to pure green as these will take over the bush if not removed.

Early varieties of potatoes can be planted as long as the soil has had a chance to warm up.

Pinch out the tops of young sweet pea plants once they have made two to three leaves, as it helps branching, but for cordon training select the strongest shoot once they all grow.

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