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

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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.

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A Blaze of Colour

 SUMMER HANGING BASKETS AND TUBS

The garden is now at its peak for spring flower impact. Wallflowers, pansies, polyanthus and all types of tulips are in full bloom and the dry warm sunny weather has brought them to perfection.

However this is the spring display and the summer flowering plants are all growing nicely, ready to take over in a few weeks time.

This is when we start to prepare the hanging baskets, tubs, troughs, window boxes and other containers used to show off the summer bedding plants. I like to have mine established with the first flowers showing before I put them in place. I keep a double set of baskets and pots as the spring and summer bedding plants overlap each other.

Spring flowering pansies can continue flowering to the middle of summer, but although they get replaced by the summer bedding plants, the pansies can either be left somewhere to continue their display, or gently removed from their containers and planted at the front of a garden border.

Tulip, daffodil, crocus and hyacinth bulbs used in the spring display tubs can be reused to brighten up other parts of the garden the following year. All my shrub borders, winter garden and fruit trees get underplanted with extra bulbs every year from the tubs. Even my outdoor grape vine which doesn’t get a canopy of leaves till mid May is in a flower border full of spring bulbs.

My mini orchard of culinary and dessert apples and plums has a show of daffodils, then tulips before it becomes the bluebell woodland glade, then in summer the lilies take over. The fruit trees are very happy with this underplanting of flowering bulbs.

Suitable containers

Hanging baskets come in a range of sizes. I find that a 14 to 16 inch diameter, (35 to 40 cms. for younger gardeners) is about right for the normal urban garden. A larger one will have more impact, but will need really solid and sturdy wall brackets to hold the weight. Good wire baskets are available in all garden centres. Some come with a liner, but I find the best and cheapest liner is an old polythene compost bag turned inside out. I just push it into the basket, put in some compost then trim the top. Remember to keep the black side showing on the outside as you do not really want pictorial compost information competing with the flowers.

A good basket will eventually be smothered in foliage and flowers, so to get a quick all round effect plant some bedding plants into the sides of the basket as you fill it up. Cut slots in the polythene liner and push the plants through gently.

A hanging basket is quite heavy after watering so make sure your wall bracket support is strong enough to take the weight and is well screwed into the wall.

Tubs also come in all sizes from six inches to a couple of feet across. Avoid any that have a small diameter base related to a wide top, as it is likely to blow over as soon as we get a strong wind. It is also a good practise to place a brick or large rock in the bottom to add weight to stop it toppling over. The larger tubs are excellent for specimen begonias, Brugmansia, (Angel Trumpets), Agapanthus (blue African Lily), Canna or an exotic palm tree while still small. Plastic containers may be cheap and will hold water better, but they are very light and easy to topple over if the plants get too big.

Window boxes are less common today, but a strong plastic one is more preferable being lighter and it will need to be very securely attached to the wall at window sill level. Select plants that are trailing or don’t grow too tall if windows need to open outwards.

Unusual containers

Plants can be attractively displayed in all sorts of containers from old garden boots, buckets, rusty wheelbarrows and even colourfully painted old tyres. A few years back we were upgrading our bathroom and had ordered new units. The supplier sent a new toilet with the wrong pipe fittings so had to be replaced. It was too much trouble to collect the wrong one so he told us to dispose of it. I dumped it outside by the bins awaiting disposal. It was spotted by one of my art class students who was a very keen gardener, and liked to try things unusual. She was delighted to find a home for our unwanted brand new loo as a decorative floral feature in her garden.

Good bedding plants

Garden centres stock a wide range of suitable bedding plants from early March onwards. Many have come directly from greenhouses and may not be hardy so be wary and only buy in March if you have a greenhouse to grow on. At this time of year most plants are now hardy.

You can buy plants as small plugs and grow them on into bigger plants.

Growing your own plants from seed or cuttings is a cheaper way to produce good plants, but you need space and time.

I have been growing my own geraniums from cuttings every year for over ten years and my own tuberous begonias for over fifteen years. They are both very easy. Impatiens (Busy Lizzie) is also very easy but when overwintered in the house in a window sill it is prone to attacks of greenfly and red spider. These are not easy to control for the amateur as chemicals available in garden centres are now very limited and not very strong. After spraying, greenfly and red spider just sulk for a few days with a mild headache then a week later they are ready to feed and party again.

My other favourites include Nemesia Carnival, Petunias, especially the blue scented one, trailing Lobelia, Fuchsias especially Swingtime and African Marigolds for larger tubs.

However it is always worth trying a few different plants, so include some Salvias, Livingston Daisies, Verbena, dwarf Phlox, Ageratum, Antirrhinum, and bedding annual carnations.

Something different

Edible landscapes are becoming very popular and useful to introduce children to gardening as they have more interest to them than flowers. They just love popping things into their mouths.

Cherry tomatoes grown as a trailing bush are perfect and newer varieties are quite sweet when allowed to ripen before picking. Make sure they get plenty of sun as this enhances the sugar content.

Strawberries can also be used in baskets, boxes or specially created tall pots with numerous pockets to pop in a plant. Keeping them off the ground means there is no slug problem, but watch out for birds and small children who can devour the crop long before the adults get a berry.

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Harvesting Fruits of your Labour

HARVESTING FRUITS OF YOUR LABOUR

The harvesting and picking season is just getting into full swing. Times are very busy as there is so many fruit and vegetable crops to be picked and eaten or preserved.

Salads have been available for some time but now the summer cabbage, courgettes, early carrots, Swiss chard, baby beet thinnings, mangetout peas, broad beans, early potatoes and leafy kale are all needing to be regularly picked.

Soft fruit picking is almost a daily task with blackcurrants, redcurrants, gooseberries, Bramble Helen, and my huge crop of saskatoons all needing to be picked. There is still a few perpetual strawberries, (Malling Opal) popping up though most of the summer ones are now finished. As usual there is always a glut so the summer diet is extremely healthy with ample spare to pass to family, friends and the freezer.

This used to be the time of year for jam making from summer soft fruits in season which would then be stored in a cool spot for use till spring. However the freezer has now taken over and fresh jams are made as they are needed, provided you can find freezer space.

My partner Anna created a brilliant compote of blackcurrants and rhubarb stewed with sugar to taste. It is added to the muesli at breakfast with a sprinkling of saskatoons or brambles and often at lunchtime with yoghurt and a dash of honey and again some soft fruit, rasps, brambles or gooseberries. As the summer season fresh fruit crops finish there is plenty in the freezer to continue the fruit diet all year round. All those anti-oxidants and vitamins must be doing us some good apart from the feel good factor from home grown produce..

Summer Flowers

Flower beds, tubs and hanging baskets are all at their peak but to keep them flowering they need feeding, watering and dead heading regularly. Shasta daisies are a picture and my exotic Japanese lilies are giving a fantastic show with a heady perfume that permeates the whole garden. I bought a couple of bulbs five years ago and after flowering kept the seed heads for sowing. They were quite easy to germinate and grow on, so now I have masses of them.

I grow a large drift in my winter border of coloured stemmed shrubs, (cornus, kerria, leycesteria, salix britzensis and acer Sangokaku) which is quite a dull border at this time of year. The lilies grow through and above the shrubs in harmony adding colour and scent.

Climbing roses as well as bush and shrub roses have all finished their main flush but many can be repeat flowering with a wee bit of summer pruning to take off seed heads, straggly shoots and any showing signs of mildew, blackspot or rust. I have a policy of only growing those varieties that are resistant to these diseases since there are no longer any chemicals available to the amateur gardener to control them other than Dithane which must be used regularly and preferably before the first signs of any disease appears. However if you grow organically it may be possible to look into the latest idea to use of milk sprayed at 10% dilution every ten days throughout the whole season to prevent some fungus diseases from getting started. This idea is still in its experimental stage, but you can keep up to date with this new method on a range of gardening and allotment forums on the internet..

My other main flower task at this time of year is disbudding early flowering chrysanthemums. I grow one bed with a range of decorative, reflex and incurving flower heads and another bed of sprays which need no disbudding. These will give me cut flower for the house from August till October. I grow these in beds three feet wide and support them with 6 inch weldmesh wire held between four posts. As the plants grow up I raise the weldmesh to keep them supported.

Gladioli are now coming into bloom and will be cut for the house with some left on my allotment to give a show of colour throughout the summer. These are grown on well manured good soil in rows one foot apart and planted four inches apart along the row.

I have kept the corms for years and add new varieties to the collection every year.

Looking ahead to next spring my wallflower seedlings sown in the middle of June, are just perfect for transplanting so they can make a sturdy bushy plant by autumn. I transplant my four inch seedlings into rows spaced 12 inches apart with the plants at 4 inch spacings.

These will be planted on good ground that has just been cleared of my broad bean crop. I also had some land left over from my early summer cabbage, but as they are all in the same family, cruciferae, the risk of clubroot disease is too great to risk it.. I can sow some late summer lettuce and radish or even a fast growing dwarf early pea variety here. There should just be enough season left for these to grow and give a crop in autumn.

Hanging Baskets and Tubs

These are now at their most colourful and can be kept like that with continual dead heading, watering and feeding. My hanging baskets usually combine a central geranium with petunias and nemesia, then Impatiens and trailing lobelia around the perimeter to hide the container.

Some pots which were planted with winter flowering pansies for an early spring display dont seem to realise it is summer. They were to be replaced with summer bedding weeks ago, but they refused to stop flowering and continue to provide an excellent display so I will just leave them a wee bit longer.

Often in late summer I will replant any pot or tub that is going past its best with cyclamen in flower which become available in garden centres in late summer and early autumn. They will then flower till the frosts come.

Larger tubs get my best tuberous begonias as they need more space and in full flower they are very impressive. I bought a box of young begonias nearly twenty years ago and at the end of the season, usually late October I lift and dry them. The dormant tubers are stored in my garage over winter.

I should be finding some time to do some painting, but art has been relegated to late evenings often going well beyond midnight as I need the daylight hours for gardening tasks.

Just finished potting up a batch of indoor and outdoor grape vines which I will take to the Camperdown Flower Show in September to accompany my saskatoon fruit bushes.

Summer pruning fruit bushes

Mid summer is the best time to prune currants and gooseberries, peaches and of course grape vines need continual pruning throughout the growing season.

Blackcurrants fruit on young shoots produced and ripened the previous year, so cut out old wood that has just fruited down to the nearest young shoot. Also cut off any branches too close to ground level.

Red and white currants are spur pruned on a framework of about nine main branches which can be replaced every third year. Cut back all sideshoots to four or five leaves on these main branches.

Peaches are also better spur pruned in late summer to encourage fruit buds to form and restrict growth.

Grape vines need all new growths cut back to one leaf in summer. Earlier on all shoots would have been cut back to two leaves after each flower truss.

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