Garden Fan

2007 ahoy !

2007-01-29T00:01:00.000Z

My last post was in July 2006 and quite a lot has gone on since then, I'll round up 2006 and then my plans for 2007.

The sweetcorn failed with sweetcorn smut but the cabbage and potatoe crop was great. The very high temps in the summer dented the potatoe crop a little but it was still a good crop. The cabbage was home to a great deal of white butterfly catpillars, even a derris powder did'nt stop them but the crop was great all the same. I got a mass of chilli's, my storage skills are poor and I despite drying them lost a great deal to rot, you live and learn. I had a great crop from the raspberries, stawberries and a bumper crop from the blackberries. The tomatoes all cropped very well, watering was a big problem and I did loose some to splitting but we had a constant supply of toms through late summer. Rounding off I had an amazing display of foxgloves and lupins.

So onto 2007, my plans include more chilli's, more toms, different fruits and a improved flower border and display.

Already sown include 5 different chillis, 4 different toms and the all new upright foxglove from T&M. Learning from my mistakes from last year, I am only sowing 1 per type to avoid over crowding. Sowing this early in the year means that I am using the heated propagtor to germinate and then transfering to a non-heated propegator container, all of which live on a windowsill (which also keeps mess down and my wife happier :)).

I am sowing new fruits this year, more on this in a later post. At the moment I am trying to get one of these to germinate, I had to soak the seed and then slice into the seed outer very thinly so to expose the seed to heat and water to begin the germination process. I am concerned my basic heated propegator won't raise the temp enough and might need to look at investing in another model that can push the temp higher.

On order and due any day is a new border collection, I am collecting flower seedlings at the moment too to help boost this years display.

Sown in autum and ready to go out in spring are some sweet peas that are some 8 inches now, sown in november are some hardy peas, both of which are being overwintered in the greenhouse, I'll post on that at some point too. Sown also in the autum are some onion sets and garlic cloves, all of which are doing good.

Boosting the fruits for this year I also added in the december window two bare rooted apple trees and a cherry tree. I also have a kiwi overwintering in the greenhouse.

July

2006-07-16T22:04:00.000Z

Two heat waves this month with temps of high 30c, it means everything is in full swing now and although I'd rather not I am thinking about the end of the season.

I have planted a gooseberry and redcurrant this weekend. Mid July is really not the month to be planting new fruit bushes but I have a theory. My soil can suffer from being over wet and cold standing, despite my attempts to improve drainage it can in parts be troublesome. During late winter which is the normal time to plant fruit any new bushes can rot out and either be stunted or fail. So my theory is two fold, I have raised the border to increase drainage and planted now so the root ball has time to establish before late autum and winter when it becomes dormant. Thats the plan anyway, mother nature will no doubt dash my plans.

My toms are full size and green but now need to ripen, to try and tempt them into this I took them out of the greenhouse for a days worth of dunking in a bucket (with some added tom feed and nettle liquid manure) so the root ball was soaked (when the air bubbles stop they come out). I also cut off any wayward tress's to keep to the 4 mark, it pains me to see young toms got to waste but for the sake of bigger and ripe toms it's worth it.

My chilli's are coming on and starting to set, I think that these will be the last of the croppers but I do still have the cape gooseberries, sweetcorn and cabbage to go. I faced a battle with catapillars on the cabbage, swifty dealt with using derris. Derris is classed by the organic crowd as non organic due to the fact it could kill other insects like ladybirds. It's a natural insecticide that does'nt effect the soil and I have yet to see something other a white butterfly want to climb inside my cabbage. Organic I am, silly about it I am not.

June

2006-06-23T22:39:00.000Z

Since my last post at the end of April things have come on leaps and bounds. June is by far the busiest month in the garden year, when I look back at last year it is no different to this year. Some of the things that have gone on (starting with the Strawberries).

Strawberries are marching on, with straw now keeping the berries off the ground it's now really down to nature to complete the job. I have added a few marigolds to help fight the garden nasties.

This is the first of my half moon borders, growing here is cabbage and sweetcorn (both from seed) bordered with marigolds (carboot); I have added french marigolds (seed) into the bed as well. I have added a log-roll border liner to both borders to finish them off. In the background is my two lemon balms, flat as a pancake through winter and now look at them!

This is the second of the half moon borders. This is my "come again" border and I have planted a group of more mature series of plants such as Lupins and Echinacea. I have a younger series in the greenhouse for planting in the autum and the seed from the lupins I will grow for autum planting as well. To help fill the border for this year I have added marigolds.

My raspberries are now forming berriers from the side laterals that sprang from last years canes, a set of canes that I planted 2 years ago (and I had thought were dead) suddenly sprang to life and as such I am going to scrap my current support system and create a new one that allows for hight. Since taking this pic I have added cane supports across some of the laterals as these are very prone to breaking and as the berries develop the weight snaps them off.

Not a great pic as the light was going on me at this point but my greenhouse is rammed to the rafters, the tomatoes were a huge success and here you can see the larger toms that were sown in march. The april toms are smaller so I am not convinced that they catch up after all and the earlier (and out of season) sowing really paid off. In total I have 13 plants with a total of 20 toms now forming, most have a mass of flowers so I should get a really good crop. One of the toms I picked up from the garden center but the rest are from seed.

I have 4 sweet basil (3 from seed), 2 lemon basil (1 from seed), cinmon basil, 7 chilli plants (seed), sweet pepper, 2 lemon grass (seed, yes I finally succeeded), lemon verbanna, 2 cucumbers and 4 peas (both from seed). I also have the odd marigold to help confuse pests. The peas have since completed the cropping and it was a lot of fun to pick and eat them right from the pod.

The potatoes are cropping well and in flower. The blackberries have cropped really well and will be ready any day. The garlic is now ready and today I earthed them up, tied and now left to dry in the greenhouse (and stinking the place out). It was a bumper crop and although it took neally 9 months it was well worth it. The beetroot cropped well and I had just enough to make a jar of pickle with them (just the thing for winter).

Shot I will sigh off with is my patio pots, towards the back is a pot of lemon tyme and mint. Since this shot was taken I have cut it down to help generate new growth and to start making use of the crop. The mint makes great tea and I intend to use the tyme dried with lemon balm, lemon basil, lemon verbanna and lemon grass to make a really fruity tea.

Some of the herbs I have mentioned I obtained as young plants, back in May I went to three counties show again (and loved it) and picked up a few herbs on my "want list". How these fair over winter (the lemon verbanna for example) might be tricky but hopefully this will be ok, it's not an easy plant to find early in the year.

Almost May

2006-04-30T23:05:00.000Z

A really busy time of year now, pottting and repotting plants as they grow, watering, feeding and mantaining. A spell of great sunny weather here as ment everything in the greenhouse as marched on, my sweet pea's are now some 3 feet at the top of the oblisk support and a second set sown a few weeks ago 4/5 inches and going fast. I had mixed success with the seed's, in the growpot's the sweetcorn and pea's failed but sweetpea's worked. In the peat cells several different flowers and herbs failed but others are doing fine. My tomatoes, chilli's and mini runner beans are now on the 6/8 inch pots with 1 or 2 in the set growing quicker than others.

My blackberry has burst its buds and formed its fruit groups, the raspberry and gooseberry has burst its buds (the goosberry has formed its blossom). The blueberries are still in bud with one or two now burst. The cherry is still in bud and yet to burst, as the weather gets warmer and warmer I hope that it will burst.

I have moved a mint plant and pineapple sage outside to grow on after spending the winter in the greenhouse, they have gone from sticks to fully green in only 3/4 weeks. This frees up much needed staging space for everything else thats coming along. I have planted up the strawberries into a pot (along with flowers) and obtained some more strawberries to replace the winter looses in the patch.

The sweetcorn I have planted but I prehaps should have waited for them to get bigger, despite softdrink cloch support they are getting damaged by slugs or snails. I am going to start a new group using toliet rolls and grow them on in the greenhouse until the end of may (should I loose the first group to the slimey pest I have backup). The cabbages are ready to go in and I have aquired some marigolds to ward off the slimey pest as these will surely enmass when the cabbages go in.

The bedding program seems to have failed despite the supplier advice to plant them stright in the ground, the winter has claimed the lot. Faced with two bare borders I have found another planing scheme and await it's delivery to hopefully get this moving. I am a little annoyed that they recommended this when really it should have been over wintered under glass and planted in the spring. I guess nothing can be done about the weather but my advice should this ever happen to you is to not do as they say and grow them on under protection. I have also sourced the planting schemes for the hanging baskets and either await delivery or I am waiting to get it planted (the wall baskets are now used up and look rather bare until I can plant them all up with the summer bedding) . The front wall border is growing really well with the tulips almost ready to flower. The front lawn has seen two cuts and I needed the to leave the lawn circle in place for the tulips to come up, it does mean I have rather interesting looking patch of dense grass on my lawn :)

The garlic is doing well as are the potatoes which are now some 6/7 inches. The onions I have planted out into a big pot but still don't seem to be doing much beyond looking like chives, it will either work or be a failure. Here's to what May has in store.

Saskatoon and Chokecherry

2006-04-30T23:02:00.000Z

After repeated failures trying to get the Saskatoon to germinate I finally found another answer. Today I planted up a 6 inch Sakatoon and Choke Cherry. I finally found a nursey that stocks these in the UK. The nursey is called Kore and is on the net www.korewildfruitnursery.co.uk. It's mail order only but I can speak from experince that service and delivery times are great and I recommend it if (like me) you fancy growing something different. Pleased as punch that I finally have my Saskatoon and Choke Cherry !!

April

2006-04-06T12:22:00.000Z

Last week was a warm week and over the weekend I completed my seed sowing. In three peat cell trays, four potting trays and root trainers I sowed 90 seeds. The following Monday we had a frost, just my luck. Starting to cover my cherry tree with fleech now, its buds are developing and getting ready to burst, any frost damage now could wreck the crop. After packing away the fleech and heater during the warm spell, it was all unpacked and fired up again. I also tied up the garden, redug the borders and top dressed my orange tree and gave it some gentle pruning. I also picked up some strawberry plants, growing them on in the greenhouse until after the frosts have passed. Who knows, might even fruit early :) I sowed some lemon grass again, second attempt at this. I also bought some ginger for a second attempt, potted up and housed in my propegator who knows that might work as well.

Almost April

2006-03-28T12:42:00.000Z

Just a few days away from April and already its been mild (but windy) and the clocks have gone foward. This means more time in the garden and the real start to the gardening year. The March sowing was complete disaster, my propegator is too warm for indoors at this time of year and it just forced everything up. I ended up with leggy, weak seedlings and pretty much lost the lot.

I sowed some more Cape Gooseberries into pots and left them in the greenhouse, I am pretty much at the end of the sowing time for this but I should be ok. Over weekend I bought a new blueberry tree and have rehoused my cranberries into its pot. I added coffee grinds and chicken manure into the compost to raise the acid level (which both plants love) and nutrients. I also planted my second early potatoes out, using my planned general purpose compost with grit this should be light enough for them to grow. Using second earlies means they will be ready by July, I'll add pictures for next time.

My April sowing will start this weekend if the weather remains mild, if we get a cold snap forecasted beyond this then I will wait another week. My local scouts are offering bedding plants for 2 pounds for a box of plants, going to order a couple.

March and the sowing really starts

2006-03-06T20:55:00.000Z

So into March we go and this month really marks the start of the Gardening year. My lemon grass sowing from last month failed, I suspect light levels were so poor that it caused this. Not one to give up I will wait until the end of March when BST is neally here and try again. My onions, tomatoes and chilli have all been mostly potted on and starting to get a feed to encourage growth through March. I have also started the first of the flowers for this year, 2 different Petuina species and a Salpiglossis. I have also set a Golden Berry (cape goosberry) going. This completes my March sowing and by the end of the month will have reached germination ready for the April sowing (which I will need to time right to start the more demanding species off in the propegator).

Last weekend I gave up on the idea of a wild garden and scrapped it, in its place is a the same bed but now redug with grit and manure throw in. On it I want to grow sweet corn, cabbage and for a bit of color something else. I plan on starting this off in April, as it stands I dug this before a nasty cold snap set in across the UK last week so the hard frosts and snow will have done wonders to help break up the bigger clods.

My potatoes are now set to chit and doing well, I will wait until the end of March before I plant them as the weather has so far been a little too hard for them to cope with. The saskatoon still shows no sign of life, looks like I am in for the long haul with this after all.

Sowing seed

2006-02-05T22:52:00.000Z

Sowing seed for the spring and summer more often than not starts in March to April in the north of the UK. This is because the weather needs to warm up and light levels increase to help the plants to grow. However if you have a heated greenhouse, propegator and some space in doors you can get started now.

Last week I planted some prize onions which have now germinated and my saskatoons. The saskatoons are proving to be very slow to germinate, I can't find any advice as to how long they take but have found one estimate of 18 months, I am really hoping its not that long but it could take a few weeks (its only been one so early days yet).

Today I planted my tomatoes (tiger tom and chery roma), chilli (Fish) and some lemon grass. The tomatoes and chilli can be started at any time from January to March but you really need a green house when starting early. The lemon grass I was quite pleased to find in my local garden center as it can be quite hard to source, this is started from Febuary to March (same rules as before for starting early). Lemon grass is a tender herb like basil and will spend its time in the greenhouse even in summer. All these need a lot of warmth in the soil to germinate, even in March that can be tricky and impossible with out a propegator at this time of year. I bought medium sized tray for 12 pounds, its worth the investement for any serious seed grower.

I used peat pots to sow into, this can be transfered into bigger pots when the time comes to avoid picking out and causing root disturbance. When I sow everything else in March I also have expanding peat cells, these expand when watered and the seed is down directly onto them. I used a mixture of john inns seed compost and permiculate to create a fertile but light mixture. All that remains now is to keep watering and let nature take its course.

More winter losses

2006-02-05T22:49:00.000Z

I threw out a Lilly and a Clementis today, both were diseased and suffering so I decided that it was pointless keeping them. Not all bad though, today really marked the start of out with the old and in with the new.

Ginger experiment failed

2006-01-25T22:14:00.000Z

My ginger experiment failed as did the pomingrante, I suspect lack of heat was the cause. I might try again in the spring but I am now trying my hand at some prize oinons. Even in doors these are also being quite slow to germinate and I may end up investing in a electric propagator while sowing at this time of year.

Potatoes 2006 pt1

2006-01-14T21:31:00.000Z

At this time of year seed potatoes go on sale. Seed potatoes are selected potatoes from the crop that are teh best of your crop and thus should provide you with a good crop for this year. When you buy these, they are normally certified virus free and will give an optimal start to your crop.

Potatoes come in four forms, early, second early, maincrop and late. At this time of year the first three are available, lates are available later in year. All three of the first three are planted at the end of march, this ensures that the soil will be warm enough for the potatoes to grow and frost risk has past. In the UK you will need to take extra measures to protect from frost but should still plant at this time. For earlies the crop will be ready around June, for second earlies June to July and main crop August/September or October. Earlies have the thinest of skins of all potatoes and won't last at long as the others, they make great summer salad and new potatoes. Secondearlies and Maincrop do tend to last a lot longer and this year I have opted for a second early type rather than main crop. You can plant early types now, provided you have a heated green house. These will be ready in March/April time, however its imporant that these are kept away from any frost risk.

Before you plant your potatoes you should "chit", this allows the potatoes to start to sprout and gives them a head start in growing. The potatoes need to be kept in a light (but not direct sunlight), cool place. An old egg carton makes a great way of keeping the potatoes up right for this process.

After chitting you can plant your potatoes into the growing postion. If you have space you can sow in drills (rows), give them plenty of space to grow with lots of room for main crop potatoes. As they grow you must ensure that you earth the potatoes up, this involves mounding earth up around the stems to make sure that light does to reach the tubers (growing potatoes), too much light will cause the potatoes to turn green and unsuitable for use. The soil for growing potatoes needs to be rich with plenty of compost or manure dug in, if your planting stright into the ground you should have ideally have done this in the autum but you can do this now.

Like last year I will be using a potatoe barrel, made from plastic it allows the potatoes to grow deeply and should help make for a good crop yield. I will also be using two large plastic tubs this year. This year I also going to grow mine in a general compost mix however I will be adding plenty of grit and rotted manure. Make sure that you water potatoes often, they need water to swell and any drought can cause diease.

First earlies are ready to harvest when the flowers appear, second and maincrop when the tops die down. Last year my crop failed with bligh, however this year I am hoping to avoid that with a new growing site, virus free seed and fresh compost. Folks do get some success from planting supermarket potatoes, however I recommend using virus free certified potatoes. Other than that, its fingers crossed that this year the potatoe crop goes well.

Saskatoon 1, Chokecherry 0

2006-01-11T21:58:00.000Z

In my last post I talked about growing Saskatoon and Chokecherries and my concerns of growing them in the UK. After a lot of searching I tracked them both down to suppilers in the UK. The Saskatoon I found as seeds and thanks to mail order have them safely stored away. The Chokecherry is available as a 2 year old tree and thus harder to obtain by mail order, I am still thinking about how I can sort this out.

Chokecherry and Saskatoon

2005-12-29T23:26:00.000Z

A friend from Canada has raised my interest on two species of fruit shrubs that grow native in Canada (and North America), the Saskatoon (Amelanchier alnifolia) and Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana).

The Chokecherry is not to be confused with the Chokeberry, indeed they are a completely different family. The Chokecherry look and tastes s a lot like the Blackcurrant and indeed it may be why its not a common plant out side of the USA. The plant however is very hardy and would take to UK conditions with out much concern. Sourcing the plant is going to prove very tricky as I suspect its very rare to find in the UK. Should I then find a suppiler, getting growing advice and seeing just how well it can cope with UK conditions would be interesting.

The Saskatoon is another rare plant in the UK, the family Amelanchier is actually quite common in the UK and goes by the common name of Juneberry. The alnifolia species is however the only member of this family to go by the Saskatoon name and is the one I am most interested in. Indeed like the Chokecherry its hardy and could cope with UK conditions with out much of an issue.

Finding the plants aside I am very keenly aware that these species are native species and growing them raises some concerns. Introducing any new species can destroy native species and you have to be very aware of that. As such I am going to see if I can source some advice on these two plants, as yet I am unsure where to get advice from.

Reflection on 2005 and a look at 2006

2005-12-29T23:17:00.000Z

With the end of 2005 neally here and 2006 about to start its good to reflect on how things have gone in the gardening year. This year has with doubt been a year that my interest in gardening has increased 10 fold, I have only been gardening 3 years and this year has been my first fully focused year.

This blog maps out much of what I have achieved in that time and indeed where I am heading. Next year I plant to grow much more of my own bedding, add more fruits to my list and attempt and try new things. Roll on 2006!

Growing garlic

2005-12-23T10:10:00.000Z

One winter project this year is growing garlic. I have have attempted this several times before, but always at the wrong time of year. Garlic likes to be planted in October to November, or April-May. Its said that Autum planted Garlic is best as a spell at sub-zero gives you the best favour. I planted mine in November and early December so time will tell if that works out.

In the front border, after the summer clear out I dug in manure and chicken muck and turned it all over. Left for a month I dug it up again and it was ready for planting, when planting Garlic break the bulb up into cloves and plant each clove so its tip is just below the soil. As I planted I first pushed the clove in, removed the clove, added a small amount of some fish\bone\blood and readded the clove. Make sure you space them apart, each clove will become a bulb in time and will space to develop and grow.

Make sure you plant the cloves early enough for them to develop some roots and shoots before the real cold weather sets in. Garlic planted at this time is said to be ready around July time, it may flower and the foilage needs to die down before you earth them up. Garlic does not really suffer with Garden nasties, nothing likes the taste (including so its said, slugs). I have however noticed leaf damage to some of mine, I suspect the french snails.

Winter blues

2005-12-23T09:57:00.000Z

Winter is a hard time for plants, even hardy plants can suffer in extremes of weather. However, hardy plants can survive through quite a lot, its the tender plants that are the hardest to overwinter. I have already lost one plant to a fungal diease and being within a greenhouse means that the rest of your plants are at risk. The plant I was forced to destroy and now everything else is on watch.

I am now trying to vent the greenhouse as often as possibly to keep the air flowing and reduce humidity. Using a paraffin heater does not help matters as it increases humidity, however by venting I am helping reduce that. Most plants I have cut back hard, the pineapple sage looked to be struggling and I felt it had gotten leggy in the summer, as such its been cut back hard and well wrapped in fleech. Time will tell if it bounces back.

During very cold weather I have also taken to wrapping everything in fleech, with the bubble wrap and heater this should help prevent frost damage to the roots (which would spell the end of everything).

Summer Sunflower

2005-12-23T09:37:00.000Z

A project during last summer was growing this sunflower from seed. First developinging into a seedling in the spring it was progressively potted on as it grew. During early summer it had a spell in the greenhouse to protect it from a spell of highwinds and rain. It then outgrew the greenhouse and I kept it sheltered until the weather allowed me to keep it in the open. Its final resting place afforded it a lot of shelter should the weather had gotten a bit nasty, the trees and fench kept a lot of the weather off it. As you can see, fully grown it reaches 10 foot and is above the height of the trees its next to.

I had a problem with keeping it upright, when the flower head had developed it was very top heavy and even a slight breeze could cause it to bend. I used various methods to keep it from snapping, starting off with canes and finally tieing it to nearby tree post. The top heavy weight ment that it was also prone to tipping the pot over, I ended up buying a heavy duty clay pot and added extra weight to keep it secure to the ground.

It flowers quite quickly, around two weeks before the the flower is spent. If you can afford the space keep the sun flower as the seed head then develops. When I finally cut the flower done, I kept the stalk, it will be a useful support for the future. The flower head you have to remove the brown surface to get at the seeds, its a messy job then removing all the seeds but for a flower of this size you will normally get hundreds. I feed all mine to the local bird population.

Projects for next year

2005-12-10T17:06:00.000Z

Apart from bedding, the wildflower garden and the new borders I am adding a few more things to my projects for next year.

Growing old styles

After looking through several seed catalogues I am going to try growing older styles of tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. These are more more varied than standard types and you can really opt for something different.

Growing ginger

Inspired by Raymond Blanc's Tai kitchen garden, I am going to try growing Ginger for next year. Using supermarket bought ginger, now is the time to buy and begin planting. Ginger loves sunlight and warmth, at this time of year we are in the deep winter in the UK and both of these requirements are very limited. As such you need to start it off in doors, keeping it moist and warm.

Most of the guides you read about Ginger say opt for bud shaped growths to start from. If you look at your shop bought ginger these are easy to spot, short growths from the main tubers. You need cut a good piece from the ginger from this growth, you can then plant on. Use a well draining compost mix, John Inne's Number 1 with a handful of loam (if you can source it) or vermiculite for added drainage is a good choice.

Add water to make the compost moist and then cover with a plastic bag and put on a sunny windowsill. When shoots appear you can remove the plastic bag, keep moist and warm however. Its said that even the summer in the UK won't afford enough warmth to grow Ginger, as such you should grow Ginger on in a pot and keep under glass. Summer can then afford it enough light and warmth for you to enjoy a crop in Autum (when the foliage dies back).

Thats the plan, its always easier to write than actually do and my results could vary, thats half the fun.

Pomigrante

Unlike Ginger which is considered a tropical plant, this is a desert plant that is grown commerically around the sub-tropic regions of the world but grows native to Iraq. These are very tricky to grow in the UK due to its requirements for warmth and light (like Ginger). Not a commonly grown Fruit in the UK but gaining popularity, this may lead to types that can cope more with UK conditions.

As a desert plant, it likes very well drained soil and while it can cope with drought its best to keep moist during fruiting season. I am going to have a go at growing one from the seed of a supermarket bought fruit. If this fails I will return my seed books (although not easy to find in the UK). I will opt for the same growing procedure as the Ginger. Its said that seed can produce varied results and cuttings are best but these are completely absent in the UK so I can only hope the seed is good enough. The only grower in the UK who as much as I know has had success with these is the great Bob Flowerdew, I will be following his advice on growing these to the letter. Again my results may vary but fingers crossed it all goes well.

Cherry Tree

Now is the time to buy bare rooted trees and shrubs, I came across a bare rotted morillio cherry and temptation was too much. Now housed in the strawberry patch I planning on keeping this as a standard tree but will keep the height down to 8/9 foot rather than dizzy 15 foot it can reach.

Bare rooted trees tend to be cheaper than pot bought plants, they are bare rooted as they are now dorimant and thus only need miminal water to keep going. When you plant these you dig a hole deep enough to give the tree a solid root base and wide enough to spread the roots. Make sure you add some Fish/Bone/Blood and you firm the soil, all that remains is to mulch and then leave alone. When spring arrives you work continues but for now, sit back and think about all that great spring flowers and cherry pies in summer, can't wait.

Wiggly blog and podcasts

2005-11-29T09:01:00.000Z

Nice to see a gardening resource\retailer making use of the web in different ways. The Wiggly team not only have a blog but also are podcasts, here is hoping that more folks from the gardening world join in.

Three months on and Jack Frost is here

2005-11-23T21:28:00.000Z

My last post was the end of August and now we are almost in December. How the garden has changed shape. Almost all of the plants from the pots, baskets and bedding plants went into the compost bin (which is now full to the brim). The Fuschia plants were cut back hard and are living the winter out in the greenhouse. Fuschias living in my borders were also dug up and given the same treatment.

I have added winter bedding to the baskets and front border, this is largely winter pansies, wall flowers, heather and a sliver leafed plant (who's name escapes me but looks great). I have cleared up the front border of weeds and threw in some chicken muck. I have added some Garlic cloves to grow over winter\spring. I read that Garlic is a great natural way of warding off slugs as they hate the taste, I am tempted to buy more to see if I can use it else where. I finished off the front garden with a lawn circle of crocus.

A lawn circle is where you slice through the turf with your spade and ease it back slightly. You then add the bulb to the right depth and firm the turf back. You can choose a pattern, at the front its a square to match our hidden drain cover that the torby palm lives on. With a different crocus set I did on this back lawn also, this time using three sets of circles. Its important too do this after your last cut for the year as the bulbs will come up through the lawn and will need to have finished before you cut the lawn (and not be too late that you can't see them for your rapidly growing lawn). If the ground is not too soggy and the bulbs have not started to grow you can trim the lawn with the blade set on high but I will leave mine alone.

The back garden has had more work. I added a new half moon border that I double dug 5 weeks ok and again this weekend. I also extended one side border in width slightly and this needs a redig. I also added another half moon border and double dug with out manure, I am going to create a wild flower border from this. Mid september I did this and added the seeds at that point, some have come through others have not. I will get a true idea of results by spring and if its looking like a failure I may redig the border and replan. I am adding for next year 60 new plants to my garden. Time is against me though with snow expected on Friday, I really need to get them in the ground. If the ground is not frozen I very may have to clear the snow to get them in.

My greenhouse now has heater, temps are running down daily to -5 so I am backing this up with bubble wrap for the glass and fleech for the pots. In the greenhouse I have a few tenders from the pots that are living the winter out under cover. My pineapple sage is also living in the greenhouse and has flowered some amazing purple color (and late in the year), I will hopefully try and get a pic of that.

I had some great success with the toms and the remaining crop I made into chuchney with the reaming sweet basil. I am planning on more veg for next year and I am looking into growing some old types of toms. I also want to grow the mini type peas and sweet and hot peppers. I also want to take another go at potatoes but with a new plan of action this year. I am planning on growing all my own bedding for next year and I am stocked in seed for that. I have my seed kits ready, its just a question of getting my remaining seeds and waiting for spring. Finally I have a some spring sweet peas 'borderline' growing well. To help keep them warm I have them sat in a plastic container filled with straw.

Shows and Gardens

2005-08-22T12:10:00.000Z

I visited Shrewsbury Garden Show last weekend, I enjoyed three counties best but the show had plenty to offer and to look at. The show is more country fair than any show I visited before but it offered a good selection of plants to buy and it was easier to get planting advice than at three counties.

I was this weekend a visitor to Chatsworth House, home to the duke and duchess of dybershire with several hundred years of growing new and exciting plants. It showcases an amazing boulder filled rock garden, a giant step based water fall (both of these were built in the 17,00's)and amazing 100 foot water fountain. In more recent times its added a sensory garden and kitchen garden. The sensory garden I enjoyed for its wide range of planting, textures and smells. Herbs planted at hand height allow you to rub the leaves as you walked past enjoying the amazing smells of fennal, mint, sage and lemon balm amongst others. The kitchen garden show cased the estates one prior need for a large kitchen with an amazing range of fruit and veg. I would have liked to have seen a few gardeners from the estate around the garden so folks could ask questions about how they grow and cycle the crops (I noticed an array of rubarb pots I wanted to ask questions about). A plant sale is planned next month so I'll be returning to chatsworth for that.

Last of your summer jobs

2005-08-22T12:00:00.000Z

Now in the last few weeks of summer (Frost risk in the northen UK begins in mid september, around 3 weeks time) I have a couple of jobs left to do.

Make sure the greenhouse is ready for Autum, replace any broken glass (of which I have plenty), clean it out ready for winter storage and buy in a roll of bubble wrap so I can start insulating plants from frost risk.
Clean up the strawberry bed (I have already done this) and towards the end of this month mulch it with manure or compost.
Plants past their best can now be cut back and any summer bulbs that have finished flowering can be dug up. Remember to compost all suitable matter.
Keep turning your compost and water it if it dries out.

While the weather is still warm keep watering during dry spells and feeding every week. Remember also to keep deadheading your displays as many flowers are in contintous flowering season at the moment.

Planting cranberries

2005-08-07T14:34:00.000Z

The newest addition to the fold is 6 cranberry plants, these like acid sold that is very damp/boggy. Creating these conditions is important when you plant cranberries using either the side of a pond or as I will show here using lined holes. The first stage is to dig the hole you will plant the cranberry into (I am using plug plants).

Make sure the hole is of a good enough size to fit the plug and has enough room for the plant to grow and for the roots to spread, too narrow a hole and you will loose the bog effect you are looking to create. Next line the hole with plastic, to cut down on costs you can (as I have here) use thick refuse sack plastic.

Make sure the plastic lines the hole completely. Next refill the hole, this is an important stage. If you have sandy soil then you will lack the acid levels that Cranberry enjoys. You may have clay soil which is suitable for Cranberries, however rather than taking acid tests its easier to refill with a acid compost. As I have clay soil I have halfed the amount taken out and mixed with acid compost.

With the hole refilled make sure you tuck the plastic edges under and with your fingers create a hole in the center, into this hole add the plug and firm in.

Complete the job by covering the area with a mulch (bark chips in this case).

August, turn of the lillies

2005-08-01T21:24:00.000Z

August is now here and late summer has begun, next month is classed in the gardening calender as the start of early autum so for the time being we can enjoy the last of summer. This month sees lillies come into flower and from the pic above you can see a collection of lillies coming into flower.

As bulb plants these are one of the easiest to grow. Planted in late April to May (deep or high winds will blow them over) with manure dug into the soil they will start to appear in mid June. When the appear start feeding them to give them a boost and you will see flowers around this time. They will flower through August and will start to die down after that, when the foliage dies back you can then either leave in place or if you suspect garden nasties might go to work on them then lift and store for next year. Make sure the bulbs are dry when you store or them (and stored in a dry place) or mould may be set in and damage or destroy them.

Strawberries pt2

2005-07-24T15:37:00.000Z

Strawberries are getting to the end of there season now, you will start to see runners (on non alpine types) and using these you can grow new strawberry plants for next year. In the picture above you can see I have planted mini plants from the runners into pots of compost, these I have pegged in and will leave for 3/4 weeks to root. When rooted I will then replant these into their final postion in the bed. It's worth noting which plants are new plants for next season as 3 season plants should be dug up and disposed.

When planting runners plant the first mini plant and avoid planting on any further mini plants. When you have replanted the mini plant then remove the runner from the main plant. This should take you into early/mid August and either when no more runners appear or you do not wish to grow any more mini plants then you can start to cut the main plant back. When I reach this stage I will post the next steps.

Pots

2005-07-24T15:14:00.000Z

For patio space you simply can't beat pots to a wonderful display of colour and scent. I favour growing a mixture of flowers and herbs in different pots to create a different display of shapes, color and smell.

Here I have mixed, mint, limemint and pinapple sage with various flowers. Also flowering are various lillies and a chocolate cosmos (if you love chocolate buy this plant).

This is a great way of display flowers, I opted for flowers that would spill out of the sides of the container to create upwards and outwards effect around the well.

Hanging Baskets

2005-07-24T15:06:00.000Z

This year has seen some real success with hanging baskets. Planted in the spring from plug plants in a compost/watergell/slow feed mix and watered daily, fed weekly the results have been amazing.

Hiddden away in this basket are cherry tomatoes. I tend to top up the general feed with a potash feed for the tomatoes, while not as useful to the flowers it still aids there growth and I think the results speak for them selfs.

Gardening, happy and sad

2005-07-13T07:57:00.000Z

Monty Don once described some of the emotions that as a gardener you will feel, happy that your plants are doing well, happy that your veg is ready and on the boil, happy that your summers are spent eating all your fruit, happy that your garden is full of life and enjoying all your efforts. Flip the coin, sad that your plants have been destroyed by slugs, greenfly and other garden nasties. Sad that your plants are unwell and no matter what you do they are doomed. Prehaps your just sad that no matter what you do, a plant just won't take, your seedlings die or your bedding plants just wilt the day after you planted them.

Sad I lost my potatoe crop to blight, happy I have had a bumper crop of strawberries, gooseberries and blackcurrents.

Potatoes

2005-06-26T22:50:00.000Z

Talked about them very briefly before, I am almost ready to harvest this years potatoe crop. Growing potatoes (or spuds) is one of the easist vegtables to grow but like everything you need to ensure you give them some TLC to get the best from them. Where you grow them depends on what space you have. If you have some room spare in yoru garden a small plot might be best. If you have a small graden will minium space then pots will work. Depth is very important when growing spuds, in the ground and whats your soil like, heavy clay and even spuds which are great soil breakers will not be able to penetrate. If pots then can you ensure the pot will be deep enough (1/2 foot deep at min).

As root crops, spuds need depth, too shallow and the spuds won't develop enough and the resulting stems will snap. The best method I have found and a great space saver is to use a purpose made spud grower. These cost around £25.00 and are made from plastic, they are narrow enough to allow you grow them in the smallest of gardens and deep enough to let you achieve a very deep root (4 foot or so). They are also great in that they allow you to build up the soil level in the container as the spuds grow.

Growing spuds is done from seed potatoes, these are potatoes selected as the best of the crop to let you develop the next crop. It's possible to grow spuds from the supermarket spuds but you can't ensure what the crop will turn out like, seed potatoes will at least start your crop off strong. The seed potatoes must be left to 'chit', if you have ever gone on holiday and forgot about the bag of spuds you keep only to return and find them sprouting shoots then you will have seen 'chiting' potatoes. When we grow them you can do this by placing the seed potatoes in egg cartons and leaving them on sunny window sill (not direct light). When the shoots appear you can plant them on.

Plant them deep, 3/4 foot is about right. Make sure the area is weed free and plenty of manure has been dug in. If using a planter then set them on a bed of compost. As the spuds grow 'earth them up', this means keep the developing shoots just above the soil level at all times, if the shoots develop beyond the soil level too much then light can get to the developing tubers and turn them green (not good). When you reach soil level or the top of the planter then let the stems and leaves develop. When fully developed you will see a tall leggy plant with big green leaves.

When you harvest your crop is a cause of confusion if you have never grown them before. In general, let the spuds flower from this point on you can harvest. Its said the longer you leave them in the ground the better the taste. After flowering the stems will start to yellow and die, don'y be alarmed this is natural but I would earth up all spuds at this stage to avoid any attack by a garden nasty and any possible virus or diease starting.

Finally some words on spud types, spuds come in three types, earlies, mids and lates. These refer to when in the year you can plant them and when you harvest them. You can for example get spuds through the year by planting and growing different types, eariles in later winter for spuds in later spring, early summer, mids in mid spring for spuds in later summer and lates in later summer/early autum for spuds in mid to late winter (timed right you will get them for christmas). Refer to your seed potatoe supplier, packing or surf your chosen seed potatoe type.

I am growing king edward (mid sorts) and these are getting ready to flower, by early/mid July these will flower and will begin to die down late july and into august. Looking forward to bbq baked spuds :)

June is a busy month for all

2005-06-26T22:27:00.000Z

June means plenty of Sun and plenty of rain in the UK, sometimes its lots of one and not a lot of the other. This year has seen record levels of sun for the UK with hot conditions meaning daily watering has been required. This all means that your garden is growing flat out and your faced with a weekly tidy up. By staying ontop of your garden duties your ensuring that your working with the plants as they grow, giving them the right conditions to let you enjoy them at there best.

Some of the jobs I have been faced with has been

Cutting goosberries back 5 to leaves per lateral, at 2 years old this bush is now of the right age for this condition of cut.
Changing the straw on my strawberry bed, now a weekly task to ensure the straw stays fresh and clean (which in turn keeps the strawberries clean).
Picking out my first crop of goosberries (which were used in a great crumble :) and strawberries as they appear. Be sure to keep your eye on strawberries as they ripen, once ripe they become a prime target for birds and slugs so if your not quick enough the garden nasties will beat you to it.
Runners on strawberries will also start growing now so be sure to pot up any runners. I have used a small pot dug into the soil with a garden wire loop to peg it in. Later in the year these will root and can be grown on, a subject for a future post.
The nettle liquid feed is now ready and the remains I fished out into the compost. The resulting liquid smells to high heaven and on a hot day is really bad. Watered down this feed is a great general purpose feed that all my plants have been enjoying.
The tomatoes are now flowering and will begin to fruit next month, remember to remove any side shoots.
Securing the raspberries to there supports and making sure all my fruit bushes have had a potash feed. The raspberries are growing strongly on one cane and weak on the others, I suspect this is just a strong cane and the others are taking more time. By ensuring they are well conditioned I am hopefully going to build there strength.
Daily watering
Weekly weeding, feeding and lawn cutting.
A few jobs coming up include cutting out the tops of my sage and mint plants, these are quite strong plants that will dominate an area, potted with flowers they make a great display but need keeping in check and you will get more from them. The subject of growing herbs and my favoured method of potting them with flowers I will cover in a later post.
Next month may see more goosberries and strawberries, blackberries, brambleberries, and potatoes. I will also hopefully see my lillies flower, they are almost ready to flower and I am looking foward to it.

Growing this month

2005-06-16T22:02:00.000Z

Growing this month

potatoes neally in flower (2/3 more weeks and they will flower, when this happens I will earth them up).

Gooseberries, some are ready to be picked some are close. You can pick the ripe ones off now but I prefer to wait, let them keep getting riper and pick all at once. You normally need nets to keep birds off but my pet cat charges around the garden so often they don't visit much.

Blackberries, starting to turn. A good month before they will be ready.

Strawberries, growing well. Again a good month before they will be ready.

Garlic, growing quickly in the humid, warm weather at the moment.

Strawberries

2005-06-16T21:52:00.000Z

Gardening mags are full of articles on growing strawberries at the moment so I won't over repeat anything. Most Garden centres will stock Strawberries at this time of year, how you grow them is up to you, I grow them in the ground and in pots mixed with flowers and herbs. When you plant them mix up some bone/blood feed and water in well, the trick witj strawberries is to keep watering them and to keep them off the ground (to prevent pests and rotting). Easy in pots, on the ground use either permable plastic or if you have it on hand straw (if like me you have a Rabbit then this may be on hand anyway). If you have a lot of damp weather remember to replace the straw as damp straw is just as bad as the ground its self.

Most strawberries are runner plants, that is they grow runner from the main plant that will grow onto a new plant. Peg these runners to the ground they are more likely to grow. If you place the runner into a pot these will be easier to replant. The more runners that you grow the more strawberries you will get, its possible to increase your stock of strawberries in this fashion.

Strawberries enjoy a feed and potash is best for them, dig into the soil around the plant and water in well. I repeat this twice a month over the growing season and if there has been a lot of rain over a week then also give a liquid feed.

High summer, no blogging, more gardening

2005-06-16T21:44:00.000Z

High summer means more time outdoors and in the UK its a busy time. Everything is now in full season and requires watering in dry peroids and regular dead heading. Keep an eye out for weeds as these will be in full growth, sunny days are best as you can unearth them and let them wilt in the sun. If you have a week or so of rain followed by sun then remember to give your plants a booster feed, the rain will wash a lot of the good stuff away so give your plants a top up. The liquid nettle feed will do just great.

Nettles, gardeners friend

2005-06-05T17:32:00.000Z

Nettles are by some frowned upon by some gardners. If you have a wild patch in your garden chances are it will quickly be uprooted and put to use. Sadly this patch can serve so many purposes in your garden thats its worth considering leaving it alone. A wild patch can serve as a natural habitat for garden friendly wildlife like bees, hedge hogs and lady birds. The wild plants that grow there can also be of a huge help to your garden which brings me to my topic.

Nettles are one of the most useful plants in the garden. Young nettles can be used as a natural accelerator in your compost and they can be used to rot in water as a liquid feed, see Alans notes on the subject for more of what I mean.

So if you have a wild patch in your garden, leave it be and let it help you.

Mulches

2005-05-30T20:59:00.000Z

A bank holiday weekend in the UK so some quality time in the garden, I have mulched most of my border space this weekend so I figured I would mention it here. A mulch serves a few purposes, mainly to retain water in the soil, to prevent weed growth and to add visual appeal. There are many mulches you can choose from, bark, coco shell and manure etc. You can also choose non-organic mulches, membranes that allow water through. You can also combine these if you don't want your borders massed in black, speading a organic mulch over the the membrane.

I opted for bark much, this sort of much does decay over time and will take potassium from the soil in the process. As such I will need to add liquid feed woodash or other pootassium rich feeds every month to ensure that the balance is retained. Bark is a great looker and hard wearing protective cover thats attactive to soild friendlies so I doubt mind too much.

To be effective make sure you spead the mulch 1/2 inches thick, avoid bunching the mulch around plant stems as this may cause them to rot. Also be careful of any seedlings coming up, any areas that have new seedings in avoid mulching until they are big enough to avoid covering. A mulch can kill plants as much as weeds.

Compost secrets

2005-05-27T12:13:00.000Z

You will typically go through a lot of compost in your Garden and to cut down on costs and help the enviroment its a good idea to start your own. First select a location, prime growing real estate is often taken in your garden so at best select a spot thats sheltered from the wind and its not too shaded (semi shade is ok but full sun is best). Make sure the postion also offers somewhere to drain off to, compost creates a waste liquid that should drain off into the soil. The soil also invites worms and other garden friendlies into your waste to help break it down. As such avoid a placing on a patio if possible.

Next select what kind of compost you create, if you have a bigh garden or a plot then a open heap is a good idea. You will generate enough waste material to maintain its size. On a smaller scale, you will need a container. A spare waste bin with drainage holes is a good DIY container but most councils now offer compost schemes with purpose made continers available at cheap prices. These also offer a handy window into the base of the container to take the compost out at will but your preferance may be to lift the container off and take out the compost that way.

What you can use in your compost is really up to you, some examples include veg peelings, cut flowers, shredded paper, animal and human hair etc. Things to avoid include cooked food and meat (attacts vermin) and weeds, large qty of grass (it turns to slime). I would start your compost with a bed of straw to ensure drainage and build up in layers. If you want to speed things along then you need plants that will help feed the bacteria. Small qtys of grass can be used but I favour nettles, young nettles are best. You can also add manure, rabit manure is something I favour but you also use horse manure. Avoid adding too much horse manure however, it contains a lot of seeds that can surive the compost process.

You can add a little lime if you wish, compost can build up acid levels and you may wish to level the pH. The trick with compost is keep adding to it, the more it builds up the more heat it will generate (and the more bacteria will be able to help rot down the material). Also avoid adding large qtys of anything, too much wet material for example can prevent air getting into the compost and stall the process.

Compost can take 6-12 months so get ready to wait for your compost. When its ready I would recommend that you use more sparingly than you would with commerical compost. It will be much richer than you may be used to and young, tender plants may not get on with it. Mix with general purpose compost or soil.

Three counties spring show

2005-05-25T07:10:00.000Z

Very late in posting about this as it was some two weeks ago but with Chelsea flower show on this week its a nice time to talk shows. The show was near the bottom of the Malven hills and it was a great back drop to the show. Lots to see and do at the show, this was my first show and I stunned by its size and amount of people at the show (1000's). RHS Awards on the show gardens have been given and there were some great displays, I enjoyed the 'nature takes back' garden that featured a man made enviroment being take back by nature (complete with broken wall and bath tub). It was more wild in its planting and less man made lines.

The floral marquee was massive with stall after stall of plants and flowers to buy, it took two hours to get around and I ended up with arms full of plants and flowers. I noticed folks with wheel-barrow loads, prices were low but still you could do your wallet some damage :) All in all a great show, the summmer show is next month I recommend if your not skint from Chelsea you go along.

A garden fan

2005-05-24T07:42:00.000Z

I am a long time blogger, 3 years or so and started out on blogger and by way of Radio and .Text I have carried on blogging. I wanted to start a more personal blog on a passion of mine and keep my techy blog on techy subjects. So here is my blog on gardening :)

I live in the north west of England and the soil tends to be heavy clay, untreated its sodden wet in winter, dry and rock hard in summer. With work you can turn that around and get the soil type and balance you want. Digging through it is worth while as most plant roots can't get through the compacted clay and will spead them selfs along it resulting in a narrow root spread. I have had potatos suggested as a way of planting to break the clay but again the compact clay proves too much. The very best policy is dig it up.

Winter wet months are the best time for this when the clay is soft, it will be heavier to lift but easier to get through with your spade. Start small and work a bit at a time, dig as deep as possible, 2 feet is good overall depth. Take off any top soil first, put to one side. Dig out all the clay and half fill with manure or leaf mould etc. Bag the rest of the manure and store for spring (it will rot down). Put the clay back ontop and put the top soil onto the rest of the garden. Over winter the cold, frost and wet will help break the clay up. When the weather allows try to keep breaking it up and turning it over, that way the weather can get at the big clumps. By spring and drier weather you can start to break down the top surface, I would cover with a mulch of rotted manure for a few weeks and then work that in. You can start to plant in this now as the broken up clay will allow roots to penetrate.