Growing White Currants

Growing White Currants

white currant

White Currants are closely related to Red Currants and need similar, sunny or partially shaded treatment. They will reward the soft fruit grower with a nice crop of sweet juicy fruit for gardeners pies and summer puddings.

What is a White Currant

  • Ribes rubrum is the fruiting currant which can be red, yellow, pink or white.
  • These currants are related to the Gooseberry
  • White Currants make a fairly strong, vigorous, upright bush. The plant in the photo has been trained in a ‘U’ shape as a double cordon. This urn shape in a bush or cordon allows air to circulate and helps harvesting.
  • White Versaillies has large light yellow and sweet fruit ready for harvesting early July. ‘White Grape’ AGM and ‘White Pearl’ fruit in summer.

Growing White Currants

  • Plant currants when they become dormant towards the end of November or December.
  • Propagate from ripe hardwood cuttings 10-12 inches long burried ¾ of the way into the ground. New roots will strike from a number of areas along the stem.
  • You can also layer currants in autumn or spring as they root quite freely.
  • Prune  all young side shoots to 5 leaves in June. In Autumn or winter cut back long shoots by one third.
  • Snip strings of fruit with scissors (then separate them from the stalk with a fork)

white currant

Astrantia in a Basket

Astrantia in a Basket

astrantia

This group of Astrantia plants attracted my attention as they were compact and very colourful in an eye level container.

Astrantia Tips

  • Astrantia major ‘Venice’ has a ruby red flower but tends to grow 2-3 feet tall. However it is a stunning pincushion Astrantia with flowers that verge on burgundy.
  • Astrantias thrive in full sun and well drained soils.
  • Mix Astrantia into the middle of the border where they can mingle among other flowers.
  • Sow seeds from February to July just covering the seed with compost. They may need a period of cold to break dormancy and germinate so put them in a fridge if there is no growth after 6 weeks.
  • Astrantia major ‘Sunningdale Variegated’ are clump-forming herbaceous perennials with variegated, palmate   basal leaves

Images of Astrantia maxima and other Astrantia

Read also Gardeners tips for growing Astrantia

Grow from Thompson Morgan

Growing Winter Cabbage and Spring Greens

Growing Winter Cabbage and Spring Greens

cabbage

Your summer crops may have been cleared from your Veg patch but you can now plant winter cabbage. For many varieties it is too late (August) to grow from seed but you can buy suitable plants from nurseries, mail order or local market stalls.
Some loose leaf cabbage grown as spring greens can be sown in August.

Cultivating Winter Cabbage

  • Plant at 5-6 leaf stage allowing 2 feet between plants (less for spring greens).
  • The soil should be firm, contain plenty of well rotted compost and be well limed.
  • Just before planting, rake in 3oz per sq yd of balanced fertiliser.
  • Hoe occasionally and water if the weather is dry. Harvest in very late winter

Varieties to Try

  • Spring Cabbage Hero is a ball cabbage that will stand through winter to produce a solid head from early May.
  • Tundra F1 is solid and sweet with crisp heads, ideal for winter salads.
  • Thompson Morgan selection of plants and seeds
  • Spring Advantage is an excellent new variety suitable for providing both spring greens or small to medium sized hearted spring cabbage. From an August sowing it will keep well into April.
  • January King a hardy winter variety with heads which are crispy and crunchy and full of flavour.
  • Savoy cabbages can be grown through winter for spring use

For more on Brassicas read

More Cabbage Tips

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What is Pollination and why is it important?

What is Pollination and why is it important?

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Pollination is the transfer of pollen (with male hormones) from the anthers of a flower to the stigma to create fertilization and sexual reproduction.

Types of Pollination

  • Some flowers will develop seeds as a result of self-pollination, when pollen and pistil are from the same plant but different flowers.
  • Many plants require cross-pollination, pollen and pistil must be from different plants.
  • Yet other plants will self fertilize from the same flower.

The Need For Pollination

  • Without pollination there would be no seeds or only sterile seeds.
  • Fruit needs pollination so it can mature and grow.
  • Farmers need pollination to produce crops.
  • Insects and animals that are involved in pollination are rewarded by energy food in the form of nectar or pollen.

Specific Pollination Issues

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June Gardeners Tips Flower of the Month

June Gardeners Tips Flower of the Month

Burnby Hall Pocklington

It is invidious to select just one flower for each month so I have gone for a couple of photographs that I just like irrespective of the flower power.

Delphiniums were described in more detail earlier this month ‘Growing Delphiniums’.

To stop you getting bored with Delphiniums flowers I have included an example of active pollination as the Bee is helping to produce the hard, shiny, black seeds that can grow into future Delphinium plants.

Burnby Hall Pocklington

Questions on Gardening

Questions on Gardening


Some of our gardening books

If you would like to ask a question on gardening, feel free to leave a comment on this post.
Comments on individual posts are always reviewed and answered where possible.

We will try to add the answer as a new post. So check : gardenerstips.co.uk/blog

We will try to focus on common sense gardening advice, avoiding too much technical jargon.

Garden Maintenance DIY Guide

Garden Maintenance DIY Guide

Book Cover

There are numerous books on garden design but not much information on garden maintenance. Some maintenance jobs are ‘as and when’ but others need to be done at least annually. Below are my gardeners maintenance tips.

Maintain Structure Maintenance

  • Keep on top of all repair jobs before they develop into rebuild jobs!
  • Paths need to be safe and that means obstruction free. I am guilty of using paths for seed trays and odd plants that I am waiting to plant out and I have been known to trip or kick them over.
  • Clean up after winter as concrete or flagged paths are often covered in slippy green algae. This needs to be removed or chemically treated.
  • Walls need re-pointing if stones become too loose. The   stones sometimes get loosened by frost or plant roots.
  • Fences may need treating with preservative or supporting if in danger of blowing down.

Maintenance of Services

Why hasn’t it Flowered? Top Ten Reasons

Why hasn’t it Flowered? Top Ten Reasons

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Twice this week I have been asked why a plant has not flowered despite receiving apparently good treatment. Most plants use flowers to start the reproduction and pollination cycle but below are some of the main reasons for failure.

Reasons for None Flowering

  1. Plants too young and immature, particularly trees and shrubs. Wisteria may take 6-7 years. Biennials grow one year and flower the next.
  2. Frost damage to the buds on early fruit like Plums or to early shrubs Hydrangeas, Camellias etc. Bird, aphid or other damage to flowering shoots.
  3. Planted too late in the season.
  4. Poor cultivar or plant variety with low flowering habit. Some plants are vegetatively reproduced from poor flowering stock.
  5. Poor and incorrect pruning that removes bud potential.
  6. Read More Read More

Aphids and Greenfly Pest Control

Aphids and Greenfly Pest Control

Aphids
All greenfly are Aphids but not all Aphids are greenfly.

What are Aphids

  • Aphids are sap sucking insects,
  • They damage  plants and introduce disease  makinge them enemies of farmers and gardeners alike.
  • There are around 4,400 species and that many flies on some of my plants.
  • The little black Aphids that trouble Broadbeans or Greenfly on Roses are from the Aphid family.
  • Aphids are often specific to one plant species.
  • Aphids breed several time in a season if left untreated.
  • One female hatched in spring may produce billions of descendants from 40 generations in one year

Read Gardening Products Killing Aphids

Pest control including Aphids

Aphids