NO TIME TO RELAX

NO TIME TO RELAX

Gardening activities are very much determined by our weather and after a long dry and warm spring, the heat wave which predominantly affected areas south of the border, did assist our Scottish climate to reach seasonal highs for about a fortnight. It was very enjoyable and just as we were getting ready to complain of the drought, the heavens opened up and the honeymoon was over. June and early July were somewhat damp to put it mildly. Down at ground level crops and weeds had a field day with anything green reaching rapidly up to heaven. While this is brilliant for cabbages, kale, lettuce, courgettes and turnips, other crops took a different view as continual damp weather took its toll.

Onion white rot

Gardening jobs may be numerous but small at this time of year as we are supposed to be on top of tasks which gives us more time to relax in the sun on the patio, occasionally getting up to dead head a geranium or spent rose. However gardening opportunities have been few and far between as we dodged rainy days to catch up with lots of very wee but essential tasks.

Slugs just thrive in the moist undergrowth and strawberries, impatiens and French marigolds are under severe attack so pellets were essential. Then mice invaded the strawberry patch. They are getting very clever. They manage to spring the mouse traps, gobble up my best cheese, then tuck into a few more strawberries before heading home. Strawberry Colossus is proving to be a hit, but I wish they would leave one for me to sample. The strawberry patch is well netted so no bird problem, but now I need to put nets on my saskatoons and redcurrants to keep the blackbirds away.

Cherry Cherokee

Nets were also necessary on a recent planting of cabbages and cauliflower for autumn harvesting. I had just got them planted when the rains came so thought I would net them next day hoping the sun would be shining. Pigeons had an early morning start on my fresh young green leaves, but I think they will survive and grow now the nets are in place.

I am keeping an eye open on my gooseberries absolutely laden down with a heavy crop of berries, as in previous years it attracted the attention of our allotment site resident fox.

Cherry Cherokee also had to be netted otherwise our resident blackbird family would take the lot.

Potato Casa Blanca

Weeds just love the wet weather and have to be picked off as there is not enough sun to shrivel them up after hoeing. They germinate and grow very fast just now.

White rot on onions and root rot on raspberries is becoming a menace with the wet weather. Onions like it warm and dry and this wet spell has taken its toll. Root rot on raspberries is also spread by soil moisture and infected soil can easily be transported on boots, in compost and tools. Remove any infection as soon as it is found. Clubroot on a row of rocket salad leaves virtually wiped them out as it spread easily in the moist soil.

Summer harvesting is well under way for many crops. Pick peas, lettuce, rocket, spring onions, turnip and the first early potatoes. They may still be small but only lift enough for a few days needs.

Spray chrysanthemums

Sowings of turnips, parsnips, beetroot and salads for late summer use will now be germinated so thin out to give seedlings plenty of room to grow. I usually thin twice, initially to a couple of inches apart and then later select the strongest and thin out the rest to allow full growth.

Chrysanthemums grown for cut flower always need support as they will grow about four feet tall depending on variety. Those grown as sprays are just left to grow and flower, but the decorative, incurve and reflex types grown for single large heads will need disbudding. Once the top flower bud is obvious, start to remove all other buds and sideshoots from each main stem so the plant can put all its energy into developing a large head. Extra feeding helps to increase flower size and maintain a healthy vigorous plant. Always disbud from the top down just in case of any accidents.

Wee jobs to do this week

Poppy Ladybird

Dead head annual flowers, perennials, roses and keep some of the seed heads from favourites like Poppy Ladybird as these will come up again next year from the fresh seed.

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SUMMER COLOUR

SUMMER COLOUR

Dublin Bay in June

The recent heat wave enjoyed (or endured) in the south of the UK, may not have quite reached us up north, but this year our Scottish climate has still been outstanding for warmth, sunshine and dry weather. This followed a mild winter and a very pleasant spring so it is no surprise that our gardens have been a riot of colour month after month. I thought colour had peaked with a massive show from the tulips, but that was followed by the show of dazzling azaleas, then the bearded iris, and now the summer roses climbing up my walls continue the show. Every time we walk around the garden there is another plant having its moment in the spotlight. Two weeks ago I wrote about all this colour in the garden, only to find that a fortnight later the colour has not diminished but there is a whole new group of plants seeking attention.

Just where do you begin and just hope it continues through summer and into the autumn.

At the moment it is the climbing roses that catch the eye as well as my two shrub roses Ispahan and Rosa mundi.

Rosa Mundi

 Over the years I have grown numerous bush and shrub roses only to dig them out after a few years due to the ravishes of mildew, rust and blackspot. I am now down to about twenty which all have reasonably strong foliage able to withstand rose diseases. My red climbing rose Dublin Bay grown on a south wall is spectacular and every year never fails to impress, though I am fussy with the winter pruning even tackling those shoots beyond the top of my twelve foot ladder.

Another very tall shrub having its moment is my Philadelphus virginal. Catching those long arching sprays of pure white flowers against a deep blue sky make a brilliant picture and the scent is unforgettable.

Delosperma and Senecio

Coming down in scale to my dry border I have a few shrubs well adapted to a south facing bank with good soil but with a four foot retaining wall to hold it back it has always suffered from lack of moisture. A selection of those plants adapted to maritime conditions seems to work well. At this moment my large Senecio greyii is a mass of yellow flowers and growing alongside it clambering over the wall is a Delosperma cooperi with purple flowers. A perfect match and adding to the display is my pink Erigeron ground cover and taller evergreen shrub Cistus purpureus with

deep pink flowers. This group was never planned, but over the years I found a plant to fill a gap to suit the dry conditions and just so happen they all decide to flower at the same time. Sometimes you just get lucky. Another piece of luck was the visit to RHS gardens at Wisley last year when Anna picked up a packet of Sweet William seed which we had never grown before but Anna recalled them from childhood days and wanted to try them out. We didn’t have a special place for them so they went into every spare piece of soil in rose borders, herbaceous borders and our allotment flower border. They have been fantastic and added colour to other plants all around them.

Peonia Doreen

Over on the herbaceous border the latest star performer has been Peonia Doreen, one of Anna’s prize purchases from Gardening Scotland a few years ago. Every year it gets bigger with more flowers and now really catches the eye. Then again our massive group of deep blue delphiniums continue to perform every year, but need serious staking due to their size and strength.

Tubs and hanging baskets are growing well and are quite colourful, but this is not their time yet as they still have to come into full flower probably from end of July onwards. However the pink and red geraniums have been outstanding. I kept pinching off all the flowers from winter till the end of spring to build up strong growth. This has paid off as now they just can’t wait to get their flowers up into the sunshine. Petunias alongside them are also enjoying the warmth putting on plenty colour.

Wee jobs to do this week

Salad catch crops

Harvest vegetable crops as they ripen such as turnip, lettuce, rocket, spring onions, peas and early salad potatoes. This releases land for another quick growing crop of salads, beetroot, autumn and winter cabbages and cauliflower. There might also be time for another pea crop using a dwarf early variety such as Feltham First, Meteor, Kelvedon Wonder, or sugar snap peas.

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SUMMER FRUITS

SUMMER FRUITS

We are now beginning to reap the benefits from this warm summer, as the first strawberries ripened up at the end of May. My main crop Elsanta has come to the end of its useful life so will be replaced in the autumn. Colossus my new strawberry with huge fruit is living up to its name, but then the first berries from Symphony and Florence were also huge. Large fruit seems to be in fashion as my perpetual strawberry Albion which I rely on to fruit well into autumn also has massive berries. Just a pity they are so hard and lack sweetness. If they don’t improve they are destined for the compost heap to be replaced with some other autumn fruiting variety. Now that fruit picking has started it is a good time to review the crops and make notes for future action.

Picking fresh rhubarb

Raspberries are now starting to colour up so if you are troubled with the raspberry maggot now is the time for the first insecticide spray, then give another spray a week later. Both summer fruiting Glen Fyne and Glen Dee are heavy with berries ready to turn red. Looks like a good year for raspberries. Autumn fruiting Polka, Autumn Bliss as well as Autumn Treasure are all growing strongly so an autumn crop of berries looks assured.

Blackcurrant Ben Conan and Big Ben both have many branches weighed down with berries and should start to colour up soon. Most of the tops of vigorous branches were plagued by greenfly as growth has been soft with the warm wet weather, but rather than spray I just cut back the shoots to healthy leaves. This got rid of the pests and let more sunshine in to sweeten up the fruit.

Gooseberries also suffered a severe attack of sawfly maggots when I wasn’t looking, so they needed a spray which quickly wiped out the pests and allowed the bushes to grow fresh leaves. This is another crop that is just loaded with berries waiting to ripen up.

Fig Brown Turkey

Rhubarb may officially not be a fruit, but it is used as a dessert in stews, compote and is brilliant mixed with saskatoons for jam, as they add some acidity. The Saskatoon crop may be a bit lighter than last year as the winter was so mild that shoot ripening to initiate fruit buds was a bit lacking.

However I should get bigger berries and harvesting at the end of July is on target. It was interesting to see that the Saskatoon crop grown down south at Pershore Juneberries commenced in mid June.  They needed a mechanical harvester to pick the berries.

Great to see success with the first commercial Saskatoon plantation in the UK.

Bramble Helen has finished flowering and now we just wait for this early variety to ripen up for picking in August. However the new bramble Reuben is flowering on the shoots grown last year. This primocane type flowers and fruits on canes grown in the same year, so last years canes should have been removed after fruiting, but with flowers appearing in November they had no chance. New shoots growing this year are three feet tall and looks like they will flower this month. Can’t wait to see if Reuben will fruit this year and live up to its terrific catalogue description.

Thinning apples

Apples are ready for thinning but I will wait till after the June drop before the final thinning.

Cherries are turning colour but the tree needs netting otherwise the blackbird will take the lot.

My Peach Avalon Pride lost a third of its leaves to peach leaf curl, so the diseased foliage had to be removed. The tree was none too happy so it dropped my twelve potential peaches and has left me with just one. I give it one more year to acclimatise to Scotland or it gets the chop.

Grapes and figs are having a great year with much needed warmth and sunshine so good to see the fruit swelling up and we should soon get our first fig.

Peas and beans

Wee jobs to do this week

Peas can grow very fast in this warm damp summer climate so make sure they are all well supported. Even the dwarf varieties can grow two feet tall and are better for something to cling on to. I use both shrub prunings if tall enough and weldmesh wire held on posts driven into the ground.

Plastic pea and bean netting is quite cheap and very easy to use but make sure it is held up with a strong framework of posts and wires.

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EARLY SUMMER FLOWERS IN THE GARDEN

EARLY SUMMER FLOWERS IN THE GARDEN

Flowers in the garden all have their own season, so provided you grow a wide variety of plants the garden can be full of colour all year round. The spring bulbs are now a distant memory followed on by the oriental poppies and bearded iris. Some azaleas and rhododendrons are still in flower but it is the roses that steal the show in June. The long dry spell brought on some mildew then the rain gave the greenfly a boost, so a combined insecticide and fungicide was sprayed to clean them up. To keep the plants flowering remove all spent flowers to prevent them wasting energy producing rose hips. Oriental poppies also need seed pods removed and even old foliage as in a good year they can regrow with fresh leaves and produce a second burst of flowers.

Delosperma nubigenum

Peonies have given a good display but now the show is over cut back old flower heads.

Garden pinks are becoming very popular and are hard to beat for a wonderful clove scent. They do not need rich soil but it must be well drained and they flower best in a sunny position. Mine all

Delosperma cooperii

suffered a plague of minute black aphids which just about destroyed all foliage so a quick spray of insecticide sorted them out and are now well on the road to recovery.

Greenfly on my oriental lilies also got a spray well ahead of flowering so now we just await the first huge scented blooms to come into flower.

Dahlias, chrysanthemums and gladioli grown both for display and cut flower are all growing strongly but it will be a few weeks before they make an impact. Chrysanthemums are all supported with stakes and wires and the plants have had the tops pinched out to encourage branching, except with the spray types which branch naturally. Some of the dahlias have started to flower, but need more sunshine after this wet spell of several weeks.

Erigeron

Hardy fuchsia Mrs Popple survived well over winter as it was quite mild, but for some unknown reason most of the top woody growth all died back. However the old stems soon produced masses of new shoots, though the old dead wood needed removing for appearance sake. Once they burst into growth they can move fast so now there are plenty of flowers and these hardy fuchsias will continue to bloom till late autumn.

Senecio greyii has started to produce its yellow flowers which can be quite striking against the silvery gray foliage, and enhanced by a drift of pink Erigerons also in flower around the bush. This planting arrangement was a happy accident which just worked when

Fuchsia Mrs Popple

I needed a bush, the senecio for a spare patch of land on a dry sunny bank.

Coming back to ground level my succulent Delosperma nubigenum may only grow an inch tall but is a great ground cover plant which smothers all weeds and in May is a mass of yellow scented daisy flowers. The other Delosperma cooperi has purple flowers and grows two inches high. They are both perfect for growing in the cracks of walls. Push a few shoots in a crevice and just leave them. They will soon root and grow quite happily without any soil.

Rose Mme Alfred Carriere

Bare soil patches remaining after removal of spent tulip leaves have been sown with calendula, candyfuft, larkspur and other fast growing annuals to give a bit of colour later in the season.

Tubs and hanging baskets have done well with the warm but wet May/June period covering the pots and baskets with foliage and beginning to flower, but as they have a limited amount of soil feeding will be carried out at least once a month.

Wee jobs to do this week

Five month old compost

My allotment compost heap was all used up last year so a new one was started in January. There always seems to be plenty of material to use so it soon bulked up. I turned the heap twice to help rotting down so now I have compost ready to use after just six months. This will be used for mulching fruit bushes and trees, and courgettes and pumpkins. Any left over will be used to get the next heap started as there is plenty of spent rhubarb leaves, old tulip and other bulb leaves and now I have potatoes to start lifting so the shaws (no sign of blight) can be added to the heap.

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