Well, after all the frozen ground we had last week, this week’s weather has been so much better, so I have been very busy. With my new (unheated) greenhouse sorted (hurrah!), I have been moving some of the plants from my heated garden room, freeing up more space there for planting lots of seeds. I have already planted my chillies and sweet peas as you know, so this week I planted the tomatoes (11 different varieties – daft I know), and cucumber, as they both need bottom heat (I use heatmats). To get an early start, I also thinly planted spring onions and carrots, in shallow trench containers, so they can be simply plonked into position in the beds in a month or so, without disturbing the roots. Not on heatmats, but in the warm garden room. I also planted leeks, mint and chives, for pricking out later on. It’s still too early for beans/peas etc. Photo one shows the compost I used for planting, and includes about 30% Perlite, plus some sieved leaf mulch. As well as my various leaf and root cuttings, I will start my annual flowers off next week, including antirrhinum, petunia, pelargonium, alyssum, cosmos, marigolds etc. Very exciting stuff, spring is definitely coming!

I notice some of the garden birds have also started pairing up and looking for nesting sites, so now is a great time to both clean any boxes you may have, or add any new boxes (I have 5 already, 4 were occupied last year, and now adding 3 more). Remember to site 2-4m above ground, west or east (never south) work best down here, and sheltered if possible. 25mm holes for blue/coal tits, 28mm for great tits/tree sparrows, 32mm for house sparrows/nut hatches, and 45mm for starlings.

Finally, as previously promised, next Sunday (28Feb), I will leave some pre-chitted anya potatoes by my front door (64 Dudsbury Avenue, Ferndown, BH228DX). For those that want to enter the competition, please take one, and sign your name, so I know who is competing. You can pot it in a) a potato bag in early March b) in open ground at end of March. In June we will then dig them up, and weigh the potatoes, with a prize for the winner. If you can’t pick it up on Sunday 28Feb, please email me (kandpsteele@btinternet.com) for alternative arrangements.

So have a great time gardening, even if it is just a windowbox, because spring really is just round the corner!!

 

Kevin Steele

Well, Happy Valentines Day to everyone. As it has been extremely cold this last week, and the ground has been frozen, I have been concentrating on a few other jobs.

Firstly, I have been preparing all the compost from my hot bins (see photo 1), which is about 6 months old. Hot bins make great compost in 6 months in the winter, 3 months in the summer. I will use this to plant up my potatoes in potato bags at the end of Feb. See photo 2 for it ready to use.

Secondly, my new greenhouse should be finished in a week, so my conservatory and garden room are full of plants waiting to go into this new greenhouse. Earlier in autumn, I had taken root cuttings from eryngium, lupin, hollyhock, echinacea, gypsophilia and asters, so this week I have repotted these on into larger pots, as they have developed nice roots. Photo 3 shows some of these. The leaf cuttings I took last autumn from pelargoniums and fuchsias are now ready for repotting, when I have the space to do so. Photo 4 shows my crammed garden room.

Thirdly, I did manage a quick foray into the garden, to put in a bean trench. Beans and peas require lots of organic matter and mulch for their roots, so dig in as much as you can. If you don’t have a compost heap, just dig in some kitchen scraps (not meat) and newspaper, at the bottom of the trench. Whilst doing this, I came across several acorns that squirrels had stored for the winter, which had started to develop their taproot. So I’ve planted these on into pots (the taproot grows first, so just plant to acorn with the taproot down). Sure they will make a lovely present for someone who wants to commemorate a loved one.

Happy gardening

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