|
More
Web-sites!
Wellington
Field Allotments Hixon
Gardening
Tips
By Mrs FM
Hartley.
Unusual
& Old
Fashioned Fruit
Trees.
Unusual
Vegetables,
Herbs & Other
Edible Plants.
Environmental
Issues And Going Green.
Books
By
Alan J Hartley
|
|
Keeping Up With My Jobs.
It’s probably been the wettest Winter that we have ever had and I have
always said that having Woodchip Paths and raised Beds means that you
can get onto your Plot to carry out some Jobs even in the worst weather
that Winter throws at us, BUT this last Winter proved too much even for
the Woodchip which was often seen floating away! Indeed, one Path was so
bad that I decided to Slab it to raise the level up above the Water and
Mud. Fortunately for me, when I decided to do the Job, a number of
second-hand Slabs that had been rescued from a Vacant Plot, became
available. Instead of being an expensive job to lay 20 Slabs it was just
tiring! The Path has actually proved very useful just lately as well
because I have started to remove the Potted Garden Plants and Trees that
were on my Beds so that I can get to my Beds to Plant them up. I was
able to find a new home for the Trees that were on the beds and they are
all nicely lined up on the new Path.
Being on Slabs is a particularly good idea for Potted Trees as otherwise
their Roots will go through the holes in the bottom of the Pots and dig
into the ground beneath if allowed to. Then it is a nightmare to get the
Trees up as you end up damaging the Tap Root and you will also find that
there are no roots left in the Pots.
Most of my growing Beds have been covered for much of the Winter this
last year. I didn’t used to bother doing this, but having a weed free
bed at the start of the Season with no preparatory work is so much
easier than having to get stuck in and weed everywhere before you can
start planting.
With the terrible wet weather all winter this has been a bonus as I have
struggled at times to keep up to date with some of my Seasonal Jobs such
as Pruning the various Trees and Vines.
Grape Vines, Kiwi Vines, Contorted Hazel, (or indeed any Hazel Trees)
and my various Fig Trees all needed pruning at the end of Winter, as
Spring started to approach, whereas my Apples and Pears were pruned
actually during the Winter. When it was dry enough to use my Electric
Shredder, I put all of these Prunings though it and then used the
Shreddings as a Mulch on my Garden at Home.
It is always advised not to grass around Fruit Trees as the Grass can
rob the Soil of moisture and Nutrients that the Trees need – especially
when they are small. So here again, it is not bare soil beneath my
Trees, but Wood-Chip, which not only keeps the moisture in, but is good
to walk on to get at your Trees. On the subject of Pruning, I have also
taken the top completely off the Eucalyptus at home. I guess you could
say I have Pollarded it. Hopefully it will shoot again from the Trunk as
we are now entering the growing season. Done in the depths of Winter I
might have had some Die Back.
For the most part we have had a very mild start to the Season, with
virtually no cold nights never mind sharp Frosts although we did get a
bit of a late Frost in mid April that burnt the Kiwi Leaves. Everything
seems to be at least a couple of weeks early in shooting with some even
a Month early. Blossom is everywhere and with no frosts we may get a
bumper year for fruit later on as the Blossom hasn’t been spoilt.
Perhaps because of the early start some Plot Holders have been tempted
to plant things out too early - things including Courgettes, Squash,
Tomatoes, Runner Beans, and Sweet Corn. Really these should not go out
until next Month, (May) at the earliest. In fact, I have only just put
in my Seed for all of these as I was always told that most take 4 weeks
from sowing until planting except for Tomatoes and Sweet Corn which are
more like 6 weeks.
I must admit though, most people don’t usually plant out their
Chrysanthemums until May and Potatoes should only just have gone in
about the middle of April and I did both of mine much earlier. However,
I did have some very large Pots and Buckets kept to hand which I
intended to cover the Chrysanth’s up with, if a frost had been forecast.
However, I didn’t need to cover the Potatoes, I simply Earthed them up.
Some people have been delaying planting theirs because of the wet and
Farmers generally have been struggling with them and in fact with most
Crops with warnings already starting to circulate about potential
problems and maybe some food shortages later on.
They reckon that Potatoes take some 16 weeks plus before they are ready
and I always start mine off early to try and miss the Potato Blight
which usually starts sometime after the end of June and beginning of
July. It is the same idea with the early planting out of Broad Beans to
miss the plague of Black Flies that they are susceptible to as they grow
and Summer comes. If you can bring them to harvest before the Flies
attack them, you can pick your Crop and remove the old Stalks before
they get smothered with the horrible black, sticky secretions.
Another thing that I have planted out is my little bag of Onion Sets. I
did a silly thing there though and that was when I dug over their patch,
I manured it. You are not supposed to plant Onions in freshly manured
ground as this makes the tops go curly. They do usually grow out of it
as the season goes on though, but they look bad to start with.
Other things I have been doing is getting my Seedlings of Turnips,
Beetroot, Swede, Chard and Parsley big enough to go out. The Garden
Centres are full of young Vegetable Plants now, but I like to do mine
from Seed as it is so much cheaper and isn’t really very difficult. You
can always germinate small trays on a Windowsill, but you need to watch
that they don’t get leggy through a lack of light. This is where a small
Greenhouse is a Godsend, but I suppose for the tougher vegetables they
will do almost as well in a much cheaper and smaller Cold Frame. Mine
are almost ready to go out, but I will be sowing my Parsnip Seed
directly in the Ground as this is one Vegetable I don’t like
transplanting because it can make the Roots Fork and divide. The other
thing about Parsnip Seed is that it needs to be fresh as old Seed just
will not germinate and Parsnip Seed can be erratic at the best of times.
I do have lots of other Vegetable Seeds in for Germination including
Globe Artichokes, Cape Gooseberries, Cucamelons and Strawberry Sticks.
Most of these will be for our Plant Sale in May, although, I will keep a
few plants for myself. I did put in some Asparagus Seeds as well, but,
at the moment, there is no signs of them coming up. Other seeds that I
put in and that are coming up are the unusual, but lovely, purple,
Primula Vialli and some of the also less common, Drumstick Primula. From
Seeds that I collected out of my Garden, I also have some young Plants
of Poppies and Calendula. Of course these are only Annuals, but they are
cheerful, and I am sure pricked out into little 6 Packs, they will sell
in the Sale. This last Winter after collecting some Bulbils from my
Cinamon Vine, I just stored them in my Garage where they were cool but
not as cold as if they had been kept in the fridge where I usually keep
my Seeds. Whether this was the right thing to do I don’t know, but after
last year’s germination failure, I think everyone has started into
growth this time.
Elsewhere, as things have started back into life so have my Cuttings. I
had put in Cuttings of a Penstemon, a large blue Hebe that is completely
different to my White one, and a large Sedum, and they have nearly all
rooted and been Potted. The Curry Plant and Cotton Lavender cuttings
haven’t been in very long so will be a while yet. On my Plot I put in
some Hard-wood cuttings last Autumn from my Currant Bushes,
Gooseberries, Figs, Cornus and Buddleia all of which are also showing
signs of rooting as they are starting to leaf up. It will probably be
some weeks yet before they have enough roots on to pot them up though,
but I am hoping they will make small saleable Plants for our Autumn
Fundraiser, if we have it. I did put some others in of Broom, Senecio,
Twisted Hazel and Weigela, but they will take a lot longer and may be
many months yet, or it may even be next year before they are ready to
Pot up.
As of writing this it is still early days for more tender things like
Cannas and Bananas to be shooting, but I am hoping that I will be able
to remove some self-rooted Pups, or Divisions from them to Pot up in
time for the Sale. With the resurgence in the popularity of House Plants
I have also Re-Potted a large Aloe Vera for a friend and taken a number
of offsets from it that I was able to Pot up for our Sale. I did the
same with a Peace Lilly, or Spathiphyllum, that my Brother gave me. Last
year I divided my big Aspidistra and potted up a number of those. We
didn’t sell them all in the Autumn Sale so they have since made better
Plants which I am hoping will sell this time. With all this activity on
the Seed and Cutting front, I am keeping myself busy with potting and
looking after them as well as trying to keep up with my Allotment, but
after the Sale, in a few weeks, there will be a bit of a lull and things
will get a bit easier, but it won’t last. The Harvesting time for
Asparagus is about to start and then it will be Gooseberries and
everything else will quickly follow on. Instead of growing things then
it will be just a case of Picking Fruit and Vegetables and filling the
Freezers back up.
 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Adverts
|
|