LATE SUMMER HARVESTS

LATE SUMMER HARVESTS

The temptation to get away for a wee holiday in the sun is very strong after our long cool wet summer, but then you find it does suit some of our garden plants which have had plenty moisture and just enough warmth to get them growing. Cabbages, cauliflowers and sprouts have never grown so well and root crops have all got plenty top growth and hopefully roots will be a decent size.

However sweet corn and broad bean plants are all smaller than last year.

Late summer is the peak season for harvesting so while a wee trip into the sunshine would be very welcome many plants have matured and are ready to pick. Holiday thoughts will have to wait.

French beans are later this year and I have only just started to pick them so no rush for freezer space just yet.
Peas were sown over three dates, so the earliest have been picked and used while a very tall row of Alderman is currently being harvested. Another row of Kelvedon Wonder was sown in early July so wont be ready till the end of this month and into early September.

Broad beans were all harvested in mid August in a mammoth operation over several days.

Beans were picked in early afternoon, and then shelled after tea outdoors on sunny evenings. The beans were then blanched, cooled and extracted from the skins over the next two hours indoors accompanied by some music and a three year old bottle of redcurrant wine to keep us sane as it was a Friday night. Lastly, just before midnight they were bagged up into small bags and placed in the freezer. They will be used as they are or for a delicious and healthy bean soup over the next year.

Sweet corn is the next crop to get harvested in a one off destructive harvest. This year they were not ready till the end of August, but then the whole crop is ready at once. The cobs are picked in the morning on a nice sunny day so they can get sorted leisurely in the afternoon on the patio tables. All husks are removed and the cobs sorted out into large cobs for freezing, and others for either immediate use or short term use in the fridge.

Cabbage and cauliflower have just loved this weather and growth has been very good. The cool weather has helped to ripen them over a longer period so we could use them fresh with just a small amount getting frozen. I have also done two sowings of each in short rows separated over a couple of months. Six cabbages and six cauliflowers is plenty for us to get through in two months.

Courgettes are now very prolific, but do make a great soup, as well as numerous other dishes.

Onions grown from one packet of Hytech seed has given me an enormous crop of large bulbs that now just need a sunny dry spell to ripen up the bulbs so they can be woven into ropes for storing.

In the fruit garden the soft fruit has all been picked except my perpetual strawberry Flamenco which continues with berries and the Autumn Bliss raspberries which fruit till the frosts come.

Bramble Helen started to crop at the beginning of August and is now nearly finished, but my new primocane bramble Reuben is just starting to fruit. This is its first year so too early to judge.

Aronia Viking, the chokeberry had to be netted from our resident blackbird, who stripped off last years crop in one night. Aronias get picked once they all turn black and we use them for jam, summer puddings, compote and if I can get any spare they make a fantastic and very healthy wine, being very high in antioxidants. They can be frozen for future use.

Wee jobs to do this week

Greenhouse grapes should now be fully grown so ripening up the bunches takes priority. They will not need any further feeding and if the roots are within the greenhouse border just give enough water to keep them happy. Keep the ventilators wide open and also the door on warm days to circulate air flow to prevent any build up of botrytis and mildew. Remove all sideshoots as they appear and remove some surplus foliage to let light and sun into the plant. The more sun gets to the ripening bunches the sweeter they will be. Do not handle the bunches as they ripen and get a protective bloom on the grapes, but if you wish to sample a few select a small bunch with the most ripe grapes showing. Pulling off a few grapes from larger bunches can lead to botrytis infection.

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ALLOTMENTS IN FINLAND

ALLOTMENTS IN FINLAND

I got into allotments in the early sixties during my five year gardening apprenticeship with the Dundee Parks dept. I was very keen to learn everything about gardening, but there was no chance of getting knowledge of vegetables or fruit growing in a park, so I got an allotment plot on Stirling Park on the Dundee Law. Our day release gave us a half day on the demonstration plots in Duntrune Terrace then another half day of written work at the Kingsway Technical College. The best way to remember this information was to get some land and grow the plants to text book standards.

Allotments also gave me the outdoor life, making numerous new friends and plenty exercise. It got into my blood and I have had an allotment most of my life.

However we all need a break so this summer we had a holiday visiting friends in Finland. To add variety to this holiday we visited a couple of Finnish allotment sites. Allotment life is taking off in Finland as a means of getting back into nature in the short summer season.

Finland is quite far north so winters start in October and can run well into March or April. It can be very cold and dark and snow depth of four feet can be quite normal. Most Fins I saw in Helsinki lived in flats without gardens as the growing season is so short that most folk don’t bother with gardening. However as life moves on and folk get a bit more money and leisure time the desire to get outdoors for fresh air, sunshine, exercise and to grow a few flowers is very strong.

Allotment gardening began after the war when people needed to get outside into the sun after
the dark long cold winters. Land was leased out to groups who would allocate plots for cultivation during the short growing season. This idea caught on but was taken a few steps further as many folk wanted to spend the whole summer months in their garden, so cottage allotments were born.
I visited one site of about sixty plots where there were no fences, sheds or greenhouses. Weeds were a big problem as everything had to be done in the summer months, as the land was frozen over and covered in snow for almost six months in winter. Most plots grow a range of fruit and vegetables but flowers cover a third or more of every plot. I am told that people have a strong urge to grow colourful flowers to brighten up their summers after the long winters. However the Marjaniemi Cottage Allotments in Helsinki were totally different. Here there are 305 gardens each about 400 square meters and every one has a small wooden cottage on every plot. They all have hedges around the boundaries and every plot holder is required to plant at least one fruit tree. Most have several. Again flowers are more evident than vegetables, but fruit growing is very important. Lawns are also everywhere for outdoor relaxation and a place for the kids to play on. Cottages may be small but they all have full facilities for summer living and all Fins have their saunas. The site has a very strong sense of community and organizes regular events for open days, harvest festivals for selling fruit, mid summer solstice parties and bonfire as well as Christmas parties. Children are well catered for in these events.

Wee jobs to do this week

They have a strong sense of community and get together in large groups for site maintenance, repairing roads, bridges and even demolishing and rebuilding cottages. The community has their own licensed clubhouse, with toilets, laundry, workshop with weaving loom, and of course communal sauna. No cars are allowed on site so children can play safely and roads have no tarmac. Water and electricity are only available from April to October as nobody is allowed to live in the cottages all year round.

Start Save seed heads from annual (Ladybird) and biennial poppies (Iceland) to grow on for next year. Once dried and extracted from their pods and kept in a cool place they will keep for over a year. Other annuals can also be saved this way.

Keep feeding bedding plants in tubs and baskets especially with geraniums, fuchsias and impatiens that you wish to keep for another year as strong healthy plants with good growth are essential for the best cutting material.

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PEONIES

PEONIES

The red double herbaceous peony may be very common, but it does give a bright splash of colour in late spring and early summer to very many gardens. I grew up with this peony from childhood days as neighbours would happily give you a wee root for your garden. They always grew well and flowered within a couple of years then they would form a large clump over time. Growing a few feet tall and having a lot of foliage and large heavy flowers they always needed staking.

Looking for some more peonies on a trip to Gardening Scotland at Ingliston we soon found that there were quite a few growers of this plant showing many different varieties in white, pink, red and yellow colours. Anna could not resist the variety Doreen that was centre stage on one stand so she bought it immediately as it was an absolute cracker.

Back home it got planted with care in our herbaceous border, but it took a couple of years to build up its strength before putting on a brilliant show this year. Another variety a bit less common but really superb is the large flowered and scented pale pink Sarah Bernhardt. A well established large clump is very impressive. There are numerous varieties to choose from, but I would advise going to a peony or herbaceous specialist grower to guarantee you get what it says on the label. My first purchase of Sarah Bernhardt bought on holiday from a large west coast nursery/garden centre took two years to flower then turned out to be the common red. Unfortunately this is a very common problem in the nursery trade. There are just too many instances of incorrectly labelled plants as well as diseased plants that just should not be up for sale. My phytophthora root rot problem on my allotment started with infected Glen Ample raspberry canes purchased locally, then three years later they were replaced with more canes planted in a different spot. Again bought locally, but turned out to be Glen Rosa, not Ample.

Anyway back to peonies, once you have decided on which varieties to buy you can get them as bare root or containerised plants ready to plant in late autumn or spring. Choose a sunny location or one with only minimal shade. They are not fussy on type of soil growing happily on both sandy and clay soils as well as acid or alkaline, as long as drainage is good, but make sure it is fertile by adding plenty of well rotted compost worked into the soil.  Plant with the crowns just below the soil surface, then give a dressing of Growmore or other general fertiliser to give them a boost to help them get established. Although peonies can be tolerant of drought, it will not help establishment if growth is curtailed in dry spells in spring or summer so give them a mulch of compost in the first couple of years, but avoid covering the buds.

Once your clumps are well established you can propagate from them by dividing the clumps in autumn making sure each portion has at least three buds on a good fleshy root system, and replant as above with the buds only just covered with soil. Deep planting is often the problem for plants failing to flower properly.

Peonies are herbaceous perennials that die back to ground level in autumn, however the tree peony is a different form. It is a deciduous hardy shrub growing from four to ten feet tall.

The tree peony might be less common, but then it is more expensive and considered a bit more difficult to grow. Both types are relatively easy provided you plant them in a sunny sheltered spot in Scotland in fertile soil that holds moisture but is well drained. As the flowers are quite large and the bushes tall they are prone to damage by strong winds so shelter is essential together tying in to support the flowers.

Wee jobs to do this week

Start summer pruning of fruit trees and bushes. Once crops have been picked from currants and raspberries they can be pruned to allow the remaining parts more light and room to mature. Apples, pears, cherries and peaches grown as cordons, espaliers, stepovers or fan trained against walls and fences are all grown on a system to encourage spur formation and restrict growth. Cut back side shoots to about four leaves or so once new growth is no longer likely to form. This will be further pruned in winter to form a spur system.

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MID SUMMER ON THE PLOT

MID SUMMER ON THE PLOT

This is the healthy season as we enjoy the fresh soft fruit in the middle of the raspberry (Glen Fyne) and strawberry picking season, as well as gooseberries and some massive Ben Conan blackcurrants. Then a few days later the saskatoons will be ready. All the while the garden salads are being gathered, as well as turnip, cabbage, cauliflower and peas. Beetroot are big enough to allow a thinning by taking out the smaller baby beet, and the first of my courgettes is ready. Once they start they just keep coming right through summer. The cool wet summer has been beneficial for those plants needing to put on growth like the cabbages, cauliflowers, brussels sprouts, all root crops and salads, but fruit crops are suffering as they need sunshine and warmth to sweeten up the berries.

Sweet corn and broad beans are only half the height they were this time last year, and early pickings of broad beans are disappointing. The pods are not full and the beans not as big as normal. Similarly peas are down in size, but we are ever hopeful that summer is just delayed and not totally absent.

A decent late summer and autumn could make a huge difference, especially for my grape vines, pumpkins, apples, pears and autumn raspberries.

Onions and leeks are putting on terrific growth and promise heavy crops, but onions will need a warm dry period for ripening towards the end of August.

Swedes, turnips, parsnips, carrots, beetroot and radish have never looked better and these root crops are so good that it is hard to use them all, though many of them will be fine in the ground into winter and some will get frozen.

Similarly the cabbages and cauliflower are all maturing together, but I have sown them in small numbers in short rows several weeks apart to extend cropping, but a lot of the caulis will get frozen for future use.

Potatoes are another very healthy crop with Sarpo Mira and International Kidney showing no signs of blight, unlike Lady Christl which has suffered some fungus so it has been lifted ahead of the others. Blight however has not reduced cropping with numbers and size of tubers very impressive.

Dwarf French beans started off with excellent germination sowing outdoors into soil I though was too cold, but it was time for sowing by the calendar. They had to have some serious thinning, but now I have two rows of very sturdy plants giving me my first taste of beans.

I always grow some flowers on the plot to make it more attractive as well as giving some cut flowers for the house. Gladioli are late but strong, chrysanthemums are early but small and sweet peas have the vigour but lack flowers. One allotment plot with a pond has some terrific pure white water lilies complete with the resident frogs.

City Road Allotments Open Day
This year our Open Day is on Sunday 9^th August when we open the gates and welcome everyone in to see our gardens. We are open from 11am to 3pm. People are welcome to visit, wander around the plots, enjoy refreshments in our café on site with home baking and purchase freshly harvested fruit and vegetables as well as home made jams, tablet and chutney. There will also be many garden plants for sale from geraniums, grape vines and heucheras to saskatoons and roses.

Wee jobs to do this week

Climbing roses that have had their first flush of flowers can be pruned to remove old flower heads and hopefully put on some fresh growth before giving us a second show of flowers in late summer.

Blackberries can suffer attacks from the raspberry beetle maggots, so give the fruit a spray with pyrethrum as soon as they begin to turn colour, then repeat ten days later.

Check tomato plants leaves for botrytis and remove as soon as any appears. This can be a problem during cold damp weather, so keep the ventilators open to reduce any condensation.

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LILIES

LILIES

It is hard to beat lilies when you want that heady exotic scent, especially the oriental lilies. They are also relatively easy to grow as long as you give them a well drained fertile soil and a sunny position. They are perfect in pots and tubs placed on patios where the large scented flowers can be enjoyed, but be careful of the pollen which can stain hands and clothes.

Lilies cover a whole range of plants some of which may not be true lilies such as arum and calla lilies, Lily of the valley, African lilies and the day lily.

Many such as the African lily, the arum lily, calla lily coming from southern Africa and the day lily coming from China, Japan and Korea are not true lilies, but enjoy much the same conditions, whereas Lily of the valley is an herbaceous perennial coming from Europe.

Many of these lilies such as the white Arum lily, Zantedescia aethiopica can become almost naturalised, but unlike other lilies it prefers wet boggy ground. The arum lily is quite hardy, but the Calla lily which likes the same conditions comes in a range of bright colours and is not so hardy.

The blue coloured African lily, Agapanthus is not so hardy so is best in pots which can be partially dried off in winter and stored in a cool but frost free place. They will take some frost, but not a severe or wet winter. They can go outdoors under a sheltered south facing wall.

The Day lilies, Hemerocallis are hardy and have been very popular with plant breeders so there are very many varieties (over 35,000) of all colours to choose from. Each flower may only last one day, but there are so many that they still make a great display.

True lilies are often grouped into Orientals or Asiatics. These are all grown from bulbs. Some bulbs produce roots at the base so as a guide when planting take out a hole twice the depth of the bulb. Those lilies that also grow roots from the base of the flower stems should be planted a lot deeper.

The oriental lilies will grow up to five feet tall but require an acid soil which is fertile and very well drained. The taller types will need support to hold up the stems as the large flowers can be a fair weight and prone to damage by strong winds. If you do not have an acidic soil they are best in tubs using an ericaceous compost with added horticultural grit to improve drainage. Always add some grit to the base of the planting hole. These lilies are mostly highly scented, whereas the Asiatic lilies have almost no scent. The asiatics prefer an alkaline soil, so some lime prior to planting is helpful. They grow up to two feet tall.

The Madonna lily, Lilium candidum, grows about four feet tall producing large white scented flowers. Do not plant this one deep as the contractile roots will pull the bulbs down to the correct depth. It is a bit prone to botrytis in damp areas.

The regal lily, Lilium regale, is one of the commonest lilies, but very popular as it is easy to grow, quite reliable with highly scented large white flowers.

Another very popular lily is lilium Enchantment as it is another easy to grow variety but has no scent. It soon forms a large clump with dazzling orange flowers.

Lilium auratum from Japan is one of the tallest lilies growing up to eight feet tall so will need support, but it has fantastic heady perfume.

Wee jobs to do this week

Plants want to grow in summer as well as flower, so keep giving tubs, pots and hanging baskets a weekly feed to ensure they will continue to give value.

Chrysanthemums need continual disbudding for those grown as one flower per stem, but do not disbud spray chrysanthemums.

Once tomatoes reach the top of their supports and have about six or seven trusses take the tops out to stop growth and help ripen up the young bunches.

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Open Day at City Road Allotment Gardens

Open Day at City Road Allotment Gardens

 

Sunday 9th August 2015

Open from 11am to 3pm

 

 

Explore over 60 allotment plots full of fresh garden produce

Enjoy refreshments and home baking in our cafe

Fresh vegetables, fruit, garden plants, jams and tablet for sale

Free event with free parking

GOOSEBERRIES

GOOSEBERRIES

Gooseberries are one of those garden fruit bushes that can be very rewarding, as they reliably crop every year, are easy to grow and the fruit is very nutritious and can be used in many different ways.

In the past success was limited to control of mildew which was a very serious problem, and gooseberry sawfly can still be a problem unless you take action to control it. Then of course the vicious thorns were a real pain at picking time. Time has moved on and the plant breeders have now brought out new varieties that are mildew resistant and some such as Iona bred at Dundee’s James Hutton Institute

is now almost spine free. It will be released to the trade in the near future. I have sampled this variety and have been very impressed, and picking was almost bloodless. I also grow Invicta, which is free from mildew but has so many spines that it is impossible not to have some blood spilled. However, it is such a great variety that the pain is worth the rewards.

Propagation and Growing

Gooseberries are very easy to propagate from cuttings of one year old shoots about nine inches long taken in the dormant season. Line them out about four inches apart, burying half the cutting in the soil and you should have some decent small bushes a year later ready to lift and plant out into permanent positions.

It is best to grow them on a leg (like a mini standard) at least a foot tall. This helps to keep the fruiting branches off the soil as heavy crops often weigh the branches down. They can also be grown against a wall and spur pruned to keep them in shape.

Plant the bushes about five feet apart into good well drained soil preferably in a sunny position up north. Sun helps to sweeten up the berries.

Pruning is carried out in winter and is quite simple. Remove any low branches hanging down to the ground and remove branches growing in the centre to allow easier picking. Cut a third off any long shoots and cut back several sideshoots again to make picking safer. This will encourage an open bush, allow developing fruit more light and space to grow which will give larger berries.

Pests and Diseases
The main pest is gooseberry sawfly, but can be controlled by destroying the overwintering pupae by cultivating the soil under the bushes several times in winter and early spring.  

Mildew was the main disease, but today there are plenty of good varieties resistant to mildew.

Varieties

Invicta has yellow fruit and is mildew resistant. Hinnonmaki Red and Hinnonmaki yellow from Finland and Lancashire Lad are also mildew resistant and very popular. Xenia is mildew resistant, quite sweet to taste and has been bred for reduced spines.

Health benefits and use.

Gooseberries may not be classified as a superfood, but they tick most of the boxes for a healthy food product. They are high in antioxidants, dietary fibre and the vitamins A, B and C and contain the minerals potassium, calcium, magnesium, manganese and iron.

Gooseberries can be used for jam, and stewed and sweetened for compote and crumble and in summer puddings. They make great compote mixed with apple, and are favourite with the home brewers for a delicious dry or dessert wine.

Wee jobs to do this week

Soft fruit picking will be at its peak just now with strawberries, raspberries, black, white and red currants all getting picked for immediate consumption, jams, compote or freezing for future use.

The harvest continues with salads, beetroot, peas, dwarf French beans, broad beans and digging up a few shaws of the first early potatoes to sample a very fresh spud.

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SUMMER HAS ARRIVED

SUMMER HAS ARRIVED

We have waited a long time for some decent sunshine and a warm breeze that wasn’t blasting down from the north. Every year has its own climate that just seems to be different from all the past ones. Plants respond to both day length, temperature and rainfall, and this year we have to factor in continual strong winds that shrivelled up any soft leaves. The cool year has held back growth on most plants, which have then pushed their energy into fruiting and flowering. Daffodils kept flowering into early summer and tulips lasted for ages. So did my rhododendrons and azaleas, which put on a brilliant display lasting into early July. Most fruit crops are looking fantastic.

Fruit crops

Fruit trees are all laden down with heavy crops that will have to be thinned, as the June drop this month did not remove enough fruitlets from my apple trees. I needed to give them an extra fertiliser boost to help swell up the crop.

This year I have at least thirty fruits on my outdoor peach and although I have removed all infected leaves with peach leaf curl, the remaining growth is slow to recover. Time will tell how they develop in a few weeks time.

My cherry tree also got a heavy crop, but a lot of fruit never ripened and just fell off. The black fly infected all the terminal shoots which had to be cut back, but removing these tips is also a form of spur pruning so no harm done.

Outdoor grape vines are now all showing reasonable growth and Phoenix is just covered in numerous wee bunches of grapes. There is at least two bunches per shoot so some thinning out was needed. Summer pruning all strong growth continues to keep the vines under control.

My new blackcurrant Big Ben does seem to have larger fruit than other varieties and also ripens up a week or two earlier than Ben Conan, but bramble Reuben only grew two foot tall before the primocanes started to fruit. Similarly my new autumn raspberry Polka has only grown three feet tall before fruiting commenced, but that may not be a bad point.

My fig tree just seems to get better every year. Last year I got over eighty ripe figs as I never removed any figlets the previous year ahead of winter and these survived and produced a heavy crop. I did the same again for 2015 and now I hope to get over one hundred figs with the first ready in early August.

Vegetables

Cabbage, cauliflower, sprouts, root crops and salads all seem to enjoy the cooler summer but are now putting on some growth. Onions were very slow as they enjoy warmer weather, and as the dry weather prevailed all spring I had to keep them watered. This can bring on white rot, but thankfully not this year, and now they are growing vigorously in the summer heat.

Leek seedlings have spurted into growth so they have now all been transplanted.

Broad beans are not as tall as last year but the crop looks just as heavy. Dwarf French beans were sown in early May when the ground was really too cold, but germination was still very good and thinning had to be carried out to leave plants four to six inches apart.

Potatoes are also thriving in the cooler year and most are now flowering. I dug up a few shaws of my International Kidney as it is a real treat to sample the first your own home grown spuds.

Wee jobs to do this week

Keep removing the old flower heads from roses, poppies and other summer bedding plants growing in borders, tubs and hanging baskets.

Take cutting of Rosemary and Lavender as the shoots should now be mature and will root easy.

Wallflower seed sown a few weeks ago will now be ready to transplant into nursery rows to grow into bushy plants for autumn planting.

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ROOM FOR BIG ROSES

ROOM FOR BIG ROSES

I have been a rose lover all my gardening life. In the early days a garden with roses was a sign of wealth, but with good training we could order a hundred Rosa canina briar very cheaply and bud our own plants with nearly 80% take. Later I discovered a new rootstock, Rosa multiflora, which was more difficult to bud, but gave terrific roses.

I grew hybrid teas, floribundas, ramblers and climbers, and a few shrubs. My council house in St. Mary’s was too small for large roses, but I could use three walls for climbers, so it was Zephrine Drouhin on the west wall, Etoile du Hollande on the east wall and Gloire de Dijon on the north wall. Today, these would not be my favourite choice, as we now have many more to choose from and more information at our finger tips just a mouse click away.

As life moved on and I moved from one house to another my gardens slowly got bigger so my choice of roses also changed as I had more space to try out some really big cracking roses.

I now grow climbers on many walls and fences but also give space to some shrub roses.

Rose breeders have spent so much time over the years bringing out the most colourful flower to increase sales, but with little regard for the plants health. The gardening public do not have access to the range of chemicals available to commercial growers so we have a problem with disease from black spot to mildew and rust. So when a rose grower brings out his latest catalogue describing his brilliant new varieties all with strong healthy foliage, take it with a pinch of salt. I have tried numerous bush and shrub roses over the years, only to discard them as they suffered uncontrollable rose diseases. However if you go back to the old roses still available before the rose breeders mucked them about you will find most of them to be quite healthy.

A few favourites

Ispahan was introduced from Persia hundreds of years ago. It is a deep pink, highly scented damask rose growing up to eight feet tall with very healthy foliage. One of my favourites.

Canary Bird is a similar size but is one of the earliest in bloom with deep yellow single flowers arriving in late spring.

I no longer have a north wall, but would recommend climbing Iceberg or my other favourite massive rose Mme Alfred Carrier, also with white flowers and a lovely scent. This one has grown twelve feet tall with me, and takes some controlling.

My south walls are clothed with my grape vine Brant which needs the heat to ripen up its grapes but also the deep red climbing rose Dublin Bay. It is really fantastic as it reaches over sixteen feet tall and smothers itself with red flowers, but unfortunately it has no scent.

Another deep red but with a great scent for a south wall is the climbing sport of Ena Harkness. The flowers have always had weak necks so the large blooms hang down, but as a climber this is an advantage. Another massive red scented climber that needs plenty of space is Etoile du Hollande.

Gertrude Jekyll is a shrub rose that can also make a perfect climber if you train it up a wall. Mine is restricted to about ten feet tall. It gets covered in early summer with scented old English pink roses, and often has a second flush in autumn.

For the garden with room to spare another three large growing roses worth a trial are Morning Jewel, Gregoir Staechelin  and Alberic Barbier.

Wee jobs to do this week

Start Continue to sow summer salads such as lettuce, radish, rocket, corn salad, mustard and mizuna. I find that spring onions give poor germination outdoors up north, so I sow them in cellular trays in my greenhouse then transplant them into the soil when a decent size. There is still time to sow beetroot, autumn carrots and a fast growing pea such as Kelvedon Wonder on land recently cleared after lifting the first early potatoes.

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STRAWBERRIES

STRAWBERRIES

I have enjoyed growing strawberries all my life for a variety of reasons. Summer would be incomplete without some fresh strawberries and I have always felt I am eating a very healthy fresh fruit that has to be really good for you. However there is also the nostalgia of memories of childhood when we went berry picking as soon as the school holidays arrived. It was both raspberries and strawberry picking around Dundee but I always made more money at the strawberries and I preferred to pop the occasional strawberry in my mouth rather than a few rasps.

Today commercial strawberry growing is no place for kids, and all the plants have moved indoors under tunnels. This gives better control of seasonal picking so the grower can supply the market with fresh berries over a far longer period using a range of varieties grown from cold stored runners.

As gardeners we can also extend our season and pick fresh fruit from the middle of M

Strawberry Elsanta

ay till October using several varieties and putting the earliest one under a low polythene tunnel.

Culture

Planting runners

Strawberries will grow on a wide variety of soils provided it is well drained, weed free and fertile. It also helps if the rows run north to south in a sunny spot and cropping is best if the site has some shelter. Planting can be done with freshly dug runners in late summer to early spring or later with cold stored runners. Plants are normally planted a foot apart in rows spaced three feet apart. Don’t be tempted to space the rows closer as you will need that spacing to straddle the rows for picking.

If using your own runners and they are plentiful you can plant thicker along the row to give a heavier crop in the first year. When growth commences and runners start to form these can be trained along the rows to give a matted row of more young plants, or rooted runners can be used for planting up the next bed or given to friends.

Once the small fruits begin to swell in early May bed some straw along the rows under the fruit to prevent soil being splashed by rain onto the fruit. Then as they start to colour up sprinkle some slug pellets along the rows to control slugs and snails and put nets over the strawberry bed to keep the blackbirds from pecking them.

Strawberry Flamenco and rasp Autumn Bliss in October

Pick about twice a week in season. As soon as the crop is finished it helps to chop down the old foliage and remove it and the straw to the compost heap. This will allow fresh growth from the crowns so fruit buds for the following year can be initiated in autumn.

Extended fruiting

There are many varieties to choose from so experiment to find those best suited to your own conditions and taste buds. I start off my season using the variety Mae which gets a low polythene tunnel placed over the row in early March after the plants have had a fair amount of winter chill.

This is followed by a row of Mae without tunnels. I then go onto my main crop variety of Elsanto, but have also grown many others, and all been very good. This is followed by a couple of late varieties Symphony and Florence taking me into August, but then my perpetual variety Flamenco will continue to crop till the frosts come in November. However although the berries still look great in late autumn they are pretty tasteless without sun and warmth to sweeten up the fruit.

Wee jobs to do this week

Spring flowering shrubs such as forsythia and early summer flowering ones such as Ceanothus can now be lightly pruned to encourage some growth in the summer months which will ripen up by winter and flower next year. Remove straggly shoots, ones that are too low down and trailing along the ground, and any dead branches from the middle. Do not cut shrubs into square or round shapes. That may look tidy, but is very amateurish and destroys the natural attractive shape of each individual shrub.

END