End of the Growing Season

END OF THE GROWING SEASON      

 Garden tasks continue throughout every season. As soon as the summer ends, autumn tasks take priority. We need to save perennial plants for another year, e.g. Begonias and gladioli, propagate geraniums to retain good varieties for next year and plant up some spring flowering plants such as Iceland poppies. Harvesting crops continues with grapes and apples, and still plenty of vegetables from the allotment.

Lift tubers and corms

Both gladioli and tuberous begonias have been brilliant this year, seemingly unaffected by the lack of warmth in summer and more rain than we need or want. However their season is now over and the tubers and corms should be lifted and dried out for safe storage over winter. I retain the dry soil that falls off them to cover them in their polystyrene boxes kept in my frost free garage. The gladioli get cleaned up and all the small bulbils removed. Any that are a decent size get retained for the next year when they are planted thickly like a row of peas. They may not flower the first year, but will bulk up to a small corm for flowering the next year.

Propagation

Geranium cuttings are taken before the cool weather kills off the flowers as I need to know which variety is which. Take shoots about three inches long by breaking them cleanly at a joint and removing the lower leaves otherwise they will lose too much moisture. They really only need one or two small terminal leaves, and I never use rooting hormone as they root very easily. Insert about four or five around the edge of a seed pan and place them in a light and warm but not sunny place.

They should root after a few weeks and be ready for potting up in early winter.

Impatiens, (Busy Lizzies) can be propagated from cuttings now before they die off in the cold weather. I take shoots about three inches long removing the lower leaves and stick them together in narrow jars filled with water. They seem to enjoy this and root quickly into the water. Once they are well rooted, remove them and pot them up. They can be overwintered on a windowsill where they will flower as the perfect house plant.

Saskatoon seeds sown outdoors in cellular seed trays a few weeks ago, after a period of six weeks in the fridge have started to germinate. This was not planned, and if they continue to germinate they will have to be overwintered in my cold greenhouse otherwise the young seedlings may suffer from frosts.

Planting

Iceland poppies grown from home saved seed and potted up in early summer can now be planted out where they are to flower in spring. I plant mine on steep banks where the drainage is excellent and I have naturalised drifts of tulips. Although you cannot see where the tulips are, and may chop through a few, they are very robust and don’t seem to come to any harm. They blend in very well with the poppies.

Wallflowers grown from seed are very slow to bulk up so I will wait another week before they get lifted and planted out in the spring flower beds and tubs.

Harvest glasshouse crops

Greenhouse grapes Flame, my red seedless and Perlette, the white seedless were quite early to ripen and have now all been harvested. They were remarkably sweet and juicy despite the lack of sunshine, though Perlette suffered a fair bit of split skins which allowed botrytis to form.

I am now picking the Black Hamburg which fortunately ripens slowly over a long period so they keep me supplied with grapes right up to December. Although I never thin them they are still quite large, very black, juicy and sweet. Thinning grapes in our Scottish climate can risk infection from botrytis, so I never take that risk, and always allow them ample ventilation to keep the air flowing freely around the bunches.

Take care of house plants

Phalaenopsis orchids are now budding up, so they will get more water and feeding to encourage a strong healthy flower spike. They seem to love the warm moist atmosphere in our bathroom where the sun warms up the room through frosted glazing.

Amaryllis (Hippeastrum) bulbs can now be potted up for flowering in winter. Plant them in a pot just a wee bit wider than the bulb and leave half the bulb above the compost. They can flower in about ten weeks after potting up so they may be in flower for Christmas. The flower is produced before the leaves which emerge much later.

Christmas cactus, (Zygocactus) will soon be showing some evidence of flower buds, so as soon as they start to show colour, after their long dormant period over summer, commence watering to bring the plants into growth. They often flower from mid November to mid December, and sometimes put on a display twice in the same season.

End

A Blaze of Colour

 A BLAZE OF COLOUR    

There is just enough warmth and sunshine, in between showers, to bring the best out of the flowers.

Although everything has its season, and some may be short lived, if you grow a wide range of plants, there is always some part of the garden looking fantastic just about all year round. At this time of year we are spoilt for choice. The Shasta daisies have been allowed to spread over a few square metres as they are excellent ground cover. They started off a few years ago as a small box of six plants, but soon multiplied in our alluvial soil. They have now finished flowering but the show continues with the Shirley poppies sown adjacent. They really respond to the warmth of sunshine when it appears for a few hours every three to four days. Still, with an ample supply of rainfall in between, we no longer need to bother getting the garden hose out.

Summer flowers everywhere

 

The hanging baskets are a blaze of colour with petunias, nemesia, geraniums, Impatiens and lobelia, and tubs and pots have a similar mixture but in different colours.

The main flower bed of Nonstop tuberous begonias just seems to get better each day.

Roses have had their first main flush and are now getting ready for the second flush, but mildew keeps having a go at them. However my huge climbing rose Mme Alfred Carrier continues into her second flush with numerous large white scented blooms. It grows up a trellis fence but I try to keep its height down to about twelve feet, though I know it wants to grow at least twice that height.

If you have a large spare sunny spot and something for it to hang on to this rose will reward you immensely. It may get a wee bit of blackspot, but never too severe.

Gladioli are now in full bloom on my allotment giving it some welcome splash of colour as well as providing ample cut flower for the house. Sweet peas from the allotment add both colour and scent for the house.

The time has come for Anemone Honorine Jobert to take centre stage as the clumps and display get bigger each year.  It really is very eye catching and a favourite for sun, semi shade or even shade and is very reliable and easy to grow.

Fruit

Save Now

My gooseberries survived the hard winter, spring gales, early summer thunderstorms, a plague of sawfly caterpillars and the heavy crop was monitored daily with a wee bit of sampling to see how sweet the fruit was before I picked them. Then I noticed the crop slowly disappear over a few days before I could pick the ripe ones. City Road Allotments have a resident family of foxes only ever seen by those few hardy souls who can always be found at dawn when the sun rises. I know of no other pest who would devour my gooseberries before they are fully ripe. They could not reach the lower ones because of the thorns, but did manage to eat half of the berries still on the bush. I thought foxes ate chickens, not gooseberries, and why can’t they have a go at the pigeons while they perch on the cabbages having a picnic.

However although they were very partial to Invicta, a large golden sweet juicy berry, quite delicious I recall from last year, even though the bush is thick with vicious thorns, they did not bother my other red gooseberry on trial for disease resistance. It is a mildew resistant thornless type so easy to harvest, but apparently not tasty enough for foxes. Scientists at James Hutton should look at this one again for flavour.

Autumn raspberries are late this year, and only just started to crop. Berries are not very sweet as they need more sunshine to increase sugar content. Summer raspberries that have finished fruiting can be pruned any time now by removing the old fruiting canes but leaving this years canes which will fruit next year.

Strawberries that have finished fruiting can be tidied up. Cut off the old leaves down to the top of the crown, and remove them together with any straw used to protect the fruit from soil splashing. Only allow the strawberry crop to fruit for three years, and then replace it with new runners saved from the old rows, or buy in new plants during winter.

The strawberry net has been removed to cover the blueberry patch as birds love these just as much as saskatoons which are now finished. Blueberries are now colouring up just nicely, but the crop is not as heavy as last year as the spring gales done them no favour at all.

The compost heap will be getting a fair bit of material as the summer harvest is well under way, so help it to rot down by giving it at least one turning. This is one dirty, unpleasant and hard task so a wee bit of muttering and swearing is permissible and does help the breakdown process to work faster.

Bramble Helen has now started to crop providing fruit for compote, jam and the freezer. So far the fox has not noticed these.

Vegetables

It is very hard to stay one step ahead of nature. The wet years have allowed clubroot to become a major problem with brassicas. We can no longer get Calomel dust and as the spores remain active for up to twelve years, the normal four year rotation has little affect. We can lime the ground ahead of planting, even dust some more into the planting holes and grow the plants in pots during the early stages. This gives a bigger more robust plant a good chance to fight off any attack.

I lost most of my spring planted cauliflower All Year Round to clubroot, so I was determined to give my summer crop a better chance. They all got potted up and regular feeding so I was quite proud of my two rows looking so strong after planting. Nets protected them from pigeons, and I don’t think the fox likes caulis. A week later I was horrified to find half of them wilting. Digging a few of them up, it was not clubroot, but the cabbage rootfly maggots.

We try hard but nature wins in the end.

Next year we must seriously look at pest and disease resistant varieties, though that often means at the expense of flavour.

End

Preparing for Winter

PREPARING FOR WINTER

Autumn is a very important time in the gardening calendar as it is this time we assess the results of the seasons work so we can plan for the next year. It is also the time to get overwintering outdoor crops tidied up before winter sets in and prepare those requiring winter storage. Then there is the winter digging, fruit tree and bush pruning and before long the leaves will have started to fall.
In fact its quite weird and very unusual, but the seasons seem to be normal. Autumn leaves are falling in autumn instead of early winter, snow is falling at low levels in some places, summer bedding would appear to be finished and the rain has stopped. I cannot remember much wet weather during the tattie picking season, though it was often frosty in the mornings. Then as usual thousands of geese flying in formation overhead are making their way up the Tay estuary. Now, this is autumn.

Allotment work

The cold weather is just what we need to sweeten up the winter cabbage, leeks, kale, Brussel sprouts, swede turnips, Swiss chard and my four parsnips that grew from a whole packet of seeds. Next year I will definitely change the variety and supplier.

Last year I left my beetroot in the ground rather than lift for storage and even though we had a very cold winter they came to no harm, so I will try the same again this year, but earth them up a wee bit to give the roots some protection from frosts.

It is a good idea to try to complete winter digging, adding manure or compost, before the end of the year, but this usually depends on good weather so the soil is not too wet to walk on. Any land sown down to a green manure crop such as mustard must be dug over immediately the first flowers appear otherwise they may set seed and end up being a real nuisance.

Gladioli and chrysanthemums have now finished so they can be lifted and stored for next year. Gladioli are dried off and stored in a cool box in dry sand or dry soil in a frost free shed. Chrysanthemum stools are boxed up and kept moist in a cold but frost free greenhouse over winter.

My strawberry varieties Symphony and Florence have both had three fruiting years, so now is the time to replace them from runners. They have produced a lot of very strong healthy runners so I can afford to give the new strawberry bed on freshly prepared and composted ground special treatment. Rows are spaced three feet apart, but I can afford to make each row a double row six inches apart and space the plants up each row at six inch spacings. This way I will establish a thick row in the first year to give a far heavier crop than traditional planting distances.

Winter Storage

Pumpkins have been lifted, washed and are now stored as an ornamental feature in our utility room where it is not too warm. They will be used fresh for fantastic soups up till next April, then any remaining will have the flesh scooped out and frozen for use later. The seeds will be used for next years crop.

Onions have been dried off and stored in nets hung up in the garage.

Carrots are lifted and stored in between dry straw and covered over with soil to keep them frost free.

Potatoes are now all lifted, dried, sorted out and stored in boxes in a cool but frost free spot.

Apples have now all been harvested, even my Bramleys, sorted out and stored in cardboard trays in the garage. The Discovery variety is finished so now we are eating the Fiesta. Red Falstaff and Red Devil will be stored a bit longer to ripen up.

The freezers are packed with enough fruit and vegetables to keep a large family well fed for well over a year. French beans, broad beans, (it makes a brilliant winter soup) and the best of our sweet corn crop are all frozen and surplus kale leaves get frozen as this makes it easier to break them up for soups without losing any of their nutritional value.

When you add soft fruit to the freezer such as strawberries, rasps, red currants, black currants, gooseberries, saskatoons and brambles it makes sense to pack them in square shaped plastic containers to maximise space and minimise empty air space.

Rhubarb, surplus pears and plums which do not store well can also be frozen to be used throughout the rest of the year.

The latest health trend to use any surplus fruit is in a delicious smoothie. This retains the healthy properties of the fruit or vegetables and can be taken as a food or thick drink. They can also be used in place of cream for summer puddings. Our favourite smoothie at present is made with our Aronia berries. This new berry crop is also called the chokeberry as the fresh fruit is astringent if eaten raw, but easily loses this when cooked. As far as superfood status goes the aronia ranks near the top of the list having ten times as much anti-oxidants as a blueberry. As well as smoothie it makes a great jam and can be juiced for a drink with some sugar added.

Propagation

Geraniums are easily overwintered as rooted cutting taken early in October and put in small pots. Keep them cool and don't over water, but if you wish to build up stock then water and feed oftener and grow in a light warm greenhouse or windowsill. Take the tops out for cuttings as soon as big enough, then take another cutting from the second cutting once it has put on a bit of growth. Grow them fast and repeat the process. It is possible to get ten plants from one plant by late spring.

I will be sowing my Meconopsis, (Himalayan blue poppy) now that it has been in the fridge for three months. It will remain outdoors to complete its stratification period and hopefully germinate in spring.

My saskatoon seed and now Aronia also get stratified before they will germinate. Select good berries at harvest time and squeeze them out of the flesh as soon as possible as the flesh contains germination inhibiting hormones. Wash them and use a kitchen roll to remove the worst of the moisture then store them in moist kitchen roll in the fridge. Do not let them dry out. Sow the seed outdoors in a prepared seedbed or in containers and keep these outside to weather. Germination should occur in spring. However this year my saskatoon variety Smoky has started to germinate. This is October so I do not know if the young seedlings will survive the winter so Smoky will go into my cold greenhouse for a wee bit of protection.

Spring bedding

Now that autumn appears to be with us most of my summer display of bedding plants in beds, tubs and hanging baskets is over. My geraniums are still colourful, so I will leave them alone for another week, and my tuberous begonias still think it is summer. They are still brilliant so no harm will come to them at this stage, even if I have bags of tulips, hyacinths and crocus eager to get planted.

Tubs of begonias will be replaced with a mixture of polyanthus underplanted with scented hyacinths. Smaller pots and hanging baskets will be planted with winter pansies and some crocus, and my main flower beds will be planted with wallflower grown from seed on my allotment, and a mixture of Darwin Hybrid tulips once I finally decide the geraniums are past their best.

End