HEALTHY LIVING FOR SUMMER

HEALTHY LIVING FOR SUMMER

Summer always takes a long time to come, and then our Scottish climate only gives us a few sunny days at a time in between showers, so it is very important to make the best use of this period.

The garden and allotment have been cultivated and planted so we have had plenty exercise, and as crops begin to mature we can start to enjoy fresh fruit and vegetables picked and table ready in a few hours. As these crops have had no chemicals added to help them grow or increase their shelf life they could not be healthier.

Radish is so quick and easy to grow that they are nearly always the first of the new season’s crops to be picked. Many salads can be brought on early by sowing in cellular trays in a greenhouse or on a sunny windowsill then hardened off for transplanting in spring. Lettuce, spring onion and beetroot all lend themselves to this method. Other crops such as strawberries can planted under low polythene tunnels to ripen two to three weeks ahead of open ground crops.

Some vegetables such as spring cabbage April sown in July 2012 and overwintered can now be cut as spring greens or left another couple of weeks to heart up.

Soft fruit such as raspberries, blackcurrants and gooseberries will soon be ready as will my cherries Cherokee though I will have to net them as the local blackbird would just love them for breakfast.

We are spoiled for choice for great fresh healthy fruit and vegetables from now till winter.

They all have merit as a health food product but differ in the levels of minerals, vitamins and antioxidants they possess.

Some of the best can reach superfood status and are also some of the easiest to grow. The following list is always on my allotment plot. I have covered the health benefits of these in depth last November, now archived in date order in my blog, the “Scottishartistandhisgarden.blogspot.co.uk”

Rhubarb is available from late winter as forced stems, then in season from April till autumn. Plant crowns in well manured rich soil about three feet apart and keep it well watered and fed in the growing season to harvest a wealth of stems. These can be used as fresh stems and any surplus frozen for winter use.

Beetroot, Kale, Swiss chard and spinach are leafy vegetables for stir frying, soups, and added to stews. Beetroot also makes an excellent deep red soup that is very nourishing as well as being very tasty. These vegetables are all very easy to grow from seed, and kale is one brassica less appealing to pigeons, caterpillars and clubroot.

Broad beans are my favourite bean mainly as they make fantastic soup as well as added to numerous other dishes. My first beans will be ready in July from a late February sowing, but I had spare seed left so I did another sowing at the end of May. There is always some crop that fails so these will be planted where a sowing of spring onions and Paris Silverskin pickling onions failed miserably. The latter like good soil plus a warmer climate than they have been getting lately so germination was very poor. My broad beans from the late sowing will crop at the end of summer.  

Onions can just about be used with every cooked dish and now I have found a great variety they are very easy to grow. My onion Hytech grown from seed gives me a huge crop of large bulbs that store perfectly from the late summer harvest to May the following year.

Tomatoes need to be home grown. Sorry, but supermarket tomatoes just do not compare. A hard skinned tasteless watery orange ball is absolutely useless as a salad or cooking vegetable no matter how cheap, or on the vine or having a brilliant long life on a supermarket shelf. At home we can grow varieties for flavour and pick them fresh when they are red and fully ripe. These are delicious.

Black fruits include blackcurrants, blueberries, saskatoons and chokeberries. They are all very easy to grow except the blueberry which demands an acidic soil. They are all very high in vitamin C and antioxidants. Most can be eaten straight off the bush, though chokeberries are better cooked and sweetened. The new blackcurrant Big Ben is very large and has enhanced levels of sweetness and vitamin c.

Plant of the week

Rose Gertrude Jekyll has been my first rose to flower this year, appearing in early June, though much later than last year. It gets smothered in large pink Old English style flowers that retain the strong old rose scent. It can be grown as a wall climber or free standing shrub.

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IN AND OUT OF SUMMER

IN AND OUT OF SUMMER

Recent summer weather has really made a huge impact on the garden. However it never seems to last more than a few days then it is back to cool days with showers, though compared to last year the sunny days are very welcome. The garden is trying very hard to catch up on the late season, but we are still running at least three weeks late. I picked my first strawberry on 16^th June this year whereas last year in a very poor summer, (apart from a sunny hot March) the first one was picked on 25^th May. If the dry weather with a few warm days here and there continues this years strawberries will be terrific. The plants are weighed down with a very heavy potential crop, trying to make up for last years disaster when continual wet weather rotted all the fruit before it was ripe enough to pick. The blackbirds have already spotted the first bit of colour and tested them to see if they were ready, so nets are now in place and slug pellets are absolutely necessary as there are still numerous slugs and snails left over from last years plague.

Saskatoon berries are beginning to swell so I will get ready to put my nets over them at the end of June before they start to show colour.

Bramble Helen is in full bloom, very showy with large pristine white flowers, and raspberries Glen Fyne and what I think is Glen Rosa, all showing a lot of flower clusters. I do not know Glen Rosa so I wait to see how it fruits. It can certainly grow as it produces an abundance of canes which need thinning out both along the row and many feet beyond the row as it suckers very freely.

The fig Brown Turkey is full of young swelling figs. If they all ripen I will get well over fifty this year, but leaves which are needed to support the developing fruit are very slow to grow.

Apples and plum fruits are very prolific and now swelling just nice. No sign of scab or mildew as I now only grow strong healthy varieties. Bramley usually gets a few young shoots totally covered in mildew from infected buds overwintering, but I remove these primary infections as they appear in June and this stops the disease from spreading. Plums can get a serious attack of mealy aphid which can defoliate the tree and then the fruit cannot develop, so I will keep a watch to see if they appear.

Garden flowers in summer

Climbing rose Gertrude Jekyll was the first rose to flower this year but now all my climbers and shrub roses are in flower and the bush roses not too far behind..

The weather really suited the azaleas and rhododendrons which put on a fantastic display, but now it is the turn for the ceanothus, cistus, philadelphus and viburnums.

The herbaceous border is ablaze of colour with dazzling red oriental poppies mixed with flag iris and peonies. Then the delphiniums and tall scented lilies will have their day in a couple of weeks time.

I had some spare Cosmos, petunias, lobelia and Livingston daisies, but there is always a bare patch somewhere needing brightening up so they got planted in my winter garden. The kerria, cornus and willow bushes had all been pruned right down to ground level to encourage regrowth of young shoots which will colour up again for the next dormant season. Spring flowering bulbs planted in between these bushes are all finished and the foliage has died down and been removed, but as the stooled shrubs are still only about six to ten inches tall there is scope for a summer splash of colour before the shrubs need more room to grow.

To keep my strength up for all this work Anna has been busy in the kitchen starting the first batch of summer soups made with the last of the leeks, kale, broad beans,(after removing skins),and Swiss chard (all from the freezer), plus onions, garlic, celery, dried herbs and chicken stock.

I hope to follow this with some fresh strawberries for dessert picked from the allotment only when they are fully ripe, and all the more enjoyable when you can have lunch outside on a sunny patio.

Plant of the week

Californian poppies have become naturalised in a small bed underneath my climbing rose Dublin Bay. It shares this space with crocus which flower in early spring then die down allowing the poppy to take over. It seeds very easily and always grows quickly covering itself in bright deep golden and orange flowers all summer. It can spread by seeding to other bare patches and just loves dry, stony poor soil in full sun.

Painting of the month

Alyth Bridge from the rose bed is a watercolour painting from my Alyth village series showing the old 17^th century pack horse bridge over Alyth Burn in summer. Other paintings in the series show the old bridge in winter plus views over the town from the top of Alyth Hill.

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BUSY TIMES

BUSY TIMES

The summer came at last, the rain went off and with warmer weather we got the chance to catch up with planting and sowing. However it was necessary to get the hose out and make sure young plants and seedlings did not suffer from the dry spell, but then once the ground was sufficiently moist the sun disappeared and the rain came back again. What the weather will be like when this appears in print ten days later is anybodies guess, but I am hoping for a return to summer.

Ground preparation

Overwintered Swiss chard runs to seed in spring so after a final harvest of young leaves the plants were dug up and added to the compost heap. The last of the winter Swedes were lifted, and leeks were finished a few weeks ago, so there was a fair bit of soil digging to do before the next crops can be planted. Land kept for sweet corn, courgettes, pumpkins, French beans and a later sowing of peas had been sown down in early spring with a green manure crop of red clover. This made excellent growth but it does not grow tall like mustard so it was easy to trample down and dig in. Clover has nitrogen fixing bacteria on its roots so adds food to the soil when it rots down.

Some garden compost was added while digging as all these crops like a rich soil full of humus.

Sowing

Peas, lettuce, radish, beetroot and spring onion continue to be sown for continuous cropping.

Swede Gowrie (clubroot resistant), cabbage January King and Swiss chard Bright Lights were sown as well as wallflower and myosotis for flowers for next spring. Some seed suppliers should really look after their customers a bit better if they want repeat business, A packet of Swiss chard seed was so sparse that it only sowed a four foot row. A normal allotment row is about twelve feet or more.

The first harvesting has started with radish, lettuce, spring onion and spring cabbage and I hope to have my first strawberries before this goes into print. The strawberry patch has had a deep covering of straw up the rows to stop soil splashing onto the young fruit as they develop.

Planting

Cabbage, cauliflower, kale, courgettes, pumpkins and sweet corn all got planted. The brassicas needed protection with nets for pigeons, and dressings of perlka fertiliser for clubroot. Carpet underlay squares are used under each plant to guard against rootfly maggots, but slugs just love to hide under them to slug pellets are a necessary evil. I was too late with some new plantings and some plants got attacked with about twenty maggots per plant. Fortunately I grow spares to replace lost plants. The battle continues.

On another battle front I pick off numerous sawfly maggots from my gooseberries every other day, but there is always more in reserve for another day. However the bushes look very healthy and the crop looks excellent and black and red currants are also looking fantastic.

Earlier sown peas germinated strongly and have now been supported with wire netting, and also netted to protect them from pigeons.

In the greenhouse Jalapeno peppers are now flowering and looking good. Tomatoes are also in flower and sideshoots are removed from the main stem as they form. Black Hamburg grapes are full of bunches on most sideshoots, but only a few on Flame and none on Perlette. Pruning sideshoots at one leaf on all grape plants is done at least twice very week.

Bedding geraniums, tuberous begonias, marigolds, petunias and lobelia have been mass planted all around the garden and allotment to give us a wealth of summer colour. Shirley poppies on the allotment from earlier spring sowing and Iceland poppies sown last year are all now in flower.

One border planted with tall scented lilies has had an intercrop of pumpkins as I had a few spare plants. They should be quite happy together as they occupy different height needs.

Plant of the week

Delosperma nubigenum also called the yellow ice plant is an evergreen fast growing succulent ground cover plant. Give it the right location in full sun in well drained soil even poor stony soil, and it will smother itself in yellow flowers in early June. When summer appeared in early June for nearly a whole week the Delospermas went crazy with flowers and there was hardly any green shoots visible. The plant was a solid block of golden yellow daisy flowers.

It is also great as a plant to push into crevices in south facing garden walls where it will root and look after itself. Propagation cannot be easier as all you need to do is pull a few shoots off and stick then anywhere. They always root easily.

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GARDENING SCOTLAND 2013

GARDENING SCOTLAND 2013

Gardening Scotland at Ingliston in Edinburgh in June is always a major event for many gardeners.

Every year is different from previous years. This year every exhibitor has had to reschedule plants as the season is so far behind that normal plants for June are just not ready, but those that are normally finished are still in full flower.

However this year the sun shone, the cold east wind subsided and the event went ahead just like an early summer event should. The highlight of this event for me was more musical than horticultural when the invited band the Red Hot Chilli Pipers played on stage and gave their version of Snow Patrol’s Chasing Cars. So absolutely brilliant that I had to leave my Saskatoon stand to go and see them perform that number.

I have always been very keen on large flowered tuberous begonias, but this year the The Scottish Begonia Society stand had to fall back on the begonia rex foliage plants, that may well be quite showy but cannot compete with the tuberous begonias that unfortunately were not available in great numbers.

I attend this event every year to promote and sell my Scottish grown Saskatoon plants, but as I have to arrive quite early to restock my stand it gives me plenty time to wander around the site and see all the other stands before the public arrives.

My saskatoons are proving very popular as this new fruit is slowly getting some recognition as buyers from a few years hence are now giving me positive feedback that bushes are now in flower and the first fruit crops are only a few weeks away.

There were great displays of peonies by Binnie Plants, clematis, chrysanthemums, rock garden plants and numerous other specialist plant growers. One of my great finds was the Trillium Snow Bunting with double white flowers in great profusion, but at £25 per plant a wee bit beyond my budget. Apparently the seed takes three years to germinate and another three years before it comes into flower.

Many stands are still selling a lot of heucheras in a wide variety of colours which are still the in plant to grow, and Jacques Armand still had perfect specimens of my favourite Arisaema sikokianum.

There were many stands and great displays of bonsai plants which were very old but in fantastic health with many rhododendrons and azaleas in full flower on miniaturised plants but as perfect specimens. These old knarled plants had great character and commanded attention.

However going back to my artistic side I was very impressed with the stand of original paintings by Daniel Campbell who is having a great run of popularity. Daniels Scottish landscape paintings are full of colour, selling very well and he also publishes many of his images in prints. Daniel also takes a stand at the Dundee Food and Flower Festival at Camperdown Park in September.

I spent a lot of time in my apprenticeship years training at Kingsway Technical College, now just Dundee College, so it was great to see that their stand had been awarded with a Silver Gilt for the stand designed by Ally McCloud. When I visited the stand two trainees, Lettie Bridgewater and Kathleen Coutts were on hand to offer help on the design as well as training at Dundee College.

The current idea for plant composts is a great reduction of peat in the mixture. However there are lot of very inferior products being marketed as peat free, and giving very inferior results. I have lost many plants as seedlings or cuttings in peat substitute composts that leave a lot to be desired. Good drainage is often compromised unless you add extra grit or sand.

One supplier of compost, Dalefoot Composts, creates their own brand using wool mixed with bracken and composted indoors in large sheds to control composting. Sheep need to be shorn and now there is no commercially viable market for sheep’s wool, but it can still be used as a very valuable composting material at times when there is a move away from peat based composts.

Wool and bracken are mixed in heaps and turned every week to assist breakdown, and once the wool and bracken has broken down to the correct degree, mixtures are created and designed for seed sowing, potting and soil amelioration.  I tried some of these composts on my young Saskatoon plants and got great results though they are quite expensive.

Plant of the week

Laburnum vossii is also commonly known as Golden Rain as it is very striking when in full flower in late May to June. This small deciduous tree is very easy to grow but gives the best display of long golden flower racemes in full sun in a sheltered spot.

This plant however has a bad reputation as all parts of the tree contain the alkaloid poison cytisine and it is strongest in the seeds and seedpods. Unfortunately these can resemble garden peas and young children have been known to eat them. They can cause severe illness but are rarely fatal, though this poison is a favourite for authors and television dramas. Gardeners often remove the seedpods after flowering to conserve the tree strength so it flowers profusely the next year.

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