FULL SPEED IN THE GARDEN

FULL SPEED IN THE GARDEN

Last year was the wet year. This year seems to be the cold one, unless that jet stream sorts itself out and we get our summer back. Everything is running about four weeks late. Window sills and greenhouse are overflowing with plants, but every time I start to put plants out for hardening off a frost threatens and they go back to the greenhouse.

The winter garden has now had its day, so all the cornus and salix have been chopped down to the ground. This will give uninterrupted views of the flowering bulbs planted in the bed, and the cornus and willow will soon regrow from the stool as if nothing had happened.

Spring flowers are giving a good display, though winter pansies and Iceland poppies are very slow to grow. Tulips, hyacinths, daffodils and narcissi are looking great planted all over the garden and on my allotment. Wallflower provides the bright splash of colour as well as a lovely scent.

Apples, cherries and plums are starting to blossom so potential crops show a lot of promise, but peaches and pears are not looking good with very few flowers evident at this moment. Most fruit bushes are not yet in flower except saskatoons which are covered in white flowers. On the allotment the ground is still cold but it is time to be sowing and planting a lot of vegetables.

Those that have been sown need hand watering as the ground is quite dry.

On the allotment

Sowing has continued while the soil is dry, but a wee bit more warmth would make a big difference.

Lettuce, radish, spring onions, beetroot, turnip and parsnips are now all in. My first sowing of peas Feltham First is in with another later sowing of Kelvedon Wonder planned to give me a succession of crop. Pickling onion Paris Silverskin has been sown as I have not tried that variety for years.

Most of my cabbage, cauliflower, kale and sprouts are still growing strongly in pots so I get a sturdy plant before planting out. Onion Hytech seedlings are still in a cellular tray but will be planted out soon once the ground warms up a bit better.

Fruit bush prunings as well as garden tree prunings have now all been shredded and added to the compost heap, but it could do with some rain to wet it and help it to rot down quicker.

Harvesting continues

Swede turnips, leeks, and Swiss chard are still giving us freshly picked crops to eat, though the chard only lasts till it runs to seed in a few weeks time. The winter salad leaves sown in an old used growbag is now outside and still gives us fresh leaves and now some radish which had overwintered. Rhubarb is at its best just now with brightly coloured stems on my Timperley Early.

In the greenhouse

Sweet corn has now been potted up and I will grow it on under glass for another fortnight before hardening off for planting out at the end of May. I am in no hurry as the ground where they are to go has a green manure crop of red clover growing.

Pumpkin and courgette seed has now been sown.

All geraniums, fuchsias and chrysanthemums have are now being hardened off outdoors.

Grape vine cuttings taken as short one or two bud sticks have now rooted and are being potted up.

Garden flowers including Cosmos, Livingston daisy, African marigold and Lobelia were sown in cellular trays are now bulking up.

The existing grape vine rods which were lowered down to encourage even growth have now been tied back to their supports as bud break is good and even. We now have to wait to see how many grape bunches appear, so all side shoots are allowed to grow for the time being. Once I can see a decent crop of bunches I will remove all sideshoots that are barren.

Jalapeno peppers are now planted in a growbag awaiting warmer weather to boost growth.

Tomatoes grown from cuttings from one of last years successful plants came through the winter just fine and got a really good head start. They went into growbags in the middle of April and are now flowering on their second truss, with small tomatoes forming on the first truss.

Tomatoes, Alicante and Gardeners Delight sown this year are only just big enough for planting out now into growbags. It has been a struggle to plant them in my overflowing greenhouse as I still have a lot of plants such as tuberous begonias trying to put on some growth, but held back by cold weather and lack of sun.

Plant of the week

Doronicum is a small low growing herbaceous perennial which flowers in late spring with a mass of golden daisy shaped flowers. They associate very well with blue flowering plants such as Anemone blanda and Pulmonaria as well as dwarf early red tulips. Plant them in good soil which holds moisture in sun or partial shade. They are easy to propagate by dividing up the clump in autumn.

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THE PRIMROSE FAMILY

THE PRIMROSE FAMILY

Primulas in one form or another played an important role in a gardeners apprentice training in the sixties. Primula obconica was grown indoors as a house plant or for civic decorations. Primroses, (Primula vulgaris) and cowslips, (Primula veris) grew wild in meadows, banks and roadside verges.

The Dundee Parks Director, Mr A. Dow at that time, established a Primula garden in Camperdown Park in amongst mature trees so the plants enjoyed dappled sunlight and a woodland moist soil. These beds were made up with plenty of well rotted leaf mould forked into the topsoil. There was never any shortage of leaves to compost at Camperdown as in autumn the whole park was raked for leaves which were then heaped up to compost over a few years. This suited the wide range of Primulas grown including the orchid primrose Primula vialii, the candelabra primroses Primula bulleyana, the Himalayan Primrose, Primula sikkimensis and the drumstick primula Primula denticulata which locally is also called the Kirrie Dumpling. This still remains a very popular primula in cottage gardens all over Scotland.

Older gardeners still talked up the merits of the auriculas, (Primula auricula) which had become a fashionable plant to grow in their time.

Plant collectors brought back species from all over the world from Alpine habitats subject to wind, snow, frost and degrees of dry and wet atmospheres, then China gave us those more suited to glasshouse and house conditions for flowering pot plant use. Other species preferred bog gardens and damp atmospheres. There are nearly 500 different species of primulas.

Plant breeders such as Blackmore and Langdon in Bath, have been hybridising primulas for years producing very colourful polyanthus and primroses suited to the bedding plant trade for use in tubs and beds for both private gardeners and civic decorations in parks and open spaces.

Garden Displays

Polyanthus Crescendo is one of the best bedding plants in this group with a very wide range of colours with large heads held up high on strong stems. For lower growing almost ground hugging plants the Primula Wanda has been bred to retain its dwarf appearance but now has a wide range of colours. Other Primulas for bedding now include rosebud shapes in pastel shades with scent, double flowers and bicolours.

Bedding polyanthus are so colourful they do not need any bulbs interplanted between them to brighten up spring displays, but if you wish to go for maximum effect dwarf double tulips are a perfect combination. So are hyacinths and crocus, but careful you don’t go for an overkill.

Propagation

Polyanthus are fairly easy to grow provided you give them the right conditions. I sow seed in late spring outdoors in a cool but sheltered place. Warm temperatures will inhibit germination, and they must never dry out. Seedlings are slow to germinate, so be patient and allow a few weeks for the seedlings to grow before pricking out into cellular trays. Grow them on for another couple of months then line them out in prepared soil spacing about four inches apart. Make sure the soil has plenty of compost incorporated as they like a rich moist soil. Young plants should grow strong and sturdy so that by October you have perfect plants ready to plant in your beds, borders and tubs.

Plants flower from late winter if mild conditions prevail till early summer. Once the plants have finished flowering you can discard them onto the compost heap, or save them for another year as they are perennials. Carefully lift them and line them out on humus rich soil spacing about four to six inches apart. Make sure they are always kept moist and by autumn they will be ready for bedding into your tubs and borders for the next spring displays.

Plant of the week

Hyacinths may be more expensive than other spring flowering bulbs, but they give great value and with care can come up again every year in the garden. They have large flower heads, great bright colours and a gorgeous scent. I usually buy them in each autumn for spring flowering tubs mixed with pansies, myosotis or polyanthus. However they can also go into pots for forcing to provide colourful scented flowers for the festive season or early winter. After flowering keep them watered, fed and growing till summer then dry them off and in autumn plant them in a sunny spot in the garden. If the soil is good and well drained they will flower again every year in spring. I replant mine in gaps in the herbaceous border and amongst heathers where spaces appear.

Jan Bos was always my favourite red, Pink Pearl a great pink, L’Innocence the best white and for a good blue it is hard to beat Delft Blue and Ostara.

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DAFFODILS

DAFFODILS

Although we have waited a long time for spring weather this year and plant growth is running about three weeks late it really lifts your heart when the daffodils start to bloom, as they have been so widely planted all over our city. Council cutbacks might be putting a severe strain on civic planting to keep the town colourful, but this was not always the case, and in past times towns and cities competed with each other for the Britain in Bloom awards. I had the good fortune to be an apprentice gardener at the time when flower power was at the top of civic pride and Dundee had plenty to boast about. Fortunately during those more affluent times daffodils were planted by the million, and as they are perennial they are still here today for our visual enjoyment.

On a smaller scale we can all brighten up our own gardens with daffodils and narcissi by planting a few every autumn as they are not very expensive.

As they flower when other plants are just starting to grow they fit in perfectly amongst deciduous shrubs, herbaceous borders, woodland fringes, clearances and copses. They can also be planted in lawns, but that means you won’t be able to cut the lawns for at least six weeks after flowering, then you will have a lot of cut leaves and grass for the compost heap.

They are also invaluable in allotment gardens to cheer them up and supply cut flower for the home.

 When planting in borders or lawns space them unevenly about six to nine inches apart in decent sized drifts. Allow at least four inches of soil above the bulb after planting, though they are often planted a lot shallower and still grow just fine.

Once planted leave them for evermore as they do not need lifting.

The only pest likely to trouble them is the narcissus fly which lays eggs beside the dying foliage. These hatch into maggots which bore into the bulbs eating the centre out of them. The following year you will see plenty of foliage but no flowers. There is no cure, but you can minimise the problem by clearing up the old foliage as soon as it has gone yellow and rake over the soil surface to fill in the spaces where the old leaves were.

Tubs and pots

Daffodils and narcissi are perfect for tubs around the patio and entrances to give an early display of colour. They can also be planted in pots in autumn, kept in the dark and cool for ten to twelve weeks to encourage root growth, then slowly brought into a cold greenhouse where they can green up and come into flower a few weeks early to brighten up the house. However always try to keep them cool otherwise they may get very tall and fall over unless you stake and tie them in.

After flowering dry off all these bulbs then plant them in the garden in autumn.

Types

Daffodils can have large and small trumpets, such as King Alfred, Golden Harvest and Mount Hood. Some are double flowered such as Cheerfulness which is also scented, but the jonquils are even more scented. Some come on a single stem whereas others are multiheaded. Breeders are producing newer varieties all the time, so I like to try a few new ones every year, growing them in pots so I can monitor them at close hand.

Narcissus notes

The daffodil is the national flower of Wales and also the fund raising emblem of many countries cancer research organisations.

The bulbs of all narcissi are toxic containing the alkaloid poison lycorine, so do not confuse them with onions when cooking.

However they do have medicinal values and are grown commercially in Wales for extraction of the drug galantamine used to combat mild forms of Alzheimer’s disease.

Galantamine also helps memory impairments and studies indicate it could help sufferers of insomnia.

Plant of the week

Scilla sibirica is another intense blue flowering plant for spring displays in the rock garden, cottage garden or at the front of taller plant borders. They associate very well with other blue flowers such as Chionodoxa, Puschkinias, Anemone blanda and Pulmonaria and for a colour contrast plant them in drifts alongside red and pink Erica carnea and the yellow Doronicums. This year nearly all of them are flowering together, but this could change in a warm or even a normal spring.

Scilla bulbs are usually planted in the autumn, but multiply from self sown seeds and soon form large bold drifts after a few years.

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A HUNDRED WEE JOBS

A HUNDRED WEE JOBS

At long last the cold weather has been replaced with a very late but welcome spring sunshine and some warmth. Gardeners can now catch up on numerous jobs building up while we wait on some planting and sowing weather.

The greenhouse

The greenhouse has been overflowing with plants, as the frosty nights stopped me from hardening off my broad beans, sweet peas and some large pots of Barca Red chrysanthemums now over a foot tall. The frost has gone so now they are all outdoors.

Chrysanthemum stools have been stripped for cuttings and the old plants shredded and added to the compost heap. Cuttings are rooted in cutting compost in a propagator with some bottom heat.

Last years old grow bags were opened up and I added some top soil before sowing a crop of winter salad leaves in autumn. These have been very prolific giving us fresh young salad leaves all winter, but they have now been put outdoors as they are quite hardy and greenhouse space is at a premium.

Tomatoes, Jalapeno chilli peppers and my tuberous begonias have now being transferred from the warmth of my house windowsills to the greenhouse. I had to resort to putting on my electric heater for a few weeks as frosty nights would have done damage to many plants.

Other seedlings including lettuce, radish, spring onion and beetroot have also moved from windowsills to the greenhouse. They will only get about two weeks under glass then they are due for planting on the allotment under low polythene tunnels for an early crop.

Tomatoes saved as cuttings from last year have put on fantastic growth, though I kept cutting them back and using the tips as more cuttings, so I have plenty of excellent plants for my grow bags. I will also plant up Alicante and Gardeners Delight tomatoes into grow bags now the spring weather has arrived.

Dormant fuchsias have now started into growth so they have been potted up, watered and spaced out in the greenhouse.

A batch of sweet corn has been sown individually in cellular trays and placed on my windowsills to germinate as there is no space left in the greenhouse. Cape gooseberries are also on windowsills awaiting space in the greenhouse once something else can be moved out. I think that will be my fifty geranium plants.

Allotment

There were just enough dry days to allow all the soil to be roughly dug in late winter. The dry weather with frosty nights has helped to break down the clods to give me perfect seedbeds.  All fruit bush pruning has been completed and prunings shredded and added to the new compost heap. Raspberry canes are now tied in along the top wire with a string running knot which is a lot faster than tying them separately, and the canes do not move in the wind.

New fruit bushes including Aronia Viking, white currant White Versailles, Raspberry Glen Fyne and my three new outdoor grapes, Phoenix, Rondo, and Regent have all been planted on south facing fences. This could be a very interesting year.

Land set aside for sweet corn, pumpkins, cape gooseberries and courgettes wont be needed for a couple of months so it has been prepared as a seed bed, fertilised and sown with a green manure crop of red clover. Hopefully this will grow away strongly and get dug in prior to the land being needed for planting in June.

Spring cabbage planted last summer has hardly grown at all, though there is still time. Last years cold weather never did the young plants any favour and the prolonged winter has really held back any spring growth. They got full protection from pigeons, slugs, clubroot, caterpillers and rootfly maggots, plus ample compost and Perlka fertiliser, but we cannot control the weather.

Plant of the week

Tulip Scarlet Baby is always very welcome as this Tulip kaufmanniana species is the earliest one to appear. This year may be running weeks late but this tulip started to flower in the first week in April. It is a fiery red with yellow centre and once planted comes up every year with the group slowly increasing in size. As this is a species it naturalises very easily without the need to lift in late spring, drying off the bulbs in summer and replanting in autumn as with most other tulips. My group is planted alongside a drift of yellow saxifrage which flowers at the same time making quite a nice splash of early colour.

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