MORE SPRING FLOWERS

MORE SPRING FLOWERS

Azalea Gibralter

Apple Red Falstaff

It seems the garden flowers from rock garden plants to trees are trying to make up for lost time. Although the cold winds never seem to die down, we get a couple of brilliant sunny days every week, and plants are quick to take advantage of any warmth as it arrives. My plans for adding tulips amongst other spring flowering plants based on past experience was fine under normal growing conditions, but with seasons running several weeks behind many of my combinations have been severely tested. All daffodils, narcissus and tulips are a lot later than normal, but peonies (under planted with tall Darwin Hybrid tulips) are up too soon and spoiling my

Japanese azalea

show. It has been a great spring for tulips and adding a few each year has been well rewarded, but

Doronicum with Tulip Abba

although they are now over their best, other spring flowers are taking the limelight. Tulip Apeldoorn and Purissima were both show stealers with bright colours good size, and red tulip Abba made a lovely contrast with the yellow Doronicum Little Leo. Down at ground level the red and pink Phlox subulata is a mass of

Iberis sempervirens

colour and with tulips still flowering behind the ground cover plants the combination works really well. Although most daffodils and narcissus are now past their best I have a new one planted last autumn called Sir Winston Churchill which is just flowering now in mid May. It is a beauty, but must be my last narcissus to flower, probably held well back by the cold spring.

Flowering cherries are at their best in gardens, parks, (Dawson Park) and along several streets such as Pentland Avenue. Fruit trees of apples, plum and pears are all in full bloom just now and there seems to be plenty of bees

Kerria japonica

around for pollination. However my apple Fiesta is having a rest this year as it cropped well in 2017 and unfortunately is a biennial bearer known to taking a year off from fruiting every second or third year. A smaller tree just coming into flower just now is the lilacs and looks like they are enjoying our weird weather as the trees are covered n scented blossom.

The shrub Berberis darwinii may only be a shrub, but left to grow unimpeded it can make a huge bush, twelve foot tall and spreads even further. They are a magnificent spectacle just now covered in bright orange flowers, but they produce masses of black berried

Narcissus Sir Winston Churchill

fruit which the birds just love, and then the seeds germinate and young plants grow very readily. A real nuisance.

Saskatoon bushes may be grown for the fruit but they are very ornamental when in flower, as are the blackberry Helen both now smothered in white flowers. Another white flowered plant perfect in the rock garden, used for ground cover or to grow over walls is the perennial candytuft Iberis sempervirens. However my yellow flowering Kerria japonica, the Jews mallow, left to grow as it wishes has made a huge eight feet tall bush smothered in flowers. Another small plant with yellow flowers is the Euphorbia polychroma, which only grows about a foot tall, but is very

Phlox subulata with red tulips

dramatic.

There are so many plants in all sizes flowering this spring that it is hard to know what to leave out. The Camellias are now over but Rhododendrons and Azaleas have a long flowering season beginning with R. praecox in March then the Japanese azaleas have their moment followed by any amount of rhododendrons

Tulip Apeldoorn

large and small.

Garden pinks now have the first flowers and provide a great scent in the garden, and another favourite is the yellow ground hugging succulent Delosperma nubigenum. A great plant for colour in a dry sunny place with poor soil and the dense canopy smothers out any weeds that try to grow.

Spring pansies

Tubs and hanging baskets with spring flowering Myosotis, Polyanthus and Pansies are at their best. Pansies can continue to flower for many weeks, but as they are all destined to be replaced with summer bedding plants quite soon I will replant them in a border with some spare space.

Regrowth on cut back fuchsia

Wee jobs to do this week

Outdoor Fuchsia Mrs Popple has not enjoyed the winter and most of the branches above ground appear to have died, but do not give up on them as Mrs Popple has done this in the past only to regrow again from shoots below ground level. I had taken a batch of cuttings last autumn which have all rooted so I could replace any that have passed away. However after a few weeks I see new shoots emerging from all my cut severely cut back outdoor fuchsias.

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A DAY ON THE PLOT

A DAY ON THE PLOT

Weather on Tayside has been perfect for gardening these last few weeks. We have had enough rainfall to moisten the soil, followed by some dry warm

Anna weeding the flower border at City Road Allotments

days to catch up on planting and sowing.

Blackcurrants in flower

Green manure crops of tares and clover sown last autumn have all been dug in. Their fibrous root system has been great for breaking up the soil and it has been easy to get a good deep surface tilth.

Lettuce, radish, spring onions, beetroot and rocket were all sown several weeks ago in the greenhouse in cellular trays to give me strong plug plants for planting. They were planted in the shelter of my south facing allotment fence (sheets of corrugated iron) to give them ideal conditions for rapid growth so harvesting can begin in a few weeks time for some, though the beetroot takes a wee while longer. These salads will be followed by more of the same sown direct outdoors to give a succession of cropping. I have extended the salad sowings to include a row of Red Veined Sorrel, Rainbow Chard and Spinach Matador.

Turnip Golden ball for summer picking and Swede Best of All for cropping in autumn and winter were also sown. Other root crops included Beetroot Detroit, and Cylindra,

Chrysanthemums just planted

Parsnip Albion and Student. Parsnips are slow to germinate so it is necessary to mark the rows and as I have found germination to be a bit erratic I sow the seeds thicker than normal. If I get a good germination they can easily be thinned out. I am also trying out some Salsify, a root crop I grew forty years ago, so thought I would try it again. A row of Carrot Nantes has been sown in between four rows of onions in the hope of escaping the attention of carrot fly. These onion sets planted in mid April are now all growing strongly. I have two varieties, Centurion and Stuttgarter Giant for comparison.

Leeks sown in early March are all through the ground but still quite small as good warm growing weather has been in short supply.

Broad beans

Potatoes are all through and although they were earthed up against a late frost a few weeks ago they now need another final earthing up.

Strawberry flowers in May

Broad bean Aquadulce sown in early March was a fast grower so quickly hardened off and got planted out in mid April. They are well established but need constant checking for pea and bean weevils, where one or two can be found on nearly all plants.

Sweet corn Incredible sown two months ago grew quickly, to allow planting of good sized plants two months later. They like fertile soil and a fair spacing to achieve good sized cobs.

Thinning turnip seedlings

Brussels sprouts Crispus, Cabbage Kilaton and Cauliflower Clapton were all sown carefully in the best conditions to achieve maximum germination. They are all clubroot resistant and seem to be very expensive as there are only 20 seeds in each packet. The cabbage and cauliflower were sown in batches of ten seeds each with the rest to be sown a couple of months later to give successional cropping.  

Cut flower plants such as Sweet peas, Gladioli and Chrysanthemums are important to add colour to the plot as well as flowers for the house, and the allotment plot has a flower border that is just a riot of colour with tulips and daffodils creating a dramatic spring display.

Strawberries, gooseberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants and bramble Helen are now all flowering and looking good. One row of strawberries is under tunnels, but these have to be opened to allow pollinating insects to find them as well as letting in some of our heavy summer showers. Last year I picked my first strawberry at the end of this month, but as the season is running three to four weeks late I may have to wait till June for my first berry, unless the jet stream moves north and lets in some warm sunny weather from the south. Fingers crossed!!!

Wee jobs to do this week

Mixed Tulips

Tulips may have had a late but brilliant spring but now they are going over it is time to dead head them so the plant can retain its energy for building up a good bulb to flower next year. Those bulbs grown in tubs which are to be replaced with summer bedding plants, can be carefully lifted with a good ball of soil and replanted in a border to add colour in following years.
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A DAY IN THE GREENHOUSE

A DAY IN THE GREENHOUSE

As cold winds continue to delay a decent spring day, plants grown under glass and now needing to harden off are having to be patient. The hardier types such as chrysanthemums and geraniums have been out for a few weeks, but threats of overnight frosts meant they had to be brought back inside for protection. The same applied to rooted fuchsia

Erica gives John a hand with the watering

cuttings now a decent size and some starting to flower, but they are too young and soft to be hardy. Cabbage, cauliflower, kale and Brussels sprouts were all raised under glass and are now hardened off and ready to plant out. Kale never seems to be affected by clubroot disease but all the other brassicas are, so I now only grow the resistant varieties, so my cabbages are Kilaton, cauliflowers are Clapton and Brussels sprouts are Crispus.
I grow these brassicas under the best conditions as I need perfect germination as you only get 20 seeds in each packet so no room failures. Last year I tried the clubroot resistant swede Invitation, but the roots were small and tough so not worth growing.

Geranium from autumn cutting

Spring onions are always started in the greenhouse in cellular trays as outdoors the germination is very poor. They grow better in decent compost then once they have put on some growth they get hardened off and planted out on the plot a couple of weeks later.

Although my main batch of geraniums are now hardened off and put outdoors, I have taken all the tips out as another batch of cuttings. They will be kept in the greenhouse a few weeks till they root and begin to grow, then get potted up, and after another couple of weeks in the greenhouse, they are ready to go outdoors.

Overwintered chrysanthemum stools put on plenty of growth giving me nearly one hundred cuttings. They root very easy and are fairly tough so they are now outdoors and ready to put into final pots. The old stools still had plenty of green shoots so they have been planted in a border.

Young Fuchsia plant

Outdoor Fuchsias taken as cuttings last autumn have all rooted and been potted up. They grow so well that some are now beginning to flower so they have all been hardened off.

Sweet corn seedlings had also been potted up, then after a fortnight put outdoors to harden off.

Tuberous begonias are always slow to grow so they remain in the greenhouse. As there is no room left on my tomato border the begonias can sit happily under my row of grape vines. Once I see all the begonia shoots they will get replanted into bigger boxes with more space. They are usually the last to get hardened off probably by the end of the month.

Grape shoots with wee bunches

The grape vines have now all got plenty of young shoots growing. Let them put on a fair bit of growth, but once you can see plenty of grape bunches, it is time to start the pruning. Any shoots that have no bunches on them can be removed or if there is plenty of space cut back to one or two leaves, which can be removed later. If any shoots have two bunches remove the weakest otherwise grape size will be reduced if you ask the vine to produce too many grapes. As shoot growth continues it will need controlling so cut back all shoots to two leaves after each bunch of grapes.

Tomatoes are all growing strongly in their final pots before planting out, but as yet at the beginning of May I do not see any truss with that first flower, so no planting out yet. However the chances are that by the time you read this they will all be happily set out into permanent positions in my well prepared tomato border.

Although we seem to get plagued by cold winds, the greenhouse temperatures can rise dramatically on sunny days so keep the ventilators open wide as long as possible, only closing them at night while clear skies run the risk of an over night frost. Condensation builds up over night but soon clears when ventilation begins in the morning.

Removing flowers from rhubarb plants

Wee jobs to do this week

Rhubarb is now throwing up flowering shoots. Remove them with a knife down to a large leaf, as
the plant needs to save its energy to produce plenty stalks over the summer. They are heavy feeders so give them a feed and keep the plants well watered. They benefit from a mulch of compost but keep it off the crowns. The first light picking will be done this month.
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TOMATOES

TOMATOES

It’s that time of year again when all keen gardeners and allotment plot holders with a greenhouse get quite excited about this year’s challenge of growing better tomatoes than last year. Tomatoes take priority from most other crops under glass as

Beef steak tomatoes

the reward of fresh produce over the summer season makes the effort very worthwhile.

Good varieties to grow

Every year new varieties appear so we all like to try something new, but still stick to some of our tried and tested successful varieties. In my Dundee greenhouse my hard to beat maincrop remains Alicante though others swear by Shirley, and my best red cherry type is Sweet Million, and Sungold my best yellow cherry. This year I have added Yellow Delight to my yellow cherry types and Red Cherry to compete with Sweet Million. I don’t usually go for the plum or beefsteak tomatoes but this year I will try out Marmande, a large fruited beefsteak type with few seeds. However seed catalogues list a huge range of varieties so every year you can try out a couple of new ones

Alicante tomatoes

to put to the test. For those lacking a greenhouse it is worth trying a bush tomato such as Tumbler, Montello, Peardrops, Hundreds and Thousands or Tumbling Tom in pots plunged into growbags (two to a bag) or in a hanging basket. Up north it may be best to select a sheltered south facing wall to give them some warmth and protect them from cold fierce winds.

Culture

Tomato Ilde

Sow seed in early March in shallow seed trays then about three weeks later they should be ready to prick out into small pots. Grow these for another couple of weeks then transplant into bigger pots. Wait till the first flower on the first truss has opened as a guide to when to plant into their final positions. They can be grown in large pots, growbags or border soil in a greenhouse or outdoors if sheltered and against a south facing warm wall. If using the border soil in a greenhouse there is a chance of getting bacterial wilt disease after a few years. However you can dig out the infected soil, sterilise the border and replace it with fresh soil. This is very hard work, but a great exercise and growing tomatoes in soil results in a full flavoured crop that is hard to beat when picked and consumed fresh off the vine.

Cherry tomatoes

Bush and trailing varieties are left to grow naturally, but the rest are grown as upright cordons supported on canes or strong string tied at roof height to a strong support as there is a lot of weight once they all get into full cropping. Remove all sideshoots carefully as they grow and give the cordons a daily wee shake to assist self pollination. Keep water off the foliage and give plenty ventilation to keep fungal diseases at bay. Start feeding with tomato fertiliser as the first truss fruits begin to swell and continue weekly. Keep the plants well watered to prevent blossom end rot due to calcium deficiency as this mineral needs moisture to carry into all parts of the plant.

Cherry tomatoes

Cropping and use

Allow the fruit to ripen up fully before picking to gain the maximum flavour. Fresh tomatoes fully ripe in a summer salad are just heavenly and the red and yellow cherry tomatoes sitting in a bowl on the table are hard to resist when walking by. Even when crops are at their peak in mid season there is always a use for some tomatoes. A bacon, egg and mushroom fry up needs some tomatoes, then pasta is enhanced by adding tomatoes and they are almost essential on a pizza. As the cropping glut continues surplus can be skinned for a delicious tomato soup. After this surplus can be frozen without any preparation to be used as required till the following years crops arrive.

Sowing courgettes and pumpkins

Wee jobs to do this week

The first week in May is my traditional time to sow courgettes and pumpkins in the greenhouse.
I sow them in shallow wide pots then after germination, prick them out individually into small pots. They will get potted up again after a couple of weeks as they grow fast and should be ready to plant out early in June when all danger of a late frost is passed.

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