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Category: Tips Hints and Ideas

Help for the new and not so new gardener

Tips for Growing Seeds

Tips for Growing Seeds

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June is a good month for sowing seeds to get the plants you want for next year. I have sown some biennials today and will sow other seeds after the ‘hot’ summer.

Growing from Seed General Tips

  • Do not sow in winter or in waterlogged ground or the seed will rot. ‘Sow dry and plant wet’.
  • Annuals will flower 12 weeks after sowing but perennials may take up to 12 months or more.
  • Do not cover seeds with 6 inches of soil they will never see the light of day. Generally a light covering will suffice.
  • Seed in foil packets may stay fresh for 2 years as advertised on the packet but you want good germination rates so use good fresh seed.
  • Read and follow the instructions on the packet but don’t be afraid to try collected seed.

Biennial Seeds Sown Today

  • Sweet William Early Summer Scented are a mixture of Dianthus barbatus to flower from next April. I filled a seed tray with moist seed compost (peat and peat substitute tends to dry out then be hard to re-wet) then took a pinch of seed and sprinkled them evenly.
  • Wallflower Blood Red is another fragrant spring flower sown in shallow rows outside. (Rows help show where the wallflowers grow compared to weeds which will come up at random).
  • Campanula Pyramidalis’s very fine seed has been sown in modules and also direct into cultivated soil raked to a fine tilth. (Tilth is very fine top soil with lumps broken down in which to sow your seeds). I haven’t tried these before so they got a bit more TLC.
  • I could have sown other biennials including Foxgloves and Honesty or winter flowering Pansy but there is still time for me to buy them.

Seeds to Sow this Year for Next Year

  • Perennials like Aquilegia McKana Giant mixed will be sown on the surface of compost as they need light to germinate in September or October.
  • Marigolds (Calendula not French) and Cornflower sown in September will survive the winter and should get off to a quick start next year.
  • Sweet Peas can be sown in October to over winter. They need a deep root run and can be sown in long tubes.

Seeds from T&M

Tzigane Best HT Rose

Tzigane Best HT Rose

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I have always assumed this Rose that I bought as Tzigane (Tsigane) was in fact that variety. When I recently compared it to pictures by other gardeners I found 4 totally different offerings under that name. I am happy with my rose, that it is a regular flowering rose of fair scent and pleasant disposition (no bugs or diseases  of note) and it is 10+ years old. Perhaps the inner petal shade should be pinker but the bicolour effect is still noticeable.

Tips on Plant Varieties

  • Even under the same name plants will vary. Parentage, growing situation, general cultivation and environmental factors will all influence a plant which may also vary of it’s own accord from one year to the next.
  • Plants can get mis-named by nurseries by accident, carelessness or even commercial imperative. If it is important buy from a specialist nursery and select your plant when it is in flower too check it is to your specification.
  • Do not be afraid to take a wayward specimen back to the retailer.
  • Even if the plant is not exactly what you want, by the time you find out it will have made a new home in your garden and it may be worth a compromise (a bit one sided as the plant can’t do much compromising)
Save Water Garden with a Friend

Save Water Garden with a Friend

Older gardeners may remember the water company slogan ‘Save Water bath with a friend’ used during the great water shortages of 1976. Are we in for another summer like 1976? Some thinks so others are still suffering floods and unseasonal cold still as Baden Powell said be prepared. I am suggesting help from friendly gadgets to save water in your garden this summer.

Watering Systems for Pots.

  • For a cheap system of ‘container watering’ use a big container (they hold more soil and water and have less pot surface area to soil) and mulch the top with 2″ of gravel, slate or bark. Plastic containers evaporate less from the sides but the soil gets hotter than with terracotta pots.
  • When you water make sure you give them a long drink. I stand all pots on a saucer and fill it up as well as watering from the top.
  • Self watering pots can be bought with a reservoir that avoid 2out of 3 watering requirements when compared to a normal pot.
  • The Rolls Royce system would be a full irrigation system from a header tank with computer control as used in commercial nurseries. An easy to use irrigation system based on a modular approach can start from less than £20 and be used in the greenhouse, garden or for pots and hanging baskets.

Buy an Thompson MorganIrrigation system from Thompson & Morgan from this link.

Solanum Potato Flower Climber

Solanum Potato Flower Climber

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The plant family Solanaceae is large and diverse from the nightshades, through tomatoes, potatoes and peppers to daturas and Solanum there is a detailed explanation of these species on hvanbalken.com

Gardeners Solanum Tips

  • The Chilean potato vine Solanum Crispum is just the  vigorous climber to give your sunny wall an exotic look.
  • It has wiry stems which need tying up to wires or trellis for support. Prune and tie in to retain the required shape.
  • The small semi-evergreen leaves  remain on the plant in all but bad winters and easily reach 6 feet tall.
  • The potato-like flowers with lilac petals around a pointed yellow centre, appear continuously from mid-summer to mid-autumn. The variety ‘Glasnevin’ is the one to choose, as it flowers more prolifically and is also slightly hardier.
  • They are pest and disease free once established.
  • Plants like a moist but well-drained soil that is neutral to slightly alakaline in pH.
  • To propagate take cuttings from summer to early autumn. If buying from a garden centre buy when in bloom as some varieties have disappointing blossom
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Australian Plants & Trees

Australian Plants & Trees

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Gondwanaland

This white barked tree is an Australian Eucalyptus debeuvillei’ Snow Gum’. It is planted in the special southern hemisphere enclosure at Marks Hall in Essex as part of the Arboretum. Gondwanaland was the ancient name of a super continent that split apart to form Australia, Antartica, New Zealand and South Africa (although I don’t know who was around to call it that).

In the planting there are a large number of as yet quite young Monkey Puzzle trees Araucaria araucana but that adds to the attraction of this fine garden. It is good to see new planting that will be there when the 500 year old Oaks reach their millennium. One of those plantings will be the the Wollemi Pine one of the world’s oldest and rarest plants dating back to the time of the dinosaurs. With less than 100 adult trees known to exist in the wild, the Wollemi Pine is now the focus of extensive research to safeguard its survival.It is far sighted to plant several of these trees as part of the Southern hemisphere garden which will itself develop as the trees mature and provide shelter and (globally warmed) conditions.

wolemi-pine

Marks Hall Gardens & Arboretum

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Gardeners Tips on Feeding Plants

Gardeners Tips on Feeding Plants

Plants need Air, Water, Sunlight and Nutrients to grow.
The top 3 nutrients are Nitrogen N Phosphorous P and Potassium K

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Various plants also need other smaller amounts of minerals or trace elements such as Sulphur, Calcium, Iron. Magnesium, Copper and Zinc.

Liquid fertiliser is available as a concentrate or powder that is diluted and applied to the roots and surrounding soil. At larger dilution levels it can act as a foliar feeder adding nutrients through the leaves.

Solid Fertiliser is usually granular, pellet or powder form. They release feed over a longer perion as in Bone Meal, blood Fish and bone or Growmore. They can be incorporated in a planting hole or scattered on the surface to be washed in to feed existing plants.

Green Manure is a crop that is dug back into the soil to improve fertility and soil condition. Clover and pea plants fix nitrogen into the soil whilst grass clippings need nitrogen to rot down.

Apply fertilizer in spring at the start of the growing season and give a boost to vegetables in summer with a granular or liquid fertilizer

General Purpose fertilsers have a combination of all 3 key nutrient NPK and this is shown on the packaging in proportions 2:2:6 would have the same proportions of nitrogen and phosphorus but twice as much pottasium so would be good for flowers and tomatoes.

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Quick Gardeners Tips

Quick Gardeners Tips

Salad

Lettuce seed only germinates below 20 ° C ( 68° F) so avoid a position that is in full sun. Drying out can cause lettuce to bolt.

Sow some Oriental vegetables to use as cut and come again. They will be ready to harvest in a few weeks and good in salads or stir frys.

If growing salad crops in a container box or grow bag make sure it is deep enough to keep the compost moist at all times. If needs be, shade or insulate the container so it doesn’t dry out too quickly

Beetroot leaves look good and can be eaten as well as the roots.  Try a few in a deep pot if you are short of space.

Onions shredded onto a salad are one of my favourites. You can pull young sets as spring onions so plant them close and eat as you start thinning out.

General Tips

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Tips for Growing Acer – Japanese Maples

Tips for Growing Acer – Japanese Maples

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Acer trees and shrubs can be spectacular from Spring through Autumn due to the leaf colours and patterns.  This Acer Palmatum Taylor’s leaves with pink foliage will last through summer turning into rich Autumn colours at the backend. It will grow to about 10 feet in 10 years and is suitable for even a small garden.

Top Low Growing Acers

  • The cut leaf  maple Acer Palmatum Dissectum is an umberella shaped shrub with unusually shaped fresh green leaves. The leaves develop a red stripe in the Autumn. The name gives away a description of the shrub – Palmatum refers to the 5 segments of the leaf like the palm of your hand. Disscetum indicates that the leaves are disected into thin often feathery shapes.
  • Acer Pamatum Orange Dream is a slow growing Japanese maple with vivid orange spray foliage which turns golden yellow in Autumn.
  • Acer Palmatum Atropurpureum is a slow growing purple leaved variety grown for both the colour and the attractive shape of the tree. There is a Dissectum variety Garnet which combines the leaf colour with the feathery foliage.
  • Beni Maiko is a dwarf Acer Palmatum growing to  2-3 feet in 10 years and can be kept in a large pot or used in even a small garden. The scarlet leaves progressively turn dark red and green.

Top Tips for Acers

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Topical Gardening Tips – Mid-Spring

Topical Gardening Tips – Mid-Spring

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Mid Spring Garden

Garden waste composts best and quickest in a hot heap. Cover the heap and insulate the sides if practical. Mix hard and soft waste if you have mainly grass clippings tear up some cardboard or newspaper to avoid a soggy mess.

Keep sowing summer bedding indoors. Half hardy annuals can be sown out doors in May. Prick out seedlings as soon as they are large enough to handle.

Start a weed suppression routine. Hoe out any weeds or hand remove any pernicious perennials. Mulch to suppress and avoid weeds.Spot spray weed killer on hard to get at weeds in paving and wall cracks. Treat patios and paths with algicide or moss killer to remove slippy green paths.

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Colour of Spring

Colour of Spring

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What is your favourite colour combination? 
Cerise, Shocking Pink scarlet and yellow seems a bit off colour to me.

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Your second choice includes a white Hyacinth perhaps Carnegie or Aiolos
A bit better at keeping the colour temperature in check.

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Which Parks Gardener thought up this combination?
My kids would call it yucky and I think that is polite.
Think about colour schemes when putting plant close to one another.
The stripped greens of newly mown grass have a lot to commend them.

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