PLANT AN APPLE TREE

PLANT AN APPLE TREE

There is an apple tree suitable for almost every garden today, no matter how small your garden is. Life keeps evolving and modern housing no longer caters for those wishing a large garden. Most people don’t need a garden to grow their fruit and vegetables as supermarkets can provide everything you want. However when it comes to full flavour and health benefits you are better to grow your own produce. Supermarkets require produce to be blemish free, evenly sized, good appearance and have a long shelf life. None of that is relevant to home grown produce, and we may well also find the odd caterpillar and greenfly, but that won’t put us off if the taste is fantastic and the apple is soft sweet and juicy.

Fruit tree breeders have been encouraged to rethink their strategy in light of the fact that there has been a movement to go back to growing the older heritage varieties that can still be found in old derelict orchards. Most of these older types are not commercial by today’s standards, so where they find outlets is likely to be your local green grocer or farmers markets. The goodness has not been bred out of them in favour of size and cropping potential. These older varieties still have a real apple taste and soft texture. Apart from Cox, there are too many apple varieties available with thick skin and hard tasteless flesh. So when looking for that special apple tree that you know your kids will be happy to eat make sure you get one with flavour and that will grow in your area.

A good heritage or even modern variety in the south of England may not be any good here. We are too far north for a good Cox, but we can grow Discovery, Falstaff, Scrumptious, Katy, Fiesta, Red Devil and for my first early in August a few Arbroath Pippins (The Oslin) are just fine. It does not keep and is prone to brown rot, but has a flavour to die for.

The best cooking apple in my opinion is still Bramley which keeps a long time in store.

Many garden centres hold apple open days where numerous varieties are available to sample usually in early October so you can decide which one to go for.

The next consideration will be how much space is available for a tree. Breeders and nurserymen have helped out the gardener with limited space by producing types aimed at those with limited space. All apples are grafted onto a root stock whose vigour determines its ultimate size.

The latest most dwarfing type is M27 used for columnar shapes, dwarf pyramids and stepover trees.

Then M9 is an old dwarfing type used for cordons, dwarf bush and spindle trees.

Apples grafted on this and M27 require permanent staking.

M26 and MM106 are still dwarfing but will give a bigger tree than the previous ones, growing up to ten to twelve feet. However for standard trees if you have the space look for trees grafted onto MM111 or M25, but they can grow up to fifteen feet tall.

The best forms of tree for limited space is cordons, fans and espaliers which can be grown against a wall or fence and spur pruned so they take up minimal space. In open areas stepover trees are very popular. These are like a single espalier branch trained a couple of feet above the ground and again spur pruned in summer by reducing growth to a few buds. Most apple varieties can be trained in these forms, but a new type becoming popular is the single stemmed columnar Starline range. There are five varieties, but as these are new only time will tell if they will be good up north. For me the orange red Firedance type looks good. These should all be summer pruned to keep shoots short (three buds) and will need permanent staking. They are said to be resistant to scab and mildew.

Wee Jobs to do this week

Check insulation of outdoor water taps and those in unheated greenhouses.

Continue with outstanding winter digging, incorporating manure and compost, but still leaving the soil surface rough to allow weathering.

Spike lawns with a garden fork to improve drainage, then brush in a lawn top dressing to improve the fertility and health of the sward.

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ALLOTMENT ROTATION

ALLOTMENT ROTATION

Crop rotation is an essential practice when growing a range of vegetables in the garden or on an allotment. This helps to prevent the build up of diseases such as clubroot on brassicas and white rot on onions. Different crops require different amounts of manure or compost so rotating crops allows all parts of the ground to receive organic manuring over time. The brassica crops also grow best on land that has a high pH value so it gets limed a couple of months before planting so the winter snow and rain can wash the lime down into the soil. A higher pH value also helps to discourage clubroot disease. Although we can grow some clubroot resistant plants, the breeders have not yet produced a wide enough range to give us year round protection, and many salad crops such as radish and mustard can be affected. Wallflower plants that are grown from seed can also be seriously affected.

A four year rotation is the best practise so that the land that was limed for the brassicas one year will be perfect for the next crops of heavy feeders or salads the next year. Then in year four, acidity is returning and it is now perfect for the potatoes and other root crops. Potatoes are liable to scab infection if there is lime in the soil, or if the land is poor.

Planning the basics of the rotation is always best ahead of the winter digging so you know how to distribute the manures and garden compost according to subsequent crop needs. This gives it time to rot down releasing its feeding values just when the new crops need it.

Starting with the heaviest feeders I allocate ample compost for my pumpkins and courgettes, followed by the onions, leeks, peas, beans, sweet corn. Finally I make sure the potato patch gets a fair amount of compost before digging in, though it is a good practice to add some compost to the bottom of the drill at planting time. Land selected for salads only needs a light dressing of compost and areas where my root crops are to be grown get nothing otherwise the incidence of root splitting will be too high.

If you grow strawberries these can be added into the rotation once their fruiting life has ended. They are normally grown for three cropping years then dug in and new strawberry runners planted on fresh soil that has not previously had strawberries. However since the old strawberry patch has not been manured or cultivated for several years it will need a lot of compost and deep digging.

Intercropping and catch crops

Soil deteriorates if left bare without plants grown on it, but many plants such as the courgettes, pumpkins, dwarf French beans, runner beans and sweet corn are not frost hardy so planting is delayed till the end of May or early June. This is where a catch crop of a fast maturing salad can be grown such as radish, lettuce, spring onion and baby beetroot. To make sure these have enough time to produce a worthwhile crop they can be started early in cellular trays in the greenhouse. Similarly where ever crops have finished early such as early potatoes, broad beans, spring cabbage, over wintered cauliflower, onions and sweet corn, there is still time for more quick maturing salads, rocket, autumn salad leaves, beetroot and more spring onions. If you have enough salads then use the ground for a green manure crop such as clover to enrich the soil for the next crop.

Intercropping is very useful to use spare land for salads grown in between widely spaced plants such as brussels sprouts, sweet corn and freshly planted strawberries. Similar crops can also be grown around newly planted fruit trees and bushes before they need all the allocated space.

Wee jobs to do this week

Tidy up the allotment plot. Straighten up fences, and path edges which get disturbed with cultivations over the growing season. Replace old carpets, lining the paths as they deteriorate over time getting dangerously slippy. I use wood shreddings in a layer about two inches deep.

Top dress flower borders with a light fertiliser dusting and add some compost where bulbs have been planted as they are now emerging and soon it will be too late when the leaves develop.
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A FEW WINTER FLOWERS

A FEW WINTER FLOWERS

January is the dark winter month when we are reluctant to venture into the garden as it is usually cold and frosty, or snow covered with an icy wind howling and the days are very short. However jobs still need attention so we just put on layers of warm clothes and hope for a wee bit of sunshine to keep us cheery. It does help though if we catch site of a few flowers bravely pushing up through the ground. I have one south facing sheltered border where a drift of snowdrops will be in flower every January. This winter has been so mild early on that they started to flower in December.

Aconites are also on the move and one or two flowers appear whenever we get a few sunny days together, though the main display is normally in mid February.

The yellow flowered climbing Jasminum nudiflorum has been in flower from November and will continue till the end of February. It is really tough and even covered in snow the flowers are still determined to open up. Crocus is another tough winter flower that starts to appear in late January in sunny sheltered borders and is often seen to emerge as the snow melts.

Roses are another odd plant that we rely on for our summer flower display, but then they continue to send up more flowers at every opportunity right into winter. Although most of my bushes have now been pruned I have a few that the secateurs have not reached including my very vigorous climber Mme Alfred Carrier. We have had quite a few frosts this winter but still these roses have attractive flowers on them.

Flower tubs planted with polyanthus have also decided to join in the flower display, and although the best is still to come it is great to see all these flowers in the garden in January.

Flowers are very welcome in winter but outdoors there are many other attractive plants. Up at City Road allotments my bright red Swiss chard looks terrific though we keep spoiling the display by eating the young leaves in our stir fries. Sometimes you just can’t win.

Numerous types of Cotoneaster are still full of berries including horizontalis, simmonsii and frigidus. The latter makes a small tree and can keep birds in food for months.

Back in the house there is always some plant with a bit of colour on the windowsill. The Zygocactus finished flowering in December, but was then replaced with some cyclamen. The last of these finished early January, but now Impatiens (Busy Lizzie) cuttings taken in autumn have matured and started to flower. These will continue to flower all winter as long as the sun shines, but go a bit quieter during dull days.

The poinsettia bought in just before Christmas for a festive display is still at its best and is a real show stopper. I keep mine on a sunny windowsill, but take it in at night and keep the compost moist, but never waterlogged. It should be fine till spring when it will want to start to grow and lose its coloured bracts.

Another good festive plant is the winter cherry, Solanum capsicastrum, bought in when fully formed with cherries. Treat it like the poinsettias and it should retain the fruit for a few weeks.

However our best festive fruiting bush is our orange tree now full of young oranges. They are edible, but are not very sweet as we just don’t get enough sun or warmth to ripen up the fruit.

Wee jobs around the garden

Check tree ties and stakes on ornamental and fruit trees and renew or adjust them. Keep the top of the stake well away from the stem to prevent bark damage in winds.

Tie in summer raspberry canes with a running knot. Allow about four inches between each cane.

Dig in any green manure crops such as clover that have died after a severe frost. The foliage should be trampled down to make it easier to completely bury it when digging it in, and leave the soil surface as rough as possible to expose a large surface area to weathering by frost.

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LOOKING FORWARD TO 2015

LOOKING FORWARD TO 2015

Last week we had a look back over the 2014 gardening year reviewing the successes and failures. Armed with this knowledge we can now plan our gardening calendar for 2015 in the hope that our unpredictable weather doesn’t have too many shocks in store for us. Looking at weather trends to try and assess what could be ahead for 2015, the only half reliable factor appears to be that every year is different from the previous year. So if last winter was very mild, following the devastating December gales, this winter is likely to be colder with snow and severe frost. Last year we got a long cool spring so maybe this spring will be short but warm, then summer will be the Scottish normal (you don’t need me to remind you that means three consecutive dry sunny days and up to five in an exceptional summer) since last year it was excellent. Since August last year was cold and wet it just has to be a total heatwave this year so I will not be on holiday abroad as I don’t want to miss it. Anyway time will be needed on the allotment for watering the crops in this dry spell. Autumn 2014 lacked warmth and sunshine resulting in a poor harvest of grapes and apples,

so maybe autumn this year will be very warm with long sunny days ensuring a bumper harvest of sweet ripe fruit. You have to dream positive thoughts.

Now we’ve got the weather sorted out what does this mean for our plans for the garden.

We will still persevere with peaches, pears, cherries and apples in the hope that the bees will return on time in spring to pollinate the flowers which are bound to be numerous as there was no heavy crop last year to weaken the trees.

Clubroot was a major problem last year as the soil was too wet too often so this year I will be concentrating on resistant varieties of cabbage (Kilaton) cauliflower (Clapton) sprouts (Crispus) and Swedes (Gowrie, Invitation or Marian)

I will continue with my outdoor grape experiments, but will have to find a warm spot free from phytophthora root rot. The variety Phoenix seems to have survived, produced several small bunches and put on ample growth, even though it is on land known to have had root rot.

This year should give me my first decent crop of Big Ben blackcurrants when I can judge their size and increased sweetness for the fresh fruit market rather than just for jam, compote and wine.

New raspberry plants of Autumn Treasure and Polka should fruit this year so I can see if they really are so much better than Autumn Bliss.

A new planting of Bramble Reuben will extend my bramble picking season into autumn as my six year old bramble Helen fruits in August.

Green manure experiments have favoured clover as the superior crop. It does not grow as tall as mustard, but more vigorous than tares, so I will use it at every opportunity in 2015.

I will again plant tomatoes direct into border soil in my new greenhouse, after adding fresh compost and fertiliser, as I feel it should be good for two years before I go back to growbags.

New landscape works are planned after the removal of three huge conifers and a massive eucalyptus which has been threatening to drop branches on my new greenhouse, as it reaches into the sky and spreads wider. This will be permanent planting to maintain an attractive area but be easy to maintain. More on this later after I peruse the plant brochures and select a few special plants.

Most of the branches will be chipped on site and added and mixed into my compost heap.

Some chippings will be used to surface my paths on the allotment. This should last a couple of years before it rots down and needs replacing.

Painting plans for 2015

The short gardening days in winter allows me more time at the easel to concentrate on my latest art project. This will be a series of about twenty paintings in oil and acrylic showing ladies in white sun hats, sarongs and other holiday fashions enjoying our Scottish beaches including Sandwood Bay in Sutherland, the Coral Beach and Talisker Beach in Skye. Other beaches include Otters Wick Bay and Cata Sands in Orkney, Silver Sands of Morar and of course Broughty Ferry Beach in Dundee.

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