As mentioned previously, I like to extend the flowering season as much as possible, including getting flowers as early as possible. To this end, I have been overwintering my fuchsias, pelargoniums etc in my unheated greenhouse, as they can be flowering in March or April. If you do this, you should open the greenhouse doors and windows on fine days, as much as possible, to avoid getting grey mould (dilute vinegar is great to keep this at bay). However, it is very difficult to avoid getting the grey mould, and I suffered the same problem. I was getting a newer, much bigger greenhouse delivered, so I transferred the 100+ plants temporarily to my conservatory, noting the mould straight away (see photo 1). But don’t be disheartened, you can easily cut the infected parts off (see photo 2). Just make sure you a) cut into ‘green’ material, not brown, dead material b) cut just above a leaf node (to encourage more shoots) c) you prune the plant to a nice shape d) you scrupulously take away all the infected material, and spray the workbench with vinegar.

Whilst I wait for the major seed sowing to start in a couple of weeks in my heated garden room (including heated mats), I have been chitting my potatoes (some of them in photo 3), including 7 different varieties (including some for RHS Shows). These can be planted into potato bags in early March, and into the ground in late March (assuming no heavy frosts). Photo 4 shows the Anya potatoes, and for those who wish to enter the competition for the heaviest crop from one Anya potato, I will put these out for people to pick up in my drive, at the end of February.

Finally, just to show that I have as many failures as everyone else, photo 5 shows an amaryllis in full flower. I planted 2 of them in mid October, both the same size bulbs, in the same place (my conservatory), the same compost, same size pot, same amount of light, same level of watering. One did indeed flower for Xmas, and this one flowered 6 weeks later. You cant win them all!

PS – I still have lots of spring bulbs for sale for charity, in my front drive

Happy gardening

Kevin

Whilst waiting for the start of the February seed sowing season, some of us are thinking about how we can extend the flowering season in our gardens, so here are a couple of tips, especially us lucky ones down in the south.

Some plants, including those sometimes seen as annuals, can in fact be overwintered in a cold (but lined) greenhouse or conservatory, including pelargoniums, fuchsias, even antirrhinums and osteospermums etc. They will then be ready to plant into the garden in late March, and could be flowering in April. This is my cold greenhouse, shown in photo 1. You should open the greenhouse door as much as possible when the weather is fine, to avoid fungal infection, but this can easily be cut off if necessary, the plant will survive.

Back in September last year, I took some cuttings from my pelargoniums and fuchsias, and these are shown in photo 2. These can also be planted out in March (if no severe frosts), flowering in April, albeit as smaller plants. This compares with purchased pelargoniums/fuchsias etc, not normally available as large garden-ready plants until May (although mini plugs for growing on, may be available before then).

Also, perennial summer-flowering bulbs wouldn’t normally be in bloom until May or even June if already planted in your garden, or from garden centres. This is because they often need a period of ‘vernalisation’ (ie the plant thinks it is winter, and waits for spring). However, if you buy such bulbs (lilies, gladioli, liatris and many others), in late winter like just now, and plant into a warm greenhouse/conservatory/windowsill, this will fool the plant into believing it is now spring, and it will start to grow. Some people put the bulbs into the fridge for a week before planting out. Photo 3 shows some oriental lilies I only planted 2 weeks ago in my heated garden room, and these will be in flower in April (again watch out for late heavy frosts).

In fact, I am looking to have at least 2 or 3 plants in flower in every month of the year. I currently have snowdrops and iris reticulata bulbs, winter jasmine, mahonia, hamamelis (witch hazel), and my camelia, viburnum and quince are just starting their first flowers. This is in addition to the winter bedding plants – primrose, pansy, viola, cyclamen.

Happy gardening!!

I am having a sale of spring garden bulbs in pots from Monday, on my front drive, to raise money for my charity (not the U3A one unfortunately).

Well, I mentioned last week about planting sweet peas, and the first photo is of those peas – with some bottom heat from a warming mat – just starting to sprout. Once you have 2 sets of leaves on those sweet peas, they no longer need bottom heat, and you can put them in an unheated greenhouse, a cold frame, under a sheltered porch/overhang, or a cold conservatory/shelf. No need for any heat. So these have sprouted in 6 days, and can go into a cold frame in about 3 weeks. This is important, as February is a good month for planting many flower and vegetable seeds, so we need to free up space on the tables in greenhouses and windowsills before then.

The second photo is of the sweet peas in my cold greenhouse, that I planted last October. I have already ‘pinched them out’ once (ie cut them off with secateurs, scissors or fingernails, leaving just 2 pairs of leaves), and will do so again. This will make them more bushy, with more flowers. Finally, I will plant sweet peas direct into the ground in April, a total of 3 sowings. This will mean I will have constant flowers from May until October, with a lovely scent. And you don’t need a garden to grow sweet peas – a patio, conservatory or even a windowsill are fine, so have a go. And if you haven’t got anywhere to train the sweet peas up with, there are now many types of dwarf sweet peas, that work fine just in pots. The only other seed I have planted are the chillies, as they need about 6 months to grow/produce ripe fruit. All other seeds can wait until February.

The third and fourth photo are of wisteria. As all the leaves have dropped, it is now easy to see what is happening. The third photo shows a correctly pruned cluster, with lots of knobbly bits. Each of those knobbly bits will turn into a gorgeous pendant cluster of flowers, so it looks good for flowers this spring. The fourth photo shows a spot I had previously missed, with a couple of ‘long stringy growth’ branches. That growth is the plants store of excess nitrogen, which it uses to fund more growth (it uses phosphates, potash and potassium for the flowers), and if we didn’t cut those long spindly branches off, the wisteria would have a lot of extra growth (it can grow 12ft in a season!), and a lot less flowers. So I will prune off that excess growth. And ignore anything you read in gardening magazines, with the much warmer temperatures down here in the south, you should prune wisteria a) in Sep or Oct – just chop off any excess growth (usually over 6ft in a mature plant) b) in Jan or Feb – down to a couple of shoots beyond last years growth (ie brown wood). Don’t cut off any ‘knobbles’, and don’t prune in the first couple of years until established.

The last photo is of one of my apple trees, and January is about the very last time you can prune apples and pears in the winter. As you can see, it has already been pruned, so lots of those ‘knobbly bits’ means we will get lots of blossom. Fingers crossed we don’t have a cold snap whilst the blossom is out, so that we will have a bumper apple and pear crop, like last year. The only thing left to do for the apple and pear trees, is to smear tree grease around the bark, to trap the codling moth and other pests. Don’t prune plums, peaches or apricots in the winter.

Finally I have grown many of my apple, pear, cherry and plum trees in (large) pots, which can easily go on a small sunny patio, so you don’t even need a big garden to have your own fruit tree.

Happy gardening, don’t forget to feed the wild birds (Big Garden Birdwatch is 29-31Jan), and keep safe.

Kevin

Hi there everyone, I’ll be writing a weekly U3A brief on ‘things to do in the garden now’, to help while away a few hours during this awful lockdown.

There is a misconception that a) there is nothing to do in the garden in January b) you can’t garden if you only have a small patio or balcony. Nothing could be further from the truth, so how about trying some of the following:

1) chit some potatoes (best in eggboxes, but any tray will do), in sunlight, frostfree and indoors (or a greenhouse) somewhere. As the south is so much warmer than the rest of the country, these can be planted out as early as March. You don’t need to put them into the ground, you can use a potato bag, or any form of container, even on a patio or balcony. So get chitting!!

2) Sow some sweet pea seeds, around 8 in a small 2 inch pot, so you can then plant them direct where you want them to grow. Plant around 1 inch deep in compost, and keep somewhere warm until they have germinated. Thereafter in a frostfree but not heated location (a bathroom shelf?).

3) It is still not too late to prune roses, and indeed any late flowering perennial plants. But don’t prune anything early flowering, or with a bud, like camellia, peiris, azalea, rhododendron etc. And you really can’t overprune any well established perennial plant, so prune fractionally above a bud, and watch the flower profusion later on in the year.

4) if you have somewhere frostfree, you can plant up some of the summer flowering corms/bulbs, like gladioli, begonia, dahlia, acidanthera, lily, liatris spicata etc. Make sure they have more than the depth of the bulb, in compost above the bulb.

5) It is too early to plant seeds yet, except for sweet peas and chillies, which both need bottom heat for germination. Later in the year, chillies, dwarf tomatoes and cucumbers, peppers, lettuce/radish/spring onions, can all be happily grown on a warm sunny location in your house.

6) Many plants are still bulking up their bulbs/corms under the (frozen) earth – agapanthus is a good example – so try and feed it with either a liquid feed (tomato feed, comfrey, seaweed etc), or horse compost/garden compost.

We are having a competition amongst the U3A Greenfingers group, to get one chitted Anya potato (which I will provide), put into a 12-14inch pot or similar, grown on, then we will weigh the potatoes produced on a given date in June, to see who has the heaviest crop. If you would like to get involved with this competition, or if you have any general gardening queries, email me on kandpsteele@btinternet.com

Finally, gardening is great for our mental and physical health, good for the environment, and gives us hope for the future in such awful times. So get out there and garden, even if you only have a patio or balcony, and get out there today!!

Kevin Steele