PEONIES

PEONIES

Peonies are herbaceous perennials that have huge bright flowers that can be show stealers in the garden during May and June. They are very easy to grow on most soils but prefer one with some clay in it provided it is well drained. Plant in full sun or partial shade. Purchase bare root plants in the dormant season or containerised ones at any time.

Peony Shima Nishiki

Tree peonies are usually container grown and come as grafted plants. Normally plant the herbaceous types so the dormant buds are just below the surface as they do not like deep planting and this would inhibit flowering for a few years.

Peony suffruticosa

Prepare soil by digging over and adding plenty of compost or well rotted manure as they can be gross feeders to support large strong healthy leaves. Plant the tree peonies with the graft union a few inches below the surface. This will encourage it to grow its own roots and prevent the top breaking off at the graft union in strong gales. Deep planting will also discourage suckering from the rootstock, but if disaster occurs do not dig them out and discard as the rootstock can also flower and be very attractive. If the tree peony has been propagated from cuttings, then plant at the same depth as in the pot. All peonies are best supported with strong staking as the huge flowers are heavy and will bend over if not supported and suffer from soil splashing the blooms in wet weather.

Peony panoramio

The flowers can be very impressive as a cut flower in a vase, and some varieties are lightly scented.

Good varieties for scent include the pale pink Alexander Fleming and Raspberry Sundae, white Festiva Maxima and Krinkled White, the pale yellow Honey Gold and pink Tom Eckhardt.

Peonies do not seem to suffer from many pests and diseases but occasionally mildew may affect them, as can botrytis of the flowers and leaves in a wet year. Remove any infections to prevent the disease from spreading. Sometimes caterpillars can eat at the foliage, but are easily spotted so just

Peony Sarah Bernhardt

remove them by hand. Ants sometimes swarm onto the large flower buds as they often have a sticky secretion but soon disappear once the flowers open.

Herbaceous peonies well worth growing include the red Big Ben, Bunker Hill, General MacMahon and Karl Rosenfield, the white Avalanche and the very popular pale pink Sara Bernhardt and Pink Parfait. My favourite is the huge flowered pink with yellow centre Doreen.

Tree peonies are not so common being frequently sold as the more expensive grafted plant, and also come in a huge variety of colours. Tree peonies are actually deciduous medium sized shrubs. Select a sheltered spot, as although they are perfectly hardy, a late frost can damage the flowers. Paeonia delavayi has maroon flowers with yellow centres, Shima Nishiki has red flowers, Alice Harding is a double with lemon yellow flowers, Hai Huang has lemon flowers, Duchess of Kent is another double with deep rose red flowers

Propagation of the herbaceous types is usually by division of the tuberous roots during the dormant season. They re-establish very easily and often small roots left behind will grow into a new plant. Established clumps are best lifted and divided after about four or five years, though often some clumps left untouched can continue to grow, flourish and flower for many years to come.

A dressing of a general fertiliser in spring will feed the hungry plant and a mulch of well rotted compost will help the plant through a dry summer, but keep the mulch away from the crown. Water the plants in the summer if dry weather persists. In late summer cut back the foliage and add to the compost heap. As peonies do not emerge till late spring they can be under planted with some snowdrops, aconites and crocus as companion planting to give a good display in early spring.

Picking baby beetroot

Wee jobs to do this week

Root vegetables grown from seed are often thinned out in stages. Beetroot has the first thinning to about an inch apart. Small roots then develop but as final thinning leaves roots spaced four to six inches apart, these final thinnings can gives beetroot a perfect size for a crop of baby beet. The leaves are also young fresh and tender so make a perfect and very healthy drink once liquidised. The red stems and fresh green leaves can also be sliced and sautéed in a pan for a few minutes with a little butter and garlic. They are packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

END

GARDENING WITH TROPICAL WEATHER

GARDENING WITH TROPICAL WEATHER

Garden activities have always been dependant on prevailing weather. We expect frost and snow in winter, followed by increasing temperatures in

Aurelia with home grown mushrooms and strawberries

spring then onwards to our erratic summer of sun, rain and wind. Climate change appears to be happening so we are left trying to tie garden work somewhere in between normal seasonal weather

Dave hoeing his weeds

and its frequent variations. 2018 got off to a weird start as a mild winter continued into spring which almost failed to arrive. Then we were quickly thrust into summer for the whole month of May, until the storms arrived followed by gales. The rain passed away, summer returned and decided to stay for a few weeks. Both the gardener and his plants were left in complete bewilderment. Summer turned tropical. It was so hot that I had to find a shady spot for my sun lounger, but the garden plants (those that recovered from the gales) just adored it, provided the hose came out on a daily basis to make sure they never dried out. Growth and flowering have never been better. We may have been running three to four weeks behind in spring but now many crops are ahead and harvesting has started. My

Casablanca first early potatoes

first row of lettuce Lollo Rossa and spring onions have all been lifted and used, and my second row of spring onions and lettuce, Webbs Wonderful are getting used regularly.

The hot dry weather has been fantastic for hoeing weeds as they quickly shrivel up, and while it is dry there is very little germination of new weeds, apart from those areas which get irrigated.

Potato Casablanca, a first early has been getting lifted from early June, with excellent size for a salad spud, and the taste of this potato is fantastic. Other potatoes have now all finished flowering

Dave with his great cherry crop

and with very strong healthy foliage bulking up is well under way. Blight may well give us a miss this year as long as the sun shines and rain is just the occasional shower.

Cabbage, cauliflower and kale are growing very strongly, and it seems the normal spacing has been too close as they all want to grow to exhibition size.

Delosperma cooperii

Courgettes and Pumpkins are also growing like fury, though I have to keep them well watered. My first courgettes were ready at the end of June. These cucurbits are sharing space with my sweet corn Incredible, now about four to five feet tall, very robust and now beginning to flower.

Brilliant to see so much luxuriant growth.

Strawberry picking started in mid June with berries in abundance on early, mid season, late season and even my autumn perpetual Flamenco is cropping. However my new variety on trial, Colossus, turns out no bigger than any others, but has a high level of small misshapen fruit and a very low level of crop. It will be getting dug out and discarded in a few weeks time.

Raspberry Glen Fyne started to crop at the beginning of July and crop potential looks enormous. Raspberry Glen Dee suffered in the gales, but is recovering and also looks great. Autumn raspberry Polka got flattened with many canes broken, so looks like I will be depending on old favourite Autumn Bliss which was unharmed and now growing strongly.

Grape Siegerrebe

Fig tree Brown Turkey may not yet be in full foliage as many of the large leaves suffered in the gales, but it is determined to put on more growth to feed the huge crop of figs that just love this tropical climate. I hope to pick my first figs this month.

Cherry trees are having a great year and fellow plot holder Dave has had to protect his huge crop from birds who just love the juicy fresh cherries. Another plot holder Aurelia has had a terrific crop of mushrooms which she has grown in an old barrel full of compost.

The flower garden has never been better; with star of the show my purple Delosperma cooperii.

Apples after thinning

Tomatoes are well ahead with the first Alicante ready to pick in early July and yellow cherry Sungold now turning colour. Grapes under glass have huge bunches which may need thinning.

Wee jobs to do this week

The June drop has now thinned out the apple crop, but most trees are still carrying too many apples so go over the tree and thin clusters out to leave only one or two apples per spur. This will ensure they grow to a decent size.

END

A GOOD YEAR FOR ROSES

A GOOD YEAR FOR ROSES

Climbing rose Morning Jewel

Rose growers could not have asked for better weather. Provided the rose beds and borders got some irrigation, plant growth has been strong and very healthy, responding to our recent near tropical weather. However, just when the first heat wave was ending and rain returned, so did the strong gales and damaged any long shoots on both bush and climbing rose. Then the tropical weather returned and plants again just loved it.

Dawn Chorus

I had thought that my tall climbing rose Dublin Bay was a goner as the gales broke off a lot of flowering shoots, but there was still plenty unopened buds ready to replace the losses. Similarly my shrub rose Gertrude Jekyll, which I train as a climber lost a lot of flowers, but still put on a great show. It suffered a lot of greenfly infestations during May, but these got washed off while watering the garden and putting on a high pressure spray, carefully. Roses have always created the main floral impact in summer, as I grow shrubs, climbers and bush types, though they may have lost the popularity they once held when in my youth. They were a symbol of wealth for both gardeners,  home owners and Leisure departments of towns. Both Dundee and Aberdeen and many other towns grew and planted them by the thousand, but sadly today most have all vanished.  My early gardening experience in my training years, was to buy 100 Rosa canina rootstocks then with a broken pen knife, I budded them in summer and got over 80 bushes for my garden. Several years later while studying at college in Chelmsford I did a project researching rose breeding and came across another rootstock, Rosa

Mme Alfred Carrier

multiflora. It was said to give far superior results, so I purchased another 100 and budded these. Commercially this rootstock would not be acceptable in the trade as the neck between roots and stem is too small making budding difficult and slowing down the budders, but my bushes were fantastic. Each bush had more flowering shoots than normal, and each shoot had more flowers than normal. My garden was a mass of colour. Today growers prefer to use Rosa laxa as this does not sucker as much as Rosa canina. Roses may not be so popular, but they are in my blood, so my garden would be empty without them.

Ispahan

Over the years the large number of rose varieties has been whittled down as any bush liable to infection from the common rose diseases would get discarded as chemicals used for their control have just about all been withdrawn. There is still a few chemicals available for diseases of roses, but I tend to only grow those with strong healthy foliage able to withstand attacks of fungi.

Shrub roses now include Ispahan, 

Lavander Lassie, Wisley, Gertrude Jekyll and Rosa Mundi, though the recent gales blew Rosa Mundi over just as it was coming into flower.

Miriam

Climbers able to stand up to diseases include Mme Alfred Carrier, Dublin Bay, Iceberg, Ena Harkness and the pink Morning Jewel. Climbing Ena Harkness is a sport of the bush variety and suffers the same weak neck which can’t hold up the large deep red and scented flowers, but in the climbing form this is an advantage. The flowers bend down so you can see them.

Gertrude Jekyll

My favourite bush roses include, the yellow Arthur Bell, the red E H Morse, the white Iceberg and Margaret Merril, and pink Congratulations, Miriam and Dearest, and Piccadilly is a great bicolour as is Rose Gaujard.

For the perfect red rose bloom, National Trust almost fits the bill, but sadly it is not scented, whereas Fragrant Cloud has a great scent. Super Star may have been the first orange rose way back in the sixties, but now Alexander and Dawn Chorus are the popular choices. For the best scented rose try Wendy Cussons, a deep pink hybrid tea type, which won the Clay Vase for fragrance.

Anna dead heads the sweet peas

Wee jobs to do this week

Dead head rhododendron and azaleas, bedding plants in tubs and borders, herbaceous plants, roses, and sweet peas. This encourages the plant to continue growing and producing more flowers rather than setting seeds.

Spray an insecticide on Rhododendrons and Camellias against scale growing on the underside of the leaves to prevent a build up of sooty mould.

END

BUSY TIME IN THE GARDEN

BUSY TIME IN THE GARDEN

Storms in the middle of June caused a fair bit of damage all around the garden and allotment. Winter pansies were at their best before the severe winds tore them apart. Sweet peas got flattened and flag iris blew over and those that stood up shriveled

First picking of strawberries

in the cold winds, but once the winds subsided the sweet peas will start to climb up the support netting once again. Climbing rose Dublin Bay was at its best but now many flowering shoots broke off as did my outdoor grape vines. Then a new row of raspberry Glen Dee got flattened when the suppor

Peony Doreen

t posts broke off at ground level. Some fig tree branches shrivelled up in the strong winds, and although the dry soil got some rain to give it some moisture, the winds quickly dried up the surface. Tubs of geraniums had huge flowers before the storms, but soon all of these got blown away. Peony Doreen with huge flowers could not stand up to the winds though they were well staked so blooms were intact, but drooping down just a bit. Delphiniums standing six feet tall had been well tied to supports so survived undamaged, and these can now open up their flower spikes as the winds have died down. Oriental poppies gave a great display ahead of the gales, but had suffered in the dry weather and frequent hose watering kept them alive, but then they got flattened by the winds. The remaining foliage will be cut back to see if it will grow again. Summer bedding plants and Sweet William in borders were unharmed as they are still quite small and now putting on growth and

Sweet William

flowering will soon give us the summer display.

Many border areas that were carpeted with spring bulbs (crocus, grape hyacinths, tulips, daffodils, snowdrops and aconites) are now all into dormancy so after the old foliage was cleared away, the soil was lightly cultivated and sown down with fast growing annual flowers, like poppies, candytuft, cornflower, godetia and Livingston daisies. Hopefully there is still time for these to grow and flower by mid summer. The long dry month of May was brilliant for hoeing weeds, but when the rains came the weeds duly returned, so the hoe came out again before they could take hold.

Vegetables sown by seed soon germinated, and thinning was needed for turnips, Swedes, carrots, beetroot, dwarf French beans, salsify, lettuce and radish. Leeks grown from seed needed replanting once they gained pencil thickness and these are now looking sturdy. Onions just loved the hot sunny May weather and are also looking strong, though they did get a fair bit of irrigation by hose.

Anna weeds the allotment flower border

Potatoes have also grown very strong and are now in full flower. Shaws of first early Casablanca will be lifted before the end of June, which is a couple of weeks behind last year’s crop.

Strawberries down at ground level covered in netting to keep birds out suffered no damage and picking started in early June, but still a fortnight behind last year’s crop.

Blackcurrants have such a huge crop potential that many branches have bent down to the ground with the

Climbing rose Dublin Bay

weight of berries and needed staking before they suffered any rain damage from soil splashing on them. Gooseberries are also laden with a huge crop, but the bushes did a June drop, and although they shed half the berries I will still get a great crop.

My dwarf cherry tree Cherokee is also hanging with a great crop now beginning to turn red so it will need netting before the birds spot it.

Greenhouse tomatoes are now on their fourth truss and need constant side shoot removal and support of the cordon stems as well as regular feeding. Grape vine bunches are now all in place and beginning to swell. Summer pruning of side shoots is now almost complete, but now I begin to reduce foliage to let in the sunshine to help ripen up the grapes.

Turning the compost heap

Wee jobs to do this week

Plant waste has been building up on the compost heap with grass cuttings, storm damaged plants, vegetable waste from the kitchen, spent spring bedding plants, spring bulb foliage which has now been removed as well as annual weeds removed from the plot. Now is a good time to turn over the heap and water as you go as the sunny weather in May has dried it out. It won’t rot down unless it is kept moist. Keep adding to the heap and give another turn at the end of summer and good compost should be ready to use in late autumn just in time for the winter digging.

END

EASY GROUND COVER PLANTS

EASY GROUND COVER PLANTS

An attractive garden is usually a balance of areas of high input containing bedding plants replaced twice every year for a dramatic show of colour and other more tranquil areas that can still look great but without requiring a lot of maintenance time. This is where ground cover plants play an important role.

Aconites

It may be a shady border, or a dry area with poor soil, a wet patch or a large area in need of plants to create interest but that are easy to maintain. There are many plants that are attractive in appearance and dense enough to smother any weeds that dare to grow. Many ground cover plants can also allow some companion planting of bulbs to give an additional show at the same time as the ground cover plants or even at another time to give an additional display. A few of my favourites combine attractiveness of foliage, ability to put on a good show of flowers, and compact growth that prevents weeds from germinating or smothers those that made a start.

London Pride grows in an ever increasing drift with a dense canopy of leaves that weeds just can’t break through. It will grow on any soil in sun or shade producing a show of pink flowers in June.

Delosperma nubigenum with masses of yellow daisy like flowers in June and its bigger brother Delosperma cooperi with purple flowers a month later are low growing succulents about three to six inches tall, that hug the ground as they grow, smothering all in their path. They prefer dry stony soils in full sun, and are brilliant hanging over walls. In fact it is easy to propagate bits by pulling off some shoots and pushing them into gaps in walls where they will root and grow.

Saxifrage comes in numerous varieties growing in dense clumps. They prefer well drained soil in a sunny spot and associate well with stones in a rockery or next to paths. They flower early in March and the red tulip Scarlet Baby is perfect alongside them and in a normal year they will both flower together.

Phlox subulata and Iberis sempervirons are low growing rock garden plants with pink, red and white flowers making a great display in May. They also love to scramble over walls and are a great companion to drifts of tulips growing nearby.

Red Oriental poppies and yellow Doronicum are herbaceous perennials with dense canopies of leaves and flower profusely in May, but then the foliage dies down in summer. Red tulips are great planted amongst the Doronicums with a show of contrasting colours.

Phlox subulata

Heathers, Euonymus fortunei, ivy and dwarf conifers are all evergreen plants useful for steep banks and shady corners all growing quite dense so no weeds can survive underneath them. They all have attractive foliage, and are very easy to grow. Heathers will all flower and some Callunas have foliage that turns bronze in winter after the first frosts.

Azaleas and dwarf rhododendrons are great for shady damp places as well as sunny spots giving masses of flowers from April to June depending on variety.

Oriental poppies

Nerine bowdenii, the Guernsey Lily forms a dense clump of bulbs that slowly multiply, and then as the leaves die down at the end of summer the pink flowers appear and put on a great show.
Aconites and grape hyacinths are also bulbous plants growing in dense drifts, though foliage cover is short lived as they die down in early summer, but if you underplant them with tulips and Oriental lilies you can extend the display from spring into summer.

Wee jobs to do this week

Leeks

Transplanting leeks

sown outdoors in good soil in April should now be ready to lift and transplant. They like fertile soil to achieve a good size with thick necks. I have mine in land that had plenty of compost incorporated last year, then a green manure crop of tares sown down. This was dug in a couple of months ago so it could rot down ahead of transplanting. Rake the soil level after treading to firm it up, and then draw out a shallow furrow and dibble holes in about four to six inches apart. Lift the leek seedlings, discard any small ones, then after topping and tailing drop them into the holes and water in. Space rows about a foot apart. Musselburgh is still hard to beat.

END

THE SUMMER HAS ARRIVED

THE SUMMER HAS ARRIVED

Mixed azaleas

The summer has definitely arrived. All the signs are in place. The summer flowers are out, geraniums looking brilliant, and ice-cream is being served on the patio. The sun loungers are in place but we sit in the shade as it is too hot in the sun. Thunderstorms are raging all over UK, but somehow Dundee misses out. The garden hose has been in constant use as we have seen no rain for at least three weeks, but as long as the garden gets plenty of water from the hose plants are thriving. During the cold spring period plants were falling about three weeks behind normal, but now they seem to be catching up. However the last two years I picked my first strawberries towards the end of May, but this year it will be mid June before I get a picking as the first few are only turning colour now. I grow strawberries to cover the whole summer to autumn period with early mid season, late and autumn fruiting perpetuals, but the unusually weird weather has them all at the same stage and ready

Delosperma nubigenum

to crop together. Global warming may have arrived up in Dundee.

One shaw of first early potato Casablanca got dug up to see how size is progressing. It is a salad potato so we do not expect big tubers. Just as well as we never got big tubers seems I may be a wee bit premature. They will need another week to gain size. They are a week

behind last year’s crop.

Rose Margaret merril

My first roses are now flowering, with white scented Margaret Merril first to bloom followed by yellow Arthur Bell. Climbing Dublin Bay and Gertrude Jekyll have also got a few flowers on the bushes. They are all responding to this unusually warm period of summer weather, lasting well over three weeks, which for us in Scotland is beyond our wildest dreams as we all expect summer weather to last about three days before rain returns. Some climate change at last!!!

In the flower borders flag iris, English iris and oriental poppies are all in full bloom and in the drier top of walls position my ground hugging yellow succulent Delosperma nubigenum and garden pinks have all started to flower.

Oriental poppies

Evergreen Japanese azaleas and deciduous azaleas are still flowering and the Cistus purpureus and Ceanothus are all in bloom so the garden has been a riot of colour for over three months. The warm dry weather lasting so long has been great for encouraging the spring bulbs to die down so the withered leaves of tulips, daffodils, crocus and grape hyacinths can be removed carefully so the bulbs stay in the ground. These areas can now be sown with annual flowers, such as Livingston daisies, Godetia, Candytuft, Cornflower and Love in a Mist which will hopefully give us some flowers from summer onwards. The bulbs underneath will be perfectly happy as they are dormant.

Geraniums

Up on the allotment the first strawberries are colouring up so it was necessary to lay straw up the rows and cover them with nets to keep out the birds.

Lettuce Lollo Rossa, Radish and Spring Onion sown earlier in the greenhouse and planted out against a warm south facing corrugated fence have been ready for picking since mid April.

Some seed germination has been abysmal. I only got one plant from a whole packet of lettuce Webs Wonderful, none from a packet of polyanthus, or the Red Veined Sheep Sorrel, eight from one packet of spring onions, yet my parsnips (normally a bit erratic to germinate) all germinated.

Gooseberry bushes were just laden with berries, but the plants did a big June drop though still leaving me with a great crop.

Wee jobs to do this week

Grape spur

Grape vines have been enjoying the recent warm dry weather and making a lot of spring growth. Now is a great time to start the summer pruning. Any growths that do not have a bunch of grapes

showing should be removed unless they have plenty of room in which case cut back to a couple of leaves as this spur may fruit next year. Cut back all fruiting shoots to two leaves after the grape bunch, and once side shoots grow cut these back to one leaf. Towards the end of summer start removing more side shoots to allow sunshine onto the developing grapes to help to ripen them up. Any shoot showing two or more bunches should have them reduced to one bunch per shoot.

END

KEEP PLANTS HEALTHY

KEEP PLANTS HEALTHY

Gooseberry sawfly

Looks like 2018 could be a bumper year for fruit crops. Apples, plums, pears and even my peach tree have been covered in blossom, and fruit bushes from strawberries, rasps, currants, saskatoons and gooseberries are all looking prolific. Even our weekend country walk around the Lairds Loch on Tullybaccart showed outdoor wild fruit of blaeberries, wild raspberries, brambles and elderberries all looking very prolific. However to reap the harvest we need to keep a watch on pests, diseases and weeds to take action before they take hold. Late spring has also been very dry and coupled with very warm weather at the end of May the hose has been in constant demand to keep plants watered. However this long dry hot spell has been brilliant for hoeing weeds as they shrivel up very quickly. Go back over the ground a few of days later and hoe out any survivors.

Greenfly on roses

The hot spell has been excellent in the greenhouse as both tomatoes, planted out mid May and my three grape vines are putting on plenty of healthy growth and fruits. Removal of side shoots of tomatoes is a constant job as is summer pruning young shoots on the grape vines to stop them being over vigorous at the expense of developing grapes. Watering and weekly feeding has now started on the tomatoes, and full ventilation of windows and doors has been necessary to avoid condensation and prevent mildew on the vines. So far this year there has been no signs of vine weevils so my nematode biological drench last year seems to have worked, though I found some in my tubs as I removed the polyanthus, a plant they just love.

Apple mildew

The June drop has started early with my cherry tree dropping a fair bit of fruit so I will keep an eye open on other top fruit trees to see if they also shed fruitlets. My outdoor peach tree Avalon Pride planted a couple of years ago is looking great with about two dozen peaches starting to form and peach leaf curl has not been a big problem. I just pick off those few affected leaves.

Redcurrant leaf blister mite

Blackfly on cherries has yet to start, but I watch over them just in case.
Greenfly has been rampant on my roses, so wiping them off with fingers was too big a task. I had to resort to spraying which soon sorted them out. Greenfly also had a go on my pansies so they got sprayed as well, and are now putting on a great show in pots and hanging baskets.

It was also necessary to use the sprayer on my gooseberries as my two bushes, appeared healthy one day then a few days later a thousand appeared with voracious appetites chomping through the foliage. Spraying sorted them out, and like all other fruits the crop potential looks very promising.

Rose rust

Slugs and snails however have been busy on salads, bedding plants, bulbs and strawberry beds so the pellets have had to be sprinkled. I thought they would have been dormant in the dry weather, but it has not deterred them from seeking out some tender new leaves.

Pea and bean weevils have been a nuisance on both these crops. I have never been able to find them on peas, but you can catch them on broad beans as they congregate at the top of the shoots.

Scale and sooty mould on rhododendron

Scale on rhododendrons has again appeared resulting in sooty mould covering the leaves, so once the flowers have faded the bushes will be sprayed with an insecticide targeting the undersides of the leaves as there are just too many leaves to clean up by hand.

Mildew on apples always appears at this time but removal of these primary infections on over wintered shoots stops it from spreading. Mildew and blackspot have not yet appeared on my roses, but rust has, but only on a few leaves so these have been removed before it spreads further.

Clubroot on cabbage, cauliflower and sprouts has been prevented by using resistant varieties so now all crops are growing strongly. Kale never seems to get affected so far. Fingers crossed.

Wee jobs to do this week

Newly planted hanging basket

Hanging baskets for summer display can now get planted up. There is an abundance of good plants available at garden centres to supplement your own home grown plants. Geraniums, fuchsias, French marigolds, Impatiens, nemesia, petunias and trailing lobelia are all excellent plants to use. Remember to make holes in the side to pop in a few plants so the basket can make a round ball of flowers and foliage. Always keep them well watered and give a fortnightly feed.

END

BEDDING PLANTS

BEDDING PLANTS

The spring bedding put on a fantastic display but now tulips, wallflower, polyanthus and myosotis are all past their best so it is time to replace them in tubs, hanging baskets and flower borders with summer bedding plants. Pansies always continue to bloom from spring well into summer so let them have extra time while still giving us plenty of flowers.

Anna waters the tubs of geraniums and begonias

However if you need the space they can be carefully transplanted to a border, and water in well, where they will continue to flower. Keep all tulip and crocus bulbs and dry them off so they can be replanted in early autumn in a border. When clearing tubs, pots and baskets check for vine weevils, slugs and snails and dispose of them before they get a chance to munch away at fresh foliage and roots, and remove any weeds. It is a good idea to replace some of the old compost with fresh compost

French Marigolds

and add in some fertiliser and some rock dust. Check out the security of wall brackets for hanging baskets as these can become loose over time and may need replacement of screws and plastic rawl plugs. Hanging baskets can be very heavy once plants are in full growth then they get watered. Everyone has their own favourite plants for hanging baskets. My favourites are geraniums, petunias, trailing lobelia, French marigolds, Tagetes, Impatiens, Nemesia, trailing begonias and fuchsias. This will give plenty to choose from when you select colours to match up. I line my baskets with polythene from compost bags turned inside out and cut holes in the sides for plants to make sure my baskets are covered with foliage and flowers. If the location has some shade then use fuchsias, geraniums, trailing begonias and impatiens, and keep

Bed of mixed geraniums

the petunias for full sun. Use blue petunias for scent near entrance doorways.

Tubs and borders get the same range but add some of the taller growing plants such as African marigolds, antirrhinum, cosmos and tuberous begonias. Salvias also put on a bright display of red flowers, but I have to admit it is the geraniums that flower first from spring onwards and are still flowering in October when we are ready to replace them with the next year’s spring bedding.

Plants ready for planting are available in garden centres, and some have plug plants to take home, pot up and grow into bigger plants for bedding. However the keen gardener can grow most of his own stock from seeds and geraniums and begonias can be retained year after year. My geranium stock of selected varieties is about twenty years. I take cuttings each autumn, and grow them on a windowsill over

Tubs planted with summer bedding plants

winter. In spring they get potted up and transferred to my cold greenhouse in March. I remove all flower buds over winter up till end March so plants can keep their energy into growing strong stocky plants. My training as an apprentice gardener in the nurseries at Camperdown Park where we grew geraniums by the thousands, way back in the nineteen sixties has stayed with me ever since. We saw the benefit of our work in the mass displays of colour all over the town and in Parks, open spaces and gardens. Paul Crampel was always the best red geranium.

My collection of tuberous begonias was started well over twenty years ago when I bought a batch of fifty ready to plant. After flowering all summer they get dried off for storing in winter then grow again in spring every year. If the tubers get too big I just chop them in half once the shoots are a few inches high. They never come to any harm as they are quite tough.

Preparation of the ground for pots, tubs and baskets before planting is always important as they need good fertile soil with plenty of compost to aid drainage and feed the growing plants. Most are fairly untroubled by pests and diseases but fuchsias, begonias and impatiens are favourites for vine weevils so if you think they could be a problem use a nematode based insecticide. Slugs and snails can also be a problem so watch out for them and use slug pellets if required.

Pumpkins ready for planting

Wee jobs to do this week

Now that drier sunny weather has had a chance to warm up the soil, we can now plant out courgettes and pumpkins. They are all gross feeders so make sure the ground has been well composted and add some fertiliser at planting. During the growing season keep them well watered and feed regularly. Plant out about a metre apart as they need plenty of room to grow, especially the pumpkins which have shoots that like to travel as far as allowed, before summer pruning.

END