REVIEW OF THE YEAR

                                                      REVIEW OF THE YEAR

The year is now just about behind us and we look forward to 2020 and wonder what lies ahead. There will be new varieties of fruit vegetables and flowers to try, but the biggest challenge is always the battle with the weather. It is a complete unknown as there is just no way of finding out which way it will go. We will all remember 2019 as a very wet year,

John and Anna wish everyone a Happy New Year

though records in some parts had it as very warm, but I cannot say I noticed any long dry very warm periods in Dundee, apart from a fortnight in the middle of May when summer arrived after a long cool spring. There was a great show of daffodils and tulips which went on for ages as cool weather

Apple Discovery

slowed down growth. The show of tulips has been the best ever, so a note was made to buy a lot more in autumn as the display created was worth every penny spent. I now use them for companion planting to enhance the show so I choose varieties to plant along with doronicum, forsythia, border phlox, saxifrages and amongst my roses. I use dwarf early varieties so there is no conflict for space and they die down before the roses need more room to grow. We had come through the normal mild winter to be followed by a cool but dry spring and plants were ready to get going. Seed potatoes went in very early. First early Casa Blanca went in the last week in February followed by all the others the first week in March. As shoots appeared through the earthed up furrows there was no late frosts to worry them.

The hose came out regularly in May as we went through a nice wee dry spell, but all was not rosy in

Dave's spring flowers

the garden. The mild winter was perfect for over wintering greenfly eggs and before long they arrived in plagues on roses, fruit bushes, lilies, pansies and the rosy leaf curling plum aphid wiped out all foliage on plum trees. The plum trees recovered by mid summer but nearly all of the fruit was lost. My outdoor peach tree Avalon Pride only produced one fruit, but it fell off before it ripened.  Apples and pears all fruited very well, but apple Oslin suffered from brown rot wiping out all that variety. Figs on the other hand gave great crops for nearly three months. The dry spell was perfect for the spread of mildew and blackspot smothering roses. The summer display was really severely reduced. It was not long, however, before the pleasant

Summer hanging basket

spring weather gave way to summer and the rain arrived. It forgot to go off. Wet mild weather is perfect for lettuce, cabbages, sprouts, kale and Swedes, but onions suffer badly as wet rot runs riot. However I had got my crop sown and planted early, so as soon as the rot began to spread they all got lifted and dried off. Strawberries also suffered from botrytis rotting a lot of the summer crop and the autumn crop, (Flamenco) which could have been a great crop but was wiped out by botrytis rotting all the fruit. Early strawberry Christine however started to fruit at the beginning of May, before the rains arrived and a good month ahead of last year. Many pumpkins and courgettes all rotted as they grew.

Brant Grapes at City Road Allotments

Although a wet year, garden flowers have all mostly done well. Lilies and garden pinks like a hot dry climate, but both put on a great show, in spite of heavy attacks of greenfly. Geraniums also flowered profusely especially those in hanging baskets.

Top Awards for allotments for John and Dave

Outdoor grapes varied. Brant excelled itself both on my house wall and up at City Road allotments, but rain rotted all fruit on Regent and Rondo. Greenhouse grapes Black Hamburg, Solaris and Siegerrebe all fruited well and most of the crop is now maturing away quietly in demijohns. Tomatoes were all good under glass, and my cherry tomato trial went very well with Supersweet 100 and Sungold both getting top marks for sweetness and cropping.

City Road Allotments won an award for the best allotment site in Dundee and I got the cup for the best plot in the town. New communal flower borders and outdoor grape trial against our south facing sheds may have caught the judge’s eye.

Euonymous needs pruning

Wee jobs to do this week

Shrubs grown for their impact of coloured foliage such as the Euonymous Emerald n Gold and

Emerald Gaiety provide great interest in winter, but once well established like to keep growing and spreading. However once they have filled their allotted space cut back any branches blocking paths.

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FESTIVE THOUGHTS

                                                             FESTIVE THOUGHTS

As we enter the few days left in the run up to Christmas our thoughts may well turn to activities other than gardening. The Christmas decorations are everywhere and there is a wee Santa Claus looking out at every turn. The Christmas tree emerged from the attic, a bit dusty, but otherwise in good form, and the wee fairy for the top fitted on perfectly though after a few falls as her dress is now a wee bit dishevelled. We are strong believers in recycling

John looking over new catalogues

so our plastic Christmas tree of over thirty years is no bad going, and the tree lights are still in perfect working order.

However it is not possible to forget gardening duties entirely as there is watering of numerous pot plants and rooted cuttings in the greenhouse and numerous windowsills, and with every dry day I must return to the allotment to continue the winter digging. The year seems to want to end just as wet as it has been since early summer. There has been plenty well rotted garden compost to spread and dig in, as the growth year created an abundance of leaf growth which ends up in the compost heap. Autumn and early winter was surprisingly calm, so as leaves fell they all dropped onto the ground instead of blowing away. So again there was plenty for the compost heap. The fresh compost will have a few months to rot down and should be ready by late spring for digging into the areas for late planted heavy feeders such as courgettes, pumpkins and sweet corn.

Cotoneaster berries for the birds

Weird summer and autumn weather played havoc with early chrysanthemums. They were not early as most flowered in November, and grew nearly six feet tall, well above their supports so strong winds blew them over. Lifting the roots and boxing up ended up as a December task on a rare dry sunny day, so they are now under cover in the greenhouse.

Harvesting outdoor crops to keep the kitchen supplied with fresh vegetables continues, but it is difficult finding a dry day. There is plenty of sprouts, cabbage, kale, Swedes, leeks, winter lettuce, spring onions, parsnips and beetroot though the latter are a lot smaller than normal. I put this down to adjacent crops being so vigorous this year that they have all been fighting for room and the beetroot lost out.

Fresh harvested winter vegetables

Sprout buttons are suffering from attacks of mealy aphis so Anna has to remove a fair number of leaves, though we have huge crops this year. The fresh vegetables together with those in store and freezer will make us near self sufficient all winter, but I really miss my home grown cherry tomatoes produces totally free from any chemicals and grown in border soil so they all came with fantastic flavour and soft skins.

Garden produce in store

Although wet weather keeps us indoors it gives us time to watch the garden birds feeding in our feeders which we keep topped up. They seem to be having a time of great opulence as berried shrubs and trees are just laden with heavy crops from Cotoneasters to Rowans and even those few apples left on the tree after harvesting help the birds get a balanced diet. Berried trees and shrubs, winter flowers on Mahonia Charity and the coloured stems of Cornus and red maple Sango Kaku brighten up the garden in the winter months.

Back indoors the festive period is a great time to relax with a wee drop of three year old Saskatoon or

John completes painting of Arthurs Plot

gooseberry wine and browse over catalogues to see what new plants we can try next year. The allotment rotation plan for 2020 is in place but seed variety selection has still to be sorted out. I usually do a review of the previous year’s crops to drop failures, reorder the best ones, and add in some new fruit and vegetables. However I always have my other hobby of painting when the garden is out of bounds, but as I am painting a winter scene of Arthur’s Plot it is back to the allotment.

Wee jobs to do this week

Polythene lining around greenhouse

This year was one of great growth, so all my geraniums ended the season looking very healthy, so I will try and over winter them in my cold greenhouse, but to keep the cold out it will be lined with sheets of bubble polythene. This can be attached to the framework with plastic plugs which fit into channels in the glazing bars. I have left a few geraniums outdoors in a sheltered spot to see if they will survive if we get another mild winter.

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FESTIVE GIFTS FOR GARDENERS

FESTIVE GIFTS FOR GARDENERS

We are now in December so it is very hard to avoid festive thoughts on the run up to Christmas, as we ponder what gifts do you get for the keen gardener. Although the keen gardener will have all the necessary tools to keep on top of the garden, things wear out, so check on those secateurs, loppers, and good garden gloves which never last too long.

White stemmed birch tree

Gift vouchers for garden centres or specialist nursery are favourite for chrysanthemums, begonias, raspberries, strawberries and other fruit trees and bushes. Then there is any amount of great house plants in flower to decorate the home and add that wee bit of festive luxury in addition to the essential Christmas tree. Several years ago a friend who knew I was into gardening, brought me ten sacks of horse manure. Now that was different and very welcome but they were not going under the Christmas tree with all the other gifts.

Supermarkets always get geared up for the festive trade, so a large poinsettia is essential, then I see great cyclamen, winter cherries, Christmas cactus, Phalaenopsis orchids, winter flowering azaleas and lovely Amaryllis. Another store had small pots of roses in full flower about nine inches high. This brought back a memory of my time in College in Chelmsford studying for my National Diploma way back in 1968. I did an experimental study for my dissertation on how to grow dwarf roses. College staff helped me sort out some dwarfing chemicals and I managed to produce a range of scented roses of Wendy Cussons taken from softwood cuttings. I was sure this skill was a winner and once I left collage it would make me a millionaire. Just look how the demand for pot mums took off assisted by dwarfing chemicals. Unfortunately I never had a greenhouse at that time so the pipe dream never got started. Dwarfing chemicals are still used to keep the red poinsettias down to a decent size, (they make small trees in native environment.) They last for several months, but in spring they will start to

Poinsettia

grow quite big so without access to chemicals they end up on the compost heap. However the dwarf azaleas and cyclamen can both be kept for several years, but grow them on in summer in cool shady conditions. Christmas cactus can also be kept for many years, but needs drying off after flowering. When it starts back into growth in spring start to water again but once it has put on some decent shoots it needs drying off again till early winter to ripen up the shoots when flower buds should appear once more.

Amaryllis is often given as a gift both in flower and as a dormant bulb. Pot up the bulb in a small pot leaving half the bulb below the surface and keep watered. After flowering keep it watered and fed

Pink orchid

then in late summer dry it off to let it go dormant before starting up again a few weeks before Christmas. Bowls of hyacinths and Paperwhite narcissi are popular gifts for the house at Christmas and both have a lovely perfume. After flowering plant them outdoors where they can grow and flower for a few more years. Phalaenopsis orchids are also a favourite and these will flower for many years. Some evergreen house plants make great gifts including dumb cane, Aloe Vera, the Cheese plant, the rubber tree and many others. The festive period is a great time to do a bit of goodwill to people, the

Cyclamen

environment and the planet so a gift of a young tree is a great idea to help out our carbon footprint as green leaves absorb carbon and add oxygen to the atmosphere. However make sure there is room for one. Trees come in all sizes and shapes and where room is restricted go for a columnar shape like the upright cherry, Prunus Amanogawa. Other smaller trees will include hazel, rowan, white stemmed birch, Japanese maple (Sango Kaku is a cracker) and the evergreen Cordyline australis, the cabbage palm. Fruiting trees are also popular especially apple (Starline Firedance), pear and plum and for the more exotic try a fig plant.

Wee jobs to do this week

Potting up rooted geranium cuttings

Geranium cuttings taken last October have rooted well and now need potting up as the young plants are starting to grow. Pot up into small pots and keep them on a windowsill in a cool room. If they have put on a bit of growth, pinch the top out to keep them stocky and encourage sideshoots. Remove all flower buds so plant can put all its energy into creating a strong plant, and do not overwater during the winter months.

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A GOOD TIME FOR WINTER PRUNING

A GOOD TIME FOR WINTER PRUNING

Most of the autumn leaves have now fallen, and a few frosts towards the end of November have firmed up the soil, so now is the perfect time to start the winter pruning. Up at City Road allotments the timing of pruning is also related to the disposal of prunings. We have a large shredding machine so we make sure everything needing pruned

Cutting back the outdoor fuchsia

is done in one operation, so roses, fruit bushes, raspberries, apples and pears and even our grape vines all get chopped. We form teams who gather the prunings together then another team feed the wood

Climbing rose after pruning

into the shredder. The shredded material is great for paths, mulching, or adding to the compost heap. Nothing is wasted and it is great to see all our pruned branches get recycled back onto our plots. Wood chips used for paths will only last two years before it gets removed to the compost heap and a supply of fresh material brought in.

Raspberry pruned and tied in

Apples and pear pruning in the early years is all about building up a well balanced tree with an open centre then after a few years remove any diseased shoots, overcrowded centres, crossing branches and with pears some removal of those over vigorous shoots growing straight up without  any fruit on them. Do not prune plums in winter as it risks infection by silver leaf disease. Prune these in early summer.

Blackcurrant pruning is done to keep bushes young and remove older wood. Redcurrants are also pruned this way so no shoot is allowed to remain if it is older than three years. They readily push out new shoots from the centre, so try to keep about ten or so main shoots then do a bit of spur pruning to the remaining framework.

Rose bush pruned

Gooseberries have a tendency to bear heavy crops that bend down to ground level when full of fruit, so remove any low growing shoots and keep the centre of the bush open to make picking easier. Invicta is a great variety, but the spines are deadly when picking.

Saskatoons fruit on all wood so pruning is only needed to keep the bushes down to about five feet so they can be netted to keep the blackbirds away. I remove any tall shoots right down to ground level as they grow again from basal suckers.

Raspberries come as summer fruiting on canes grown the previous year, and autumn fruiting on canes grown in the same year. So for autumn fruiting cut everything down to the ground, but on the summer fruiting only cut out those canes that fruited last summer. New canes are thinned if growth has been

Spur pruned grape vine

prolific so that canes can be spaced about four inches apart when tied in to the top wire. Practise tying in with a running knot as this prevents the canes being blown to one side in gales.

Brambles are like summer fruiting raspberries. They fruit on long shoots grown the previous year. Remove all the old canes that have just fruited and tie in the new canes to fruit next year.

Shredding team at City road Allotments

Grape vines grown both under glass and in the open can be pruned in the same way. Establish a permanent framework of rods and spurs. The rods produce spurs every six to ten inches apart from which fruiting laterals grow, so prune from December to January by cutting all this growth back to one or two buds. Sap rises very early on vines so do not delay pruning beyond January otherwise the stems may bleed with rising sap. The Guyot system allows rods to be replaced every year.

Rose pruning of bushes and climbers are fairly similar in that we try and encourage new wood and cut out old wood, but it is difficult with climbers as they need older wood to climb up walls and fences. Remove weak and any diseased shoots and shorten back vigorous shoots by a third.

hardwood cuttings

Wee jobs to do this week

Now that all the deciduous shrubs have gone dormant it is a good time to propagate these with hardwood cuttings. This is an excellent way to propagate Cornus, Forsythia, Philadelphus and many other shrubs as well as currants and gooseberries. Take some of this year’s shoots about pencil thickness and about six inches long, cutting below a leaf joint and above a bud. Insert into a prepared bed of good garden soil with grit mixed in to aid drainage placing cuttings about four inches apart and half their length. A cold frame is also useful to give the cuttings some protection. They should be well rooted by this time next year.

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