RHUBARB

RHUBARB

Rhubarb was always popular in childhood days as most folk with a garden had a wee patch. It was free food, happy to be left to grow in a dark corner. Mother used it for pies, crumbles, and we kids often got a wee treat going to school with a stick of rhubarb and a poke of sugar. We always looked upon it as a fruit. No-one had any idea of its nutritional merit. Today it is a different story as it has been well studied and just about reached super

Is this rhubarb ready to pick ?

food status, so long as you cut back a bit on the sugars. It is a very healthy food being high in anti-oxidants, calcium and potassium, manganese, and magnesium. dietary fibre, protein, vitamin C, vitamin K, and B complex.

Rhubarb has been in use for thousands of years though mainly as a medicinal drug, but then in the 19^th century a London nurseryman looking for ways to use the new imported sugar, added the sugar to the rhubarb waste products to make a sweet tart. His rhubarb tarts took off in a big way.

Planting rhubarb crowns

Rhubarb grows best on clay soils so Yorkshire became famous for its forced rhubarb grown in huge sheds in complete darkness. This area in Yorkshire became known as the rhubarb triangle from Leeds and Wakefield to Bradford. They had the best clay soils, a woollen industry to supply shoddy, an organic manure, a coal industry to supply cheap heating for the forcing sheds and a road and rail network to get the product to markets.

During the last war its popularity faded due to restrictions on imported sugar, then later on there was a surge of imported tropical fruit from all over the world. The humble rhubarb could not compete, until today as research is discovering just how important rhubarb is for our good health.

Cultivation

Rhubarb grows best on well drained clay soils that have been well manured and deeply cultivated. Give them a dressing of fertiliser in spring and keep them well weeded and watered in summer. Regular picking will encourage new leaves to continue to form. Remove all flowering stems as they appear. Plant crowns with two or three buds in winter about three feet apart in well prepared soil. Do not pick off any leaves in the first year. They will then grow and crop for up to five years before needing dug up, split up and replanted. Some mature roots can be forced to give an early crop. Good reliable varieties include Timperley Early, Stockbridge Arrow and Queen Victoria follow and then Cawood Delight crops later but with the best deep red stems.

Fresh forced rhubarb

Forcing

Use mature roots about three to five years old. Dig them up in early winter and let them get their cold period of frost. An excellent spot for forcing is under the greenhouse staging with light excluded with black polythene. Keep them moist, but don’t water the stems otherwise they could rot Sticks are ready for picking in four to six weeks. Always twist and pull them, do not cut them off. When the crop is finished put the old crowns on the compost heap as they will be spent.

Cooking

Rhubarb

Rhubarb crumble and rhubarb and saskatoon jam

crumble, pies, tarts and stewed rhubarb with custard is heavenly. However try rhubarb and fig jam, or rhubarb and saskatoon jam. This one is our favourite. Crush 3 pounds Saskatoon berries and 2 pounds chopped rhubarb and add to jam pan with a half cup of water, juice of one lemon and a teaspoon of citric acid. Add 5 pounds sugar and bring to a rolling boil for ten minutes then test. It is quick, easy and delicious.

Wee jobs to do this week

The last winter harvest

Enjoy the remains of stored crops as not many keep beyond April. Apples dessert and cooking, onions, potatoes, beetroot, carrot and parsnip kept in a cool airy place have lasted till the end of winter. Some potatoes have sprouted, so it helps if you remove these as soon as possible otherwise they suck the tubers dry. Outdoors, cabbage, sprouts, leeks, kale and swede have all but finished, although the freezer is still bulging with fruit and vegetables.

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Still life paintings

Pink Champagne

Still Life paintings

Spiritual inspiration was in great supply as I used festive gifts and wedding presents as subjects for a few still life paintings. The first one completed in January was Amber Nectar with Talisker Skye, followed by A Wee Dram in February. Then in March I went upmarket with Pink Champagne and in April it was the turn of a few special malts for  The Whisky Tasting.

The Whisky Tasting

A Wee Dram

 

 

 

Amber Nectar

THE GROWING SEASON BEGINS

THE GROWING SEASON BEGINS

Our gardening activities are always dictated by the weather, so although my sowing schedule indicated it was time to sow tomatoes, sweet peas, broad beans and a few salads, the winter has kept its grip and so delaying plans. Seeds sown indoors and germinated on a sunny windowsill in a warm room are fine until they all need pricking out.

Hardening off the spring bedding flowers

Windowsill space is limited so the hardiest types will go into my cold greenhouse, but I will put in a fan heater for any cold nights.

This has been a very challenging time as winter shows little appetite for going away and letting spring take over, though the occasional sunny day in mid March has allowed coffee breaks to be taken outdoors on the patio.

Early

Broad beans germinating

March has been a hectic time for windowsill gardening as there were so many seeds to sow, but once the seeds germinated and needed more room after pricking out into larger cellular trays the problem of space was a real headache. The hardiest of young plants such as geraniums, broad beans, sweet peas and some young fuchsias had to go into my cold greenhouse. By mid March it was the turn of young salads needing more space so spring onions, lettuce Lollo Rossa, cauliflower Clapton and leek Musselburgh all had to go to the greenhouse. Tomatoes all germinated well, even though some seed packets were not quite bulging with seeds, (twenty seeds per packet) but after pricking out into cellular trays they will all need the warmth of the house on a sunny windowsill for at least another fortnight. Tomatoes are just too tender for a cold greenhouse in March.

Seed sowing continued indoors with Sweet corn Incredible, cabbage Kilaton and Brussels

Tomato seedlings pricked out

sprouts Crispus. Once they germinate in about a couple of weeks they will need to go into the glasshouse, but hopefully by that time we shall see some warmer weather.

The glasshouse is beginning to get a wee bit crowded as I still have overwintered chrysanthemum stools for cuttings and my two hanging baskets of winter flowering pansies and a batch of polyanthus needed some protection. I got one warm day in mid March

Drift of crocus

so they all went outdoors to be hardened off. Chrysanthemum cuttings are taken as growth allows.

Outdoors on a sheltered spot early salad crops of lettuce, radish, spring onion, turnip and beetroot can be sown to mature after the earlier sowings most of which will get planted under the protection of a low polythene tunnel in early April.

Carrot fly has always been a major problem on the allotment plot, so this year I will sow a row in between four rows of onions to test the theory that the onion smell will mask the presence of my carrots and the fly may not notice them. Time will tell. This year I am trying out onion sets rather than growing from seed as last year I picked a sweet Spanish

Cornus Westonbirt

variety only to find it did not like our wet Scottish summer. They all died of a severe dose of white rot.

Tree planting continued with a plum Victoria to replace last year’s plum bought locally but was full of disease so never survived to autumn.

 Now is the time to cut back the cornus and willow bushes grown for their coloured stems in the winter garden. I do this annually, cutting back nearly to ground level. This allows visual access to my drifts of crocus (which survived the snow blanket), and tulips planted under these bushes. They share the space happily as they both have different seasons for growing and flowering.

Wee jobs to do this week

Taking geranium cuttings

Now is a good time to take some geranium cuttings from those plants propagated last autumn and now beginning to put on good growth. They were happy all winter on my sunny windowsill, where they rooted readily, then got potted up into small pots. They were getting too big for the windowsill, so after the “Beast from the East” snow had melted, the plants were transferred to my cold greenhouse. To keep the plants stocky I remove the growing points, but use these as cuttings to increase stock numbers. Although winter held its grip for another couple of weeks, the geraniums seem to be just fine under glass.

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ANNUAL FLOWERS

ANNUAL FLOWERS

There is always a place in most people’s garden for a few summer flowering annuals. You could have a dedicated

Candytuft

annual border to flower every year, or you could use annuals to fill in any gaps that always appear as we remove plants past their best, or where some plant has died out. They are also invaluable in new built house gardens, to give colour and green plant cover to soil, while we take time to work out our garden landscape plan. Soil on new built gardens is usually poor, but as long as you can get a good surface tilth for seed germination the plants will flower happily as they do not like a rich fertile soil. However if the soil has a lot of clay in it add some old compost from growbags, tomato pots or some well rotted garden compost into the top few inches to aid germination. If you wish to

Geranium Paul Crampel

establish a permanent annual border choose a sunny site with well drained soil. This can get dug over in late autumn after the last flowers have faded, the old plants removed and the bed tidied up removing any weeds. Leave it rough over winter so the frosts can break down a large surface area of soil which will then be easy to rake over in spring.

Sowing and planting

Most plants can be sown direct into the soil, but there is nothing wrong with bringing on some early under glass to start the show sooner

Livingston daisies

than those direct sown outdoors. I often sow Livingston daisies, Cosmos, Osteospermums and Candytuft in the cold greenhouse in cellular trays to give plants an early start. Outdoors the border just needs raking level and producing a good tilth to aid seed sowing which can start at the end of March to mid April direct onto the ground where they are to grow. 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 sowing or planting up drifts if the

Nasturtium

different plant types overlap to some degree.

A good range of annuals

There are so many different ones to choose from, that it is worth trying a few different ones each year to see which suits your tastes and location best.

Many half hardy bedding plants such as Impatiens, Petunias, Marigolds, Lobelia and Geraniums are treated as annuals, but these are best for traditional beds, tubs and hanging baskets, so I am concentrating on the hardy annuals usually sown direct onto the ground or raised for a few weeks in plug trays. You can also bu

Opium poppy

y a wide selection cheaply from your garden centre as plug plants.

Shirley poppies are a must as they are very easy to grow and colourful as well as Californian poppies and poppy Ladybird. A gorgeous fully double pink poppy arrived as a stray weed in my garden, but put on such a fantastic show that I saved seed for future years. It was a variety of the opium poppy Papaver somniferum, so I just let it go to seed and then see what comes up the next year. Godetia, Livingston daisies, Osteospermums and Candytuft are very showy at the front of borders and Clarkia, Cosmos, Cornflower, Nigella, Larkspur and Amaranthus

Poppy ladybird

better at the back.

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.

Wee jobs to do this week

Give fruit trees, (apples, pears, plums, cherries) and bushes such as raspberries,

Spreading fertiliser on fruit bushes

currants, gooseberries and saskatoons a spring feed with a general fertiliser to boost growth. This also strengthens flower clusters and aids fertilisation. You can follow this with a mulch of well rotted compost to keep weeds down, preserve moisture and once the mulch rots down it will add humus to the soil. Strawberries are best left unfertilised otherwise it might boost excess growth at expense of fruiting and do not mulch as they will get a layer of straw between the rows to prevent soil splashing onto the fruit.

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WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE

WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE

Dundee City hopes to become a great holiday destination for visitors and tourists. The waterfront development with the new V&A, new train station and hotels will boost visitor numbers together with existing visitor attractions including Discovery Quay, Camperdown Park,

Dundee in Bloom 1990 oil painting

  Broughty Ferry  beach, swimming pool, skating rink, golf courses, vibrant night life with music in pubs and clubs and numerous other interesting tourist attractions. My problem as an older Dundee citizen is that I remember the days when we were also a very colourful city with flowers everywhere in Parks, open spaces and people’s gardens. We were very proud

Geraniums with a date palm

of our ability to create great flower displays. I had the benefit of a five year gardening apprenticeship as the Dundee parks took on about fifteen new apprentices every year. They were needed to grow and propagate all those flowers, trees, shrubs and roses which brightened up the town. The Parks Manager Sandy Dow was a trained horticulturalist who just loved flowers, so we grew bedding plants at Camperdown glasshouses by the thousand, and also roses by the thousand at the nursery. We were taught great gardening skills and took pride in creating our colourful city. All parks had great displays of summer and spring bedding with wallflowers and tulips and even all the housing estates had rose beds in

Impatiens hanging basket

grass verges, and the town centre had vibrant flower beds everywhere.

Down at council house level, the new tenants, many from the demolished Overgate found themselves with a garden where they could grow free food. Then a competitive spirit emerged as front gardens got a flower border and the competition for the most colourful impact of flowers resulted in a profusion of geraniums, begonias, salvias, antirrhinums and other bedding and always edged with alyssum and lobelia. These were great times for Dundee. No decent garden would be

without the red Paul Crampel geranium, as well as the pink Christine and white Hermione, and we extended our planting schemes from flower beds to tubs, window boxes and hanging baskets.

Then

Pink Dahlia

Britain in Bloom competition for the whole of UK reared its head and flower power was everything. New flower beds were created in the town centre (now a taxi rank) and grass verges got planted with drifts of daffodils and crocus by the thousand to brighten up the roads into the town.

Time moves on and fashion changes and our Parks manager retired. Competition in the Britain in Bloom was fierce with Aberdeen way ahead with more roses and masses of daffodils. Slowly flower beds in Dundee disappeared. Interest in gardening waned as other social activities took prominence, then as the townsfolk got wealthier and car ownership exploded and people needed somewhere to park. Gardens were then changed into hard standing for the cars. Lawns, roses and flowers are slowly disappearing from the private gardens as slabs, sets and gravel take over.

Flower power in Dundee centre is now hard to

Wendy enjoys the Oriental poppies

find, but as we all look to ways to improve the appearance for our perceived increase in visitor numbers the use of flowering plants should not be underestimated. Spring and summer bedding plants will always give impact but need trained gardeners to grow and look after them so there is an added cost.

Mixed tulips

However the benefits of creating a town with an impressive show of flowers, is well worth the cost. Flowering shrubs like forsythia, philadelphus, rhododendrons, camellias, azaleas and many more, and numerous large shrub roses are all easy to grow and fairly vandal proof and labour free. Other plants for impact such as dahlias and oriental lilies could be found a space in parks borders where vandalism is less prone. The impact of flowers will always enhance the visitors experience and give them more reason to return with friends for another visit.

Wee jobs to do this week

Erect

Tunnels over early strawberries

low polythene tunnels over a row of established strawberries of an early variety like Honeoye, Mae or Christine. Make sure the ends are secure so they will withstand strong winds. The row will need extra watering during sunny spells as the polythene will prevent rain keeping the plants moist. The first fruits should be ready for picking at the end of May.

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EDIBLE LANDSCAPES

EDIBLE LANDSCAPES

Blueberries

Life appears to move forward at an ever increasing pace. My early childhood days are unrecognizable today. We never knew about information technology and only the better off had television, so everyone played outdoors. We had woods nearby and hills (Sidlaw Hills) to climb only a two hour walk away from our housing estate (St. Mary’s.) No-one knew of any dangers, and no-one came to any harm, but we did learn a lot about nature and got any amount of outdoor exercise. Older kids passed down their knowledge to us so we learned about blaeberry picking, collecting wild strawberries, picking sheep sorrel from the woodland floor (botanically called Rumex acetosella, but we called it surix) and on our bicycle trips to the raspberry fields in Longforgan we would stop under the cherry trees along the Perth road and eat whatever fruit was ripe. As we got older we never forgot our childhood adventures but looked into this natural edible landscape with greater

Sweet chestnut

interest. As kids from the town we took every opportunity to get into the countryside both for play as well as earning some money picking raspberries, strawberries then in autumn it was potato picking. Looking back with hindsight you could say it must have been hard work for kids, and we must have been poor, but it was really great fun while we were young and fit and the extra money boosted our income (pocket money.)

Japanese wineberry

Today life is very different with all our kids needs close at hand as long as they have the latest mobile phone. The countryside is no longer viewed as a place of discovery as ability to travel all over the world and this country is normal and all their food needs are available at the supermarket, so they never learn how food is produced. This lack of outdoor education is recognized, and local communities and schools are beginning to address this problem. Edible landscapes are being created within schools as well as other outdoor landscape areas. Although in its infancy it is becoming very popular with schools, and some communities are getting involved in planting up outdoor landscapes using a wide range of edible plants, both for use and for education of our children. Kids love to handle seeds, cuttings, plants and learn how they are used for dyes, basket making, fibres, brushes, fuel, soap, insecticide and the benefits of green manures on cultivated land.

Walnut

Forest gardens are another development on a larger scale within a woodland setting, but plants chosen are useful or edible and form a woodland flora from the taller canopy trees such as walnut, sweet chestnut and edible lime trees to the forest floor layers such as blueberries and wild garlic. There are also many edible plants that prefer a pond or bog garden from watercress to reeds, cranberries, white water lily, and other plants that have edible rhizomes, leaves, fruit and seeds.

We grow apples, pears, plums and cherries in our gardens, but we can also diverse with mulberries, hazelnuts, saskatoons, chokeberries, quince, medlar, fuchsia, figs and hardy outdoor grapes.

Brambles, Tayberries and loganberries make excellent climbers, and currants, raspberries and gooseberries will form good hedges.

Wild Garlic

Plants with edible leaves include lime trees, nettles, sorrel, bamboo (shoots), campanula, and wild garlic, and the list of herbs and medicinal plants is enormous. Many herbs have medicinal value but rosemary, thyme, sage and mint is used for flavouring many meat dishes and kale and Swiss chard are excellent in a stir fry.

We encourage our kids to try out a bit of gardening with growing pumpkins and sunflowers but there is another world just waiting to be discovered with plants and their uses.

Wee jobs to do this week

Pruning the Euonymus

Prune any evergreen shrubs that are getting too straggly or encroaching on other plants

space. Some plants such as the Euonymus and Elaeagnus are quite happy to be kept contained as they regrow from cut branches easily. However bear in mind their natural shape and avoid all attempts to cut them into square or round balls.

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SEED SOWING

SEED SOWING

The garden has had its winter rest, but now we must make plans for the spring and summer months. Choose a nice sunny day and check over the garden and allotment to see if all the winter work has been attended to. Digging the vegetable patch

Anna transplanting tomato seedlings

should be complete except for areas where green manures are still growing. All other areas should be weed free so we can go into the next season with clean ground. Fence and shed repairs should also be complete, path repairs completed, roses and fruit bushes pruned and raspberries and blackberries tied in. Any new

Tomato Sungold

plants we would like to grow should be ordered as well as seed potatoes, onion sets and vegetable seeds. Pruning of grape vines should all be completed and as we leave winter behind the snowdrops and aconites should still be flowering to let us know spring is arriving. So now we can turn our attention to growing flowers, vegetables and fruit for 2018.

Many plants on windowsills growing from cuttings, (geraniums, fuchsias, Impatiens, cistus, euonymus) taken last autumn are putting on growth and some need more room, so they will get transferred to my unheated greenhouse and get potted up into the next size pot. Fuchsias and Impatiens, however can be a bit soft, so if any frost is forecast they will come back inside at night.

Potatoes for this year have all been sorted so now they are all perched upright in seed trays beside a window to catch the light, but in a cool unheated room to allow young shoots to grow sturdy and slowly. I keep different varieties separate and all labeled up.

Yellow crocus

This year I will grow a few rows of my favourite early, Casablanca, then some Charlotte and Maris Piper with a new variety Setanta. Satanta is red skinned with resistance to blight, great flavour and is said to grow well in areas prone to drought, (not usually a big problem in Scotland)

Seed sowing can now begin with those crops that like a long growing season or are more cold tolerant so won’t get affected by late frosts.

Onions, sweet peas and broad beans can now all be sown in warm conditions for a few weeks then gradually harden off. I sow my onions in small cellular trays with about forty cells and usually need two trays per seed packet. Broad beans get similar treatment but in trays with bigger cells. Later on once they have germinated and put on some growth they will all be transferred to larger celled trays.

Sweet

Snowdrops

peas are given an over night soak in water (old traditions die hard) then sown individually in cellular trays or use trays with larger cells and put three seeds in each. Again after germination, pot up into larger pots or cellular trays to grow into bigger plants. All of these plants are best kept warm until they make some growth then harden off with cooler conditions in an unheated greenhouse or cold frame. Depending on weather, they should be ready to plant out two or three weeks later.

Rooted Impatiens cuttings

Tomatoes can also be sown now but they are not hardy so need warm conditions till big enough to plant out. I sow mine in seed trays, then after germination at the two seed leaves stage, prick them out into individual small pots. Grow on for a few weeks then pot up so they can grow strongly. Plant them into their final pots, growbags or border once you see the first flower truss. If any sideshoots appear at this stage remove them as tomatoes are grown as single stemmed cordons.

Once we get into March seed sowing begins in earnest as there is numerous vegetables and flower seeds to sow as well as annual outdoor flower borders for poppies, cornflower and many others.

Wee jobs to do this week

Christmas cactus in February

The Christmas cactus, Zygocactus truncatus may be a beautiful festive pot plant where nurseries can time flowering

to perfection for the Christmas market, but the home gardener has a more difficult time. My cactus refused to flower at all, so it got relegated to a light, but cool and sunless windowsill and got dried off to let it go dormant. Six weeks later my petulant plant decided it would like to flower after all, so it was back into the light and warmth and a wee feed to keep it happy so it can show off its flowers, though a couple of months late. Once flowers fade it is back to drying off for its spring rest, then in mid summer young shoots should appear to it is back to watering.

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SPRING BECKONS

SPRING BECKONS

Spring has been just round the corner now for a few weeks. Snow was often forecast but rarely appeared, though cold rain took its place. There were many dry sunny days, but accompanied by a cold wind from the north, so that sunny day with warm sunshine where the hardy gardener can take his coffee

Aconites push through the snow

break outdoors in blissful warmth was hard to find. Garden flowers are often influenced by day length as well as temperature, so aconites are all above ground with full buds just waiting on some sunshine and warmth so they can open up fully. Snowdrops on the other hand respond to temperature so while the winters have been mild they started to bloom last December in sheltered spots. Crocus are not far behind with a few in sheltered areas popping their heads up waiting on a bit of warmth so they can open up fully. I have a mixed batch planted under a drift of grape hyacinths hoping they will work in harmony as the crocus flower in early March and the grape hyacinths a few weeks later. Underneath these two

The first crocus

I have narcissus for April flowering and deep under them there is my summer oriental lilies. Hoping this layered planting style will work.

The winter border of Cornus, Willow, Kerria japonica Japanese maple and Acer Sangokaku has provided colour all winter from the range of coloured stems, and now the ground around these bushes is getting ready for the spring display as drifts of crocus push up into the sunlight. The coloured stemmed bushed (except the Kerria which flowers in May) get pruned back to ground level at the end of March leaving the flowering bulbs to have their moment in the sun. A few weeks later tulips planted below the crocus will have their moment of glory before the shrubs begin to grow

Early snowdrops

and produce shoots for next winter’s decoration.

Roses are starting to grow, but not as fast as last years shoots as they got a really mild winter in 2016/17, but keep an eye on them as greenfly are very quick to spot young shoots to feed on.

Daffodils and early tulips are also well advanced and it won’t be long before the first flowers appear. Narcissus February Gold is always my first to bloom and tulip Scarlet Baby is my first tulip in flower in March where I have them planted next to some yellow flowering saxifrages. Hopefully they will all flower at the same time, though sometimes the tulips can be a few days late.

Spring is also a time of activity getting ready for seed sowing, planting and propagation, so once you have read through all the catalogues and checked last year’s activities, sorting out successes and failures if you have not yet done it, buy in your seed requirements, potatoes, onions, dahlias, new chrysanthemums and gladioli. I just love the strongly scented oriental lilies, so these had to be purchased in the autumn, but now I see young shoots pushing up into the light.

Taking chrysanthemum cuttings

Once your seed potatoes arrive, place them in boxes, rose end upwards, label them, and put them in a cool but frost free place in the light so the young shoots can grow up without getting leggy and ensure a perfect take after planting in spring.

Order trees, shrubs and roses now from a good source for early planting, so they have the whole season ahead to get well established. I will be planting another Victoria plum tree as the one I bought last year was a complete failure as I had bought mine locally, and though it looked good at the time and the price was in my favour, it struggled to grow as disease ultimately killed it.

Chrysanthemums boxed up last year, and over wintered in a cold greenhouse are now growing strongly so choose healthy shoots and take some cuttings about three to four inches long. Dibble them into pots or boxes containing well drained compost and they will need some warmth to get them rooted.

Wee jobs to do this week

Cleaning the glass

Choose a sunny dry day and give the greenhouse glass a good wash both outdoors and inside to remove grime, algae, spiders webs and other muck. Clean out the gutters at the same time and check the both doors slide smoothly and windows open and close properly. Check borders for grape vines, remove weeds and add some fresh soil or potting compost to revitalize the soil.

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APPLES

APPLES

Growing an apple tree has never been more popular. The breeders have been busy creating forms suitable for any size of garden and it has not been lost on them that we want flavour, a good red skin colour, an apple that can store a few months and a tree that has strong disease resistant leaves able to withstand attacks of scab and mildew.

Apple Fiesta

We do not need an apple that only grows to an even commercial size, requires frequent spraying throughout the growing season to keep it pest and disease free and has a long shelf life enhanced by even more chemicals. Our home grown apples are very healthy as they have been grown without chemicals apart from a spring dressing of fertilizer to get them growing strongly. Today we have the choice

Fiesta in bloom

of large standard trees for the big gardens down to spindle bushes where all fruit is picked from the ground, and for those with very limited space the choice is a fan, cordon, an oblique cordon or an espalier to plant against a wall or fence. Then tree forms get even smaller with the upright columnar Starlight tree range and the dwarf stepover forms to plant along the edges of borders. A garden with an apple tree with bright red fruit will always impress as they stand out from the crowd. However apples as a snack fit in very well with modern busy life styles, and for those that can cook the Bramley is perfect for numerous recipes. Then for those that like to count the calories and are conscious of eating the healthy diet, a daily apple fits the bill. They are absolutely packed with vitamins, minerals and fibre. The apple season starts in August with the earliest varieties like Oslin, but with cool airy storage others will last till March. Thereafter if it is back to supermarket apples, remember to wash the skin thoroughly to remove any chemicals bombarded on the apples while in the orchard

Apple Discovery

and after harvesting in the packing shed.

Form and Rootstocks

Rootstock M27 is very dwarfing so it is used for columnar shapes, dwarf pyramids and stepover trees. Rootstock M9 is a dwarfing type used for cordons, dwarf bush and spindle trees, but as it lacks vigour the trees need permanent tree stakes or support systems. M27 and M26 and MM106 are still dwarfing but will give a bigger tree than the previous ones, growing up to ten to twelve feet. Where tree size is not a problem use trees grafted onto rootstocks MM111 or M25.

Varieties

Apples for Scottish soils and climate are plentiful so look for Discovery as a great early, then Katy, Scrumptious, Falstaff, and Fiesta for maincrops with Red devil as a great apple in storage, though Fiesta is also a great keeper. For cooking it is hard to beat Bramley which also stores up to the end of March in a cool airy dark store. My preference in the upright Starlight range is the red Firedance.

Pruning Bramley apple tree

Pruning and Planting

Dwarf apple forms are usually grown on a spur system, where summer growth is cut back to about four or five buds which are then further pruned in winter to a couple of buds. With other forms shoots are left for three or four years then removed back to a younger shoot to take its place. Upright shoots are removed as they would be too vigorous at the expense of fruiting.

Bare root plants are planted in the dormant season, but today most plants come in containers to be planted all year round. As trees are in the soil for a long time, prepare a good planting hole by removing topsoil and adding compost to the subsoil and forking it in, and then replace topsoil mixing in some planting compost. After planting add some fertilizer water the plants.

Wee jobs to do this week

Winter work in the greenhouse

Time for a greenhouse tidy up. Hopefully the grape vines will all be pruned and the tomato bed
I keep some spring bedding pansies and polyanthus under glass in boxes and hanging baskets to protect them from cold wet conditions before they go outdoors in March.

will be getting prepared for this year’s crop. We all have our own pet methods. I remove six inches of top soil, then sterilise the soil with disinfectant to kill off any soil born diseases. Then I add compost and dig it in then spread potting compost from growbags over this in readiness for planting.

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