GARDEN CLIMBERS

GARDEN CLIMBERS

In my early training days in gardening, the only way to find out about plants was to grow them, so I created a wee rock garden, a rose garden, flower beds, herbaceous border, heather garden, got a greenhouse and cold frame, then a fruit and vegetable patch. There was always more plants to discover so every available space had to be utilised. House walls, fences and pergolas all played their part, so I began to experiment with climbers. Problems soon appeared with the need for support, and soil where none existed, then I had to get a grasp of training systems, before sorting out the best plants for walls facing north, east, west and south. A few years later when I found fruit growing to be just as important as flowers, I had to choose exactly what suited my needs as the choice of plants for covering walls is huge.

Climbing rose Dublin Bay

My first success was finding plants that would grow on a north facing wall where good sunshine was a problem. Climbing rose Mme Alfred Carrier, or Ena Harkness and  Jasmine and Hydrangea petiolaris are all  good, and although Camellias are not climbers, they can be trained up a north facing just fine. Property security can be improved by planting Pyracantha around any vulnerable windows. This firethorn has real vicious thorns but also orange, red and yellow berries all autumn and into winter, and blackbirds just love to nest in them.

I placed a great value on walls next to main front doors. These needed scented flowers to enhance the feel good factor for anyone going into the house.  Climbing rose Zephirine Drouhin and Gertrude Jekyll are both perfect pinks for this spot, and honeysuckle is another favourite.

Walls and fences are becoming very popular places to plant fruit trees and bushes on as people want an apple, pear, cherry or peach but normally they would grow quite large, so nurseries now cater for this use. Espaliers, cordons and fan trained trees, and dwarf cherries are all available. Now cherries grown on the new Gisela 5 rootstock will only grow to six to eight feet tall, so they are easy to net against birds. Figs are very successful on a south facing wall and easily pruned to prevent it taking over the garden. Grape vines are also easy to grow, but need pruning to induce fruiting and restrict excessive growth. They are not self clinging so will need a strong support, or a tall fence.

Another great climber that does very well on tall fences is the clematis in many different forms.

Clematis montana rubens may be very common, but it is one of the best for a mass display of pink flowers. It is very reliable, quite vigorous and loves to scramble into old trees, over sheds, tall fences, conifers, etc.

Most climbers against house walls only need enough decent soil to get them established in the first couple of years, and then they can look after themselves.

Very often there will be a perfect house wall space but totally paved with no soil near it. I have frequently removed a two by two paving slab against the house wall then excavate ten inches of builders rubble before loosing up a further six inches. Backfill the hole with some decent top soil, adding a bit of compost and some fertiliser to the pit. Keep any new plant well watered till it gets established. It will soon find spaces to grow in the builders rubble and be perfectly happy. My climbing rose Dublin Bay has to be severely pruned in winter to keep in down to twelve feet.

Wee jobs to do this week

This is a good time to put up the bird table and feeders as a lot of winter berries, apart from the cotoneasters, have now been used up, and it is the smaller birds that benefit. I have rebuilt my bird table to prevent seagulls and pigeons hovering up all the seeds leaving nothing for the robin, bluetits, chaffinch and sparrows. The blackbirds get a few chopped apples from store after cutting off any brown bits.

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Winter Pictures of Tayside

 Having a wee rest from gardening while my winter landscape paintings of snow scenes around Tayside and Scotland is on display in my art exhibition in my studio in Dundee.

Visitors are very welcome to pop in from 11am to 5pm from Saturday 5th December and running every day till Sunday 13th December 2015. 

 My studio is at 17a Menzieshill Road, Dundee, DD2 1PS

EARLY WINTER IN THE GARDEN

EARLY WINTER IN THE GARDEN

As winter begins to close in we take every chance to get into the garden on any dry days and when the sun shines we get the bonus of seeing plenty of colour as plants have not yet all gone dormant. There will always be good colour on the Calluna heathers as well as the variegated Euonymus and Houttuynia, but the unpredictable weather has so confused plants that they just do not know when to stop flowering. Wallflowers and polyanthus in borders and tubs have all got flowers on them, which is all very welcome at this time of year as long as it doesn’t restrict their display in spring. Now is the last chance to complete any wallflower, pansy or other spring flowers while there is still just enough warmth in the soil to get them established.

However it is the Nerines that are catching my eye in a clump next to some apple trees which have all lost their leaves, and outdoor fuchsias in borders and hanging baskets continue to flower as the sun shines in between days of rain, sleet and the first snow showers.

Several days of heavy rain have hampered outdoor gardening, so some tasks are a wee bit overdue. Gladioli, begonias and dahlias have now all been lifted and drying them off in the greenhouse was just fine, but now they have been cleaned up, and will be over wintered in polystyrene trays in my frost free garage. I dry out some old compost and cover the begonia tubers for added protection from frost and too much drying out. When sorting through the gladioli there is always masses of wee bulbils, so I keep the biggest of these, and in spring I will sow a row somewhere to let them bulk up. They can be sown like a row of peas in a six inch wide drill.

Chrysanthemums have lasted well into November, but have now been lifted and boxed up in compost to be kept just moist in my cold greenhouse. They are quite hardy so some frost should not worry them too much. Make sure all these over wintered plants are labelled.

A few days of decent weather allowed catching up of other tasks that needed doing but were not a whole load of fun. So a new fence was installed and painted, and as I had the brushes handy I was instructed to continue with the good work and paint all the other fences as well as the shed. As a full time artist I can be handy with a brush, but fences and sheds do not quite have the same impact. I couldn’t wait to get back into the studio and pick up a smaller brush for my latest project of capturing the

beauty of snow on Scottish scenes on canvas.

Back on the allotment, there are plenty of root vegetables to lift for the kitchen with parsnips having a great year, unlike my beetroot which has not been the least bit happy this year. I grew plenty as it is always easy to find room for another row, but I just could not get them to grow to a decent size.

You win some you lose some, as leeks, cabbages, kale and brussels sprouts are all growing massively this year, not bothered by the lack of sunshine. On the downside I had great summer turnips, but Swedes failed miserably, though I put this down to poor seed as there was no germination. Yet another nursery joins my blacklist, though there are plenty others to choose from.

Outdoor work continues with the winter digging as long as the surface is dry enough.

Indoor work in the kitchen is busy as Anna makes her apple chutney, and I brew three demijohns of apple wine. Thirty pounds of apples had to be cored and chopped then crushed before adding to the bucket with water, sugar and a few sultanas and bananas to give it body. This should be ready in under a couple of years. My previous home brew from outdoor grapes plus Black Hamburg had to have wine concentrate added as the poor summer held back sugar production in the grapes. There was only enough natural sugar to give about 8% alcohol and ideally we want it to be about 12%.

Global warming up north was hard to find this year; maybe it will be better in 2016.

Wee jobs to do this week

Order fruit trees, bushes and plants from catalogues, garden centres or online while stocks are available as all the best varieties will go first. Planting can be done over the next four months.

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