ENJOYING THE WEATHER

ENJOYING THE WEATHER

It may only be mid May, but summer has arrived. Hope it is still with us when this goes out in print. Both garden plants and gardeners are having a great time. There has been some rain, but not enough for good plant growth so the hose has been in constant use. This brilliant weather brings back memories of 1975, which was a fantastic summer, only to be followed by 1976 which was even better. Summer last year may have been late in arriving but then tropical weather for the rest of the summer and into autumn made up for it. So it

Chrysanthemums intercropped with Lettuce

would be nice to see how this year compares to 2018. Last year the absence of spring held back plants by three weeks. I picked my first strawberries on 11^th June, but this year the first strawberries were ripe for picking on 11^th May, a good four weeks ahead of last year. Mind you this is the early strawberry Christine grown under a low polythene tunnel. It is a lot of work, but the rewards of those first ripe berries makes it all worth while.

The tulip show this year was fantastic and lasted for weeks. This year’s star performer was tulip Strong Gold which was in flower for nearly a whole month.

However the early warm spell gave greenfly a boost so they became a problem on roses, blackcurrants, gooseberries and plums which were infested by the rosy leaf curling plum aphid.

Figs have started into growth, and although the book tells us to remove last year’s unripe figs, I have left mine on as many will develop into an early crop of figs.

Rhubarb was quick into leaf and flower spikes soon appeared. Remove these as soon as possible usually in early May so the first stems are ready for a

Broad beans growing strongly

rhubarb crumble by mid May.

Potatoes got a great start as my chitted spuds were well advanced and never looked back. Earthing up had to be done regularly from late April onwards as frost was always threatened, but fortunately never appeared. They look so promising that I think I will be ready to lift a trial shaw of first early, Casa Blanca by the end of May.

Chrysanthemums grown from cuttings were prolific this year as the old stools had plenty growth with the mild winter, so I had more than I needed and plenty to give away. Some spare plants got planted as an interplant between a couple of rows of cauliflower to see if they are happy together occupying different height requirements. My normal block of chrysanthemums is a bed of three rows and

Onion Hytech

since they have a wide spacing I am trying a batch of quick growing lettuce Lollo Rossa in between the rows. The lettuce was sown in the greenhouse several weeks ago.

Broad beans planted in early April have put on a lot of growth so staking is necessary to prevent them falling over. Check regularly for signs of the pea and bean weevil which cuts notches around the leaves and can be a real pest. If you are careful you can spot them and catch them for crushing before they drop to the soil.

Onions are well established and just love the heat, but unfortunately need watering in the dry weather. Fingers crossed that this doesn’t lead to a white rot infection.

Early potatoes and strawberries

Peas, leeks, parsnips, turnip, lettuce, rocket and spring onion all grown from seed have now all germinated so need watering to keep them growing and need weeded regularly.

Areas allocated for pumpkins, courgettes and sweet corn were all sown with a green manure crop. This is now ready for digging in a few weeks ahead of planting.

The compost heap has been growing bigger with kitchen waste, old spring bedding plants, withered bulb leaves and residues from last year’s crops so it is a good time to give it a turn over to help break down plant materials.

Summer hanging basket

Wee jobs to do this week

Hanging baskets for a summer display can now be made up with geraniums, petunias, trailing lobelia, bizzie lizzies, fuchsias and trailing tuberous begonias, although for something different why not try, trailing tomatoes or strawberries. I keep mine for a few weeks on a large flower pot till it is well established before lifting it in place on sturdy wall brackets.

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THE SUMMER FLOWERS

 THE SUMMER FLOWERS

The spring flowering bulb season has now passed but the cool spring weather allowed flowering to last for weeks brightening up gardens with daffodils, tulips and many other flowers. However before we remove the old foliage we must let it die down to

Cherry Cherokee

help build up strong bulbs for flowering next year. During this time we have been growing plants for our summer display for tubs, beds, and hanging baskets. Some of the hardier types such as chrysanthemums were planted out at the end of April, and geraniums planted out in early May, but Bizzie Lizzies, marigolds, petunias and tuberous begonias are still a bit tender so these were the last to get put outdoors for hardening off.  The mild winter allowed geraniums grown on windowsills from autumn cuttings to put on plenty of growth and flowers, but these were picked off to encourage growth. This gave us more scope to take tops out for cuttings, so now we have plenty of strong young geraniums for planting out where they can flower all through summer in beds, tubs and baskets.

Delosperma nubigenum

Where spring flowering wallflowers and polyanthus have gone over these can be removed to the compost heap, but pansies always want to continue flowering till mid summer, so carefully lift them out of containers and find a quiet spot in the garden to plant them into. This is a great idea for brightening up a few dull corners, and the compost helps to improve the soil.

Philadelphus virginal

The early summer flowers with impact will include the oriental poppies with huge bold red flowers and the flag iris in a wide range of colours. Another early flowering plant is the Euphorbias, with red flowers on the variety griffithii Fireglow and yellow flowers on polychroma. Be very careful when working close to the Euphorbias as any damage to the stem allows sap to flow which can be a severe irritant on exposed skin.

Fruit trees are a picture in late spring and early summer when the apples, plums, pears and cherries are covered in blooms with the promise of good crops to follow. Last year my apple Fiesta never had any flowers as it is a biennial cropper, but this year it has a mass of blooms. Peach Avalon Pride had flowers so small that I thought they had no chance.

Rose Gertrude Jekyll

This is a late flowering variety said to have some resistance to peach leaf curl, and although there has been plenty bees around I doubt if they could see the flowers. However on close inspection I see I have about twenty very small peaches beginning to grow, but the peach leaf curl disease has infected most of the foliage. Time will tell if I see any peaches mature in late summer.

Summer bedding plants

Winter pansies still in flower

Summer flowering shrubs usually start with the Forsythia, followed on with Viburnums then Ceanothus, Berberis darwinnii and the tall highly scented Philadelphus. This year they are all putting on a great show, and the first of the rhododendrons and azaleas are now in flower. Pieris Forest Flame may be growing in my shade border, but it still manages to put on a great show of bright red shoots and white flowers.

Down at ground level the dwarf succulent Delosperma nubigenum is a mass of yellow daisy shaped flowers in May and the Phlox subulata is smothered in deep pink flowers. This phlox sometimes

Summer flowers on a dry wall

flowers at the same times as the Apeldoorn tulips, but not this year, as all the tulips came a couple of weeks early. Climbing and bush roses are now all getting ready to join the summer flowers, despite plagues of greenfly, and appearance of mildew after the long dry spell.

Good grape potential

Wee jobs to do this week

Grape vines under glass have made an early start with spurs all producing many shoots most of which are showing one or two bunches of grapes. Outdoors cool weather has kept back growth so summer pruning for these can wait another three weeks. Pruning for both glasshouse grown and outdoors against south facing walls and fences is the same. Remove the growing tip of every sideshoot leaving one or two leaves after the grape bunch. Later on as more shoots develop cut these to leave only one leaf. Any shoot without any sign of grapes can be removed. At the end of summer even more thinning is needed to allow sunlight to penetrate into the developing grapes to help ripen them up and reduce incidence of botrytis mould.

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BUSY SPRING DAYS

 BUSY SPRING DAYS

In my early training years to become a gardener we were taught how to garden by the book. There was a good practise guide for all crops and if you followed it precisely you would get exhibition standard results. No-one told us that only worked

Earthing up potatoes

if the weather was on your side. In them days weather was fairly predictable. Winter ended at the end of March when grass cutting began, it was always cold at Easter, tulips always flowered in May, and summer started at the June bank holiday. Move forward fifty years and you can throw that gardening book away. Everything you do now is dependant on weather which is no longer reliable. Winter and

Nets keep pigeons out

sometimes spring often fail to arrive; then summer starts in early spring followed by a return to winter. Greenhouse plants put out to harden off have often had to go back inside when frost threatens. This year we started off three weeks ahead after a mild winter so working with this idea seed sowing was advanced from the plan, but then it turned colder and the long dry spell came to an end. We are now back into good gardening weather, so sowing, planting, weeding and numerous other gardening tasks are all going ahead at full speed.

Potatoes that had been planted in March are all well through so now earthing up has begun. Some were earthed up a few weeks ago as my earlies, Charlotte and Casablanca pushed through in early April when frost risk was still a threat so they needed to be protected. So far they have been lucky and top growth is excellent so now

Anna checks for gooseberry sawfly damage

we are well into May I keep my fingers crossed.

Dry weather prevailed in early to mid April so watering was necessary over the whole plot. Leeks were very slow to germinate as soil temperatures were still low, and constant watering was necessary. Green manure crops sown ahead of courgettes, pumpkin and sweet corn planting are still very slow to thicken up. Weeds are now trying to make up for lost time. They were slow to get started but now the hoe has been out constantly to keep them in check. Early May is a good time for checking over the gooseberries looking for signs of sawfly damage, so give them an insecticide spray as soon as they appear as they very quickly devour the leaves in a few days.

Early strawberries protected with low polythene tunnels made a lot of growth with plenty flowers so it has been necessary to keep tunnels ventilated to reduce condensation, allow watering and weeding and let bees in to pollinate the flowers.

Young brassicas grown in cellular trays have now all been planted. Clubroot resistant cabbage Kilaton, cauliflower Clapton, sprouts Crispus and kale all got planted into a block that had been composted in early winter then limed a couple of months later. However they are all very prone to

Ventilate strawberry tunnels

pests so collars were put round each one to prevent root fly attacks, netting used to keep out pigeons and cabbage white butterflies. Then slug pellets were scattered around them as slugs and snails all survived the mild winter and are very hungry. Onion Hybound grown from seed in the greenhouse and pricked out into cellular trays were hardened off in mid April and planted out in early May.

An early batch of lettuce Lollo Rossa got planted out as a catch crop in between my two double rows of broad beans as well as in between my block of chrysanthemums. Hopefully this lettuce will be ready for use before the beans and chrysanthemums need the space. The mild winter helped growth on the chrysanthemum stools so I was able to take well over a hundred cuttings from twenty stools. That gave me plenty for myself plus spares to give away. I also planted a row in between two rows of cabbages. The cabbages only grow 18inches so with chrysanthemums growing a lot taller they may well work together. Time will tell.

Apple mildew

This has been a good time to give the compost heap its first turn over, and daffodils, tulips and pansies all get dead headed as spring flowers fade. There’s never a weary moment on the plot.

Wee jobs to do this week

Check over apple trees for mildew and remove any primary infections. Mildew spores over winter on infected buds then in spring the disease emerges and spreads to healthy leaves. At this time of year the infected buds are totally covered in mildew so easy to spot and remove before they spread.

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PLANTS FOR THE SHADE

PLANTS FOR THE SHADE

Bee pollinating flowers of Hydrangea petiolaris

Choosing plants for the garden is usually fairly simple for most areas, but there is always an awkward corner in deep shade from buildings, trees, hedges or fences. These areas can still be made very attractive provided you choose the right plants. Some plants like dry shady areas and others prefer it moist, so do some research before buying in plants.

Prepare the ground by digging over, removing big stones and

Pieris

add some planting compost ahead of planting. Shady corners can be brightened up by planting variegated plants or those with golden, bronze or gray foliage. If the ground has a steep slope controlling weeds could be a problem so choose evergreens which can smother germinating weeds. Dwarf conifers are perfect for these areas and there are plenty to choose from. Thuja Rheingold has golden bronze foliage and does not get too big. Juniperus squamata meyeri is a low growing evergreen with blue foliage and Juniperus pfitzeriana aurea has yellow/green foliage. Both are low and spreading and quite dense so very few weeds will survive with them to compete with. Other evergreen ground cover plants can include the white dead nettle, Lamium White

Euonymous Emerald N Gold

Nancy which can thrive in moist shade. Another for moist shade is the range of gold and silver Hostas, but watch out for slugs which just love the foliage.

For something quite different the black grass Ophiopogon planiscapis nigrescens is worth a try.  For areas with partial shade the London Pride makes a solid ground cover with flowers in May.

Where there is room for some bigger plants try lonicera Baggesons Gold with yellow leaves. It makes a dense bush six feet tall which birds just love to nest in, and for an even bigger bush come small tree the holly will provide berries for winter decoration and also comes in golden and silver variegated forms.

Doronicum with tulips

There are many flowering plants that are shade tolerant and can give some colour to dull areas.

At ground level in late winter there are numerous flowering bulbs that can be used. Snowdrops have always been a favourite and with some early flowering types you can have flowers from mid December onwards if we get more mild winters. Then the winter aconites begin to flower from February to March. Planting bulbs under deciduous trees and under fruit trees can create a lot of interest using those just mentioned, then later on the grape hyacinths, Chionodoxa and Anemone blanda flower in early April, and towards the end of April the bluebells have their moment in the spotlight. Both Daffodils and narcissus types

Ophiopogon Black Grass

can all be used in shady areas and really add colour letting us know the end of winter is here and spring is just round the corner.

There are plenty herbaceous perennials happy growing in shady spots so try some low growing ground cover Bergenias with pink flowers, Doronicums with yellow flowers or some Pulmonarias with blue flowers, and a large range of Primulas with flowers in all colours. As we go into summer a few choice plants could include some red  Astilbe Fanal, yellow Geums and blue Meconopsis, the Himal;ayan Blue Poppy, and for white flowers the Anemone Honorine Jobert is hard to beat.

Coming up the scale there is a wealth of Rhododendrons from low growing to massive tall types as well as Azaleas, Pierris and

Silver Euonymous

Camellias, all providing a terrific show of colour in spring, then in summer Fuchsia Mrs Popple will flower quite happily in the shade.

If you need a plant for shady walls both Hydrangea petiolaris and Pyracantha, the Firethorn, with orange berries in autumn will be quite successful.

If you happen to have a flower bed that suffers a bit of shade use polyanthus and primulas for spring colours together with dwarf tulips, and in summer try bedding fuchsias, tuberous begonias and impatiens, the Busy Lizzie.

Wee jobs to do this week

Harden off plants grown under glass. Onions, geraniums and chrysanthemums were all taking up greenhouse space needed for a couple of rows of tomatoes, so they are now all outdoors taking advantage of the warm Easter weather. However tuberous begonias and Impatiens (Busy Lizzies) are too soft so they will remain under glass for another couple of weeks just in case winter returns.

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TULIPS

TULIPS

May is normally the peak flowering time for tulips, but with our mild winters and early spring, tulips have been in flower since March. This year spring started very early, but then cooler winds from the north arrived and cooled things down for a few weeks.

Mixed tulips in a rose bed

Tulips last a lot longer in these conditions so our extended displays are a bonus, and by using a combination of early season, mid season and late flowering varieties tulips can be flowering for a good couple of months or longer.

Tulip Abba and Sun Lover

At this time of year it is a good idea to assess the impact of the flower display so that it can be enhanced for the following year by adding a few more tulips in the autumn. Where ever I have drifts of tulips I check to see if they can be improved by adding a different colour such as a white, pink or orange amongst a drift of yellow and reds.  It is not hard to find areas in the garden that can be improved by adding tulips. They are very versatile, flowering in spring, then after a couple of months they are ready to go dormant so they don’t interfere with the needs of other plants in the same area. Companion planting can be a great success when the season is in your favour.

Tulip Scarlet Baby with saxifrage

My first tulips to flower are the Kaufmanniana tulip Scarlet Baby planted alongside some lemon yellow saxifrage both flowering together in late March. Sometimes the seasons are not in their favour and one flowers ahead of the other, but when they both come out together it makes a great display in early spring. The next to flower early in the season in late March to early April is the Fosteriana variety Red Emperor, also known as Madame Lefeber. This large flowering variety makes a great companion planted underneath the shrub Forsythia as they both flower together in early April. I also like to combine them with another

Tulip Red Emperor at City Road Allotments

early flowering Fosteriana type Purissima. A large white flower said to be scented. I must have planted a couple of hundred, but I fail to find any with a scent. In fact looking over the bulb catalogues I was impressed by how many were scented, so I tried a scented variety trial. Maybe as you get older your sense of smell diminishes, but I can’t say I was impressed as I failed to find any scent amongst them, but again maybe it depends on the weather. Orange Emperor is another cracker in the Fosteriana range.

Going back to companion planting I have a drift of Doronicum Little Leo flowering in early to mid April with a great show of golden daisy type flowers so I planted some dwarf double Showcase, a deep purple and some red Triumph tulip Isle de France amongst them for colour contrast.

I grow a range of disease resistant (mildew, black spot and rust) roses in a bed for colour in the summer, but like to make this bed attractive in spring so the roses have a mixed batch of dwarf double tulips planted amongst them. The tulips light up the border in April and May then a couple of months later they have gone dormant, and the roses can take over the space unaware that they had competitors at their feet. My favourites are Abba (red), Negrita (purple), Peach Blossom (pink), Showcase (purple), Sun Lover and Monsella (both with yellow with red markings) and Monte Orange (orange.)

Tulips planted in pots and tubs for a spring display together with pansies, wallflower, myosotis, and polyanthus can be planted back in the garden when they are finished as they will continue to flower for years to come. Most tulips left alone for years will slowly multiply and give great value year after year, but give them a boost in spring with some fertiliser to keep them healthy.

City Road Allotment have realised the impact and value for the plot holders as well as the community around the site so we are now mass planting areas at the entrance with tulips, daffodils, snowdrops, aconites and other plants to improve the appearance of our site.

Remove flowers from rhubarb

Jobs to do this week

Remove flowering shoots from rhubarb as they usually like a spring floral flurry, before settling down to producing healthy stems and leaves. If allowed to flower they will put all their energy into seed production at the expense of growth. As the season gets warmer keep them well watered and give a monthly feed to boost growth. Continue to pull sticks throughout the summer.

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