BEGONIAS

BEGONIAS

Tuberous begonias are hard to beat for an exotic summer bedding plant, providing a wealth of large blooms in any weather in just about any colour except blue. They are perfect for bedding, tubs, window boxes, hanging baskets and as a house plant on a sunny window sill.

The flowers are usually double and can be frilled and some have a beautiful picotee edge.

Once you have grasped their basic cultural needs for growing and storage they will last for years. I purchased my tubers over twenty years ago and at the end of each season I have more than I started with as the tubers grow larger. Protect them from frost at all times as they are half hardy.

It is usual to use different varieties suitable for summer bedding (doubles, Non Stop, Frilled and Picotees), those with a trailing habit for baskets (pendulas.) You can pay up to £40 for one tuber of the best variety, whereas tubers for bedding are about £1 to £6 each. They may be expensive to start off with, but they last for years and slowly increase in size. As they grow bigger you can cut them up in late March to April as long as each portion has a good couple of strong young shoots.

Propagation and growing

Tubers can be split in April when emerging shoots are quite prominent. You need at least two shoots on each piece, but this is a very slow way to bulk up stock. Seed sowing is the best way to produce a lot of plants quickly. Sow in February on finely prepared seed compost. Do not cover the seeds as they need light to germinate, but to retain a moist atmosphere cover the seed tray with glass. Turn this over daily to remove condensation. They must always be moist, but never wet and need a constant temperature of 65 to 70 F. to germinate. When big enough to transplant you will need to make a forked stick to lift them out together with a very small dibber. Plant them in trays about 4cms apart and once they fill those, transplant them again into larger containers.

Dry tubers are started into growth by placing them close together, concave side up in shallow trays of compost in February. Cover them with compost but not too deep. They need a temperature of at least 65 F. Once the sprouts begin to grow replant them into larger boxes or pots. Keep them watered and fed. Harden off by mid May and they should be ready for planting at the end of May or early June. I plant out my begonias in beds at about a foot apart as they can grow into quite large plants. They are gross feeders in tubs, pots and baskets and need constant watering, but will reward you with a fantastic show of colour right up till the autumn.

Storing

At the end of the flowering season, about mid October, cut back the plants to about three or four inches and lift them carefully. Knock off any loose soil and store them in an airy dry cool but frost proof place. Let the soil around the tubers dry out and fall off. Store them in boxes concave side up covering them with the dried out soil or old potting compost. Make sure it is dry.

Wee jobs to do this week

Cut hedges and any ornamentally shaped shrubs. Always start at the bottom, work up the sides and leave the top till last.

Check for leeks on garden shed roofs and repair with new felt or use bitumastic on small holes or tears. Replace any broken glass from shed windows, cold frames and glasshouses.

Areas on the vegetable patch allocated for brassicas, and dug over a few months ago can now be limed to reduce the soil acidity. This helps to minimise the incidence of clubroot disease.

Check for scale insect infestation on rhododendrons and evergreen azaleas as they can become quite a serious pest causing loss of foliage and allowing the fungus sooty mould to develop. They can be controlled with several sprays of Provado or Resolva. However best time to spray is in summer when the young scale nymphs are hatching.

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INTERNET GARDENING

INTERNET GARDENING

Garden lovers have always bought a regular gardening magazine to hold our interest and give us up to date information. We also regularly visit garden centres and nurseries as well as horticultural events in our area. This way we gain knowledge of modern gardening techniques and the latest plant varieties as they appear. Today, even in the world of gardening everything has moved on and now we seek our information on the internet as well as the other sources. There is any amount of information available at the click of a mouse leading to websites, blogs, forums and newsletters.

Schools teach computer studies from primary age, so our kids are well versed up in internet technology, but my generation has a lot to catch up on and although there is plenty courses in basic computing, it is not easy to adapt to this new technology.

My first steps

About twelve years ago I enrolled onto an evening class for basic computing learning a wee bit about all the parts and how they worked, then I found another course on learning to search and surf the internet, “Computing for the Terrified” I was an uphill struggle as the keyboard, which I had never used before, really had me baffled, but Scots don’t give up easily.

At this time Dundee Business Gateway was running a series of courses on computers, the internet and website building for small businesses, so yet again this very determined lad enrolled on all of them. I got enough information on just what to look for to buy my first computer with confidence. Now I could practice all these lessons I had been taught. Before long I was searching, emailing, scanning, adding pictures from my camera, printing, booking buses, trains, holidays, and building up a list of my favourite sites that I look at frequently.

My next step was to build my own website www.johnstoa.com to showcase my paintings, prints and art tuition. However I also added pages to show my gardening activities in and around the house as well as my allotment at City Road.

I then added a new blog, scottishartistandhisgarden.blogspot.co.uk linked from my home page to archive all my Dundee Courier articles for future reference. The latest venture is into Facebook and other social media sites, but being very careful with uploading pictures and content.

Today every worthwhile nursery, garden centre and grower has a website. So do Botanical gardens, the Royal Horticultural Society, stately homes, research institutes and numerous allotment sites.

If you wish to find information, or where you can buy a plant just go to Google and type in the common or botanical name and browse through the result pages. Pests, diseases, weed control, pruning, planting, composts, greenhouses, sheds, fences, polythene are all easy to find.

You can look up local garden centres such as www.glendoick.com  or if you wish to look up specialist plant growers try Cockers at www.roses.uk.com and www.davidaustinroses.com for roses.

For fruit growing try www.kenmuir.co.uk, and for excellent chrysanthemums check out Harold Walker at www.walkersplantcentre.co.uk I have used him for over twenty years.

If you want the best tuberous begonias look up www.blackmore-langdon.com.

Our own Dundee Botanical Gardens can be found at www.dundee.ac.uk/botanic 
For information on allotment sites try www.allotment.org.uk which has links to everything you are likely to grow, then check out both the National Society at www.nsalg.org.uk and the Scottish Society at www.sags.org.uk

Wee jobs to do this week

Lift and divide rhubarb plants more than three years old and replant them in well prepared soil that has been well manured as they prefer a rich fertile soil.

Tidy up the edges of lawns with a half moon lawn edger. Any areas that are damaged can be repaired by cutting a square of turf then turning it around so that the edge is clean and straight on the outside. Add soil to the broken area, level it and sprinkle in some grass seed.

Check over all garden tools and sharpen blunt edges with a file. Many tools such as secateurs, spades, hoes, axes and shears all get blunt with constant use.

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PRUNING FRUIT TREES AND BUSHES

PRUNING FRUIT TREES AND BUSHES

We seem to have a very favourable climate in the north east of Scotland. We may get the gales in winter but we have missed out on the rain and snow, and only enough frost to firm up the ground. As longer sunny days arrive it gives us the perfect opportunity to crack on with any outstanding pruning jobs while plants are still dormant. I do a lot of pruning of fruit bushes pretty soon after harvesting as this gives new growth time to ripen up before winter. I also like to carry out all my pruning at the one time then I can put all the clippings through our allotment shredder and add them to the compost heap.

Raspberries (summer fruiting) fruit on new canes produced the previous year, so remove all the old fruited canes down to ground level and tie in those left. If there is plenty canes available remove weak ones, short ones and any overcrowding ones so those left can be spaced at four inches apart along the top wire.

Raspberries (autumn fruiting) have all the canes cut down to the ground as they fruit on new canes grown in the same year.

 Redcurrants have their own style of pruning. I establish a framework of about nine main shoots which I summer prune by cutting all sideshoots back to about six inches or so, then in winter I spur these back to a couple of buds. Try to replace a couple of these main shoots every year with new strong shoots grown from the centre of the bush.

Brambles, loganberries and Tayberries are all treated the same as summer raspberries, though the canes can be quite long, so sometimes they are woven up and down along their supporting wires to save space. The new bramble Reuben fruits on canes grown the same year similar to autumn fruiting rasps so it is also cut down to ground level.

Blackcurrants have old fruiting wood removed, shoots trailing too near the soil, and open up the centres. Leave all strong young shoots for fruiting for the next couple of years.

Gooseberries are best pruned after fruiting in summer but it is still time to give them a trim now. Most varieties are very thorny so pruning aims to make life easy for picking. Remove growth from the centre of the bush as well as any shoots on the outside trailing down onto the soil. Now spur back weak shoots and any that cause overcrowding, or are likely to impede safe picking.
Plums should not be pruned in winter as this increases the risk of infection by silver leaf disease.
Apples and pears vary in their pruning needs as there are so many different training forms. Bush and tree forms are managed by regulating branches to maintain a supply of young wood that fruits for three to five years and is then replaced by younger shoots allowed to take its place.

Other forms such as cordons, fans, espaliers, stepovers and pillar forms are spur pruned (similar to the redcurrants) in both summer and winter, once the basic framework has been established.

Peaches are usually trained against a south facing wall or fence as a fan shape then spur pruned to control growth and encourage formation of fruit buds.
Grapes grown under glass are usually trained as upright rods spaced about eighteen inches apart. One plant can have one rod or as many as you wish to fill the space. Once these are established all sideshoots growing out of these rods are cut back to one or two buds in December or January.

If pruning is left any later the vine will start to grow and sap will bleed from the pruning cuts.

Wee jobs for this week
Remove all old leaves from Brussels sprouts and put them on the compost heap, otherwise if they build up on the ground they can insulate it from frost. The roots will then still be active whereas the tops could be frozen leading to problems with internal browning of the sprouts.

Pot up small rooted plants of geraniums and busy lizzies, as they begin to grow following autumn propagation from cuttings.

Enjoy aconites as they open up on clear sunny days spreading a bit of golden cheer on cold winter days, but this year well behind the snowdrops that started to flower last December.

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ORNAMENTAL STEMS AND BARK

ORNAMENTAL STEMS AND BARK

It is during the long cold winter months when there is a distinct lack of flowers that we can appreciate other forms of colour in our gardens. There is a wide range of plants grown for winter attraction because of their coloured stems and ornamental bark. These are best displayed in a large group or drift to give impact. Choose a spot that will catch the winter sun and make sure it is well drained, but not dry. Cultivate the soil, adding plenty of garden compost or other organic material to improve the soil structure and add humus. My winter garden is based on heathers, coloured stemmed trees and shrubs, winter flowering shrubs and climbers such as Jasmine, and a carpet of aconite and snowdrop bulbs to add and extend the interest well beyond the winter. Daffodils and tulips can also be used to add colour in spring, then tall oriental scented lilies in summer.

In autumn the show begins when the tree and shrubs lose their leaves to reveal the brilliant red  stems of Cornus sibirica Westonbirt and Mid-winter Fire, bright green stems of Kerria japonica and Leycesteria Formosa and the dazzling orange stemmed willow, Salix britzensis emerging from the ground cover of the black grass, Ophiopogon planiscapus nigrescens. This grass is quite black forming dense ground hugging clumps that give a perfect background to both the bright stems and also a drift of snowdrops. Now white on black; that’s different.

I did have a black stemmed Cornus kesselringii but I am afraid it was a curiosity, not quite a thing of beauty, so it has been relegated to the shade border.

If you wish to try some grey stems look out a Rubus giraldianus, but treat it carefully as it has vicious thorns making it perfect for any vandal prone areas. Another excellent tall shrub is the violet willow, Salix daphnoides which has a beautiful grey bloom on its stems.

As well as shrubs with coloured stems the heather garden is often at its best in winter. It can be enhanced with a magnificent specimen birch tree Betula jaquemontia with pure white bark in a central position within a drift of gold and crimson heather, Calluna vulgaris Beoley Gold and Beoley Crimson. All of these plants are enhanced with the first cold evenings and a bit of frost.

For those in a more frivolous mood in need of the perfect small specimen tree, I recommend the Japanese maple Acer palmatum Sangokaku and although it is not cheap, it will not disappoint. After the dazzling red autumn leaves fall off the bright wine red stems are brilliant in sunshine.

Maintenance

At the end of March the shrubs will start to grow, so now is the time to prune them back to a stool just above ground level to encourage the growth of strong young stems that have the brightest colour. However I do not prune back the Kerria or Leycesteria. These get a light pruning after flowering by removing some older shoots back to decent fresh young growth.

Although the coloured stems have been pruned and the early spring bulbs are finished, it is still possible to use this border for a further show of summer flowering scented lilies. These are quite tall and grow through the shrubs into the light to flower.

In autumn apply a mulch of compost after all the leaves have fallen off.

Wee jobs to do this week

As potatoes arrive place them in a warm light place to allow them to start chitting. A favourite is an old egg container with the potatoes placed rose end up.

Place a mulch of rotted compost or manure around fruit bushes to conserve moisture in dry spells in summer and keep weeds down.

This is the latest time to complete grape vine pruning. They are normally grown in greenhouses as upright rods spaced about 12 to 18 inches apart with all growth pruned back to one bud.

There is still time to take hardwood cuttings of many deciduous hardwood shrubs and fruit bushes such as blackcurrants and gooseberries about nine inches long and lined out in a row spaced about four to six inches apart. They will be fine in open ground or a cold frame.

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PLANT AN APPLE TREE

PLANT AN APPLE TREE

There is an apple tree suitable for almost every garden today, no matter how small your garden is. Life keeps evolving and modern housing no longer caters for those wishing a large garden. Most people don’t need a garden to grow their fruit and vegetables as supermarkets can provide everything you want. However when it comes to full flavour and health benefits you are better to grow your own produce. Supermarkets require produce to be blemish free, evenly sized, good appearance and have a long shelf life. None of that is relevant to home grown produce, and we may well also find the odd caterpillar and greenfly, but that won’t put us off if the taste is fantastic and the apple is soft sweet and juicy.

Fruit tree breeders have been encouraged to rethink their strategy in light of the fact that there has been a movement to go back to growing the older heritage varieties that can still be found in old derelict orchards. Most of these older types are not commercial by today’s standards, so where they find outlets is likely to be your local green grocer or farmers markets. The goodness has not been bred out of them in favour of size and cropping potential. These older varieties still have a real apple taste and soft texture. Apart from Cox, there are too many apple varieties available with thick skin and hard tasteless flesh. So when looking for that special apple tree that you know your kids will be happy to eat make sure you get one with flavour and that will grow in your area.

A good heritage or even modern variety in the south of England may not be any good here. We are too far north for a good Cox, but we can grow Discovery, Falstaff, Scrumptious, Katy, Fiesta, Red Devil and for my first early in August a few Arbroath Pippins (The Oslin) are just fine. It does not keep and is prone to brown rot, but has a flavour to die for.

The best cooking apple in my opinion is still Bramley which keeps a long time in store.

Many garden centres hold apple open days where numerous varieties are available to sample usually in early October so you can decide which one to go for.

The next consideration will be how much space is available for a tree. Breeders and nurserymen have helped out the gardener with limited space by producing types aimed at those with limited space. All apples are grafted onto a root stock whose vigour determines its ultimate size.

The latest most dwarfing type is M27 used for columnar shapes, dwarf pyramids and stepover trees.

Then M9 is an old dwarfing type used for cordons, dwarf bush and spindle trees.

Apples grafted on this and M27 require permanent staking.

M26 and MM106 are still dwarfing but will give a bigger tree than the previous ones, growing up to ten to twelve feet. However for standard trees if you have the space look for trees grafted onto MM111 or M25, but they can grow up to fifteen feet tall.

The best forms of tree for limited space is cordons, fans and espaliers which can be grown against a wall or fence and spur pruned so they take up minimal space. In open areas stepover trees are very popular. These are like a single espalier branch trained a couple of feet above the ground and again spur pruned in summer by reducing growth to a few buds. Most apple varieties can be trained in these forms, but a new type becoming popular is the single stemmed columnar Starline range. There are five varieties, but as these are new only time will tell if they will be good up north. For me the orange red Firedance type looks good. These should all be summer pruned to keep shoots short (three buds) and will need permanent staking. They are said to be resistant to scab and mildew.

Wee Jobs to do this week

Check insulation of outdoor water taps and those in unheated greenhouses.

Continue with outstanding winter digging, incorporating manure and compost, but still leaving the soil surface rough to allow weathering.

Spike lawns with a garden fork to improve drainage, then brush in a lawn top dressing to improve the fertility and health of the sward.

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ALLOTMENT ROTATION

ALLOTMENT ROTATION

Crop rotation is an essential practice when growing a range of vegetables in the garden or on an allotment. This helps to prevent the build up of diseases such as clubroot on brassicas and white rot on onions. Different crops require different amounts of manure or compost so rotating crops allows all parts of the ground to receive organic manuring over time. The brassica crops also grow best on land that has a high pH value so it gets limed a couple of months before planting so the winter snow and rain can wash the lime down into the soil. A higher pH value also helps to discourage clubroot disease. Although we can grow some clubroot resistant plants, the breeders have not yet produced a wide enough range to give us year round protection, and many salad crops such as radish and mustard can be affected. Wallflower plants that are grown from seed can also be seriously affected.

A four year rotation is the best practise so that the land that was limed for the brassicas one year will be perfect for the next crops of heavy feeders or salads the next year. Then in year four, acidity is returning and it is now perfect for the potatoes and other root crops. Potatoes are liable to scab infection if there is lime in the soil, or if the land is poor.

Planning the basics of the rotation is always best ahead of the winter digging so you know how to distribute the manures and garden compost according to subsequent crop needs. This gives it time to rot down releasing its feeding values just when the new crops need it.

Starting with the heaviest feeders I allocate ample compost for my pumpkins and courgettes, followed by the onions, leeks, peas, beans, sweet corn. Finally I make sure the potato patch gets a fair amount of compost before digging in, though it is a good practice to add some compost to the bottom of the drill at planting time. Land selected for salads only needs a light dressing of compost and areas where my root crops are to be grown get nothing otherwise the incidence of root splitting will be too high.

If you grow strawberries these can be added into the rotation once their fruiting life has ended. They are normally grown for three cropping years then dug in and new strawberry runners planted on fresh soil that has not previously had strawberries. However since the old strawberry patch has not been manured or cultivated for several years it will need a lot of compost and deep digging.

Intercropping and catch crops

Soil deteriorates if left bare without plants grown on it, but many plants such as the courgettes, pumpkins, dwarf French beans, runner beans and sweet corn are not frost hardy so planting is delayed till the end of May or early June. This is where a catch crop of a fast maturing salad can be grown such as radish, lettuce, spring onion and baby beetroot. To make sure these have enough time to produce a worthwhile crop they can be started early in cellular trays in the greenhouse. Similarly where ever crops have finished early such as early potatoes, broad beans, spring cabbage, over wintered cauliflower, onions and sweet corn, there is still time for more quick maturing salads, rocket, autumn salad leaves, beetroot and more spring onions. If you have enough salads then use the ground for a green manure crop such as clover to enrich the soil for the next crop.

Intercropping is very useful to use spare land for salads grown in between widely spaced plants such as brussels sprouts, sweet corn and freshly planted strawberries. Similar crops can also be grown around newly planted fruit trees and bushes before they need all the allocated space.

Wee jobs to do this week

Tidy up the allotment plot. Straighten up fences, and path edges which get disturbed with cultivations over the growing season. Replace old carpets, lining the paths as they deteriorate over time getting dangerously slippy. I use wood shreddings in a layer about two inches deep.

Top dress flower borders with a light fertiliser dusting and add some compost where bulbs have been planted as they are now emerging and soon it will be too late when the leaves develop.
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A FEW WINTER FLOWERS

A FEW WINTER FLOWERS

January is the dark winter month when we are reluctant to venture into the garden as it is usually cold and frosty, or snow covered with an icy wind howling and the days are very short. However jobs still need attention so we just put on layers of warm clothes and hope for a wee bit of sunshine to keep us cheery. It does help though if we catch site of a few flowers bravely pushing up through the ground. I have one south facing sheltered border where a drift of snowdrops will be in flower every January. This winter has been so mild early on that they started to flower in December.

Aconites are also on the move and one or two flowers appear whenever we get a few sunny days together, though the main display is normally in mid February.

The yellow flowered climbing Jasminum nudiflorum has been in flower from November and will continue till the end of February. It is really tough and even covered in snow the flowers are still determined to open up. Crocus is another tough winter flower that starts to appear in late January in sunny sheltered borders and is often seen to emerge as the snow melts.

Roses are another odd plant that we rely on for our summer flower display, but then they continue to send up more flowers at every opportunity right into winter. Although most of my bushes have now been pruned I have a few that the secateurs have not reached including my very vigorous climber Mme Alfred Carrier. We have had quite a few frosts this winter but still these roses have attractive flowers on them.

Flower tubs planted with polyanthus have also decided to join in the flower display, and although the best is still to come it is great to see all these flowers in the garden in January.

Flowers are very welcome in winter but outdoors there are many other attractive plants. Up at City Road allotments my bright red Swiss chard looks terrific though we keep spoiling the display by eating the young leaves in our stir fries. Sometimes you just can’t win.

Numerous types of Cotoneaster are still full of berries including horizontalis, simmonsii and frigidus. The latter makes a small tree and can keep birds in food for months.

Back in the house there is always some plant with a bit of colour on the windowsill. The Zygocactus finished flowering in December, but was then replaced with some cyclamen. The last of these finished early January, but now Impatiens (Busy Lizzie) cuttings taken in autumn have matured and started to flower. These will continue to flower all winter as long as the sun shines, but go a bit quieter during dull days.

The poinsettia bought in just before Christmas for a festive display is still at its best and is a real show stopper. I keep mine on a sunny windowsill, but take it in at night and keep the compost moist, but never waterlogged. It should be fine till spring when it will want to start to grow and lose its coloured bracts.

Another good festive plant is the winter cherry, Solanum capsicastrum, bought in when fully formed with cherries. Treat it like the poinsettias and it should retain the fruit for a few weeks.

However our best festive fruiting bush is our orange tree now full of young oranges. They are edible, but are not very sweet as we just don’t get enough sun or warmth to ripen up the fruit.

Wee jobs around the garden

Check tree ties and stakes on ornamental and fruit trees and renew or adjust them. Keep the top of the stake well away from the stem to prevent bark damage in winds.

Tie in summer raspberry canes with a running knot. Allow about four inches between each cane.

Dig in any green manure crops such as clover that have died after a severe frost. The foliage should be trampled down to make it easier to completely bury it when digging it in, and leave the soil surface as rough as possible to expose a large surface area to weathering by frost.

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LOOKING FORWARD TO 2015

LOOKING FORWARD TO 2015

Last week we had a look back over the 2014 gardening year reviewing the successes and failures. Armed with this knowledge we can now plan our gardening calendar for 2015 in the hope that our unpredictable weather doesn’t have too many shocks in store for us. Looking at weather trends to try and assess what could be ahead for 2015, the only half reliable factor appears to be that every year is different from the previous year. So if last winter was very mild, following the devastating December gales, this winter is likely to be colder with snow and severe frost. Last year we got a long cool spring so maybe this spring will be short but warm, then summer will be the Scottish normal (you don’t need me to remind you that means three consecutive dry sunny days and up to five in an exceptional summer) since last year it was excellent. Since August last year was cold and wet it just has to be a total heatwave this year so I will not be on holiday abroad as I don’t want to miss it. Anyway time will be needed on the allotment for watering the crops in this dry spell. Autumn 2014 lacked warmth and sunshine resulting in a poor harvest of grapes and apples,

so maybe autumn this year will be very warm with long sunny days ensuring a bumper harvest of sweet ripe fruit. You have to dream positive thoughts.

Now we’ve got the weather sorted out what does this mean for our plans for the garden.

We will still persevere with peaches, pears, cherries and apples in the hope that the bees will return on time in spring to pollinate the flowers which are bound to be numerous as there was no heavy crop last year to weaken the trees.

Clubroot was a major problem last year as the soil was too wet too often so this year I will be concentrating on resistant varieties of cabbage (Kilaton) cauliflower (Clapton) sprouts (Crispus) and Swedes (Gowrie, Invitation or Marian)

I will continue with my outdoor grape experiments, but will have to find a warm spot free from phytophthora root rot. The variety Phoenix seems to have survived, produced several small bunches and put on ample growth, even though it is on land known to have had root rot.

This year should give me my first decent crop of Big Ben blackcurrants when I can judge their size and increased sweetness for the fresh fruit market rather than just for jam, compote and wine.

New raspberry plants of Autumn Treasure and Polka should fruit this year so I can see if they really are so much better than Autumn Bliss.

A new planting of Bramble Reuben will extend my bramble picking season into autumn as my six year old bramble Helen fruits in August.

Green manure experiments have favoured clover as the superior crop. It does not grow as tall as mustard, but more vigorous than tares, so I will use it at every opportunity in 2015.

I will again plant tomatoes direct into border soil in my new greenhouse, after adding fresh compost and fertiliser, as I feel it should be good for two years before I go back to growbags.

New landscape works are planned after the removal of three huge conifers and a massive eucalyptus which has been threatening to drop branches on my new greenhouse, as it reaches into the sky and spreads wider. This will be permanent planting to maintain an attractive area but be easy to maintain. More on this later after I peruse the plant brochures and select a few special plants.

Most of the branches will be chipped on site and added and mixed into my compost heap.

Some chippings will be used to surface my paths on the allotment. This should last a couple of years before it rots down and needs replacing.

Painting plans for 2015

The short gardening days in winter allows me more time at the easel to concentrate on my latest art project. This will be a series of about twenty paintings in oil and acrylic showing ladies in white sun hats, sarongs and other holiday fashions enjoying our Scottish beaches including Sandwood Bay in Sutherland, the Coral Beach and Talisker Beach in Skye. Other beaches include Otters Wick Bay and Cata Sands in Orkney, Silver Sands of Morar and of course Broughty Ferry Beach in Dundee.

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LOOK BACK OVER THE YEAR

LOOK BACK OVER THE YEAR

Every year has its own stories to tell, and they are never the same. No matter what skill level we possess or how much knowledge we have, the success of the garden still depends on the weather and how we learn to work with it. This year started off with a mild but very wet and stormy winter, then ends up with good weather, so I completed all my winter digging in before Christmas.

It all started to go wrong, when last year’s December gales blew my greenhouse down. It took me three months to sort out a new one strong enough to withstand the next gales sure to blow up the Tay estuary and rattle the glass. I spent three days picking up shards of broken glass from both my garden and my neighbours. The new greenhouse base was strengthened and raised so I imported good top soil for the borders. Growbags intended for my tomato crop got opened up and the compost forked into the borders. Tomatoes went into this prepared soil and could not have been happier as some reached the eighth truss instead of the normal four to five.

The year started very wet and an almost total lack of snow and frost. Snowdrops were in flower in January, and other plants were at least two to three weeks ahead of normal. However the wet ground prevented winter digging which did not get completed till March, delaying any early sowing and planting. This was followed by a very cool spring which was fine for the flowers which lasted a long time, but not so good for fruit trees. There was plenty of blossom on all the trees, but it was too cool for pollinating bees which were noticeably absent. Fruit set was zero on the pears and very poor on the cherry. The peach tree only managed one fruit even though I did daily hand pollination with a soft sable brush. Apples and plums flowered later so the crops were better but not as good as the previous year.

Then spring gave way to a brilliant summer, but August appeared and spoilt the show. It was cold, wet and the sun disappeared for a few weeks.

Outdoor fuchsias which, prior to August had put on a fantastic display, lost all their flowers, but then in September they reappeared and decided to keep flowering till the end of the year.

Another plant that seemed to thrive was my fig tree. Young embryonic fruit buds that normally fall off in winter, survived to produce my heaviest crop ever. Ripe figs all summer long was a major attraction. My small tree growing outdoors on my allotment plot produced nearly eighty ripe figs over two months.

The warm sunny dry summer (excluding August) suited all the soft fruit giving bumper harvests of currants, gooseberries, raspberries and strawberries. However that cold August really spoiled the grape harvest when the bunches were desperate for dry hot weather to ripen up and increase the sugar content. All grape wines had to have sugar added to give a decent alcohol level while they fermented in my demijohns.

The wet winter also gave rise to several disease epidemics. Clubroot which spreads in soil moisture devastated most brassicas that had not been bred for resistance,

as well as radish and wallflower. Phytophthora root rot introduced several years ago on infected raspberries, continues to affect woody perennials. Three new grape vines died out as well as my five year old goji which must have been old enough to give me my first berries. This disease is also spread in soil moisture. There are about ninety strains of phytophthora some of which are quite specific affecting raspberries as well as potatoes (blight), but some strains can affect a wide range of plants.

Rose blackspot was another problem after the wet August, but at least roses gave a great show in mid summer, then well into winter.

My mature Victoria plum tree, well over thirty years old became infected with silver leaf disease and will need to be removed, as there is no cure and the tree will die or produce no more plums.

Plant of the week

Tradescantia zebrina, the wandering Jew is a popular house plant. It likes a warm room with good light, but out of any direct sunlight. Water it sparingly in winter but freely in summer with an occasional feed.
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FESTIVE THOUGHTS

FESTIVE THOUGHTS

Winter has truly arrived with snow frost and the December gales, but this year my new greenhouse is much stronger than the previous one, so I am confident it will be just fine. Under glass winter lettuce is still plentiful and my boxed up chrysanthemum stools all have short sturdy green shoots which will provide cuttings next March. Greenhouse temperatures have only just gone below freezing which is quite healthy. The Black Hamburg vines have now all lost their leaves so will get pruned within the next few weeks taking all growths back to one or two buds from the main rods.

Down on the allotment the digging has been held up by the wet weather though good progress was made every dry day when there was a wee bit of sun. One third of the plot has been turned over, but I still have a lot of land occupied with winter vegetables, permanent fruit bushes and my flower border. Other sections are down to a clover green manure which I will dig over in late winter.

Back home the garden was totally weeded in autumn, and leaves collected as they fell. Numerous spring bulbs are pushing through the soil surface with snowdrops showing the first flower buds just itching to open up on a sunny day. They don’t seem to mind whether it’s just December with most of the winter still to come.

Shrub pruning is still ongoing and roses usually get done on a sunny day in the heart of winter, when I have the urge to get outdoors but the ground may still be frozen over. However some roses are still flowering in competition with both hardy fuchsias and other fuchsias. One City Road plot holder has a row of Fuchsia Swingtime (or a hardy version of this variety) still in full bloom. An amazing sight as I would have expected the recent frosts to knock it back into dormancy.

As we head into the festive period, I suppose the allotment and garden will be fine without my attention for a couple of weeks, though I will still have to dig up a few swedes, a cabbage, some sprouts and leeks and parsnips and hope that my row of earthed up beetroot is just fine. Then there is still some winter rocket and other salad leaves to pick as well as kale and chard. There should be plenty of fresh veg. for Anna’s Christmas table, and I have ample bottles of home brew wine just waiting to be sampled. This year’s best ones are the gooseberry, aronia and apple, followed by the Saskatoon and red currant, though I still have to sample the Brant outdoor grape wine brewed just over two years ago. Wine making is an ongoing activity related to time of harvesting crops as well as availability of demijohns. Thus my 2014 apple crop is only now fermenting in the demijohns, but the blackcurrants, now in the freezer, won’t get brewed till late winter when I have some spare demijohns.

Outdoor gardening activities over may be curtailed over Christmas and New Year, but there is going to be some new landscape works in front of the house so time will be spent browsing through catalogues sorting out appropriate plants to buy in. Every year I buy in several new plants to try, most often fruit varieties, grapes or flowering shrubs, but then struggle to find a spare piece of land for them. I have to be ruthless and discard any plant that fails to impress. Many shrub roses had to be removed when they proved to be very prone to blackspot, however the very old variety Ispahan is quite tough and flowers profusely every year. Another old but very reliable rose is the white scented climber Mme Alfred Carrier. However its strength will have to be curtailed as my medium sized garden is struggling at it reaches beyond sixteen feet tall and sprawls a similar length in all directions.

 

Plant of the week

Holly (Ilex aquifolium) has been used as a festive decoration for hundreds of years even going back to the time of the Druids who used holly wreaths on their heads in winter celebrations. The holly tree, leaves and berries can be quite toxic, and birds normally leave them alone till they have had some frosts to soften the berries, though the City Road allotments resident blackbirds have had no trouble eating our plentiful supply of fresh grown holly berries.

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