LADY IN RED ART EXHIBITION

ART EXHIBITION LADY IN RED

I would like to invite my readers to pop in to see my LADY IN RED
art exhibition held in my studio at
17a Menzieshill Road in Dundee, DD2 1PS.

Lady in Red in the High Street

As an artist always looking for an interesting project for a series of paintings, I decided to make my home town the topic showing Dundee City Center in summer and winter in daytime as well as evening covering areas including McManus Gallery, High School, Reform Street, through to the Mercat Cross, and showing the
Trades and Bank Bar pubs, then further afield at the bandstand at

Benvie

Magdalen Green and of course our Tay Bridge.

So my Lady in Red has been traveling around the town.

The exhibition also includes some Scottish landscapes, snow scenes, figures, flowers and still life studies.

VISIT THE GARDEN

As my garden in spring is just bursting with flowers, visitors are welcome to walk around the garden to see and enjoy a feast of colour with tulips, rhododendrons and azaleas looking great.

Lady in Red has a Night Out

The exhibition starts on Saturday 29th April and runs till Sunday 7th May open every day from 11am to 5pm.

Summer Seas

Some of the paintings can be seen on my website exhibition page.

Lady Resting

SPRING FLOWERS ARE ARRIVING

SPRING FLOWERS ARE ARRIVING

Plum Victoria

Last year we got blessed with a terrific display of tulips so we thought it would be a good idea to run with this theme by adding another big bulb plant in the autumn. We are now reaping the benefits as these spring flowers are all competing with each other for attention. Many areas have two or more layers of bulbs planted at different depths but as they may have different flowering and growing times this idea is working just fine. The winter border with cornus, willow, kerria and red maple is underplanted with snowdrops and aconites (for late winter display) followed by tulips for a spring display, and then lilies grow up through this to give a summer display.

Another border with mass plantings of aconites has been added to with a drift of cyclamen which will grow once the aconites have died down for the summer. Normally the aconites grow from January/February till mid summer then go dormant allowing the cyclamen to flower in September then grow through till mid winter then go dormant for the spring and summer, but with the recent mild winters none of them want to go dormant. It makes gardening ideas interesting.

Tulip Abba

Another border packed with grape hyacinths has been underplanted with red and yellow tulips which flower just above this carpet of blue. The display will continue into summer as this border has a third bulb layer of oriental lilies planted underneath the tulips. Hopefully they will all live happily together. This drift of grape hyacinth flowers is at its best in mid April, but in mid March I noticed a couple of purple crocus in flower, unaffected by the leaves of the grape hyacinths which were still only a few inches tall. So now I am planning another layer of about 100 crocus bulbs planted amongst all the other bulbs to see if I can get in a third flower display.

Spring flowers

Blue spring flowers of Chionodoxa, Anemone blanda, Scilla and hyacinths are also all adding to displays all over the garden, and my purple tulip Negrita is accompanying the yellow flowers of Doronicum Little Leo.

Chionodoxa

A few years ago I noticed that a very early dwarf tulip, Scarlet Baby flowering in late February coincided with my yellow saxifrage drift, so I purchased more of these tulips to plant alongside the saxifrage to enhance the show. However the very mild winter brought on the saxifrage more than the tulip, so this year they had a fortnights time difference, but still brilliant to see.

Flowering trees are also giving us a great display with plums, cherries, pears and even my peach all

Hand pollinating peach flowers

in full blossom. My new peach Avalon Pride took over from Peregrine which got devastated by peach leaf curl. However peach leaf curl resistant Avalon Pride is flowering very late, so although I see plenty bees around I still need to hand pollinate as the flowers are so small that I doubt if any of  the bees will bother much with them.

Camellia Donation

Spring flowers continue with the white scented shrub Viburnum carlcephalum, and Camellia Donation a star attraction soon to be followed by a large Kerria japonica which has been allowed to grow full size. The garden displays then change as the rhododendrons and azaleas have their moment in the spotlight, and looking forward I can see the first flower buds on my climbing rose Dublin Bay waiting their turn for attention once we get a few warm days.

Potting up tomato seedlings

A garden full of flowers gives so much pleasure that I am happy to share these moments with anyone who wishes to visit the garden, so I will open the garden to visitors from Saturday 29^th April to Sunday 7^th May. Visitors can also view my artwork on display in my studio as I show recent paintings of Dundee town centre in my “Lady in Red” art exhibition.

Wee jobs to do this week

Pot up young tomato plants into their final pots where they can continue to grow before getting planted out in growbags, large pots or a prepared border. Wait until the first flowers open up on the first truss before planting out.

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HEALTHY FRUIT and HEALTHY LIVING

HEALTHY FRUIT and HEALTHY LIVING

Anna picking fresh rhubarb

Hindsight is a brilliant factor. Today I feel I live a healthy lifestyle and because of my interest in gardening it keeps me active and the fresh produce gives me my at least five but most often a lot more different fruit and vegetables daily. Looking back into the teenage years I couldn’t wait to leave school to earn a wage. I needed money not education, and I needed an outdoor life in the sun. Just could not be happy in an office or factory so I chose gardening. It is here I was taught how to grow a wide range of fruit and vegetables and how to use them. However quite soon I realised I did need education if I wanted to climb the horticultural ladder. This resulted in a career that took me all over UK, dabbling in fruit production, forestry, landscaping, education, and plant propagation. In the early years money is tight so you need an allotment to grow food trying to cover the whole twelve months with self sufficiency. A very hard task but is made easier today with the use of fridges and freezers. Gone are the days when I needed to make 110 jars of jam (two jars per week) during the berry season to be stored in a cool shed over the next twelve months. In the younger years life was very active with the normal diet of sausages, beef burgers, mince and chips from the deep fat fryer with everything, but we burnt off any excess by an active life. One day in my early

Saskatoons

thirties after a large helping of sausages full of gristle, I felt ill and vowed, no more crap, so sausages went out and the deep fat fryer got binned. From now on it was to be healthy foods only, though an occasional wee relapse at Christmas, and my two lassies needed help to get through their Easter eggs. Next on the list was sugar, so it was tea and coffee without sugar and nae mare honey in my porridge. Now that was a hardship!!! But we survive and prosper.

I now look into which foods give you the most benefits, and research gives very interesting reading. Green vegetables, roots and salads are now normal daily crops grown on the allotment, but it is the fruits that give you that extra boost. My healthy fruits include chokeberries, blackcurrants, saskatoons, blueberries, brambles, cherries, figs, rhubarb and black grapes.

The dark colour of these berries is caused by the very high levels of anthocyanin, an antioxidant. The fruits are also packed with dietary fibre, vitamins and minerals. Antioxidants prevent free radicals from damaging cell components. These plus the other vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre  assist the fight against heart disease, cancer, diabetes, alzheimer’s disease, reduce the absorption of high cholesterol, and can delay macular degeneration.

Pumpkin Hundredweight

Pumpkins, tomatoes and peppers are three fruits we treat as vegetables, but all three score very highly in providing great health benefits, and although seasonal crops, they can be stored for future use. My pumpkins usually store till early April, but then surplus gets frozen.

Chokeberries are not very common at the moment but they produce one of the healthiest fruits on the planet, with very high levels of anthocyanin an antioxidant(1480 mgs per 100gms) high levels of dietary fibre, plus vitamins A, C and E and the minerals potassium, iron and manganese.

However chokeberries are too astringent to eat in any quantity straight off the bush but can be juiced, cooked, added to compote, yoghurts and makes a delicious jam and a healthy wine.

Blackcurrant Ben Findlay

Blackcurrants, red and whitecurrants may only have half the level of anthocyanin, but at over 700 mg per 100gms they are still very high. They are also high in vitamins, dietary fibre and minerals similar to chokeberries plus calcium and zinc.

Saskatoons are also very high in anthocyanin (562mgs per 100gms) plus high levels of dietary fibre, vitamins and minerals. The berries can be eaten fresh, and frozen for future use in compote, summer puddings, juices, wines, added to cereals, yoghurts and cooked in cakes, oaties and jams.

John picking kale shoots

Blueberries, Brambles and Black grapes, similar to the above (blueberries have 386mgs per 100gms anthocyanin.) However they will allow you to extend the season of use for fresh healthy fruit from summer till winter. Black outdoor grape Brant has pips in the berries, but now we find that these seeds are packed with goodness. So instead of discarding these pips as a nuisance, give them a wee crunch and swallow them. They are anti allergenic, antihistamine and anti inflammatory. They strengthen blood vessels, aid circulation and improve skin elasticity.

Wee jobs to do this week

If old brassica plants (cabbage, cauliflower and kale) have been harvested but not yet been dug out leave them till young flowering shoots appear, usually with soft fresh leaves, then use these as a spring vegetable just perfect stir fried with a light oil dressing, or they can be steamed for a few minutes adding some ginger, garlic and seasoning.

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A GOOD TIME FOR SEED SOWING

A GOOD TIME FOR SEED SOWING

Spring weather seemed to be running a bit late this year, but then a warm sunny spell towards the end of May warmed up the soil just enough to let us get on with the seed sowing.

Root crops such as carrots, turnips and leeks, and salads such as lettuce, rocket, beetroot and radish all need a firm level surface with a good tilth. So choose a dry day and get that rake moving.

Sowing peas

Once the outdoor seed bed is prepared give a light dressing of fertiliser high in phosphates (potato fertiliser) for root crops but a balanced one such as Growmore for salads, then rake in before taking out seed drills. Most crop rows are spaced a foot apart

Tulips and pansies in a tub

but give turnips and parsnips 18 inch spacings as they need more room. Scottish conditions may be a bit on the cool side for spring onions sown outdoors in spring so I sow mine in cellular trays indoors to get them started, then after a few weeks plant them out. These can go in rows spaced just six inches apart as they are quite narrow and upright. Carrots are another crop that can be sown closer at six inches between the rows with three rows together so you can straddle them for weeding. Carrot fly is a real nuisance so cover the carrot bed over with fleece held up over the foliage with hoops.

Sowing salads

Leeks are sown thinly in a seed row and left to grow to pencil thickness before lifting, topping and tailing and transplanting into permanent rows by dropping them into a deep dibble hole and watering them in.

Early peas such as Kelvedon Wonder are best sown in a six inch wide trench a couple of inches deep and space out the seeds along the bottom of the trench in three rows a few inches apart.

A hardy annual flower border can be sown any time from early April onwards. Again they germinate best if the ground is well prepared with a deep friable tilth, but not manured or composted and adding fertiliser will give them a boost but then excessive growth will result at the expense of flowers. Annuals flower best on well cultivated but poor soils.

Back in the greenhouse seed sowing continues in seed trays and cellular pots. Cabbage, cauliflower, kale and brussels sprouts are best sown thinly in shallow seed trays using a well drained seed compost. Once they have germinated they can be

Iceland poppies

pricked out into large cellular trays or pots to grow on for a few weeks before they are big enough to plant out.

Take care to protect young plants from slugs and snails and pigeons which like to feed on all brassicas as well as young pea foliage, and if your land is infected by clubroot grow some of the clubroot resistant varieties of cabbage (Kilaxy), cauliflower (Clapton), sprouts (Crispus) and Swedes (Invitation).

Sweet corn is best to go direct into smaller cellular trays for germination then a few weeks later they can get potted up into bigger pots so that you have a strong plant at least a foot tall for planting out.

Most summer bedding plants such as Impatiens, petunias, salvia, antirrhinum, French and African marigolds can all grow from seed, but in spring the garden centres are just bursting the these plants in cellular trays as plug plants just ready to take home and pot up. Grow them on for another three weeks or so and they will be ready for their summer quarters in tubs, beds and hanging baskets.

Wee jobs to do this week

Planting early potatoes

Recent sunny weather has warmed up the ground so we can now plant our potatoes. Start off with the first earlies such as Casablanca and Foremost, then second earlies such as Charlotte and International Kidney then go onto the maincrops where choice is wide so pick one to suit your own needs. For a good baked potato Amour is a winner, Lady Christl has taste and great flavour and Sarpo Mira has good blight resistance. I like to plant sprouted seed potatoes in a deep drill lined with compost to get them off to a flying start. Add some potato fertiliser to keep them well fed for a heavy crop. Space the sets about a foot apart in rows two feet apart for earlies, but give maincrops a bit wider spacing between the rows.

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A BUSY TIME IN THE GARDEN

A BUSY TIME IN THE GARDEN

The spring rush is just round the corner. Last year it was in full flow at this time, but spring 2017 has been quite cool, so there has been no rush to start outdoor seed sowing and planting.

Anna transplanting tomato seedlings

Last year I planted my first early Casablanca potatoes on the 20^th March, but this year the soil has not yet warmed up so they will have to wait a bit longer. The potatoes are all sprouting in their chitting trays but not putting on any growth to worry about.

Sweet peas are very disappointing this year. I bought three varieties to try but there was only ten seeds in each packet and I only got one of my favourite Air warden to germinate. The seed company from Newmarket will not be getting another order from me next year. Other seed packets were all very sparse. Gone are the days when you sowed half the packet one year and kept the rest for the next year. The sweet peas are very slow to grow so not yet big enough to go outside on a warm day.

Trying out some new chrysanthemums this year, so my delivery of plants from Harold Walker arrived on time with excellent strong well rooted cuttings, which are now potted up. Existing spray type chrysanthemum stools in the greenhouse are all growing well so a batch of cuttings was taken and will root in a small heated propagator.

Dahlias showing new growth

Dahlias boxed up a few weeks ago and kept in a warm place are now beginning to grow so soon another batch of cuttings will follow for the propagator.

Begonia tubers were beginning to sprout so they have

now all been boxed up and put into my cold greenhouse which I give some supplementary heating to on cold days and nights.

Broad beans and established geraniums are all growing well, but with continual gales and cool weather they will need to wait a bit before going outside to harden off.

Sowing continues with cabbage Kilaxy, cauliflower Clapton and Brussels sprouts Crispus (all my clubroot resistant varieties) as well as lettuce All Year Round, spring onions and beetroot Boltardy. These

Young seedlings

will be planted outdoors direct from their cellular trays into a bed warmed up with a low polythene tunnel at the end of April.

Last year’s leek crop of Musselburgh was very disappointing so this year I will try a different variety, Autumn Mammoth and sowing them earlier, but because of the cold weather they have gone into trays and will soon be needing pricked off.

Onions sown earlier are now all growing well and they are now ready for pricking off as soon as we get some warmer days. If you are using sets they can be planted at the first decent dry day onto well prepared and enriched soil.

Rhubarb ready to pick

As cooler weather limits what I can put outdoors for hardening off the greenhouse is getting very cramped, but I am lucky with having a lot of good windowsill space so my tomatoes are still indoors but needing pricked out into cellular trays. Later they will go into pots and get transferred to the greenhouse as the cooler atmosphere and better light will keep them sturdy.

The cool moist weather is just perfect for lifting and transplanting snowdrops and aconites in the green as they will get less disturbance, and continue to grow for a few more weeks, before dormancy begins and they die down for the summer.

Transplanting aconites in the green

Rhubarb crowns have had an early start so pull a few fresh shoots as soon as they are a decent size, and at this time of year they will try and run to seed so remove these as soon as possible. Rhubarb is a thirsty plant with its huge leaves and a gross feeder so give a fertiliser dressing then a mulch of well rotted compost to retain moisture throughout the growing season.

Wee jobs to do this week

Keep checking for slugs and snails and put down some pellets where ever you are planting young vulnerable plants such as salads, beans, sweet peas, as the mild winter has not helped to reduce the numbers overwintering, and they will be feeling hungry. Greenhouses with young seedlings and soft cuttings are a magnet as there are so many places to hide underneath pots and boxes.

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