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Gardening Tips For Week Ending 5^th February 2010

                    Hello Folks

                                       It’s the start of another gardening year so lets hope it will be a better year weather wise. I have already made a start with early seed sowing, but not with annuals and only have a few Delphiniums potted so far. They can be sown in the Autumn as they are usually grown like a Bi-annual, ie, they grow one year to flower the following year, but if started early will do as well.

My son is helping me a lot more now as I can’t do so much since having my second hip done last spring. He has dug and prepared the Runner Bean trench and laid slabs to make paths so that it is easier to get at the beds; specially round the raspberries.

February is a good time to begin to start sowing Hardy Annuals and a few others. If Sweet Peas were not started in the Autumn, get them in as soon as possible. Instead of chitting the seeds, which is a fiddly job even if you have god eyesight, put the seeds in saucers of hot water for an hour and then sow them. When big enough, 2-3 inches or so, pinch out the tips and pot into 3 ½ inch pots, or into the long peat pots that will rot in the ground. After potting on, stand the plants in a cold frame, or cold greenhouse, until planting time comes around in April.

Some of the herb seeds can go in now, Basil, Oregano and Parsley are probably the most popular, but having said that a lot of people find Parsley difficult to germinate. I have my own way and it very rarely fails. Level the compost in your seed tray and gently firm it down. Next pour some really hot water over the compost and sow the seeds immediately on the hot soil and cover lightly. Put the tray in a plastic bag and place in a fairly dark, but warmish place. When the seedlings appear transfer the tray to a light place, a window ledge is ideal.

Spring flowering bulbs are on sale already potted in most garden centres. Bulbs for very early flowering such as Crocus – Ixias – Scillas and Snowdrops, to name but a few, are the main ones. These can be planted and left in situ’ for next year. They are probably a bit dearer buying them this way, but at least you can see them shooting and know they will grow alright which is quite important with Snowdrops at least, as they can be difficult to get shooting from dry bulbs.

Old flowering stems on perennials, that have been left on to give Winter protection for the new seasons shoots, can now be cut off and put on the compost heap. It is too early to hard prune shrubs and bushes like Buddleia and Roses yet, but dead flowers can be nipped off if not already done as some Roses flowered very late last year. If you had Black Spot on the leaves make sure the leaves have all been collected up and disposed off properly, because if they are left to rot, they will infect the soil all round them and you will get Black Spot again the next year. Do not compost them as the infection will contaminate your compost heap. This is also important to remember if you are in the habit of composting vegetable waste from your Kitchen. It was such a wet year last year it is possible that you may have the odd potato with Potato Blight on and if you throw these on the compost heap they will infect other plants such as Tomatoes.

Bye for now.
Frances Hartley

Gardening Tips Week Ending Feb 7th 2009

Hello folks

                        Hope this year will be better than last year’s wash out when a lot of fruit rotted, although we have not exactly had a dry Winter so far.

I grew all sorts of bulbs in pots last year and after they had finished in the Autumn we planted them in the garden along with some new bulbs that we bought cheaply just before Christmas. They are coming up thick and fast now and I am looking forwards to being able to have a lot of my own cut flowers instead of buying them.

There seem to be bigger selections of seeds each year in Garden Centres and garden catalogues with quite a lot of new vegetable seeds as well now besides all the flowers. We shall probably try a few new vegetables in pots as we haven’t really got much space left with all the fruit trees we planted last year. I like to get my seeds as soon as they are put out for sale and then they are stored in an old biscuit tin in the garage to keep them cool and out of the way of mice. Usually I get better germination as they remain more viable if kept cool as some of the shops that sell them are very warm.

Buddleias should be heavily pruned about the end of February and even if you cut into old wood they will shoot again. If Buddleias are not cut back hard they can grow far too big, especially for small gardens.

If you have stored your Dahlia tubers for the Winter, or bought new ones, they can gently be started into growth now by just putting them in trays on some slightly damp compost and keeping them cool, but frost free. When good, new shoots, appear and are 2-3 inches long they can be cut off and used as ordinary cuttings which you can root if you want some extra plants.

Tree ties should be checked to make sure they are still firm after the strong winds, but not strangling trees. A space should be left between trees and stakes to prevent rubbing and this is best done by putting the ties on in a figure eight shape.

To finish, the old fruiting canes, of Autumn fruiting Raspberries from last year, should be cut right down now, as they will fruit on the new canes.

Well that’s all for now

Frances Hartley

Hello folks

Spring is on it’s way and things are beginning to wake up in the garden now. If you grow Chrysanthemums it is time to take cuttings, but don’t take the cuttings from the stem as they will not be much good, take them from the new shoots coming at the base of the old plant. You can put 5 or 6 round the edge of a 5½ inch pot. I use compost with extra grit added to pot them in and a little Silver Sand sprinkled on top of the compost. When you push the cuttings into the compost make sure some of the silver Sand goes in with them. The compost should be damp, but not wet, before you put the pot in a plastic bag, tie the top of the bag and keep it in a cool and shady, but not dark place. After leaving it for about a month the cuttings should have developed some good rots and be ready for potting.

If you want Snowdrops in the garden it is better to buy them (in the green) in pots ready growing and plant them as soon as the flowers show signs of fading. Snowdrops are such tiny bulbs that they dry out very quickly so do not grow well from shop bought packeted bulbs.

If you have room in the greenhouse it is a good idea to take a bag of compost inside it to get any frost out and take the chill off it before you use it for planting. I have noticed most garden Centres are selling 3 X 70 litre bags for £10. This is a good price, but if you don’t want 3 bags you might be able to share with a neighbour or friend, to take advantage of the offer, it is certainly worth a try.

If you haven’t sown any Sweet Peas yet they can still be done. I like to soak mine for 5 or 6 hours first before planting. It is easier and safer than trying to chit them. After germinating, pot them up as small as you can handle them and when they have developed two pairs of true leaves pinch out the tips to make them bush out. Sweet Peas make long roots, so, either pot them singly in small deep pots, or in toilet roll inners stood in a tray of compost. You can pot the Sweet Peas into special deep Sweet Pea pots that you can buy from garden Centres. These special pots can be planted in the garden without removing the plants from the pots as they will rot down in the soil after planting, which means no root disturbance for the Sweet Peas and also means they will get away quicker making better plants.

Cuttings can now be taken from any Geraniums, that you saved out of your bedding display before the Winter, if they are shooting, as the old plants will have plenty of time to make some more shoots. The old plants can be watered now, but only sparingly.

I have some upright, slow growing, Euonymous which are evergreen and they have quite a lot of yellow in the leaves that makes a splash of colour during dull Winter days. If you have a bare piece of fence why not plant a Winter flowering Jasmine. They produce yellow flowers on a bare stem in the winter and then the leaves appear in the Spring, or after the flowers have finished. If you have a fairly large space what about a prickle free Golden Holly which can be pruned heavily if need be. The winter sun will make the leaves shine.

Hello Folks

                                       We have had a few frosty nights but I think Spring is on its way as daffodils are starting to make an appearance and the birds are getting very lively. There is a tub on our patio with some water in it and a thrush comes nearly every day for a bath. Sometimes one or two small birds wait on the edge for their turn.

Cut down old late fruiting Raspberry canes and it will soon be time to cut the Buddleias down as well. I like to cut mine down very low the last week in February. They will make plenty of new growth for flowering then. Hebe plants have been burnt with the frost this year but should be alright if all the frost damage is cut off when the weather improves. 

The garden centres have started getting the modules of seedlings in now as well as small pots of Geraniums. If the Geraniums are in peat pots just pot them as they are as the roots will grow through the peat pots. Sometimes the plants are in small special plastic pots with lots of holes in which are called rooting pots. The spaces in the walls of these pots will allow the roots to grow through as well so there is no need to disturb these plants either.

It is a bit early to buy modules of Buzzy Lizzies or Petunias unless you have a heated greenhouse. Sweet Peas will be alright in a cold greenhouse or cold frame and should be ready to have their tips pinched.

Hello folks

                    It’s a new growing year and we have had a decent fall of snow which I hope is the last of the winter, but at least the cold spell will have killed off most of the aphids and helped to break up your soil if you remembered to loosely dig the vegetable patch before the winter.

I saved some of my Geraniums from last years bedding by plunging the roots in dry compost without their pots, in an unheated greenhouse. I had lined the roof of the greenhouse with bubble polythene before the winter and when I put the plants into it I covered them with horticultural fleece for a little more protection. The Geraniums had no water all winter, but now that I have potted them I have given them just a drop and brought them into the house to bring them on so that I can take cuttings from them when they shoot.

The garden centres are now getting their stocks of young plants in that are potted in modules for those that want to make an early start and who have a greenhouse to keep them in until the weather warms up in the spring. I have bought a few more Geraniums and potted them on, because if we have a hot dry summer, they will like the conditions better than Busy Lizzies, Petunias or Trailing Lobelia. Trailing Geraniums and Trailing Begonias also look good in tubs as an alternative to lobelia. It is useful to have a few pots to fill in gaps and if you have a shady spot that needs brightening up pots of Busy Lizzies, Petunias and the fibrous rooted Begonias will grow well there.

Going back to Begonias for baskets, there are a good selection of corms about now. To start them off place them in trays with compost, but do not cover the tops of the corms with compost and just lightly moisten them. Unlike most bulbs they do not need covering and will stand on a fairly shady windowsill until they are shooting when they will need more light and can be potted up.

Hi Folks

                    The Christmas Roses (Helebores) will soon be finished flowering. I don’t normally do very well with the white ones, but the purple ones started flowering well, in late November. When the flowers have finished I like to put a handful of Growmore round the plants. When bulbs such as Daffodils and Tulips have finished, cut the dead flower stems off and scatter some growmore round them as well to feed the leaves that in turn will feed the bulbs for next year.

The winter flowering cherries will soon be flowering, smothering the trees with small pink or white flowers. If anyone wants the name they are called, “Prunus Autumnallis.”

Walking round the village it is nice to see the white of the snowdrops mixed with the yellow and purple crocuses. Winter flowering Pansies with their little faces make a splash of colour as well.

I shall be putting some tomato seeds in any day now so that in about 6 weeks they will be ready to go into a cold greenhouse. I have lined the greenhouse with bubble polythene and will keep some horticultural fleece handy in case we have any late frosty nights.

If you have kept any Geraniums and find they are growing well you can take cuttings from them to increase your stock. The plants will soon put some more growth on and become all the bushier for their trim. When rooting Geraniums do not use rooting powder but a thin layer of silver sand sprinkled on the surface of the compost will help rooting.