Gardening

Welcome to An Hour in the Garden No 81 This week we take a quick look at what pots and containers we have used to grow vegetables Plants that deter insects pests, slugs and snails Houseplants that help clean the atmosphere And the State of the World’s Fungi report by the RHS at Kew

Welcome to An Hour in the garden no 80 First of all, so sorry for last week. (Grandchildren + bug = wiped out!) I finally got into thegarden and harvested cabbages and potatoes and spent the ‘recovery’ time watching the leaves falling, so we do into a little about how and why leaves fall - after all, it can’t just be the wind, it gets windy in the Summer too and the leaves don’t fall at all. The thing is, for many reasons, a layer of cork appears at the end of the leaf, which is more brittle, and so consequently, the leaf eventually falls off under pressure. Quite why is a different story. Many explanations are given, but they don’t always fit the bill, and it seems to me there are combinations of reasons for the effect. We go on to look at some plants I am buying this autumn Broadbean: Aquadulce for sowing now Oscar and Robin Hood for later Cabbage: Getting plants of Aprio, Wheelers Imperial and Winter Green Plus Savoy for next year, though this year I have been sowing All Year Round Carrot: Aron F1, Berlicum and and Flyaway Cauliflower: You can’t beat the old favourite All Year Round Celery: Golden Self Blanching Garlic Bohemian Rose Wight from Prague Carcasonne Wight - lovely flavour Caulk Wight - pink striped from Russia Two old favourites: Early Purple Wight and Solent Wight

Time to sow in a cold frame: Violas  Lupins we’re sowing  Dwarf fairy pink Aquilegia,  - carulea Aconitum or monks hood or wolf’s bane Hollyhocks creme de cassis Eryngium  Echinops Verbascum  - I think they are like hollyhocks and lavateras seeds off outdoors now either direct sown or in pots in a coldframe. Salvias  Red Hot Pokers  Hardy Geraniums We have Wargrave Pink, and you can’t get rid of it! It is very invasive. But there are so many others! I quite fancy Orchid Blue and purple haze Sow where they will grow Poppies of all kinds Ammi majus (Bishop's Weed)) Cornflowers Poached Egg plant Larkspur

Hello and welcome This week we are a little shorter because we're off in the Cambridgeshire Countryside, and lovely it is too! We look at raspberry pruning, bulb planting, making winter containers and check out what to do to keep the greenhouse spit spot for the winter.

An Hour in the Garden It must be Eden here in the UK at the moment. The gentle rain has been falling for a couple of weeks on and off, replacing ground water in the big sponge and revitalising the gasping plants. We never had such big pumpkins, nor such a large and full apple crop. And the potatoes have gotten through the summer so far without blight. It is usually that time just after a drought when blight affects potatoes and tomatoes as the spores splash onto stems rapidly sending the plant into a decline from which there will be no dinner! Feed hanging baskets and containers With all this rain we need to remember pots and baskets lose nutrients in the wet, so we need to replace them. The combination of feeding and deadheading hanging baskets will keep them going until the first frosts see them off altogether. There should be no need to feed vegetables much, but certainly flowering plants will see a marked improvement. Sowing hardy annuals It seems a little out of time. We often think that time to sow is in the Spring, but there is no reason why we shouldn’t sow hardy annuals right now, either in situ - where they are to grow, or in modules and small pots in cold frames or cold greenhouses. Try Godetias, Nigellas, Stocks, Swet Peas, Callendulas - each of these are as tough as old boots and I prefer to sow them in general purpose compost in small pots, about 3 inches - you can get a million pots for not much money, and pop them in a cold frame for safe keeping. Watch out for hungry dying slugs and snails - which can be a little troublesome in a greenhouse or cold frame. I have a good clear out and it is amazing where these animals secrete themselves. I do try to keep a frog in the cold frame, but this year he (or she, I can’t tell) has hopped off probably down to the river at the bottom of the valley. The plants will take a while to germinate - unless we have a hot September, which we often do, and then simply stop growing when the weather turns colder. But then in the Spring they all be back with a vegnence, and growing rapidly. You can do the same with beans, to give you a rapid increase and usually autumn planted beans miss out on the black fly infestations of early Summer. Divide herbaceous perrenials Later in September is a good time to divide up plants. Bulbs can be split where the are naturally divided, plants such as hostas can be broken apart using garden forks back to back - or if you only have one (or none), you can break them apart. While we are on the subject of garden tools, have a look round car boot sales and other markets. You can usually pick up all kinds of bargains. Many of my tools have come from such places, and you get something to do in the Autumn - sharpening, cleaning and oiling! Back to dividing… You can divide Alsromerias, Agapanthus, Verbenas and my favourite - Eryngium. I love Eryngium, Sea Holly ever since I saw one in the sand dunes at Rhosneigr on Anglesey. They need a little help to overwinter, so should be in a warm spot in the garden, and you divide up the roots, or take root cuttings. All that said, I still like the wild plant growing where it is supposed to be. One thing about Sea Holly is their blue colour. This is an adaptation to living in dry conditions and they photosynthesise in a different manner to greener plants. Normal photosynthesys is fairly wasteful in the respiration part of the process, the Calvin cycle using up energy and also wasting water. So plants like Sea Holly, Corn, Cacti etc, have found a way of seperating the processes making it more efficient - especially in places that are hot and dry! Botany is so exciting! Christmas Presents It’s time to plant up Hyacinths and Amaryllis for Christmas. Place bulbs in good quality compost and keep them in a dark, cool place. Don’t over water - just enough to keep the compost moist. Don’t put them in a cupboard, you’ll just forget about them (well I did one year) and just keep the compost very slightly moist until the plant really starts to grow well. Then they need a brighter spot, though not too hot! Pick a leaf Time to really start to reduce foliage. I will be removing all the leaves from my potatoes and have already started to remove the leaves from tomatoes, though not so drastically as I have on their cousins, the spud! It is also time to remove the shading leaves of pumpkins so the fruits can get some sunlight and start oranging up. I also lift the pumpkins off the ground so they don’t get rot problems. Tie up montbretia and sedums They always look as though the dog has sat in the middle of the mass, so I tie them together with a piece of string so at least they look tidier. But the reality is this is the plant telling you to divide it up - it is too crowded and everything falls over. Any time after flowering will do, just dig them up and break them apart. About now I take some of the mint in the garden, pot it up and bring it into the house for a winter supply before the soutside stuff starts to die back. it doesn’t last all the winter, but does quite well on the kitchen windowsill. Lawn Care In normal years I would be advocating a good dose of lawn care in the next week or two, but those places around the world where the drought has been most severe could do with waiting a while. Essentially it is time to scarify the grass - give it a good scratch with a lawn rake, and then to aerate the lawn with a garden fork. There are loads of tools for aeration and I would suggest that none of them beat a garden fork. I would now wait until the end (ish) of September, just to give the grass a chance to recover for a few more weeks! And then we’ll be talking about the last cuts!!! But that’s another time.

This week we are a little better, thanks to everyone for their kind messages. Growing Leeks They can be sown indoors in February, or as late as May. I must confess that I was late this year, and sown in late May in modules. Transplanted in August, but it does go to show that you can have some leeway. On the whole, if you sow in a deep box, you get long roots which I always top and tail when planting out. In modules, one seed per module is enough, but there is nothing wrong with sowing 2 and removing the weakest growing one. I plant about 18 inches apart by taking a plug of soil out and simply pupping the plant in the hole, filling this with water. Keep them watered in dry times and weeded. I pop some garlic cloves in the same bed. Disease: The major one is Puccinia (AKA rust) There is nothing you can do about it, it usually has no real problem for the plant, but if you get a lot of it it spoils the plant. It is a common fungal infection of grasses too. Good spacing and low humidity help, but once you have it there is nothing much you can do about it. There is onion rot and leek moth too. Blanching can be done by drawing up the earth around the leek. I never bother myself because it seems to dirty the outer of the leaf, and to be honest, I don’t mind green leeks! How to harvest leeks: The temptation is to simply grab hold and pull it up. You break more leeks that way, the best way – as with all plants, is to lever it out of the ground with a fork. Varieties Carlton – can be an early variety from September onwards – I have grown this one many times with great results Pancho – another early one Apollo, ready from December Toledo – November to February Long stems Recipe: Gammon and leek layer https://www.kitchennewbie.com/podcasts/gammon-and-leek-layer/ Growing French Beans https://www.kitchennewbie.com/recipes/pasta-beans-tomato-and-sage-butter/ French Beans are seriously good for you, don’t become stringy, like runner beans, and take up less riim, well the dwarf varieties do. They are self supporting and don’t have that many pests. Sow from April in modules indoor up to July – they don’t like the cold, so I usually sow ourside in late May and by August you have a great crop. I find that a ten square metre bed provides enough beans for a good few months, most being frozen, some being pickled. I find that the mice take some of the early shoots, but these are easily replaced and you soon get full coverage – once the plant if a about 6 inches tall they are generally left alone. Dwarf plants can be sown about 6 inches apart and 18 inches between the rows. Climbing varieties are usually grown up bamboo canes at the same spacing. Keep fed and watered – plenty of moisture, and if it is going to be cold in the early season, cover with fleece. Varieties Kenyan – These are must grow beans, they are completely delicious Purple Teepee Dwarf, purple pods which turn green when cooked! Algarve, a climber with flat pods – a must when cooking The plant that keeps on giving – Chilies I feel a little of a cheat talking about chilies. There are so many people out there who are better chilie growers than me, I’m sure. This is partially because I don’t like then too hot. I do like some heat, a little bit of heat, but I don’t like the idea of not being able to taste my food. So I grow chilies that are not too spicy. But my reason for bringing this uop is that we tend to treat them so badly here in the UK. I can’t really speak for anyone in the rest of the world, but the tendency here is to treat them like tomatoes. Yes there are some similarities. They like to be hot, are very hungry plants too, and to feed them with tomato feed probably is one of the reasons why we do this. But at the end of the season we throw them out! Actually, if you keep them frost free they will keep on producing year after year. For my part, since my greenhouse flew into the next field, I have been unable to replace it, and I grew chilies outside for the first time this year. Thankfully we have had a great summer and they have done well. I will try to keep them for next year just to prove the point and come back to you on it. https://www.kitchennewbie.com/harissa/ Sow from January in a propagator – the temperature is important – read the packet, some need 25ºC to germinate! They germinate quickly and transplant them on like tomatoes until the end of May. Take out the top of the plant to encourage branching, and therefore more chillies Keep moist but not wet Recipe https://www.kitchennewbie.com/podcasts/couscous-roast-vegetables-with-harissa-halloumi/

An Hour in the Garden 75 - You will not get flu from this podcast!

An Hour in the Garden 74

Welcome to No 73 of An Hour in the Garden We look at some of the little jobs we are doing in the garden in August. Please visit www.kitchennewbie.com

Hello and welcome to No 72 of An Hour in the Garden We talk about our new podcast, weeding, pruning, water and heat - so much heat! And various jobs in the garden for July.

This week we are looking at hybridization. It's something I have been wanting to talk about on the podcast simply because I find it really interesting. Please do send us your gardening pics and let us know how you are getting on with your gardening this summer! Happy Gardening!

Welcome to An Hour in the Garden No 70 This week we discuss crop protection and dealing with aphids Tree problems growing in pots Pots getting too hot and the value of ceramic pots The consequences of the heat on many plants

Hello and welcome to An Hour in the Garden no 69 Ways of saving water in an arid garden This week we look a little at two plants in the cottage garden that we used to cultivate and no longer do - nettles (Urtica dioica) and dandelion, (Taraxicum officianale). Nettles were used for food and rope making and even clothing. Dandelion is a brilliant tonic and helpf with so many problems, especially urinary ones, but can also help with fever. HOWEVER - please don't diagnose or treat yourself! See a doctor! We had some great pics from Betty Grindod in northern USA. She has such a wonderful garden, I am so jealous! She certainly puts me to shame. You can see them at www.kitchennewbie.com and click on the Garden Newbie link. Please do send us your garden pics and tell us what you are doing in the garden. You can email us at paul@kitchennewbie.com Saving water in times of drought Improve your soil This is by far the best way of making your garden dry proof. Lots of organic material acts as a sponge, keeping water in the soil. Water appropriately Sandy soil needs more water, large plants need more water, don't soak the leaves, but water of the soil Collect water - rain water especially, but use household (grey) water, especially on your flower beds Concentrate on pots and containers These run dry much more quickly than plants in beds. Mulching Use appropriately, it keeps the evaporation down to a minimum and suppresses weed growth Reduce leaf area Taking away large leaves reduces evaporation, so taking a few out will save water Reduce fertilizer This will keep the plant from growing too much, so it will evaporate water less Weeding I know it's hot, but removing weeds and this will take away some evaporating pressure Grow native and / or drought tolerant plants If your garden is populated with plants that are not evolved for the environment, it may be better with plants more used to such conditions Hoeing water In certain circumstances, hoeing round plants can bring water from deep in the soil to the root level of pants A compost plug In a clay soil create a plug of compressed compost in an hole and this will slowly draw water from the clay level

Welcome to An Hour in the garden No 68 It’s coming to the end of June, and we are half way on our journey around the sun. Who would have thought a journey of 584 million miles would pass so quickly. It means I have travelled over 3.5 billion miles in my lifetime around the sun. But then the sun is travelling at 480 000 miles an hour around the galactic centre, so it is fair to say that we are well travelled! Anyway, the garden hasn’t gone anywhere. BLACKCURRANTS The blackcurrants should have flowered, but haven’t. Well they have but the flowers are all withered. The year before last So I am now suspecting the gall mite - the wonderfully names Ceciophyopsis ribis Another problem by this and the Big Bug Mite is a virus, which affects the plant long after the mites are dealt with. This virus causes reversion disease with a change in leaf shape and withered flowers, which lead to the plant beaching unproductive. Treatment - the only real treatment for it is removal. Which is what I should have done ages ago. I certainly cannot grow blackcurrants there again, and consequently we have to move out. Actually I am considering lifting the rhubarb that is next to the blackcurrants and putting a greenhouse there. SOIL We classify soils and think of soils very simply as gardeners, but I would like to make a plea that when you are next digging away, or weeding or whatever, to give a real thought about soil. It is a lot more complex than we think. I once used to think that the Gaya theory was simply hogwash, Explain gala theory But in the soil there is so much that resembles the basic Gaya ideals. I am standing looking at a skimmer. It has been a happy plant for years in a large container, flowering each year in the sunny spot - but we moved it. And it is dying. So what is happening? Chemicals from the rotting roots are being absorbed bu fungi and moved around the garden. Many metres away, like the other side of the garden - perhaps the other side of the field! More than that, these complex chemicals leach into the soil and affect the plants and animals living there. They attract all kinds of microscopic creatures, from mites to worms - particularly nematodes worms. We think nematode worms simply turn up by chance - not so - they move along a gradient of chemicals in a similar way to something like a Carrot Fruit Fly. Moreover, these animals give off chemicals that affect others - the soil is like a complex soup that sustains life, indeed it explodes life. But there is much more… Living in the soil are seeds, I think we have mentioned this before. They are at different depths, different stages of being barely alive. When the chemistry of the soil changes, some of them germinate. When soil is disturbed you get a flourish of weeds, they don’t just turn up by chance they are already there. But seeds can respond to many things, changes in light intensity, water, acidity, chemicals from other plants - have you ever wondered why it is that you often get weeds growing in close proximity to a plant you actually want in that place. Well it is partly due to water availability, partly down to chemicals produced by one plant inducing another to grow. And of course, the opposite is true too, some plants give out chemicals into the soil that discourages plants to grow. This is called allelopathy, one plant chemically influxencing others. So soil is more than just a substrate in which we grow plants, it is a complex system that maintains life, and long may we care for it! MISCANTHUS One of the pet hate plants we have here is miscanthus.??It is so invasive, popping up everywhere and it becomes so unruly. It is an ever persistent job, digging it out, and this is quite difficult for me. However, it does free up space in borders. I find it in cracks in the pavement, in the dry stone walls, and the beds, so up it has to come. Problem is the roots are breakable - like all grasses, so once you have the main plant up, you have to work harder still to remove as much of the roots you can. ONIONS One of the problem of growing shallots and onions in pots is that they can seem to mature more quickly if you look at the leaves - They can brown off and start to fall. Don’t be tempted to lift them, they will be fine, and the bulbs will grow. It takes about 90 days to mature a shallot, and these went in late April, so they have another month to go. A feed and good deal of watering is the best way forward, and I will lift them in late July. ??I can feel some red wine shallot sauce with a steak coming on. One of the things about growing all types of onion (except maybe chives which don’t count) in containers is they don’t keep so well. They need to be used as a stop gap. Interestingly, I’ll be sowing Japanese onions for over wintering at the same time as I am lifting these. I always use all the onion, the bulb, obviously, but the stem chopped very fine, where it is possible and not brown, in things like omelet and if they are very clean, in salads too. One thing to look out for are orange / red stains on the leaf, a fungal infection called puccinia. I discard infected leaves, but the bulbs are fine.

Hello and welcome to the Hour in the Garden Podcast Sorry for the noises - builders. We are in Cambridshire at the mo and it's interesting travelling south looking at the differences in vegetation. We chat through the three plant herbaceous border, red valerian, Lysimachia and purple cranesbill. How do onion sets work? Night scented stocks! Oh how wonderful they are! Lovely to simply fall asleep besides. Have a listen to the Veg Grower Podcast - Richard has just hatched some quail. http://theveggrowerpodcast.co.uk/ We love to hear from you - please send in your pics to paul@kitchennewbie.cm

Welcome to an hour in the garden no 66 Today we chat about the garden being the home of man's environment Some great pictures from listeners Tomatoes, chilies, peonies and iris Potatoes, cabbage beans and carrot fly Cutting back geraniums and ladies mantle Taking lavender cuttings

Hello and welcome to an hour in the garden No 65 It's June - Christmas in the garden because you have to hoe, hoe, hoe. We went to a garden centre that was a complete combination of chaos and amazing plants. It was such an interesting visit, clearly a plant lovers paradise, but whacky! The Lubera Sarpo potatoes arrived and completely blew my scepticism away! The little 1 litre pots they came in were stuffed with potatoes . We'll keep you posted on how they get on. They were transplanted into large pots, so fingers crossed! Time fo tomato regime and we look into that a little. Still time to make hanging baskets and buy even more summer bedding Also time to shade the greenhouse!

Hello and welcome to our 64th issue. We nearly didn't have one - the internet has been so poor we can't upload properly. That is why we can't get your pics on the site etc etc - but we have changed our internet providers and so by next week we hope to be much better, and able to make a longer podcast. Sorry for all this messing about - it's partly living in rural Britain, but hopefully , hopefully. This week we look at a few tips about new gardeners, and get all philosophical. Thank you for staying with us during this difficult period.

Welcome to An Hour in the Garden No 63 This week we look at: New potatoes - that is a new variety. Weeding Time to sow gherkin and cucumber French Beans Pumpkins More Spring Onions Hardening off tomatoes Watering Growing Watercress The ANDI Scale You can support us by buying us a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/kitchennewbie Or you can donate on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/kitchennewbie

Hello and welcome to another Hour in the garden Many apologies for the delay - the internet was down (Again!!! - Plusnet!) Had a lovely email from Stephanie Vestey about her garden - the pictures will be at https://www.kitchennewbie.com/garden-newbie/ later today She talks about ivy holding her fence together - well, ivy is the only plant we know of that shows negative phototropism for the roots - which is a fascinating subject, the roots grow away from light. You might think this was normal, but actually most roots grow towards gravity, not simply away from light. We look at growing peas, marguerites, potatoes and have a go at surgery on a skimmia.