TOMATOES

TOMATOES

Home grown tomatoes will always be so much better than those purchased from the supermarket. They are not exposed to chemicals to keep them pest and disease free, and we let them fully ripen before picking. Picking a fully ripe cherry tomato fresh from the plant for immediate consumption is a wee taste of heaven, and in mid summer when

Feeding the tomatoes

we are picking bumper yields there are always a few cherry tomatoes that split, so we may not want to spoil the look of our harvest, and not wishing to waste a good tomato so we just eat as we pick and enjoy the moment.

Having grown tomatoes annually for nearly sixty years I have tried out borders, pots, growbags, ring culture and straw bales, which were popular for about ten years in the mid sixties. Flavour has been best for me when grown direct into a prepared soil border which I put down to the tomato plant having a great growing medium and access to plenty of every type of nutrient it needs. In past times this was normal commercial practise, but each winter the soil was sterilised with steam to kill all

Healthy young tomato plants

disease spores. Sometimes chemical sterilisation with chloropicrin was used so that the main problem disease verticillium wilt spores were killed. I have no access to either so I have to remove six inches of border soil and replace it with good garden soil to which I add well rotted compost then mix a few bags of compost from growbags into the surface plus some additional fertiliser as tomatoes are gross feeders. This may be a wee bit of strenuous exercise but for people of a certain age we are told it is good for us, and in any case it is on a small scale, taking about two days.

Seed sowing for this part of Scotland may depend on whether you have greenhouse heating or not and if you have access to a decent windowsill. I normally sow my seed first week in March but this year with a warm winter they were sown in the middle of February, hoping the good weather continues. This year I am trying out a range of cherry tomatoes so I do not need a lot of plants in total. Just as well as the packets had only ten seeds each. Been your normal tight Scotsman the plan is to sow half the packet and keep the rest for next year so I am counting on getting 100% germination. A couple of weeks

Summer harvest

later they all germinated apart from one seed. This gets the highest rating in Scotland of No Bad!!!

It is important to grow on plants with good light and a decent temperature to keep them sturdy. Plants are ready to plant out in early April, but plus or minus a couple of weeks depending on the weather. I space plants out about 18 inches apart along the border which is two feet wide. If you use growbags these are usually placed end to end with three plants per bag. Always shake up the compost in the bag before planting. If you have any spare plants it is always worth trying a few outdoors against a south facing wall or fence in a sheltered place.

Outdoor tomatoes

Tomatoes are grown as a single stemmed cordon and sideshoots are removed as soon as they are big enough to break off. I suspend strong polypropylene binder twine from strong wires along the roof and twist the plant around the twine as they grow taller.

Varieties This year I will again grow my favourite Alicante as my main crop but am trying a few cherry types such as Sungold, Cherry Baby, Rapunzel, Sugar Gloss and Supersweet 100. I have dropped Marmande a beefsteak type, which was a very poor cropper, though I have heard others getting good crops. I also dropped Yellow Delight which gave a massive crop, but with poor flavour and the plants were so vigorous they took over space from others nearby.

Wee jobs to do this week

Broad beans ready to plant

Up on City Road allotments some plot holders have been taking advantage of the mild winter and run ahead with broad bean sowing and planting out. I started sowing a fortnight ahead of last year and now germination has taken place I have potted up my seedlings into larger pots to give them more feeding and space to grow. They are quite hardy so they have been moved from the warmth of a south facing windowsill in a warm room into my unheated greenhouse. However if winter decided to make a last stand I have a greenhouse heater at the ready.

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THE FIRST SPRING FLOWERS APPEAR

THE FIRST SPRING FLOWERS APPEAR

Spring arrived in February with record high temperatures following a very dry and mild winter. The garden plants just loved it. Crocus bloomed from mid February onwards. Over the years, crocus have given a very bright splash of colour heralding the end of winter, though usually from mid March onwards. They take over from the drifts of snowdrops and aconites which this year started the show in December for the early snowdrops then in

Tulip Scarlet Baby and yellow Saxifrage

January and February for the aconites. I can always find another corner to brighten up with more crocus ordered in the autumn. It was great to have afternoon coffee break on the patio in the sun at the end of February surrounded by huge drifts of crocus.  Looking ahead, the drifts of flowers can be enlarged with careful planning. Thick clumps of snowdrops can be lifted and transplanted in the green, but water them in if weather is dry and sunny. With aconites it is best to collect the seed and scatter it where ever you want more plants, but take care to check them out once the seeds germinate.

Naturalised narcissus

In the first year they only produce a pair of seed leaves, then in the second year you get the first true leaves but no flower. This comes along in the third year, but well worth the wait.

As the crocus display comes to an end along comes the other spring bulbs such as the blue flowered Chionodoxa and Anemone blanda followed by drifts of grape hyacinths. These just seem to love our soils and can be a bit invasive as they establish very easily. I underplant the grape hyacinth drifts with narcissus and oriental lilies. The narcissus flowers at the same time as the grape hyacinths, but then in summer when the spring bulbs are going into dormancy the Oriental lilies take over with massive scented flowers in white and pink. I tried planting crocus into this scheme, but the foliage of the grape hyacinth emerges in autumn and is too strong for the crocus to push through. In a normal winter, snow and frost help to flatten this foliage so the crocus can be seen, but not this year.

Narcissus February Gold nearly made flowering in February this year, but at least it is very welcome

Spring crocus under the apple tree

in early March as one of the earliest narcissus, and then all the other daffodils and narcissus follow on. Now we can have scent as well as colour, especially with the Cheerfulness types and the Jonquils as well as the large white trumpets of Mount Hood, but the bold colour of Golden Harvest is very hard to beat for sheer impact in large drifts.

Saxifrage is one of the earliest dwarf rock garden plants to flower, but plant the dwarf Tulip Scarlet Baby along side it and in most years they will flower together, though this year the Saxifrage has run ahead with the mild weather, and the dry soil has held back the tulip. Sometimes you just cannot win with our unpredictable climate, but we keep trying.

Pulmonaria started to flower from the end of February, but like the saxifrage it is ahead of the early tulips Monte Orange and Red Revival chosen to accompany it. The Pulmonaria is underplanted amongst my apple trees to add colour and give a display while the apples are coming quietly out of their winter dormancy period.

Coming up the scale my first Rhododendron praecox has started to flower, so fingers crossed that there is no late frosts as often happens as the blooms are too tender to with stand a cold snap.

Planting polyanthus

Forsythia, however is quite tough though it usually flowers at the end of March and into April, but this year flowering is well ahead with a good show in mid March.

Wee jobs to do this week

Check over tubs, pots and hanging baskets planted last autumn with spring flowers and replace any losses. Sometimes vine weevil maggots are a nuisance with polyanthus and over wintered pansies are prone to greenfly and leaf spot disease. Garden centres are well stocked up with spring flowers, so replace losses now while plants are thinking now is a good time to flower. Many of my tubs and hanging baskets are planted up with pansies which I grew from seed harvested early last summer from the best blue, mauve, yellow and lemon colours I could find. However most have ended up in deep blue shades and only the occasional lemon.

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A NEW SEASON BEGINS

A NEW SEASON BEGINS

This year’s mild winter with warmer, dry, sunny days

Taking chrysanthemum cuttings

encourages us to take advantage of this and start seed sowing a week or so earlier than planned, and just hope there is no sting in the tail with a winter flurry and a cold spell as we head for Easter.

Onion Hybound seed and sweet peas were both sown in a propagator in mid February. Both are in cellular trays with the sweet peas at two per cell and the onions at several per cell. Once they germinate the onions will go into individual cells to grow on in the greenhouse which at this moment

Geranium ready to pot up

is not heated. However as other spring grown plants will also go under glass as well as a large stock of geraniums, I have a heater just in case winter decides to return to try and catch us out. Geraniums were propagated from cuttings in autumn, then potted up once rooted and kept on windowsills, but now they all need potting up, but as space is limited they will go into the unheated greenhouse. Chrysanthemum stools lifted in late autumn, boxed up and overwintered in the greenhouse have just loved this mild winter as they are showing a lot of growth, so I took a large batch of cuttings putting them in cellular trays and keep them close to house windows, but away from direct sunlight. In another cool room with a north facing window I keep my seed potatoes in trays close to the light for chitting. If this mild winter continues I will gamble a wee bit and plant my first early Casablanca either at the end of February or early March. They will go in quite deep in case of late frosts and I will earth them up as they break through the

Potato Charlotte with good chitts

soil. Hoping to pick the first spuds ahead of last year, when I dug up my first shaw the first week in July.

Tuberous begonias are great value for flower impact, but they are always the last of the summer bedding plants to flower so I have started them a fortnight earlier than last year. My tubers must be heading for well over thirty years old, though most have been chopped up as I divide the big ones as long as each piece has a couple of buds showing. However over time they have become so misshapen I cannot tell which way is up, so they just go into boxes packed close together and covered with potting compost then placed in any warm room. At this stage they do not need light, but then once I see some buds appearing they will be removed and get boxed up with a bit more space and go into my greenhouse.

Broad beans are scheduled for sowing in early March, but as the weather so far has been in our favour it has been a late February sowing with one bean per cell in

Sweet peas and onions in the propagator

cellular trays. They are kept indoors until germination then they go into my unheated greenhouse as they are quite hardy.

Tomatoes are also getting sown at the end of February on a windowsill. Once they germinate they will need more space so my large geranium collection will have to come off the windowsills and go into the greenhouse to make space for the tomatoes which are not hardy. I will continue to grow tomatoes in a soil border in the greenhouse instead of growbags, but I remove some soil, replacing it with fresh soil from the garden then add compost to increase the fertility. As soil is packed with all the nutrients and minerals the tomatoes need, I find this enhances the flavour. This year I will be trying out a few new varieties of tomato as well as some tried and tested types. Alicante never lets me down so it is always on the list together with the golden cherry Sungold which I found to be really sweet. Added to those will be Cherry Baby, Rapunzel, Sugar Gloss and Supersweet 100. Two varieties from last year include Marmande, a beefsteak which cropped very poorly and Yellow Delight which was extremely vigorous and a very heavy cropper, but with poor flavour.

Under glass the grapes are still dormant, so the upright rods which were pruned in January can now get lowered so spur growth so buds break will be even from top to bottom. If left alone growth tends to be strongest at the top of the rod and weaker at the bottom.

Wee jobs to do this week

Putting tunnels on the early strawberries

Early strawberry varieties can be encouraged to fruit a good fortnight ahead of normal if the rows are covered with low polythene tunnels. The varieties Mae and Christine are perfect as well as Honeoye. Make sure the polythene is well secured as we seem to be getting more gale force winds.
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GARDEN HEDGES

                                                      GARDEN  HEDGES

Italian Garden at Glamis Castle

Garden hedges are still as popular as ever, but most folk fall into the love them or loath them category. They and their problems come into Gardeners Question Time events constantly. Way back in the mists of time when John was a boy doing his apprenticeship, many winters were spent cutting council hedges and massed areas of shrubs trimmed precisely at chest level, though some ended up as cubes

Forsythia

or neat round balls. It was a criminal act to suggest to the foreman that some shrubs liked to flower and correct pruning could encourage this. However it kept us employed all winter and we got numerous offers of spare time gardening jobs from Joe Public and his wife to come and sort out their garden hedge that had run riot over the garden. These experiences had a huge affect on my gardening life and I resolved that my garden would never have a problem hedge.

Hedges provide many benefits in the garden, but need careful consideration in plant material. Privet is not the only plant available. Hedges provide

Kerria japonica

shelter from winds, screening for privacy, screening around eyesores, compost heaps and they keep animals in, neighbours dogs out, and separate vegetable patch from ornamental garden areas. They are also an excellent place for nesting birds.

Plants selected will depend on use, as some can grow very tall such as beech and Leyland cypress, but lavender and box are quite dwarf but very attractive. Beech has the advantage of retaining its leaves in winter. Consideration for neighbours is very important, especially when Leyland cypress is chosen. It is a high maintenance hedge but needs constant clipping. It can be allowed to grow very tall, but depending on what and who are next to it. It would never be on my list of good plants for a hedge. For the lovers of privet, it may be better to choose the more attractive golden privet as it is a slow grower. Another slow growing hedge is Lonicera nitida, but even more attractive is the form with yellow foliage, Lonicera Baggesons Gold. This hedge is very dense and is a favourite for nesting

Saskatoon

birds. I use it around parts of my garden, but allow it to grow naturally with just the minimum of pruning in winter. However for something that is functional as a hedge and attractive there are plenty flowering shrubs to add to the list. Some climbing plants can form hedges with practically no maintenance when allowed to clamber up fences, such as Clematis, Honeysuckle and winter flowering Jasmine.

Camellia

Good shrubs for tall hedges include Escallonia with pink and red flowers, Camellia in pink, white and red flowers, Berberis darwinii which is a mass of orange flowers in spring followed by black berries to feed the birds well into winter. These are also evergreen, but a few tall deciduous shrubs include the Forsythia and Philadelphus with white scented flowers in early summer, and Kerria japonica with yellow flowers in late spring. Some plants can be both ornamental, function as a hedge and also provide a fruit crop. Both Saskatoons and Aronias fit this need and can grow quite tall if there is room to leave them alone. However the birds will feast on the saskatoons unless they are netted, but they leave the Aronia berries (chokeberries) alone. Another low growing shrub, Fuchsia Mrs Popple is very attractive with flowers well into winter and has edible fruits. However every so often it gets cut back to ground level if the winter does not suit it, though mine always recover in spring.

Where ornamental shrubs function as a hedge select those that only need the minimum of pruning to enjoy them in flower as well as getting the shelter and screening value.

Wee jobs to do this week

John fixing too large steps

We seem to be getting another mild winter in these parts with just a few nights of light frost. It was early February before we saw the first snow but it only lasted one day. It has also been remarkably dry, so outdoor gardening work continued with very little hold ups except for a wee coffee break. My garden steps were installed by a younger John Stoa nearly twenty years ago when twelve inch risers were no problem. Visitors were none too happy, especially as many of us now in the older generation have a wee bit of arthritis, so I decided to reconstruct them with a more manageable step to access steep parts of the garden and a fence with rail is also in the plans.

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WORKING WITH THE WEATHER

WORKING WITH THE WEATHER

Great year for outdoor figs

Gardeners just love the challenge of growing something better than normal, whether it be a huge pumpkin, a massive potato, a dazzling show of flowers, or a brilliant fruit crop. We study the techniques for growing each plant, water them, feed them, prune them, spray them for pests and diseases and keep them free from weeds. Success however is still dependant on the weather being in

Outdoor grape Brant

our favour. We never seem to get two years the same, so we must monitor the weather forecasts and work within its limits. I like to try and get all my allotment digging done at the beginning of winter, but last year autumn was wet and continued well into December so digging was delayed. Then the rain stopped, the ground surface dried up and winter never arrived till February, so I spent January on the plot and got the lot dug over leaving the surface rough for winter weathering.

Climate change is very debatable, but we can all remember the unusual years of hot dry summers like last year, then 1976 and 1959 (for us old enough to remember.) In 1976 I was in Darlington where we grew thousands of geraniums which put on a fantastic show of colour helping us to win the regional Britain in Bloom award. Working in horticulture outdoors you can remember many very bad winters. I don’t remember 1947 (I was only 3 years old) but I do remember 1962/63 cycling through deep snow to get to work. In 1981/82 I had come north from Darlington to Dundee for a Christmas holiday, but before I could return blizzards closed all the roads. There was no trains, no buses so no-one could get to work, but there were several well trodden tracks through the deep snow heading towards the Nine Maidens pub, which we discovered was packed. Then 2010/11 winter

Pansies in January

returned and blocked off all the roads again, and killed off to ground level all my fuchsias and a ten foot tall Cordyline australis. Severe winters are not frequent, but dry hot summers seem to be coming in more regularly, so I am happy to try growing some of the more exotic plants to see if I can succeed with them. I grow several grape varieties outdoors as well as peaches, cherries and figs, but they all need a warm dry autumn to help ripening. The challenge also exists with strawberries where it is possible to get the first berries ripe towards the end of May using low polythene tunnels, an early variety and a warm spring. Cropping then continues with maincrops, late varieties then autumn fruiting types. However they still need warmth to ripen up so a good autumn really helps.

Planting first early potato Casablanca

Last year the mild winter continued well into spring so tulips had a fantastic display in the cool climate, but other plants were running three weeks late with the lack of any warm spring weather. However the long hot summer reversed this trend so we ended up three weeks ahead by the end of summer. This year the mild winter allowed me to pick a large bunch of red roses for the Christmas table and my winter pansies were showing flowers from early January.

Early potatoes can give the first spuds by the end of May if with a good spring, planting them in March and hoping there is no late frost. Earth then up to protect them if frost is forecast.

Wind can be a problem for any young or tender plants in spring, or ripening crops in late summer and autumn, so if the garden is very exposed plant a narrow hedge or erect a fence as a windbreak.

Pests and diseases infestations are also very weather dependant. A bad winter kills off many pests including slugs and disease spores. Last year the summer was so dry that potato blight never arrived till late summer, and rose diseases were not a problem till late in the season. I never forget the greenfly plague in 1975 starting in Lincolnshire and extending up to the Scottish borders, followed by the ladybird plague of 1976. Ladybirds feed on greenfly.

Amaryllis

Wee jobs to do this week

Amaryllis that were started back into growth last October are now in full bloom and a light liquid feed every two to three weeks will help to build up strength in the bulb. Once the flowers start to fade the leaves and roots still need feeding throughout the summer. They can go outdoors in summer in a sheltered sunny spot, but keep them watered and fed. However usually in mid summer withhold watering for about ten weeks and let the bulbs dry off to ripen them up. As they go dormant next years flower buds will be forming in the bulb.

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FLOWERING TREES

FLOWERING TREES

The dormant season (November to March) was

Apple Red Falstaff

always the time to plant trees and shrubs as most came as bare root plants, but today they are mostly container grown so planting can be done all year round. However with flowering trees we do not want to miss the flowers so planting in winter is a good idea. As gardens vary in size the selection of plants will depend on how much space is available. The small garden is not left behind as there are quite a few flowering trees that do not take up much space. Trees add scale to a garden, provide shelter from wind and shade from sun as summer climates get warmer. In my early gardening days my small council house garden still managed to find room for a Laburnum vossii and the upright growing flowering cherry, Prunus Amanogawa. However if space was really limited then the dwarf weeping cherry, Prunus Shidare Zakura was perfect. Later on as my

Eucryphia rostrevor

gardens got bigger I went for the brilliant Prunus Shirotae with horizontal branches which got covered in a mass of pure white flowers in spring. Flowering cherries were very much in fashion in the sixties and the pink Prunus Kanzan was so popular that it became the number one of choice, but those with a wee bit of experience avoided it before our horticultural street cred went oot the windae.

Lilac Michel Buchner

Lilacs were not a huge tree but flower potential was enormous and the white Mme Lemoine is still very popular. The red Charles Jolly is still outstanding and most lilacs benefit from a great scent. Many lilacs come as hybrids grafted onto the common Syringa vulgaris, so keep checking for suckers growing from the rootstock and remove these as soon as seen.

Another less common tree suited to the small garden is the Euphorbia Rostrevor with white flowers towards the end of summer. It grows slowly with an upright form so suits the small garden with limited space.

Prunus Amanogawa

For those who like to try something different there are a couple of medium sized trees a bit less hardy than most, but with climate change who knows if global warming comes to Scotland what we can achieve. The Australian bottlebrush tree, Callistemon citrinus 'Splendens' is a red flowered beauty but needs a sunny sheltered spot. It grows very well outdoors in London as a street tree, but their climate is just a wee bit kinder. Another worth trying is the Pocket Handkerchief Tree, Davidia involucrate, with white bracts in early summer.

Prunus Kanzan

The common hawthorn is very hardy and comes with a pink flower, Crataegus Pauls Scarlet, beautiful in spring and not all that common.

Some people may with to grow a flowering fruit tree, and apples, plums, pears and cherries will all

laburnum vossii

give a great flower show in spring then follow on with a delicious harvest in the autumn.

Apple Starline Firedance grows upright taking up very little space and produces a great crop of red apples in autumn. Another form of apple is the stepover  trained type on a dwarfing rootstock.

Both cherries and peaches can come on very dwarfing rootstocks suited to the small garden.

upright apple Starlight

Many tall growing shrubs can also give the same virtues as smaller trees.

Cornus kousa chinensis has always been one of my favourites after seeing it in full flower in Wisley gardens down south, and Cytisus battandieri, the Pineapple broom tree is a great spectacle but needs a bit of space or a wall to lean against.

Other tall and impressive shrubs include Forsythia, Philadelphus, Ceanothus and Magnolias.

Wee jobs to do this week

Sweet peas

Sweet peas are usually the first seeds to sow as they are quite hardy and like a long season to grow. They can be sown in the autumn and overwintered in a cold frame or unheated greenhouse, or sown in late winter to early spring. The seed coat is quite tough so you can soak the seeds in water overnight, or chip the seed coat with a sharp knife. Sow seeds three to a pot then after germination transplant one to a pot, or you can sow one seed to a cell in a cellular tray. After germination grow on in a cold greenhouse and harden off towards the end of March, for planting out in early April.

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CROP ROTATION

CROP ROTATION

Crop rotation plan for 2019

We may be in mid winter and as it’s a wee bit cold outdoors, and the first snow flakes have arrived, so better to do some indoor gardening. Now is a good time to look at the new allotment plan using last years plan as a template and sorting out where this year’s crops are to be grown. I checked over last years seed list a few weeks ago, then adjusted the list for 2019 and ordered my seeds online from a

Peas, leeks and onions

well known trusted supplier. I always follow a rotation of crops over a four year cycle to try and keep ahead of diseases such as clubroot and onion white rot as well as giving plants the best growing conditions as their needs all vary individually. I also integrate my strawberry beds into the rotation as these get replanted every three years onto fresh soil.

Crops with similar needs are grouped together. Thus the brassicas, cabbage, cauliflower, sprouts and kale are grown in one block. This block gets compost dug in over winter, then limed in late February. This assists the prevention of clubroot disease which is

Sweet corn radish and mezuna

a major problem on my allotment. Unfortunately, some salads, i.e. rocket, and radish are also prone to clubroot as well as the root crops, Swedes and turnips. Then care must be taken with use of green manures as mustard, a great crop for green manuring, can also attract and carry over clubroot disease. I use clubroot resistant vegetables where ever possible; intercrop some salads with widely spaced sprouts and cabbage early in the season to catch a crop before the big leafy plants take up all the room.

The brassica patch becomes the heavy feeders patch the following year. These are the peas, beans, onions, leeks, sweet corn, courgettes and pumpkins. These crops are fine on land limed the

A good year for sprouts

previous year and are given the lion’s share of compost or manure during the winter digging. I also hold back some extra compost to add to the courgettes and pumpkin bed to improve fertility and retain moisture. The pumpkins, courgettes and sweet corn are tender plants so they don’t get planted till the end of May or early June. This gives us time to sow a fast growing green manure crop like clover or rye grass to be ready for digging in about three weeks ahead of planting.

This area the following year becomes the root crop patch for parsnips, carrots, beetroot, Swedes and turnip. This land does not get compost during the winter digging as there is plenty of well rotted organic matter left over from the heavy feeders, and anyway the roots are liable to forking if there is fresh compost in the soil. Salad crops are also fine in this patch as they are short lived and do not need a lot of space. In my rotation I add some flower crops such as dahlias, chrysanthemums and gladioli for cut flowers as well as brightening up the plot.

Digging in the green manure

My last rotational crop is the potatoes, which get both plenty compost and usually follow an autumn green manure crop. They do not like an alkaline soil which makes the tubers liable to scab, but should be fine on land a few years after liming for the brassica crop. I also hold back some compost to spread along the bottom of the furrow taken out when planting the seed potatoes.

Salads in succession

Strawberries are another great crop to help with the rotation. I grow an early row of Mae, Honeoye or Christine, two maincrop rows of Symphony and Florence and the autumn variety Flamenco and crop for no more than three years before digging in. This gives me extra land to bring into the rotation. New strawberry beds come from strong healthy runners from the older beds in autumn after cropping has finished, then the old plants are dug out and added to the compost heap together with any straw bedded down between the rows. Be careful with the autumn fruiting varieties as good runners are only produced on young plants. Once they are three years old they can be very reluctant to throw out new runners.

Aconites

Wee jobs to do this week

Winter may now be with us as the mild weather could not last forever, but it has allowed the first spring bulbs to flower. The snowdrops first appeared in December and the aconites in January and February, but enjoy them while they last as before too long the crocus will be coming out to let us know winter is coming to an end.

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HEATHERS

HEATHERS

I have always grown a few heathers in the garden from way back to apprenticeship days. They were well used in landscape schemes especially around

Pruning heathers

rock gardens and in parks, and there was always an experienced gardener around to show me how to propagate them from cuttings. Over the years I found new ones to add to my collection. Forty years

Calluna H E Beale

ago I came across Calluna vulgaris Goldsworth Crimson used for landscaping in Darlington where I worked. It was very popular in the cemeteries and some housing estate borders not liable to theft or vandalism. The bronze foliage turns a dazzling golden colour after a few frosts. I took a few cuttings and still have the plants forty years later as it is still very eye catching, but to keep the plants from getting too leggy I had to propagate from cuttings every six to ten years or so. Gold Haze, Beoley Gold and Sunset all have similar golden foliage. Another must have heather is Calluna vulgaris H E Beale which is a mass of pale pink flowers at the end of summer. Peter Sparkes is very similar and just as popular. Then as we get through winter the Erica carnea varieties come alive with pink, red and white

Daboecia

flowers. Heathers are popular today as once planted and looked after they soon merge together to form great ground cover that smother any weeds that try to grow. However for me they are invaluable as part of my ericaceous border planted together with azaleas, rhododendrons, camellias and for my very attractive specimen tree the white stemmed Betula jaquemontia. Another plant that fits into this group is the dwarf evergreen Pinus mugo, but then you can extend the range with many more dwarf conifers if space allows. Oriental lilies planted amongst the heathers will add colour and in summer.

Heathers were very popular with hill walkers and ramblers as they covered our hills with massive drifts and when in flower were an

Heathers with azaleas

unforgettable picture. Many peoples love of heathers started as they took home a wee memento of their hill walking experience. If they subsequently died they would get replaced from the local garden centre.

In their natural environment heathers grow on open, usually acid, shallow soils but with good surface drainage. They look great in drifts as big as the garden can afford. Before planting prepare the ground by selecting an open sunny area and remove all perennial weeds before digging over and incorporating some leaf mold or ericaceous compost. Do not use manure and they do not need added fertiliser, other than some bone meal. Plants which are in pots can be planted at any time of year, but before planting give them a good soaking and after

Oriental lilies

planting water the bed as they do not like dry conditions. Space the plants about a foot apart or closer if you want an immediate effect.

From spring onwards they benefit from a mulch of leaf mold or ericaceous compost to help retain moisture and keep down weeds till they get established.

Heathers need very little maintenance other than watering in dry weather, keeping weeds down in early life and trimming back shoots after flowering, but do not prune hard into old wood as it will not regrow shoots. After ten years or so the plants may get a bit leggy, so take cuttings and once they grow into a decent sized plant dig out the old plants and replace them with the young ones.

Heathers can be propagated by layering or taking cuttings in early summer. Wait until growths are a

Red Camellia

couple of inches long and then take cuttings just over an inch tall but do not use flowering shoots. Place the cuttings in prepared lime free compost with added grit or sand burying then half their size and water in well. Place them in a cool frame but away from direct sunlight. They should root and be ready to pot up about a year later. Heathers can also be propagated by layering shoots and covering them with soil and again leave them for a year.

Wee jobs to do this week

At this time of year, when winter takes its grip and gardening can only be done indoors take a few moments to draw up a sowing and planting schedule for the year ahead. Check the sowing dates from last year’s diary and how crops grew and adjust if necessary. Add in any new crops for trying out this year. I also create an annual plan of my allotment plot to scale so I can work out how much plants I can get in. It is also an invaluable tool to plot in a good rotation of crops.

Sowing schedule 2019

February

Sow sweet peas

Early March     

Tomato  Alicante,  Sungold,  Cherry Baby,      

Rapunzel,  Supersweet 100,  Sugar Gloss,

Leek Musselburgh,  Cauliflower Clapton,  

                        Broad bean  Aquadulce,   Onion Hybound

 Sprin               Spring onion White Lisbon,   Lettuce Lollo Rossa,  
Start begonias

 Lettuce L       Mid-March                       

Take Chrysanth cuttings, Potato Casablanca,

 Sweet corn Incredible,  Cabbage Kilaton,      
 Brussel sprouts Crispus

End-March        

Plant Potato Charlotte, Kale Dwarf Green Curled     

Early-April        

Turnip Golden Ball,    Spicy Salad leaves,   Pea Kelvedon Wonder          
Plant potato Maris Piper,     Mayan Gold
Mid-April         

 Beetroot Boltardy,   lettuce Mixed,   

 Parsnip Albion,  Student, Tender and True

Cauliflower Clapton,  Spring onion Wild Rocket

End April             

Pumpkin Rocket,   Pea Onward Swede Marian,

Courgette Zucchini and Atena Polka,    

 Early May          

Cabbage Kilaton, Dwarf French Bean Tendergreen,        
June                       

Beetroot Boltardy, Lettuce Lollo Rossa, Turnip Golden Ball   

Late June            

 Cauliflower Clapton,    Spicy salad leaves

July                       

 Lettuce Salad Bowl,  Spring onion,   Rocket                                

Winter Lettuce Hilda and Winter Imperial

                               

 END