PLANTING THE SUMMER FLOWERS

PLANTING THE SUMMER FLOWERS

Now that the spring flowers have finished we can concentrate on planting the summer flowers in our tubs, pots, hanging baskets and borders. Summer bedding plants are a mixture of annuals, and perennials which we treat like annuals.

Alyssum, Lobelia, Petunias, salvias, Livingston Daisies, Star of the Veldt are sown each spring grown on, planted out then at the end of summer when they have finished flowering we dig them up and put them on the compost heap.

However there are quite a few perennials such as geraniums, Busy Lizzies, fuchsias and begonias which we can retain over winter to grow and flower again every summer.

Many of these plants are available quite cheaply from garden centres as small plug plants which are perfect for potting up into cellular trays, then growing on for a few weeks before planting out as bigger stronger plants.

Most of these will now be hardened off outdoors and be ready for planting. Many plants have been affected by the recent cold weather which held back growth a wee bit, and some may have been affected if you planted out too early as the cold spell in April extended well into May. However there is still plenty available so planting can now be completed in the hope that our unpredictable weather will not produce a late frost to catch us unawares.

Hanging baskets

My baskets are lined with a cut to shape old compost bag with the black side on the outside. I don’t put in any drainage holes in the bottom as I cut slits for plants to grow in the side of the basket. As these grow they will hopefully cover the whole basket with foliage and flowers.  Petunias, trailing lobelia, Impatiens (Busy Lizzie) and the occasional geranium are my favourites for baskets, though I usually try to have at least one trailing fuchsia with Swingtime high on the list. This red and white double  never lets you down.

Tubs and pots

This year I am having geraniums as my main display supplemented with petunias and impatiens at the edges to trail over. I have kept my own selection of four geraniums for years as I have found the perfect red, cerise pink, salmon and white. I usually select the dark blue petunia for patios and near entrances as it has a gorgeous scent. I never understand why the seed producers don’t promote this scent in their blue petunias as it is the main reason why I always seek out this colour of petunia.

Lobelia is also an excellent blue flower that is more reliable if we get a poor summer as petunias really need plenty of sunny weather to produce their best show. French marigolds and Tagetes provide great yellow colours and if you need extra tall plants the African marigolds are hard to beat.

Sometimes I use the strongest of my tuberous begonias for the largest tubs as they can make a dazzling display of intense colour.

Flower beds and borders

However this year I am again keeping my begonias for the main large flower bed at the front of the house as last year they were brilliant and the weather did not give us the best summer. I will add a bit of height in the bed with a deep planting of about twenty mixed gladioli. They will not need staking as the deep planting will keep the stems upright and supported.

Other bare soil areas will be planted with Shirley poppies which were sown a few weeks ago in cellular trays. I have a few areas that are very sunny and a bit dry. These will be planted up with Star of the Veldt and Livingston daisies which both revel in hot sunny places.

Californian poppies and the double opium poppy Papaver somniferum have naturalised in a few areas of the garden and are allowed to grow and flower as long as they don’t spread too far. They have both appeared as windborne seeds, but as they are very colourful they have been allowed to spread in a few areas.

Plant of the week

Hardy Ice Plant Delosperma cooperi is a perennial mesembryanthemum with intense purple flowers in mid summer. It comes from South Africa where it is known as the Pink Carpet and Trailing Ice Plant. A yellow form Delosperma nubigenum, the yellow ice plant, flowers in early summer. These succulent ground cover plants need full sun and will grow in very dry soils. I planted one in the top of a seven foot high very dry south facing wall and gave it just enough water to keep it growing to get it established. It just loves it. Shoots of the yellow ice plant were stuck in cracks in the middle of the wall where they rooted and have now become established.

Delosperma naturally produce dimethyltryptamine, a hallucinogenic drug, but poses no problem to gardeners. The garden is full of plants that contain all sorts of poisons, but as most people are unaware of them we just grow them and enjoy the flowers.

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LATE SPRING FLOWERS

LATE SPRING FLOWERS

The summer sunshine may be a wee bit hard to find this year, (a bit like the last two years) but on those days when it does put in an appearance you get the chance to wander around the garden and marvel at those flowering plants that just refuse to get washed out.

There are a host of shrubs and herbaceous plants all in flower at present. Some should have flowered weeks ago but got delayed by the cool wet climate, but now it is their day.

Herbaceous plants and bulbs

Doronicum is an early flowering herbaceous plant. It likes a bit of sunshine so this year the clump is not at its best, but the bright yellow star shaped flowers blend in perfectly with the drifts of bluebells now carpeting the ground under my apple trees. They have just finished flowering and promise a great crop if only the summer returns. However the apple tree foliage is still quite light so there is plenty dappled sunlight reaching the bluebells. They are a beautiful site covering the ground in my orchard (four trees, but ten varieties) and help to reduce vigour in the apple trees. They are very easy to grow and quickly multiply by seed dispersal, though you can dig up and divide clumps of bulbs any time after flowering. Once you have a good bluebell drift they need controlling as the seed grows prolifically and soon becomes invasive so remove all seedheads before they spread.

Wood spurge is another herbaceous plant flowering now. The best one is Euphorbia griffithii Fireglow. It has bright red flowering bracts and is a great partner to the lower growing lemon yellow Euphorbia polychroma. They are both happy in dappled shade in a deciduous woodland fringe and do not mind a dry soil. Another spurge is the favourite Christmas houseplant Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima). However they all have a poisonous latex (white sap) that exudes easily with any damage to the stem. This is an irritant and can cause inflammation, so wash immediately if any gets onto your skin.

Flowering Shrubs

The Azaleas have always been the main show at this time of year, though there are many Rhododendrons still in flower. There are literally hundreds of different varieties to choose from in every colour. Some of the taller azaleas are deciduous and have a wonderful scent such as Azalea lutea a bright yellow variety and Azalea Gibralter is a fiery orange colour. Down at ground level and perfect for weed smothering ground cover are the dwarf Japanese evergreen azaleas. These are quite cheap to buy as small plants and they soon grow larger. They flower prolifically.

Azaleas need moisture retentive soil rich in organic matter such as well rotted leafmold, but the soil also needs good drainage so there is no standing water at their feet. Do not use any fertiliser as this may scorch the young tender leaves.

Ceanothus commonly known as the Californian Lilac (but is not related to the lilac) smothers itself in Blue flowers in mid May. They prefer a sunny sheltered spot to be at their best and an annual mulch of compost in winter will keep them well fed. They do not need any pruning unless they get too tall as they can grow up to ten feet tall.

Lilacs are another tall shrub or small tree flowering profusely in mid May. They are easy to grow, not fussy about soil and some varieties have a terrific scent. Mme. Lemoine is the best white and Michel Buchner a lovely warm light purple.

Cistus, known as the rock rose and sun rose will grow on poor dry soil full of stones where drainage is perfect and prefers full sun to flower at its best. It comes from the Canary Islands and the Mediterranean area. It only grows a few feet tall and flowers for only a short time, but it can really put on a bold display of flowers in a range of pink shades. Cistus Silver Pink and Cistus purpureus are both good varieties.

Broom and gorse are represented in the garden with several yellow to white flowered shrubs. Genista hispanica, Spanish gorse, Genista Lydia, a broom and Cytisus praecox, another broom all make a bold display if given a poor dry soil in a sunny location.

Plant of the week

Himalayan Blue Poppies known botanically as Meconopsis betonicifolia has a reputation of being hard to grow, especially if you grow from seeds, but it just needs someone to understand its needs, then it is a happy plant.

Sow freshly gathered seed in autumn in cellular trays and leave outdoors all winter. Keep the compost moist and protect it from birds, slugs and mice. Germination takes place in April. Grow them on and pot up after a couple of months. Plant out in autumn into a moist shady woodland border that gets dappled sunlight. Many plants will then flower the following May.

The deep sky blue flowers blowing gently in a breeze are a wonderful sight.

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Sowing the Seeds

PUMPKINS AND COURGETTES

The cucumber family have given us pumpkins, courgettes, marrows, melons, gourds and squashes as well as cucumbers. Pumpkins are the perfect plant to let your kids loose on to stimulate an interest in gardening from a young age. They are very easy to grow and kids just love to see them grow huge as they give them a fortnightly feed, or weekly if you want a whopper. They really do respond to feeding and watering and soil rich in humus.

Then at harvesting just before Halloween the kids will get the lantern and the adults will get the flesh for soups and seeds for roasting or next years crop.

Pumpkins can be stored in a cool place and keep for many months. We are using our last one in mid May and it is still perfect. However courgettes are the summer favourite as they don’t store fresh, though you can store them once you have cooked up some soup. They are both very healthy vegetables high in vitamin A, C and E and full of minerals, fibre and pumpkins high in beta-carotene. Courgettes combined with spinach make a lovely light summer soup for healthy slimmers and pumpkins with added sweet potato, carrots, onion, garlic and nutmeg makes a warmer winter soup. Pick all courgettes when about six inches long and use within three days. If some grow faster than you can pick and use, they can still be used for summer soup. Use the smaller ones for stir frying, grills, baked, barbecued and combined with aubergine and tomatoes for ratatouille. This is always relevant in late summer when both courgettes and home grown tomatoes are at glut levels.

 

Growing

I sow my seed the last week in April in single cells in a tray on a sunny windowsill, then pot up into individual pots just when the first true leaf is forming. Grow on for a couple of weeks then harden off by mid May for planting out at the end of the month.

They both enjoy similar growing conditions. I grow them on land heavily manured or composted in winter, then in May when all risk of frost has gone I add extra compost to each planting area to increase the water retaining properties and create soil with a high humus content. Add a good dressing of growmore fertiliser then plant out about three feet apart.

Keep them weeded, watered and fed during the growing season.

Pumpkin shoots can grow fast and extend rapidly all over the place so prune them once they have produced two to three fruit per plant. You can get more pumpkins per plant if the land adjacent has been cleared from early potatoes, onions or broad beans and you let the long shoots take over the space, but you will need to keep them fed and watered. However if you are after that huge pumpkin that everyone loves to achieve then only allow one or two fruit per plant and really give it some serious feeding. Stop feeding in late summer to help ripen up the fruit and put some straw or bark chips under the fruit to keep them clean. After cutting at harvest time, wash any soil off the pumpkins before storing them indoors in a cool airy room.

If you have found a good reliable variety you can keep the seed for the next year, but store it well out of the reach of mice which just love a wee nibble over winter.

Squashes and marrows are grown very similar to pumpkins and come in a range of shapes and colours and it is always interesting to try something different each year.

Plant of the week

Red geraniums are a show winner when it comes to impact of colour in the garden in summer. I grow mine from cuttings overwintered on a window sill every year, and potted up as they grow. They will flower all winter (if you let them), then by early May they are ready for tubs, hanging baskets and flower beds. If you grow them strongly it is possible to produce ten plants from one cutting taken in September, then two months later it will have rooted and grown so remove the tip and use it as the next cutting. Repeat this process till April, but do not allow them to flower to keep their vigour for growing.

Painting of the Month

Sunset on the River Yare is one of my favourite oil paintings. The idea came from a holiday on the Broads a few years ago when we took an evening boat trip up the River Yare from Great Yarmouth. Other boats and the windmill were illuminated by the low sun as it was setting. I knew it would make an excellent painting.

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THE GREENHOUSE IS OVERFLOWING

THE GREENHOUSE IS OVERFLOWING

Normally at this time of year I am emptying the greenhouse as plants get hardened of for planting outdoors, but we seem to be in a cold spell of weather with the threat of frost so always be ready to shift any vulnerable plants back to the greenhouse if frost is forecast. However it is a bit difficult as there is hardly any spare space.

Young plants grown from seed, (winter cabbage, kale, cape gooseberries, sweet corn, courgettes and pumpkins) and cuttings (bizzie lizzies, fuchsias and grape vines) still need a bit of protection while we wait on the return of warmer weather. However I keep the greenhouse windows fully open during the day and shift plants outdoors if it is warm enough.

They are all at different stages, but as seedlings get pricked out they need more space, especially the pumpkins and courgettes. All the geraniums are now hardened off, but tuberous begonias are putting on a lot of growth and I really need to get them outdoors to harden off.

I also started some annuals including Livingston daisies, Star of the Veldt, Shirley poppies and Nemesia in cellular trays to get them started. Nemesia is a bit prone to damping off if it gets too cool overnight, and as my tomatoes are trying to get established in their growbags I have resorted to turning on my greenhouse fan heater at a low setting to keep the air above freezing over night.

The nemesias will get a soil drench of Cheshunt compound, a copper preparation which helps to prevent damping off.

An early sowing of salads in the greenhouse, (lettuce, radish, spring onion and beetroot) are now hardened off and planted outdoors in a sheltered spot to bring them on fast. Some of the radishes were big enough to use before they got planted out.

Most of my young plants have now been potted up except for the sweet corn (give them another week) and my grape vine cuttings which need another fortnight.

Grapevines

These have all got plenty of young shoots growing from the central rods. I will leave these till I see fruit bunches appearing. Any shoots having no fruit will be stopped at two leaves and those with fruit stopped at two leaves past the fruit bunch. Thereafter all growth will be tipped at one leaf throughout the growing season. This task continues on a weekly basis as grape vines under glass can be very vigorous and need firm control. They have to share the space with my tomatoes which also like maximum sunlight. If there is any overcrowding of shoots I will remove any surplus non fruiting shoots and a few leaves. I do not apply any glass shading as both crops need maximum sunlight and in Scotland we do not suffer too many prolonged heatwaves.

At the moment Black Hamburg is showing quite a decent crop of fruiting bunches. It is a very reliable variety with large sweet grapes. Pity it always has pips. Flame is my red seedless grape and Perlette my white seedless variety, both of which are a bit slow to show the first tiny grape bunches.

Flame is the very popular red seedless grape found in most supermarkets and Perlette may be less popular but has a lovely muscat flavour. Both are quite good under glass for us northern gardeners.

Tomatoes

Although planted a few weeks ago, following our early summer spell of weather, growth has been poor. April was a washout with more rain than we need and a lot cooler than normal so my tomatoes were not too happy. Maybe May will see a return to better temperatures.

Gardeners Delight looks a lot stronger than Alicante and Sweet Million though all have now got a flower on the first trusses so feeding can begin. I start at once a week then increase to every second watering, but if the weather is warm and growth is good you can increase to every watering. Tomato fertiliser is high in potassium which assists fruit development, but if growth begins to suffer after the third truss use a high nitrogen fertiliser to give the growth a boost.

Plant of the week

Rhododendron Horizon Monarch is now at its best. The flower buds start off vivid red fading to cerise pink as they open, then turn to a pale peach with golden centres when fully open. Rhododendrons enjoy dappled shade in well drained but moist soil. Woodland fringe suits them best where there is ample leafmold in the soil surface. Do not feed them but give them a mulch of compost or leafmold every year in the dormant season. There are very many other great rhododendrons of all sizes and colours so you will always find a few beauties to suit all tastes.

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