Gardening

         
Tips 
 

March

 
Pages
Homepage
About Mrs. Hartley
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Special Articles
Fish Ponds
Gardening Quotes

Gardening Tips Week Ending 7thMarch 2009

Hello Folks
             
Spring seems to have arrived at last with the bulbs coming on fast now. A small Hazel tree, which I grew from a nut some years ago, had a few catkins last year, but looks lovely this year with lots of bright pale yellow catkins hanging all over it.

The garden centres are filling up with lots of young bedding plants for baskets and tubs already pricked out for you in modules. It is still very early and they will soon get leggy if you keep them in the house as they need the light. They are best kept in a greenhouse, but it must be well heated for such delicate little plants. The only plugs I have bought so far are small Geraniums as they are a little bit slower to grow.

Perennials such as Lupins, Fox Gloves, Aquilegias and Penstemmons, etc can be planted out now. If you have Penstemmons and Sedums already in the garden, the old stems from last year can be cut down to reveal the new growth that will grow to produce the coming seasons flowers.

It will soon be time to start general seed sowing, but with many of the bedding plants such as Lobelia, the germinating seedlings are so tiny, it is a lot easier to buy a few plugs. On the other hand there are hundreds of dust like seeds in a packet and one packet would last you for years if the seeds keep germinating each year. I usually think of sowing Tomato seeds 6 weeks before putting the young plants out in a cold greenhouse, (normally in the last week of April,) and Runner Beans, Courgettes and Peppers should be alright by then as well.

I will try a few less popular and unusual vegetables in large tubs again this year. I put 3 Baby Sweet Corn plants to a tub last year and they did quite well, because with the plants being so close to each other it meant they pollinated well to set the corn.

If you are sowing Marrows, Courgettes, Squashes, Cucumbers or any other flat seeds, it is better to put the seeds on edge in the compost as they may rot if they are lying flat. Begonia corms can be started into growth now and they should be placed on damp compost, but do not cover the corm with compost. They shouldn’t be watered as such, but should be sprayed lightly and occasionally with water to start the buds swelling.

Well that’s all for now, good sowing

Frances Hartley

 

Gardening Tips Week Ending March 1st

Hello Folks

          Just a few words about Orchids. They are Epiphytes which naturally cling to the trees in the wild, so if you have had one as a present, or bought one, do not pot it as an ordinary bulb. They virtually sit on the compost and only dip their roots into it. The compost, which should be very open and only watered when dry, can be bought in reasonably small bags in Garden Centres. You can mix your own if you want by using one third ordinary compost, one third grit, one third shredded bark and a little charcoal.

Garden Centres are getting their plug plants in now and they do vary a bit in price, but they are ideal for potting on to use later in tubs and baskets, etc.

Begonia Corms are now about and best started into growth by standing a few on some compost in a half seed tray. They should be sprayed with water each day to encourage them to shoot. Summer flowering bulbs, Dahlia Tubers, Potatoes, Onion Sets and Shallots can also be bought. It is a bit late for Shallots now though, but they should still have plenty of growing time. Tomato seeds should be sown in the first week of March so that they will be ready to go into a cold greenhouse in April.

Amaryllis Bulbs that were bought in the Winter will have probably flowered by now and be coming to an end. The one I was given for Christmas had ten very large beautiful pink and white flowers on it. Don’t stop watering or feeding the bulbs just yet though, because they will develop healthy leaves that feed the bulb for next year. Wait until the leaves start to loose their colour and then gradually dry the pots off until the leaves are dead all the while keeping the pots in full sun to ripen the bulbs. They won’t flower at the same time next year as they did this year, because those for sale this winter were forced, but they should produce a new bud next year. If Amaryllis Bulbs are properly rested after flowering and then coaxed back into life they usually flower again every year as normal garden bulbs do, but sometimes they miss the first year after they were first bought when they had been forced. I have several that I kept from previous years that are now starting to produce new flower buds.

Good Gardening . That’s all for now, Cheerio,

Frances Hartley

 

Gardening Tips Weekend March 30th

Hello Folks

                    Spring is here and everywhere is bright with daffodils. If you are growing any in tubs or the garden, it is best to dead head them before they set seed and it is also a good idea to give the foliage a foliar feed or sprinkle some slow release fertilizer round the base of the clump. Do not cut off the leaves nor tie them down as they will feed the bulbs for the next year to make next years flowers. I know it looks untidy, but it is worth putting up with them for 6 weeks, after which a gentle pull should bring the browning leaves easily away from the bulbs.

There is a wide range of herbaceous perennials for sale now to brighten up the borders. They will die down again next Winter after their summer flowering and you may not be able to see the tiny new shoots next Spring when they start shooting, so if you are afraid of pulling them out because you can’t see very well push a short cane with a coloured cane cap on in the ground by them now and you will always know they are there.

I find Penstemons are very good as you can leave the old flowering stems on which will keep green throughout the winter to give a little green foliage in the garden. They can be cut down in the Spring to make room for the new growth which will flower in Summer. There is quite a big range of colours now. Aquilegias are also very pretty and easy to grow as they will readily seed themselves down. The common name for them is “Granny’s Bonnet.”

It is time to check all your tools after the winter when you probably did not use them much in the garden. To make sure I can find my tools easily, when I put them down while I am using them, I have bound the handles with yellow and green striped sticky tape which shows up quite well. This is especially a good idea with small tools like secateurs and trowels.

I have sown my first tomato seeds, which 6 weeks after germination will be ready to go in a cold greenhouse. We are still getting night frosts, so have some horticultural fleece handy, ready to drop over tender plants if they are in a cold greenhouse.

 Bye for now. Frances Hartley.