April 2009

Showing off

The Flower Show season is getting into full swing now, so this is a great opportunity to go and see what’s new this year. The growers have worked hard to choose and display their best plants – and the best part is that you can usually buy the plants you see.

At the Harrogate Flower Show this week, the early Clematis looked stunning (yes, I bought a C. cartmannii ‘Moonbeam’), but more importantly (for me) I discovered that rather than try and grow this particular type upright (as I’d been doing) they look much nicer trailing. And that’s the second joy of shows like this. Go and get ideas for your own garden. You may come back with an empty bag, but a full head instead.

For a full list of UK shows, please see our Events list.

Full leaf

Before we went to Harrogate, I sowed a pot of Mesclun mixed salad leaves from Johnson’s World Kitchen range (500 seeds for £1.85). By the time I came back, they’d germinated and are about ½ an inch high. I intend to harvest these as baby leaves, so I sowed about half the pack into a pot about 10in across. That sound quite dense, but with regular harvesting, it should last for several weeks, although it’s important to keep up with the watering. I’m going to sow the other half in about 3 weeks, so it will take over as this one fades. Fresh and delicious as a salad or in a sandwich.

*On the pack, they recommend you mix a little sherry vinegar, hazelnut oil, olive oil and a squeeze of lime juice together then toss the leaves in it and add toasted pine nuts and sliced apple or pear.

Mmm, sounds great!

For more information, visit

www.johnsons-seeds.com.

Tomatoes

These are best sellers in the garden centres again this week and it will soon be warm enough for them to go outdoors full time in most of the UK. There’s great interest this year in grafted tomatoes, which were popular many years ago and are making a come-back. These are ideal for growers who prefer to plant their tomatoes into border soil (rather than pots or grow-bags of fresh, sterile compost), because tomatoes are prone to several soil-borne diseases that are not easily eradicated. The rootstock of the grafted plant is selected to be strong-growing and resistant to these diseases, and the tasty, fruiting variety is grafted onto the top, giving you a good crop of healthy fruit without the danger of infection.

Children in the garden

There’s a huge drive at the moment to get children involved in gardening, which can only be good. Everyone is working to get children growing and learning about the plants around them and the food plants they eat. The Royal Horticultural Society is on track to have a Learning Centre at each of their gardens and there will be a strong emphasis on school involvement at the Chelsea Flower Show this year, especially in the exhibit sponsored by the Sun newspaper. Ironically, many of these youngsters will soon know more about gardening than their “lost generation” parents, who have been working so hard that they didn’t learn from their parents and grandparents the way previous generations did.

Pest watch

This is a new feature that will help you identify and deal with pests in your garden.

Lily beetle

When: mostly in spring, although can occur in summer.

What on: members of the lily family, like lilies and Fritillarias.

Damage: eats away the flowers and foliage.

What to look for: bright red beetle, also piles of black mess on stems and leaves (they cover newly-laid eggs with excrement to protect them).

Control: pick off and remove individual beetles by hand or spray with a systemic insecticide, such as Bug Clear Ultra from Scotts or Provado Ultimate Bug Killer from Bayer.

Missed opportunity

The horticulture trade is lamenting the missed opportunity to clear up the confusing situation regarding peat use in the garden. It was hoped that the recent BBC program would put across the facts and explain both sides of the case, but in the end it was “too one-sided to be any use”.  According to experts, blanket bog covers 10 million hectares worldwide and is not a threatened environment in most of the countries it lies in, as their industry depends upon its maintenance. Conversely, coir is transported great distances and is not the “waste product” it is claimed to be; removing it actually deprives the local people of a valuable resource.

Retailers are reporting a big swing away from peat-free compost, with most customers saying they found it unreliable and full of weeds.

Boom time

The current economic climate is encouraging more people than ever to get out and start gardening. Garden centres report a bumper Easter sales period (despite poor weather in some areas) and a new report says that people are less willing to try new leisure activities at the moment, preferring to spend more time on the few they know they enjoy – one of which is gardening. Top of the plant sales this week were tomatoes, with ‘Tumbler’ and ‘Gardener’s Delight’ taking the top 3 places. Both are cherry varieties and are good for growing outdoors in most of the UK. Next came salad leaves, as the warmer weather makes us start eating more salads – try some in a pot, they’re delicious, but you’ll need to keep the slugs away!

Trade-in

Wyevale garden centres are asking their customers to trade in their old gardening tools for new ones to help charity. Anyone who takes in an old tool receives a voucher for 20% off to redeem against a new tool from Wilkinson Sword, Yeoman or Joseph Bentley ranges.

Garden Centre Top 3 this week :

1. Gardman Post Light (Stainless Steel Solar Light)
2. Scotts Levington Tomorite 1L
3. Gardman Marker Light

(Looks like we’re all looking for easy, low-cost garden lighting!)

  Got a sheltered garden?

Barcham trees, Europe’s largest container tree nursery, are now offering specimens of the spectacular Lagerstroemia indica to British gardeners for the first time via its website www.barchamonline.co.uk. This native of China and Korea was introduced to Kew Gardens in 1759 and forms a small tree with a rounded, flat-top. It can reach 10m high and is hardy to -12C, but really needs a sunny, sheltered position to do well. The young foliage is bronze, the flowers are deep pink or violet and the autumn leaf colours are spectacular.

Going to seed

We’re buying so much vegetable seed this spring that the suppliers are already raiding next year’s supplies to keep us going. According to the marketing manager of Suttons (one of the biggest producers of veg seed) there is the possibility that top-sellers will run out and people will have to look at alternatives.

Chelsea decline

Diarmuid Gavin is taking the blame for the drop in show gardens at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Down from 22 gardens in 2008 to 14 this year, the gardens are being hit by a lack of sponsors in these troubled times. Gavin says that “Five years ago everyone was excited by garden design but Chelsea has lost its way a bit and got silly and I would be a large part of that happening”. His own sponsor pulled out this year after the design got “too complicated and expensive”.

Easter sales

This is expected to be a bumper weekend in the garden centres, with Easter coming later in the year and after a spell of mild weather.

* We’d just like to add that if you are buying young veg plants and/or bedding, do make sure you can protect them from the weather, as it’s still a bit early to put them outside full time. Here in the South East, we’re still getting regular frosts that will kill tender young plants at a stroke. You’ll need a windowsill, greenhouse, cold frame, cloche or just several layers of horticultural fleece (or newspaper) to keep them safe.

New Clematis

Top Clematis breeder Raymond Evison has produced two stunning new varieties to look out for:

C. ‘Diana’s Delight’ has large blue flowers with a creamy-yellow centre and flowers through late spring and early summer, and then again in late summer and early autumn,

C. ‘Chevalier’ will be introduced at the Chelsea Flower Show and has large, rich-purple flowers that age to mid-blue. Bred to be very free-flowering, it is ideal for containers or the small garden.

Water good idea!

Hozelock are planning to provide every school in the country with a subsidised Aquapod micro-irrigation system to help them grow plants with the children. They will launch the campaign at the Chelsea Flower Show, where pupils from Ranelagh School in Berkshire will create a playground garden sustained by Aquapods. For more information, go to www.hozelock.com

Top 3 in the garden centre this week

1. Gardman Marker Light Stainless Steel, singles
2. Scotts Levington Tomorite 1L
3. Gardman Post Light, Stainless Steel Solar Light

Going to pot

Lots of biodegradable pots are coming on to the market this spring, which is good news for all of us with a small mountain of used pots sitting in the garden. Made from all sorts of natural materials, like rice and bamboo, they are designed to last 2-3 years and then break down in active compost within about 6 months.

Feeling the heat

Don’t go looking for a new mercury-filled thermometer from now on. They can no longer be sold under an EU directive. Barometers containing mercury can be sold until October.

Time for bed

We’ve seen various kits for making raised beds this year, but the easiest (and lightest) so far is one made from 100% recycled plastic. It comes as 8 rigid panels plus corner links and fastening clips, and makes a bed 60cm square by 21cm high - which isn’t very big, but it would fit on the patio along with the furniture and allow you to produce salad leaves and herbs for the whole summer. More information on 01704 896893

Taking the strain

The new battery-powered secateurs from Bosch look set to do well this spring, especially with people who have trouble using conventional secateurs for any length of time. The Ciso is powered by a 3.6V lithium ion battery and a 5-hour charge will give around 40 minutes cutting time (about 500 cuts). More information on 01449 742000

Top 3 in the garden centre this week:

1. Scotts Levington Tomorite
2. Gardman Marker Light Stainless Steel, Single
3. Fito Drip Feeder for Orchids

Grow your own

Top of the plant sales in the garden centres for last week were peppers and tomatoes, mostly as young plants in 4-packs.

Our tip; if you are buying young plants like these, make sure you have somewhere frost-free to keep them. They can’t go outside full-time until around mid-May (depending whereabouts you live) due to the risk of late frosts.

Get children involved

There are lots of projects this year to get children involved in gardening and we wish them all luck. It’s vital to their health for kids to know what they’re eating and understand where it comes from. There are lots of easy-to-grow vegetables that they can start off with - and if you look for the ranges being marketed by the seed companies specifically for children, the varieties have been chosen to have the mildest or sweetest flavours (like ‘Sugarsnax’ carrots), so they can enjoy eating them too.