A SUNNY JANUARY DAY

A SUNNY JANUARY DAY

We have put 2012 behind us and hope to move into a new and better year. The rain has stopped, the sun is shining, there is a wee bit frost, but nothing too severe and the snow has not yet arrived, as I write this in early January. However we know that things could change with very little warning so let’s just enjoy the winter sunshine. Early flowering bulbs are either completely fooled by this mild winter or know what is happening and take full advantage of the sunshine.

Both aconites and snowdrops have started to flower and the winter jasmine is at its best. My tubs and hanging baskets are planted up with winter flowering pansies which are really spring flowering though can last well into summer. These were grown from seed sown last summer and kept cool. They are often prone to greenfly and leafspot fungus, but maybe the 2012 cool wet summer discouraged these so they have grown very sturdy and clean. They just can’t wait to get flowering so almost every tub has some plants with the first large brightly coloured blooms in flower.

A wander around the garden

Take the opportunity every sunny day to enjoy early flowers and other plants that are grown for winter beauty.

 A batch of polyanthus which flowered last spring in my tubs and then got planted out in a border have continued to flower ever since, and even in winter when we get a few sunny days together the flowers open up. The winter flowering heather Erica carnea has now started to flower to add to my winter garden of cornus, kerria, red stemmed maples and orange coloured willows.

This is their moment for the next two months.

A drift of black grass, Ophiopogon planiscapus Nigrescens, planted in the front of the border adds to the drama as it is low growing and forms a thick black clump. They form a great background for snowdrops.

The white stemmed silver birch Betula jacquemontii absolutely dazzles in the winter sunshine and as there are no leaves on the tree the branch framework is really eye catching against the deep blue sky. This small garden tree is growing in the middle of my heather harden where several golden and bronze leaved callunas put on their best show after a few frosts have sharpened up the leaf colour.

Now for some garden tasks

There is always plenty of leaves around to sweep up and add to the compost heap, and digging continues on the allotment provided the soil surface is not wet.

Pruning bush and climbing roses can be tackled any time now, and if we continue to get a mild winter it is better to be well ahead just in case there is an early start to spring growth.

Pruning grape vines under glass should now be completed, though there is time yet for the outdoor vines.

Plant of the week

Hamamelis mollis the Witch Hazel comes into flower in January and continues for several weeks. The numerous spidery shaped flowers are yellow and slightly scented, brightening up the winter garden with a bold splash of colour. Their autumn colour is also dazzling. The plant needs space as it can grow quite large preferring a slightly acid free draining rich soil, placed in full sunshine. Do not plant deeply as most Hamamelis are grafted and the rootstocks are prone to suckering.

They do not need any pruning other than to remove suckers, broken or overcrowded shoots and removal of an occasion shoot if they get too large for their space.

Painting of the month

Cold Day in Glenshee is a winter landscape painting. Artists gather ideas for painting in series or projects. Spring and summer are great for flowers and landscapes, autumn for figurative studies and winter for snow scenes. Whilst it is nice to paint local scenes around your town, the rest of Scotland offers so much variety that trips into the country are always very worthwhile provided the roads are passable. Glenshee was one of my winter landscape projects, and a one day trip with my camera up as far as the closed snow gates at the Spittal of Glenshee got me nearly twenty perfect snow scene images. However if the weather proves to be a bit gray with not much sunshine the artist is allowed a wee bit of artistic licence as paintings can last for hundreds of years and it is nice to look back onto the sunny side of Scottish landscapes.

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HEALTH BENEFITS OF BLACK FRUIT

 HEALTH BENEFITS OF BLACK FRUIT

Our generation benefits from modern technology where it is relatively easy to research any aspect of everything we ever wanted to know from the internet. Television has also given us fantastic enlightenment on the foods we grow and eat, as well as how best to live a healthy lifestyle, and what happens when we stray off the recommended path. We get bombarded with warnings of the effects of too much sugar, smoking, alcohol and drugs, (Brian Cox did an excellent TV series on that) and to increase our intake of fresh fruit and vegetables to improve our health. However the latest revelation is that modern crop breeding in the past has been concentrating on everything concerned with producing heavier crops, more pest and disease resistance, and produce that is uniform and long lasting on a supermarket shelf. The health benefits, vitamin and mineral content and other aspects that give us a better plant to eat have been ignored. Scientists and plant breeders are now addressing this problem and in future we will all benefit from healthier fruit and vegetables. While deciding what fruit and vegetables to grow I am very aware that I should go for those with the healthiest attributes. This is why I make sure I grow a lot of fruit with a predominance of black and purple colours, and although our local raspberry may not be black, it scored very highly in health ratings.

My healthy fruits include chokeberries, blackcurrants, saskatoons, blueberries, brambles and black grapes.

The dark colour of these berries is caused by the very high levels of anthocyanin, an antioxidant. The fruits are also packed with dietary fibre, vitamins and minerals. Research on the health benefits of these fruits is still ongoing, but results to date are very encouraging. Antioxidants prevent free radicals from damaging cell components. These plus the other vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre  assist the fight against heart disease, cancer, diabetes, alzheimer’s disease, reduce the absorption of high cholesterol, and can delay macular degeneration.

Chokeberries are not very common at the moment but they produce one of the healthiest fruits on the planet, and once this is realised everyone who wants a healthy lifestyle will want to grow a few bushes. Research has shown them to be one of the best superfoods because of their very high levels of anthocyanin an antioxidant(1480 mgs per 100gms) high levels of dietary fibre, plus vitamins A, C and E and the minerals potassium, iron and manganese.

However chokeberries are too astringent to eat in any quantity straight off the bush but can be juiced, cooked, added to compote, yoghurts and makes a delicious jam. They also make a heavenly wine, but I have no knowledge at this stage of just how healthy my wine is though red wine taken in moderation is said to have health benefits.

Blackcurrants may only have half the level of anthocyanin, but at over 700 mg per 100gms they are still very high. They are also high in vitamins, dietary fibre and minerals similar to chokeberries plus calcium and zinc. Plant breeders have now produced plants with very large sweet fruit aimed at the fresh fruit market. This is the best way to use this fruit as none of the goodness is lost in the cooking process, but go easy when adding them to dairy products such as cream or yoghurts as it has been shown that this can reduce the absorption of the antioxidants.

Saskatoons are also very high in anthocyanin (562mgs per 100gms) plus high levels of dietary fibre, vitamins and minerals. The berries can be eaten fresh off the bush in season, usually July, and frozen for future use in compote, summer puddings, juices, added to cereals, yoghurts and cooked in cakes, oaties and jams. It also makes a fantastic deep red wine.

Blueberries, Brambles and Black grapes have similar properties to the above (blueberries have 386mgs per 100gms anthocyanin) though each one will have different amounts of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. However they will allow you to extend the season of use for fresh healthy fruit from summer till winter. My Black Hamburg grapes last into December in most years. Although I grow some seedless grapes, both my Black Hamburg greenhouse grape and my outdoor black grape Brant have pips in them, but now we find that these seeds are packed with goodness. So instead of discarding these pips as a nuisance, give them a wee crunch and swallow them. They are anti allergenic, antihistamine and anti inflammatory. They strengthen blood vessels, aid circulation, improve skin elasticity and promote healthy hair.

Plant of the week

Viburnum bodnantense Dawn brightens up the winter months as this is its flowering period, from late autumn till spring. The clusters of pink flowers are strongly scented opening brightly every mild day throughout the winter. This deciduous shrub can grow ten feet tall and as it flowers in winter when there is no leaves on the bush it is best planted in front of some evergreen bushes to give the flowers a background. It flowers best in full sun in Scotland, but is also useful in partial shade as it is a woodland fringe plant enjoying deep fertile moist but well drained soil.

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TIME TO PLAN THE 2013 GARDEN

TIME TO PLAN THE 2013 GARDEN

Early January is always the ideal time to sort out what changes we will make in the garden and allotment for the next twelve months. The ground outside is either wet, frozen or covered in snow, so apart from pruning and fence repairs the amount of outdoor work is quite limited, and it is still a bit early to start any seed sowing. Any improvement in the weather to dry out the surface will give us an opportunity to continue with the digging so we can get the soil surface exposed to the weather to break it down.

In the meantime we can look ahead to see where we are going in 2013.

New vegetables for the allotment

Last year was not a good year to judge crops or compare different varieties, as it was so wet, cool and sunless, that very few crops grew normally. My biggest lesson was the need to tackle clubroot disease which devastated numerous brassica plants. I will maintain a decent rotation, stop using mustard as a green manure as I find clover is just as good and it does not get attacked by clubroot.

Once I complete my winter digging the ground allocated to brassicas will get limed, and two weeks before planting I will give a dusting of Perlka, the nitrogenous fertiliser with lime.

However I will also test out some clubroot resistance varieties such as Swede Gowrie, cabbage Kilaton and cauliflower Clapton.

Parnips can be very prone to canker so I will grow Gladiator to see just how canker resistant it is.

I will continue to try out the new leafy salads, Mizuna, Komatsuna, and Tatsoi. I tried Pak Soi last year but germination failed. Maybe give it another try this year. These leafy salads were fine and different, but nothing to get very excited about, unless they perform better in a drier year.

New fruit

I am very keen to try and find a good outdoor grape vine for this area, so I will try a few more varieties such as Phoenix, Regent and Polo Muscat, while I wait on my Solaris to grow. It is in its third year, but growth is still not strong enough to support a crop. The new plants will need good soil and a warm south facing fence to grow against. My own small fruited variety, Brant gives me a huge crop of small grapes and this year I decided to brew up a demijohn of wine so I would not be without it, but it would be nice to find success with a variety that gave big bunches of large grapes.

I will try out some raspberry Glen Fyne on my allotment, and blackcurrant Big Ben which has large sweet berries ready to eat straight off the bush. My strawberry season will be extended into the autumn with some Flamenco which I have tried before and found very successful. It is a perpetual variety which continues to fruit till the frosts come. Runners are produced quite prolifically and these immediately produce flowers and fruit. However by the fourth year the plants stopped producing runners and my stock died out.

I look forward to my new pear grafts bearing some fruit. The Christie and Beurre Hardy were grafted onto my Comice/Conference family pear tree two years ago. The grafts all took and now new growth looks to have matured successfully so I am hoping they will fruit this year.

Similarly, grafts on my old James Grieve tree have been successful, so I look forward to my first apples from the heritage varieties of Pearl, Park Farm Pippin and Lord Roseberry. I have never tried these varieties but they all got the seal of approval from our local fruit expert Willie Duncan.

New garden plants

I am digging up and replanting my herbaceous border, so I will be buying in some new varieties of flag iris and day lilies. I will be taking a stand again this year at both Gardening Scotland at Ingliston in June and Camperdown Flower show in September to promote my saskatoons and chokeberries. However we always get a chance to wander around the show and find that must have plant. Last year Anna bought up a collection of Heucheras, the previous year it was Peonies and scented lilies, this year is anyone’s guess.

Plant of the week

Euonymus fortunei is best known for its golden variegated form called Emerald n Gold as well as its silver form Emerald Gaiety. It is a slow growing ground cover plant reaching about 2 to 3 feet tall. Being evergreen it is brilliant at smothering weeds and provides a very welcome bright colour all year round but especially in winter when most of the garden is dormant. It is perfect for low maintenance banks and looks great on patios and courtyard gardens. It is not fussy about soil as long as it is well drained and is suitable in full sun or partial shade.

It can be propagated by layering or semi ripe cuttings in late summer.

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THE END OF A VERY WET YEAR

THE END OF A VERY WET YEAR

We have now come to the end of one of the wettest years in living memory. To make matters worse, it came after a previous run of five very wet years. In fact as I look out my window onto a very soggy garden the rain is still falling. However life is usually well balanced over the long term, so hopefully 2013 will be the start of the dry years, but I won’t bet on it. The year will be remembered as the year of the slug and snail and the losing battle against scab on fruit trees, botrytis on strawberries, black spot on roses and club root on all brassicas.

Allotment holders as well as farmers and growers all over the UK all suffered poor crops. However we do grow a diverse range of plants and some actually seemed to benefit. Blackcurrants gave me the best crop ever and leafy plants like lettuce, radish, spring onion, kale and Swiss chard all had a great year.

Vegetables

Clubroot was a major problem this year, so for 2013 I will be using Perlka, a nitrogenous fertiliser with a high lime content. I will also try several clubroot resistant brassicas, many of them bred at James Hutton Institute at Invergowrie. I will no longer use mustard as a green manure as it gets infected with clubroot. Clover is now my choice as it has a great root system and adds nitrogen to the soil when  its root nodules rot down.

A lot of losses occurred from plants raised from seed, as peat free composts are very prone to fungal diseases and rots. Numbers of French beans, broad beans, onions, cabbages and sweet corn were all reduced at germination and pricking out stages. Next year I must add more sand or grit to composts and give them a drench of Cheshunt Compound containing copper to prevent damping off.

I had no answer to the slug and snail plague, except double up pellet sprinkling, and do a lot of hand picking, though a very unpleasant task.

Fruit

Strawberries were a disaster, rotting in huge numbers, except my early crop protected with tunnels.

Autumn raspberries were more like early winter rasps as they were so late and lacked any sweetness. Bramble Helen was reasonable, but saskatoons were late, though perfectly timed for our City Road allotment open day in August.  Some of the berries failed to ripen in mid August.

Gooseberries, red and Blackcurrants all had a great year, with plenty surplus now being brewed into fruit wines. Next year I will be trying the new large fruited blackcurrant Big Ben for eating off the bush rather than going for jam, compote and wine.

Plums failed to get pollinated so the tree was bare. Apples had a reduced crop but suffered scab and a lot of brown rot. Peaches got hand pollinated, but peach leaf curl destroyed a lot of foliage, so most of the fruit fell off before it could ripen.

Flowers

Black spot was uncontrollable on roses, but they still put on a great display. Most other flowers were ok but early flowering chrysanthemums were anything but early. I was still picking them in late November. Sweet peas suffered a lot of losses and quality and size was miserable.

Hanging baskets were so poor with impatiens and petunias rotting off that I never bothered to hang them up. A lot of annuals sown direct into the ground failed to germinate.

Glasshouse crops

My tomatoes got off to a great start, but then it was downhill all the way. The flowers all fell off the first two trusses. After that it got a bit better till cold, wet, sunless days did nothing to cheer up the plants. By August I gave up and removed most of them replacing them with some early flowering chrysanthemums dug up from the allotment and some cape gooseberries. The latter just would not ripen, but I got a lovely bunch of early flowering chrysanthemums for my Christmas table.

I could tell you about my grapes, but I think you have had enough. Roll on 2013 when the rain is bound to go off, the sun will shine and we will all be complaining about the heat.

You have to dream, but it could happen. Best wishes to all my readers for 2013.

Plant of the week

Grape Brant is a very hardy outdoor grape that will fruit and ripen successfully in most years in Scotland. This wet year really tested its ability to ripen and although a month late and at least 50% reduction in crop from last year, I still managed to get enough from my one climber to produce a gallon of wine. It completely fermented out to a dry wine but it did get some assistance with a wee bit of sugar. Early tastings are very promising, but this one is destined for next Christmas.

The black grapes are small but very sweet and juicy. The bush has brilliant autumn colour.

It really needs a warm south facing wall or fence with ordinary soil, but very well drained. The base of a house is perfect as builders leave a lot of old broken bricks around the foundations that the vine roots can explore. Establish a permanent framework of stems about 12 to 18 inches apart, then every winter cut all the annual growth back to a couple of buds on the framework. In early summer after the bunches appear, cut off all the young shoots leaving two leaves beyond each bunch, then thereafter cut every young shoots back to one leaf. This will divert the plants energy into producing strong bunches rather than excessive growth.

Other outdoor varieties for this area are still being tried, but until we get some decent weather there are none to recommend.

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