Garden News December 6

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ORANGES & LEMONS! Complete guide to citrus

December 6, 2014

Christmas

HOUSEPLANTS How to make them last longer!

Plant a colourful

WINTER HANGING BASKET

CAROL KLEIN

“There's still time to plant tulips!”

rs Protect dahlia tube from hard frosts Look after cacti rb Start forcing rhupba for an early cro

Trees

for every garden!

TOP CHOICES for tiny plots How to plant for BEST RESULTS IDEAL VARIETIES for your space

EN IN THE FLOWER GARD

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INTER BEDDING PLANTS aren’t quite as colourful as summer ones, but a seasonal basket will still stand out against the season’s muted colours. Baskets are a bit easier to look after at this time of year too, since they won’t dry out as quickly as summer ones, which need your full and undivided attention. They’ll still need watering, just not as often.

If your baskets are in a rain shadow and you want to make life even easier, mix waterretaining gel into multi-purpose compost when you plant, or choose basket compost that’s formulated for water retention. It will act as an insurance policy should you forget about watering when you’re up to your eyes in turkeys or Christmas shopping!

The choice is yours when it comes to planting them up.

Garden centres have good ranges of winter bedding now, including stalwart pansies, violas and primroses, but also ranges of ‘mini’ shrubs and conifers that are perfect for adding structure and evergreen colour to baskets.

Look for golden conifers, pink and white-berried pernettya, glossy-leaved skimmia and heathers. For maximum impact, try a hellebore. Grasses are good too, for adding soft texture.

Varieties such as bronze carex or carex ‘Frosted Curls’ tone especially well with winter colours. Trail vinca or ivy around the edges to soften the look.

Plant a winter basket

Put a colourful hanger by your front door to lift your spirits this season, says Clare

Plant up a hanging basket

Photos: Neil Hepworth unless stated

1

Rest your basket on a pot to keep it steady while you plant, especially if you’ve gone for a cone-shaped one. Part-fill with compost.

20 Garden News / December 6 2014

2

Position your biggest plant to check the compost level’s right. The top of its rootball should be a couple of centimetres below the rim.

3

Fill with more compost and nestle in the smaller plants around the edge, filling gaps between them with compost. Water to se le in.

Mulch hellebores Although they’re not in flower yet, graceful hellebores soon will be, starting with white Helleborus niger and soon followed by the hybrids in their many colours. Their beautiful, pendent flowers are what make them so intriguing, but unfortunately that also means they’re really vulnerable from soil splash after heavy rain. You can help prevent it by spreading mulch such as fine bark chips around the base of the plants. It will help set the flowers off too.

Former head gardener, TV and radio broadcaster and RHS judge

Martin Fish

The undercover

GARDENER Martin harvests pest-free carrots

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Keep cacti happy Carrots grown in my polytunnel have lovely clean roots

O

NE PEST THAT causes a lot of problems in my garden is carrot root fly. Every year, despite covering the plants with fine mesh, my carrots still get attacked.

Even the so-called resistant varieties succumb to this pest!

In spring, I sowed a few short rows of carrots in my polytunnel and they had lovely clean roots when they were harvested, with no sign of fly.

The polytunnel has wind-up sides for ventilation, but to prevent flying pests getting in, there is a fine mesh that acts as a barrier – and very effective it is too. I sowed a few more rows of carrots in the polytunnel in

Photos: Martin Fish

In winter, cacti don’t need any water.

You can leave them completely dry because they’ll be dormant until temperatures and light levels rise again in spring. But if you keep them in a warm part of the house and temperatures are likely to be above 10C (50F) all the time, you can carry on watering, but very sparingly. A small amount once every two or three weeks should be sufficient. Just make sure that they also have enough light, because if they don’t they may become stretched.

Don’t worry if you see any signs of shriveling on your dormant plants, they’ll plump out in spring when you start watering.

mid-July to see how they would do.

Unfortunately, one row of seedlings disappeared almost overnight thanks to slugs, but I managed to protect the remaining three rows, which grew well.

The variety I’ve grown is ‘James Scarlet Intermediate’, which is a maincrop, but they haven’t grown to full size due to the shorter growing season. The roots are now ready to harvest and I’m pleased to say they are also clean, healthy and taste very good when cooked immediately after harvesting. I‘ll definitely be growing more carrots in my polytunnel next year!

Jobs to do now Refill cans after watering

Clear leaves from ponds Keep fishing fallen leaves from the water in your pond to stop them decomposing in the water and creating a layer of sludge at the bo om. If you’ve got a lot of

When I water plants in the greenhouse, I refill the cans straight away from the water bu . This allows the water to warm up in the greenhouse before the next watering.

material out of the pond, place it by the side to let any pond life find its way back into the water.

Then add the leaves to the compost heap.

Clean up fallen grapevine leaves Leaves are falling thick and fast now from my grape vine, so to prevent them landing and ro ing on plants below, I gather them up on a daily basis and add them to my compost bin.

Store pots in a gabion You normally see them by the beach, but gabions make great features for the garden.

They come in handy for storing containers – perfect if you are clearing out the shed and want to make extra space inside it! Filled with stones they also look a ractive a base for a garden set, or as a bench. Visit www. gabion1.co.uk for a wide range for the garden.

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Tel: 01531 633659 www.haygrove.co.uk

December 6 2014 / Garden News 21

Grade A-listed Winter Gardens glasshouse was once the largest in Scotland

ories this week The big gardeningEditst ge ed by IAN HODGSON Editor-at-lar

Planning for the future First steps for Winter Gardens restoration

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INNERS OF A competition to revamp grounds around a derelict Victorian greenhouse have been announced.

It’s the first step in a community-based approach to restore the site at Springburn, Glasgow.

The 77 acre park contains the dilapidated and vandalised framework of the Winter Gardens – a 55m (180ft) long cast iron and steel glasshouse.

Built in 1900 by local railway mogul James Reid, the A-listed structure was once the largest in Scotland, full of palms and tender exotic plants, but it fell into disrepair in the 1970s.

With full restoration for the structure estimated at £7-8 million, a staged approach has been adopted by the eponymous trust formed to support it. The winning scheme has

32 Garden News / December 6 2014

four interconnected shedshaped structures designed to evoke memories of the plant houses that once stood around the main glasshouse.

The frameworks will be unglazed apart from one, which will be partially enclosed to stage meetings and show recorded projections.

Young designers James Hand and Nik Klahre were picked from a shortlist of five teams in an open contest that attracted 25 entries, winning the £1,000 first prize. The competition was run by the Glasgow Institute of Architects. The pair clinched 324 public votes from an exhibition of

Winning scheme: Glasshouse framewor ks will inspire future developments

shortlisted entries. Work to expand wider interest in the project will be launched in 2015.

The park also contains a rock garden – one of Scotland’s finest – located in an old quarry and extensive nature trails. ● Visit: www.facebook.com/ springburnwintergardens

Must-ha ve new pla nts All photos: Paul Wilkinson

New plants to savour Hayloft Plants have launched their 2015 catalogue, which contains a wealth of new and interesting shrubs and herbaceous plants. Tel: 01386 554440; visit: www.hayloftplants.co.uk

Astrantia ‘Midnight Owl’ Distinct purple-toned variety, long flowering from early summer. Slug resistant. Moist soil in sun, drier in part shade. H: 80cm (32in) S: 45cm (18in). Three bare-root plants £24.

March delivery.

Fit for a prince: Raymond Blanc gifts produce from the restaurant garden

Buddleia ‘Hocus Pocus’ Fragrant blooms from lilac buds all summer. Good for bees and butterflies. Welldrained soil, sun or partshade. H: 2.4m (8ft) S: 1m (40in). One potted plant £14.50, three plants £28.

May delivery.

Erysimum ‘Rembrandt’ Fragrant perennial, long-flowered from spring to early summer.

Well-drained soil in sun or part-shade. H/S: 3040cm (12-15in). Three potted plants £15.

April delivery.

The new National Heritage Garden uses a range of old varieties for flavour

Royal visit for organic garden

Helenium ‘Fuego’

Phlox ‘Cleopatra’

All photos: Hayloft Plants

PRINCE CHARLES RECENTLY dropped by to see the garden of top chef and keen vegetable grower Raymond Blanc. The reason behind the Prince’s visit was to celebrate completion of the National Heritage Garden at Raymond’s restaurant Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in Oxfordshire.

Staged in partnership with charity Garden Organic (GO) the garden showcases more than 70 vegetable varieties from GO’s Heritage Seed Library, all chosen for flavour, such as the ‘Delicata’ squash and the ‘Carruthers’ Purple Podded’ pea.

On hand was designer Anne Keenan, who won a competition to create the garden, and staff, who maintain the garden. The Prince, patron of GO for more than 25 years, planted apple tree ‘Bright Future’ – a British-bred disease-resistant variety introduced to celebrate 50 years of Garden Organic in 2008.

“On such a rainy day, HRH The Prince of Wales certainly lifted our spirits,” said Raymond. “It was a jovial and interesting tour.”

High performance summer perennial. Good for attracting bees and butterflies. Well-drained soil in sun or part shade.

H/S: 45-60cm (18-24in).

Three bare-root plants £18. March delivery.

Compact hardy perennial.

Sweetly-scented flowers in striking tone. Slug resistant. Good for bees.

Most soils, sun or part shade. H/S: 60cm (24in).

Three bare-root plants £24. March delivery.

Wales all abuzz in new campaign

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Main picture: Ben Cooper Inset: James Hand/Nik Klahre

Wales: set to help pollinators with a new initiative

BEES, BUTTERFLIES AND other pollinators are the focus of a new campaign in Wales. Natural Buzz is an initiative launched by charity Keep Wales Tidy, in partnership with the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) and Green Space Wales, funded by the Welsh Government.

Community groups, schools, charitable organisations and local authorities in Wales can apply for £500

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worth of National Garden Gift Vouchers from the HTA to help fund individual projects from a £55,000 fund.

Participating garden centres in Wales will be staging information about pollinators and will advise on plants to choose. Awarded monthly, the first deadline for completed applications is December 9.

Information and terms and conditions can be found at: www.keepwalestidy.org

December 6 2014 / Garden News 33