EXOTIC GARDENING

EXOTIC GARDENING

The gardens we create are very much an extension of our personality, and if you have been around for a year or two you will see massive changes in what we grow. Gone are the days when the ornamental border was mainly geraniums, antirrhinums, marigolds and asters with an edge of alyssum and lobelia and vegetables were mainly potatoes, turnips, swedes, peas, cabbages, lettuce and radish. Exposure to foreign holidays and the influx of immigrants of all nationalities bringing over their own variety of food has widened our gardening horizons, and as we all love to experiment with something new, the range of plants grown continues to expand.

Cordyline australis

When my horticultural career moves took me to the south of England I discovered runner beans, leeks, courgettes and pumpkins, and thought I was really innovative, but life (and gardening) moves on so now the range continues to grow. We have heard so much about climate change and global warming that we in Scotland tend to think of it more as an opportunity than a disaster. We have always had our share of rain, but now we get warm rain and often into winter instead of snow so plants previously considered too tender for our climate are being given a trial. Provided the weather behaves itself these tender plants can give us many years of service, but however there is always that one off rogue year like 2010 when winter returned with a vengeance, temperatures plummeted and the deep snow lasted for months. The following spring most gardens had lost a lot of tender plants, such as outdoor fuchsias, Cordyline palms, date palms, Agapanthus, and my special Leptospermum Red Damask. Plants have a very strong will to survive so I never give up on them. The Cordyline palm died down to ground level but then new shoots emerged two years later. It is now ten foot tall with five main stems. Agapanthus and some Canna crowns all died out so they got chopped up and added to the compost heap. The Cannas came back into life a year later and the Agapanthus three years later. Bad winters seem a distant memory so we continue to try out a few exotics and keep our fingers crossed. Next spring I may even have another go at growing the date palm as it makes a great specimen plant.

Peach Peregrine

Up at City Road allotments our plot holders are quite keen to try their hand at a few exotics, so sweet potatoes, Oca, sweet corn, Cape Gooseberries, Goji berry, Honey berry and Kiwis can all be seen somewhere. Success of these new crops often depends on getting a decent summer  with sunshine and warmth, a wee bit less rainfall and then a good warm dry autumn like we always got way back in tattie picking days.

My own garden experiments continue with figs, peaches, cherries and grapes.

Figs are my success story as one bush will give me well over a hundred figs ripened over several weeks so there is never any glut of crop. Picked as soon as the fruit droops and given one or two days to ripen indoors they are just perfect. So far I have picked 35 in August.

Cherry Cherokee is now cropping with enough fruit for both me and the blackbird, though the main pest of blackfly on the shoots requires an insecticide spray in early summer to control it.

Grape Rondo

Peaches can ripen up outdoors in Scotland if grown on a warm south facing wall or fence, but the peach leaf curl disease can be devastating so I am now trying partially tolerant Avalon Pride.

Grapes outdoors and in the greenhouse still depend on good weather. My Seigerrebe grape was ready in mid August, so I have one demijohn brewing away quietly. This variety has loads of bunches which require thinning, but the grapes are small, though they are very sweet with a strong Muscat flavour. Outdoors only Regent and Rondo have a good crop and Rondo is ripening up now, but my Brant still gives over a hundred small bunches of black sweet juicy ripe grapes in October.

Wee jobs to do this week

Onions drying off

Lift onions that should now be ready for drying off before getting cleaned up prior to storing. They are best laid out on a hard surface above ground level in full sun so the foliage can dry off and let the bulbs ripen up. It can take about two to three weeks before they are ready for roping or removing all the dried leaves and storing them in nets.
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CUT FLOWER FOR LATE SUMMER

CUT FLOWER FOR LATE SUMMER

At this time of year especially after a good growing summer, the garden is so full of flowers that we can happily take plenty of cut flower for the house without reducing the floral impact of our flower borders. It is nice to have flowers in the home all year round and there is plenty of pot plants around both for foliage and flowers, but we tend to supplement this with a few cut flowers from the garden. To be honest it is hard to resist cutting some flowers to enjoy them around our homes. In early summer there may not be a huge surplus of blooms to choose from but in August and September we are spoilt for choice.

Lily Stargazer

As a gardener I like to create a great floral impact and not wishing to lose this by cutting flowers for the house I use space on my allotment to grow plants specifically for cut flowers. Thus I have my dahlia collection, spray chrysanthemums, sweet peas, gladioli and now this year my oriental lilies. I have only recently seen the benefit of these when a few stems broken off after the early August gales found their way into some vases and suddenly the house was filled with an exotic perfume for a fortnight. However it will be next year before I get the chance to increase my stock of lilies with some purchase of new bulbs in the autumn.

Scented sweet peas

Sweet peas have been available from early summer as the warm weather in May got them off to a great start. I grow mine up a six foot support of weldmesh, and let them grow at will. This gives plenty of flowers for display as well as cut blooms, but if I just wanted cut flowers then I would train them as single stem cordons and remove all sideshoots and tendrils. Growth would be supplemented by feeding fortnightly and before planting the area would get double dug in winter incorporating plenty of compost. Sweet peas are gross feeders and respond to well rotted compost, manures and fertilizer.

Vase of gladioli

Gladioli are grown on my allotment plot in a double row in good soil where the corms are planted at least four inches deep, then they are usually self supporting in a normal year, but the August gales put that to the test. Every year I add a few extra corms to increase the range of colours. In late summer the plants get dug up and dried off so the corms can be stored safely over winter. The small bulbils removed during the cleaning up stage before storing are usually discarded unless they are a decent size. However if you want to increase stock of some favourites these bulbils can be retained and sown thickly like peas in a six inch wide row to grow and bulk up. They will become flowering size in two to three years.

Chrysanthemum Pennine Ice

Chrysanthemums make great cut flowers and last a fair time in a vase, and they flower over several weeks from August till October in a good year depending on variety. Spray varieties make excellent cut flower stems with impact but if you want bigger heads then go for decoratives and grow one flower per stem by disbudding leaving the top bud only to grow and flower. There are numerous varieties available so keep trying out new ones to find your own personal favourites. One of mine is Pennine Ice, a white spray that always impresses with its purity.

Dahlias provide a brilliant splash of colour in any border and there is always plenty of flowers for cutting for the home. We all have different preferences and mine has always been the cactus shaped flowers as they are not too big so stand up well on the bushes.

Wee jobs to do this week

Most summer strawberries have finished fruiting so now is a good time to cut off the old leaves and remove the straw, both of which can go on the compost heap. Strawberries can be cropped for two or three seasons then they should be discarded. If the rows have plenty of healthy runners then these can be used to start a new strawberry patch on a fresh area of soil that has been well manured and is weed free. Otherwise buy in new runners especially if you wish to try a different variety.

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EXOTIC SCENTS

EXOTIC SCENTS

August has been a fantastic month for scented garden plants. The home has been blessed with the exotic scents of oriental lilies. They had been planted in several locations beside the patio and front entrance to be enjoyed by ourselves and visitors with their huge flowers and strong perfume. However, although it has been a warm and sunny month you can’t expect everything in the garden to be rosy all the time so along came our Scottish gales to bring us back down to earth. Unfortunately my tub of lily Chelsea suffered a few losses as the gales snapped a few stems off at ground level. A similar fate befell the very tall Japanese Golden Ray lilies,

Oriental lily Casa Blanca

but this proved to be a blessing in disguise as these were taken indoors without too much damage and continued to blossom in vases for the next few weeks, filling the house with a fantastic perfume. Everyone has been so impressed that I have made a note to buy a lot more lilies in autumn for both flower power and that exotic scent.

Although our garden is now fairly mature it is never complete as we keep finding new plants to try out, then others get discarded if they have out grown their space to make room for the newcomers.

We walk the garden at every opportunity while the sun shines to enjoy the flowers and make plans for future improvements. We have become aware that scented plants rate highly in our planting schemes. There are scented plants available to cover every month from January to December.

Scented sweet peas

In winter the Viburnum fragrans has its day followed by other Viburnums in spring, and of course if you grow herbs for the kitchen there is plenty of scented foliage around with Rosemary, Lavender, Thyme and Mint. As spring appears the Lilac can be a stunner, and most daffodils and narcissi are also very scented especially the Jonquills and Cheerfulness varieties. Last autumn I purchased a whole range of scented tulips as described in bulb catalogues as I had been very impressed with the scented white tulip Purissima. Maybe they need the right combination of sunshine, warmth and moist atmosphere, but I could not pick up any scent worth noting. However in spring the hyacinths will not disappoint, and I always replant the bulbs from tubs to some border between deciduous shrubs as they will grow and flower every year.

Clove scented pinks

Summer is the time when we spend more days around the garden enjoying numerous scents from the honeysuckle to the border carnations and pinks. These are not always easy to grow in Scotland as they prefer a drier climate with well drained soil, but I found an ideal spot at the top of a south facing wall in full sun. Border carnations and pinks are ideal for cut flower for the home and add some clove scents.

Sweet peas are another must for cut flower and although they may be short lived, they always seem to produce a continuous supply of blossoms if you keep them dead headed.

Two plants with great scent for tubs and summer borders are the blue petunias and the Brugmansia, also known as the Angels Trumpet. The Brugmansia is pollinated by a night flying moth so its scent is strongest in late evenings after a warm summer’s day.

Roses remain high on my list of scented plants for the garden, but they are not as popular today as they were in the past as many are prone to blackspot, rust and mildew, and many chemicals used to control diseases are no longer available. Only answer is to seek out those with strong healthy foliage, but make sure the rose has good scent. I still grow the white Margaret Merrill and red E H Morse for perfect scented blooms though both can be troubled with disease.

Pot of rooted Fuchsia cuttings

Wee jobs to do this week

Late summer is a good time to propagate some shrubs with matured shoots such as indoor and outdoor fuchsias. Take shoots four inches long, removing the lower leaves and dibble in around the edges of a pot containing well drained compost. Keep them shaded and well watered and they should be well rooted by the end of autumn when they can get potted up and overwintered in a cool greenhouse.

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HORTICULTURAL EDUCATION

HORTICULTURAL EDUCATION

Gardening and horticulture can be very rewarding both for pleasure, stimulation and also as a great career. We may start off as an apprentice gardener, groundsman, propagator, forester, grower or scientist as horticulture has numerous branches and although the starting point may come with low wages, there is no upper limit to where you want to go. If you just love gardening there are plenty of opportunities for good gardening skills, but if you also want a career then look around to find the path to suit your interests.

RHS Gardens at Wisley

Horticulture today is much more technical and advanced than when I was learning the trade, and there is a lot more information around to help young students choose appropriate directions of career. Gardening was always about learning how to grow good plants, keeping up to date with new varieties, keeping up to date with new technology, and no matter what results we got, we always planned to do better the next year. The internet is a massive help to keep up with the changing world in horticulture, but in my case it had not been invented when I was going through my five year apprenticeship way back in the mists of time. However at that time there was plenty of older well trained gardeners around to advise and guide us in the way of good and proper gardening, and the Dundee Parks manager kept moving us around every nine months so we gained plenty variety of every aspect of

Training starts at an early age

gardening, groundsmanship, forestry, propagation and even a short spell working with the landscape architects. Our day release classes where we got both practical and theoretical training was combined with visits to other horticultural places of interest. These included Edinburgh Botanical Gardens, Inverewe Gardens and the Scottish Crops Research Institute. I was so impressed with the science of horticultural research, that I had a career change, and then enjoyed two years of research at the James Hutton Institute that has had a lasting effect on my gardening activities. I continue today to carry out research into new varieties of plants for our Scottish climate enhanced by global warming. However I had always been flexible so my scientific research ended when I tried a short spell as a teacher of rural science, but then an urge to work on a commercial fruit farm took me down south to Pulborough in West Sussex growing apples, blackcurrants and strawberries. Then it was a year out in full time studies at Essex Institute of Agriculture at Writtle to get my National Diploma before returning as fruit farm manager in Hereford. Two years later I decided to get back into Parks work in Dudley, then as my career advanced in management I went to Darlington for eight years before returning to Scotland to Livingston as a deputy manager in Landscaping and Forestry.

When I started off on my horticultural career I had very little idea of the range of opportunities that existed, but slowly with travelling around the country in the pursuit of furthering my career I have become aware of the extent of horticulture.

A qualified gardener is a great place to start, but forestry, science, plant breeding, floristry, landscape architecture, groundsman and propagator are all great careers as well as lecturers, reporters for gardening magazines, garden designers and growers of fruit, vegetables and ornamental plants. With further studies at the horticultural colleges all around the country managerial positions open up at botanical gardens, landscape companies, parks departments, garden centres, fruit and vegetable farms and plant nurseries. In this area, horticultural career advice can be sought from Dundee College, Elmwood College and Edinburgh Botanical Gardens. Today the internet is a great source of information and this link www.growcareers.info is a good place to start.

Wee jobs to do this week

Broad beans, runner beans and dwarf French beans will all now be ready for picking. The broad beans are harvested in one operation as soon as they mature, but the others are picked over a longer period and either used immediately or if bumper crops are picked the surplus can go into the freezer for use later on.

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SUMMER FLOWERS

SUMMER FLOWERS

Every year has a different story to tell in the garden as no two years are alike, and one year’s climate can affect plants over several years. Many plants require a good autumn to ripen up the summer’s growth to allow initiation of flower buds for flowering the following year. Similarly some plants also need a cold winter to set flower buds, so when things go well we get masses of flowers. However this can often weaken a plant so it can have an off year to give it a rest. Last year was cool and not all that sunny up north so plants had a quiet time.

Anna relaxing beside Rose Gertrude Jekyll

This year we have had a fair bit of sunshine, and constant warm weather coupled with ample rain so plants could put on plenty of growth. However there was enough sun to let these plant make up for last year’s poor weather and burst into a riot of colour. The spring display of flowering bulbs from snowdrops and crocus to daffodils and tulips was one of the best ever. This was quickly followed on with rhododendrons, azaleas, forsythia, ceanothus, iris and many other plants. The herbaceous border had a great time with oriental poppies quite outstanding, then the roses took over, especially those trained up south facing walls, as the sun heats up the brick and bathes the plants in warmth.

Cistus purpureus

Nearly all fruit crops are also having a bumper year. My Saskatoon bushes are yielding three times as much berries as last year, and all other soft fruits are at record levels. Apple trees have had to be thinned as the June drop did not remove enough fruitlets, and still the crop potential is looking brilliant. The freezer is bulging with fruit, so wine making is in full swing with fresh fruit going straight into fermentation buckets. Five kilos of fruit will give me three gallon of wine. Red currants are now bubbling away happily in four demijohns while five kilos of crushed Invicta gooseberries are fermenting in a bucket, and I have not yet started to pick my red Iona gooseberries.

Summer scents in the house are provided by a constant supply of sweet peas grown on the allotment to brighten it up and also supply cut flowers. Garden scents are more exotic as my oriental lilies come into flower. I have two borders heavily planted up with scented lilies and continue to buy in new varieties to try them out.

African marigolds

One border is mass planted with grape hyacinths flowering in early spring and smother out any weeds, but then tulips planted below the grape hyacinths flower later. When these all die down and the old leaves are cleared away the lilies take over for a summer scented display. As the lily bulbs do not have a lot of foliage Anna has utilised the space to sow some summer salad leaves.

Back on the allotment my gladioli and early flowering chrysanthemums are now starting to flower so there is plenty choice for cut flower for the house and still leave a great show on the plot. This is further enhanced with my flower border of roses, marigolds and Iceland poppies. Opium poppies gave a great display, but they are not repeat flowerers so they were removed once flowering finished and Californian poppies

Hydrangea Charme

have had their first flush and been cut back. They will have a second flush in late summer. Poppy Ladybird continues to flower all summer provided you remove all seed heads as soon as the flowers fall off.

I use Lavender and Shasta daisies as flowering ground cover, and summer is their peak time so we get impact, scent from the lavender and they are both good at smothering weeds.

From mid summer onwards my best shrubs are Fuchsia Mrs Popple and my new Hydrangea Charme, a white with a pink picotee edge looks great when caught in full sun.

 

Luke watering the tubs

Wee jobs to do this week

As the weather continues to be a bit damp, there is always a tendency for botrytis to form on older leaves of tomatoes. This can soon spread, so remove any diseased leaves or bits of leaves as soon as seen and keep the greenhouse well ventilated. Continue to remove any older leaves from the bottom of each cordon as soon as they begin to turn yellow.

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SUMMER HARVESTS

SUMMER HARVESTS

The summer harvest season is now in full swing with soft fruit and summer vegetables all ready to pick. My row of early potatoes Casa Blanca have all been lifted and will keep us supplied well into August. At first they were all salad sized potatoes but the last ones to be lifted were all baked potato size. Casa Blanca has thin smooth skin which only needs a wash and peeling is not needed. Other potatoes are growing quite well and so far there is no sign of blight though the weather has been quite wet.

John picks the summer crops

Cauliflower Aalsmeer was over wintered from last autumn and all matured at the same time so the whole crop was cut in the middle of July. Two people can only eat one cauliflower a week, so the rest all ended up in the freezer. Summer cabbages are not yet ready, but kale has grown quickly and is now ready for picking.

Pea Kelvedon Wonder was picked over two weeks in early to mid July for using straight away and some for the freezer. Another sowing of mid season pea Hurst Green Shaft will be ready in August and hopefully this will be followed by another sowing of fast growing Kelvedon Wonder now that spare land is available after lifting my Casa Blanca potatoes.

Cauliflower Aalsmeer

Lettuce, radish, spring onions and rocket has been available for many weeks as a fair bit got over wintered from an autumn sowing, then this year another early sowing was grown under low polythene tunnels. More salads have been sown on spare land after clearing off my pea crop and broad beans which all ripened in early August. Broad bean harvesting is a fair task first picking the pods, then lifting the spent plants to be chopped up for the compost heap. Then the beans have to be taken out of the pods. The task continues as the beans get the skins removed before bagging up for the freezer.

Turnip Golden Ball and Purple Top Milan have been ready since early July as I don’t mind lifting a few small turnips then leaving others to grow bigger as this gives us a longer season.

Onions are still in full growth and looking great, though the mild wet spell has seen some white rot fungus appear on a few plants. These get removed immediately and destroyed.

Onion Hytech ready to lift

This has been a great year for rhubarb which enjoys warm weather with plenty of moisture, i.e. your typical Scottish summer. There has been plenty of stewed rhubarb, crumble and loads available for the freezer to keep us supplied all winter.

Redcurrants, blackcurrants and gooseberries have all been very heavy croppers this year, and although I have just started to pick my saskatoons, the potential crop looks huge.

It has even been a great year for my outdoor cherries which I managed to harvest without netting and our local blackbirds only had a few.

Bramble Helen ripened at the end of July this year, and looks like another bumper crop for picking.

City Road Allotment Gardens are open to the public for their Open Day on Sunday 7^th August from 11am to 3pm.

Garden lovers are welcome to come along to our allotment site and see how we grow fruit, flowers and vegetables. Children welcome to see our plot holders kids perfecting their sunflowers and growing huge pumpkins. Our Café is open with fresh home baking and there is ample garden plants and produce, including jams and tablet for sale. Bring along your garden problems as there is sure to be someone with help or an answer.

Wee jobs to do this week

Moss has been a big problem on lawns this year due to the wet but mild summer. It can be killed by applying lawn sand or use sulphate of iron at a rate of one large spoonful in a watering can and water the lawn on a dry day. This kills the moss and turns it black so it then has to be removed by raking off with a springbok rake. The same chemical can be used to kill moss on paths.

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City Road Allotments Open Day

City Road Allotments Open Day

 

THE BERRY SEASON

THE BERRY SEASON

June and July were the traditional times for soft fruit picking on the farms, but today we can grow our own berries in our gardens and allotments. The berry season starts early as growers cultivate strawberries and raspberries under tunnels, and using a range of different varieties and planting dates with cold stored strawberry runners the season can extend well into the autumn. Although most amateur gardeners do not use walk in tunnels we can still enjoy a long season with a range of different varieties and some low polythene tunnels for the earliest strawberries. In a good sunny dry season the crops can give a heavy yield and this means a commitment to picking, and processing for fresh fruit to eat, fruit for jam and fruit for the freezer. The hard work and long hours are rewarded with fresh fruit over the whole summer, jam, compote and frozen fruit available about all year round and then working outdoors on a sunny day is not a great hardship.

John picking the Glen Fyne rasps

Looking back a few years (over sixty) I remember being introduced to our local berry field in Dundee amongst a wee gang of tearaways from St. Mary’s. It was pure magic. The farmer was happy to pay us a half penny a pound for picking. At eight years old I became a working man with some money and a belly full of fresh raspberries. It must have made an impact on me as I have been growing raspberries and strawberries ever since.

Tayside and Angus are famous for their soft fruit crops, and now new fruit crops are accompanying the traditional rasps and strawberries. Blueberries have made a major impact, and now honeyberries and cherries are being tried out quite successfully.

The chokeberry, Aronia melanocarpa is also being grown as the black berries are very high in anthocyanins and vitamin C, but the fruit has an astringency so is best processed in jams, compote and fruit juice, though I also use the fruit for one of my best home brew wines.

Perpetual strawberry Flamenco

Blackcurrants have also made a huge impact with local growers. Over the years I have grown many different varieties of blackcurrants with my favourite at present being the Ben Conan. It has quite large berries and is quite sweet when fully ripe. It also makes a fantastic wine. However it now has competition with the new Big Ben variety, a very heavy cropper bred for its large size and extra sweetness at the James Hutton Institute. So far it is proving to be sweeter than others, but I have not found it to be any bigger than Ben Conan, though my bushes are still young and berry size could be better in another year or so. However it is lovely eaten fresh straight from the bush.

Gooseberries are another popular crop and the new variety Iona bred at the James Hutton Institute in Invergowrie is an absolute cracker. This red gooseberry is mildew resistant and has very few thorns so picking is a pleasure. I also grow Invicta, a yellow variety which has sweet delicious fruit that makes it a must to grow, but picking always ends up with a bloodbath on the hands as you strive to pick those last few berries hidden away deep in the middle of the bush.

Anna making some strawberry jam

Research at James Hutton has been intense with Nikki Jennings the soft fruit breeder creating new varieties of raspberries both for normal season as well as autumn fruiting. At present my Glen Fyne is proving to be an excellent summer fruiting raspberry, but now I can extend the season with Glen Dee which crops later. Autumn fruiting raspberries have also seen many new cultivars appearing with both Autumn Treasure and Polka very promising. I have had Polka a couple of years and found the very large fruit to be of excellent quality and much bigger than my Autumn Bliss.

Figs and saskatoons may not yet have taken off in Scotland, but both have been very successful with me so maybe in time they will have their day.

Wee jobs to do this week

Summer bedding plants in tubs and hanging baskets have a limited supply of nutrients so this is a good time to give them a boost with some liquid feed every two to three weeks to keep them growing as flowering can exhaust them in mid season.

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ENJOY THE SUMMER FLOWERS

ENJOY THE SUMMER FLOWERS

Our unpredictable Scottish summer could never make up its mind whether to come or go and garden plants take every opportunity to respond to highs and lows of sunshine and rain. Summer in May was brilliant but then the rains came in June and early July, so plants put on a great spring display then had a quiet spell while they returned to a growth period. Weeds were just as happy to make up for a late start. My garden and allotment was weed free before I took a week’s holiday at the beginning of July, but on return the weeds were all back and growing just fine, so the hoe had to reappear and give them a fright. Weeds had to be removed as frequent showers help them re-establish.

John checking his new dahlia collection

Although each type of flowering plant will have its own season of a few weeks, there is always an overlap, and some kinds have a flurry, then a wee rest and if the summer continues they will put on a burst towards the end of the season.

Summer flowering shrubs like Philadelphus, Senecio and Cistus have been brilliant, but the show stopper has been my hardy Fuchsia Mrs Popple. My bushes are now quite big, and seem happy to flower themselves to death. I am hoping for another harvest of berries from them to make a healthy summer drink. They put on massive growth during the mild wet weather, but then while I was on holiday, a thunderstorm passed by and several large branches weighed down with flowers could not cope and broke off.

Red petunias and marigolds

Rose borders, shrubs and climbers put on their best show in mid June, but with plenty dead heading they will continue to flower throughout summer and into the autumn. Shrub rose Ispahan was a mass of flower buds at the end of June, but unfortunately peaked during the wet week at the beginning of July, then sulked a wee bit, but now it is having another go at flowering so all is not lost, provided sunny days return.

Herbaceous plants such as the Oriental Poppies and flag Iris had a great show in June, but now it is time for the Delphiniums and Oriental Lilies. The exotic perfume from these lilies is fantastic, so I buy several bulbs every year to increase the stock and flower power. They are quite happy to grow amongst other plants such as dwarf Japanese Azaleas, peonies, Shasta daisies, so long as drainage is perfect and they can get their heads into full sun.

Delphiniums grew very strong with the mild damp weather but then the flower spikes were massive. However despite plenty of tying in for support, the thunderstorm which came while I was away on holiday did them no favours, and many of the spikes broke off at the top of the stakes.

Lilium After Eight

My deep purple Delosperma cooperi revels in the sunny weather. This succulent ground hugging plant thrives in the crevice of a south facing stone wall devoid of soil.

Hanging baskets with fuchsias, geraniums, petunias, lobelia and Impatiens were late to come into flower, but are now putting on a show alongside plant tubs filled with tuberous begonias. I bought these tuberous begonias over thirty years ago, and save the corms over winter. They have always been very reliable and as they grow bigger each year I just divide the corms in spring to increase the stock. They do not seem to be bothered with any pests or diseases and will keep flowering provided they get an occasional liquid feed.

I keep several dahlias for display as well as cut flower for the house, as they are another easy and reliable plant to grow.

Wee jobs to do this week

Pumpkins and courgettes are now well established but to get the best results from these hungry plants give them a weekly feed to boost growth, and fruiting. Pick courgettes when they are about six inches long as this encourages continued cropping.

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BEAUTIFUL BUT DEADLY

BEAUTIFUL BUT DEADLY

We grow plants for their beauty, and taste when we want to consume them, but all plants have a desire for survival so to deter predators many have developed a massive array of poisons in roots, bark, leaves, stems, seeds and flowers.

Poisonous plants are very common in most gardens, e.g. rhododendrons, narcissi and aconites, and council land and shopping centres are often landscaped with a wide range of poisonous plants including laurel, snowberry, azaleas, laburnum and yew trees.

Even in the home we grow hyacinths, poinsettias and oleanders which all contain toxins. However we need to keep this danger in perspective.

Azaleas in autumn

Most poisonous plants are so bitter or foul tasting that they would not normally be eaten, and some require very large quantities to be ingested before reaching a critical dose.

The leaves of rhubarb are very toxic containing oxalic acid, but nobody would ever want to eat them, so there is little problem.

Then there is the humble spud, a member of the solanaceae family, which has some very poisonous relatives such as the deadly nightshade and Datura stramonium, the Angel Trumpets containing tropane. It is used in summer beds, tubs and borders. It has large highly scented trumpet flowers that are at their best at night. Every part of the plant is toxic. South American native Indians use it as a drug because of its hypnotic and hallucinogenic affects.

The toxic house plants include hyacinths, poinsettias and dumb cane which can cause immobility of the mouth and tongue, great difficulty in breathing and asphyxiation.

Drift of Aconites

Toxic weeds include hemlock containing alkaloids, deadly nightshade which contains the alkaloid atropine and giant hogweed whose sap is phototoxic and can cause a severe rash and blisters.

The most toxic tree in UK has to be the yew tree. Its toxins have protected it so well from foraging predators that it can last for hundreds of years. The yew was revered as a sacred tree by Greeks, Romans, North American Indians and in UK by the Celts and Druids. It was associated with immortality, rebirth, protection from evil and access to the underworld. Every part of the tree is extremely poisonous, except the fleshy aril around the seed. The stems, leaves and seeds contain the toxic alkaloid taxine. The Druids would plant them in circles to protect sacred ground and monks would use them to mark and protect the routes of their pilgrimages. Many very old yews survive in churchyards as the sacred ground is protected.

The oldest tree in Europe is the Fortingall yew near Loch Tay at over 3000 years old.

Laburnum

The Laburnum tree has beautiful yellow flowers, but all parts of this plant are toxic including the seeds. The castor oil plant is grown as an ornamental dot plant in bedding schemes, but the seeds contain ricin, a poison, but in low doses. No poison is extracted when the seeds are cold pressed to give us caster oil.

Foxgloves may be attractive as an herbaceous plant, but reproduces from seed very easy so can be quite invasive. The entire plant is toxic.

Red Opium Poppy

Opium poppies are commonly grown for their lovely pink flowers in summer, but all parts of the plant are poisonous. Opium is extracted from the latex in the seed pods, but the seeds themselves are edible and used in many recipes.

Wee jobs to do this week

Any spare land cleared from a previous crop such as spring cabbage or early potatoes can still be used for sowing lettuce, radish, turnip, peas, carrot and beetroot. These will be ready to harvest from autumn to early winter.

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SUMMER REWARDS

SUMMER REWARDS

A two week spell of summer weather with quite dry conditions followed by a very wet week, was great for plant growth, but not so great for flowers. However this is summer in Scotland so we are in the garden on every dry day unless it is too hot when we then relax on the patio. When the rain comes I am back in the studio to crack on with my latest painting project.

The first of this season’s fresh fruit and vegetables have been picked and as the harvest is just starting there is a lot more to come.

Potato Casa Blanca

First early potato Casa Blanca was lifted in mid June when the first shaw gave me 1.5 lbs of small but delicious salad potatoes. Although this is not a heavy cropper, it has flavour, texture and freshness, so I will continue to lift them as required.

Strawberry Elsanta brought on under low polythene tunnels has been ready from the end of May, and another row adjacent but without protection is just hanging with fruit ready to follow on.

Summer salads of lettuce, rocket, spring onions and radish are getting picked as we need them to keep them fresh. Turnip Golden Ball and beetroot are swelling up nicely and should be ready for picking in early July. Allotment life in summer can be very rewarding.

Pea Kelvedon Wonder is now showing a lot of pods swelling up and ready to pick.

Rose Myriam

Rhubarb just seems to love this weather, and the more you pick the more fresh leaves start to grow.

This is a very pleasant time of year with healthy living, sunshine and with most of the gardening hard work completed there is plenty of time to relax.

Oriental poppies

The garden flowers have been giving glorious colour and scents all year, as the mild winter never held them back. Dry weather plus the cool spring helped them to last a long time, but as the last tulips faded the azaleas and rhododendrons took over to have their month of dazzling colour in the  limelight. They were followed on with the oriental poppies, flag iris, cistus and numerous other flowering shrubs. However as we go into summer it is the time for the roses to take over as the main display. This year my red climbing rose Dublin bay was the first to appear followed by the golden Arthur Bell, then the white highly scented Margaret Merril blossomed. The only niggle to spoil the pleasure was awaiting my new red scented rose Humanity supplied by Verve to our local garden centre store. It turned out to be a very weak disease ridden specimen with pink flowers. Lessons to be learnt: never believe what the label says and never buy in winter when there are no flowers on the bush.

As summer progresses the highly scented lilies will create a show as will outdoor fuchsias, which have started to bloom but still to reach their peak.

Apple Red Falstaff young fruits

In my orchard, (four trees) the prolific crop of apples will need some serious thinning, as they are just laden with fruit. However I will wait till early July to give the trees a chance to shed the weakest fruit in the June drop process. Then I will reduce apples to one or two per spur.

In the greenhouse my tomatoes are romping away with flowers now on the fourth truss, so they get regular watering and feeding with a high potash liquid feed.

Indoor grape vines have been very prolific this year with numerous large bunches of grapes. However a week of continuous rain and cool weather caused a bit of botrytis rotting in the bunches. These had to get cut out while doing some thinning of the grapes in the bunches. This was done on a dry sunny day so the cut ends could heal up without further botrytis problems.

Wee jobs to do this week

Foliage of spring bulbs such as crocus, tulips, daffodils and most others has now all died down so it can be removed and added to the compost heap. Avoid seed heads as many of them will regrow and some such as bluebells and grape hyacinths can be invasive. If any bulbs get accidentally lifted out, just replant them back again.

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