Next week: Focus on herbs, heated propagator essentials, renovating fruit trees, grow asparagus from seed, try reed mace.
Avoid damping off in early sowings WITH most of us desperate to open veg seed packets this month, early sowings are being made on windowsills and in propagators up and down the country. This enthusiasm will hopefully be rewarded by earlier, bigger crops on stronger plants, but sowing early carries a risk: damping off disease. Encouraged by a combination of low light levels, high humidity, waterlogging, slow growth and cold temperatures, the fungi associated with damping off can quickly wipe through trays of sowings. Occasionally, seedlings are hit before they emerge, but more often you’ll watch in dismay as once-healthy baby leaves
Step by step
“Seedlings can be hit before they have emerged”
Plant a fig tree in three steps These vigorous trees, if planted in a suitably sunny and sheltered spot, will provide sumptuous harvests, especially if the roots are restricted:
Figs crop most reliably in a warm spot, and a south-facing wall is ideal. ‘Brown Turkey’ is the most dependable variety, but there are many others available. Dig a 15x15x15in (40cm3) hole, lining the sides with paving slabs.
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wilt, collapse and rot within days. With no fungicides available, prevention is key. Sow thinly, don’t overwater, provide sufficient heat and ventilate on warmer days. Using tap water and bought (rather than homemade) compost also helps to keep this problem at bay.
This lining limits the root spread of your plant, keeping it smaller and more manageable, and encouraging ample fruits. Choose a fig with well-spaced branches, planting it in a mixture of compost and soil.
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Firm in your fig and water it in. Secure pairs of 6ft (1.8m) long bamboo canes to the wall (these have been tied to strong horizontal wires). Tie the branches of your fig to the canes, one stem per cane, to initiate a fan shape.
Lettuce seedlings that have fallen foul of damping off disease
Why not try..?
Cape gooseberries
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Best way to thwart replant disease SOME of you may be familiar with this scourge of roses – but did you know that replant disease can also strike various fruit trees, canes and bushes? Specifically, it’s those that belong to the same family as roses (Rosaceae) – which includes apple, pear, cherry, plum, gage, apricot, peach, nectarine, almond, medlar, quince, blackberry, raspberry and strawberry. Phew, that’s quite a list! So, if you want to replace any old plants of the list above with new ones this month, how do you go about it to ensure that replant disease doesn’t occur? The solution is to change the soil for some that hasn’t supported host plants (earth from vegetable beds is ideal) and to inoculate the roots and planting hole with mycorrhizal fungi (like
To avoid damping off, sow thinly, as with these Chili ‘Anaheim’
Beneficial mycorrhizal fungi will help to counteract the effects of replant disease
Rootgrow), which coat, protect and boost the root system. Full dosage instructions are given on the packet, and products are readily available in good garden centres.
Harvest these papery lantern treats in late autumn
COMMON name ‘Cape gooseberry’ is misleading – this fruit (botanically Physalis peruviana) can be traced back to cultivation in South America centuries before it was grown in South Africa, which is why some refer to it as the Peruvian groundcherry. Treat the seeds as if they were those of its distant relative, the tomato. Sow eight-12 per 3½in (9cm) diameter pot, starting them off now in a heated propagator set at 18-20°C (64-68°F). Prick out when large enough into individual pots, then plant out in a sunny, sheltered spot in late May (no staking or sideshooting required). The self-fertile flowers will develop into small orange fruits by late autumn. Harvest, encased in their papery lanterns, to adorn desserts throughout the winter. 8 FEBRUARY 2020 AMATEUR GARDENING
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