Garden News February 14

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February 14, 2015

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PAGES OF IDEAS FOR THIS WEEK! Seed sowing methods explained Prune rambling roses Plant a blueberry for summer fruit

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These beautiful achillea in a mix of purple and pink tones will flower this year if you sow them now. Use small pots and sow three seeds in each, covering them lightly. Place in a propagator at 20-25C (6877F), and seedlings should be through in 10-21 days.

Clare tries out some different seed sowing options

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Photos: Neil Hepworth unless stated

PRING’S SEED SOWING frenzy is nearly upon us! It’s the most exciting time of the gardening year when the majority of flower seeds get started off, as well as many vegetables. If you don’t routinely start plants off from seed though, the garden centre’s propagation and sowing aisle can be overwhelming. There are so many different ways to get your seed going, but which one is best?

You might find one method that suits you better, and if you’re happy with it and the results, then stick to it. But different techniques can suit different plants, so it pays to bear that in mind and use a seed-sowing method that’s tailor-made to guarantee success.

Small seed is more difficult to handle, so it’s better sown thinly across the surface of compost in a tray or pot. Mix the seed with a little silver sand first so it’s easier to get it more evenly distributed. Once it’s germinated and the seedlings have produced two true leaves, you’ll need to prick the seedlings out into individual cells or small pots, and grow them on.

Large seed that can be picked up and handled easily lends itself to being sown individually, either into module cells or small pots of their own. This saves you the bother of having to prick the seedling out once they’ve come through, because each one already has its own little growing area.

3 ways to sow seed this spring

Trays and pots

Module cells

Jiffy plugs

The traditional way to sow. Fill your trays or pots with compost, level the surface by tamping it down and sow seed thinly and evenly across it.

Too thick and you risk damping off disease and the seedlings ge ing congested. When they’re through and large enough to handle, move them on into individual pots by pricking them out.

Good for large seed you can pick up individually, such as sweet peas and sunflowers. Fill the modules with compost and make a planting hole in the middle of each one with your finger or a dibber. Drop a seed in each, make sure it’s covered and the result is one plant per module, soon ready to pot on or plant out – your very own plug plants.

These coir-based pellets need to be soaked in water before you sow so they puff up. Sow seed individually into their central dimple. They’re tidy and a good choice for windowsills because compost doesn’t get everywhere.

Plant out their contents when you start to see roots showing through their outer ne ing.

UK digital readers tel: 01733 395076 or email gn.le ers@bauermedia.co.uk to claim your free seeds

24 Garden News / February 14 2015

What to

Trim and train climbing roses

CHOP!

Check the framework of branches on your climbing and rambling roses and cut out any stems that can’t be trained to their supports. You always get a few that just refuse to grow or be trained in the right direction!

Also cut out any spindly, weak and damaged stems so that you’ve got a neat framework of branches in place before the plant starts into growth for another year. Cut stems flush to the point they start from. If you leave a ‘snag’ of stem, it will die back.

Prune away any outward-growing stems that can’t easily be tied to their support Avoid leaving stumps that could die back

Plant evergreens for instant impact

Tie in healthy stems to make a neat framework, aiming for a fan shape

Escallonia’s small summer flowers will a ract bees

If the ground outside isn’t frozen and not too wet, it’s a good time to plant evergreen shrubs. They’ll be raring to start into growth as soon as spring brings more light and warmer weather. They will provide instant structure to the garden and prove invaluable in winter, preventing the garden from being flat and formless. Plant in areas that look empty and need a bit of a lift at this time of year, for an instant impact Choose something fast-growing shrub such as an elaeagnus or Euonymus fortunei. And if you choose a shrub with a ractive flowers you’ll have colour to look forward to later in the year too.

Don’t relegate evergreens to the shrubbery! This euonymus makes a perfect foil for red monarda

How to plant a shrub Quick-growing elaeagnus has stand-out variegated leaves

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Dig a planting hole and loosen the soil at the base with a digging fork to break up any compaction.

Add compost to the base of the hole then mix it in well with a fork so it is well incorporated with the soil.

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Loosen any tightly-wound roots at the base of the plant’s rootball, to encourage the roots to spread outwards.

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Plant at the same depth the plant was in in its pot, firm the soil then water in well to se le the roots.

These photinia have been pruned and trained to form lollypop-like standards

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

‘Oi ref – that oak’s ofside!’

Shortlisted tree is key player on football pitch

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England’s entry: Major Oak in Sherwood Forest

Elina Kalm

Estonian entry to this year’s European Tree of the Year competition. As both a local and now national treasure, one thing’s for sure – it’ll never be seen on football’s transfer market.

The annual competition has garnered entries from around Europe, including England, Scotland and Wales. England’s contender is the venerable 800-year-old Major Oak, in Sherwood Forest, associated with the folklore of Robin Hood. Public voting is currently under way until February 28, with the winner announced on March 5. ● For more information, visit www.treeoftheyear.org

No inghamshire County Council

OST TREES are usually relegated to the touchline, but this one in a football pitch in Orissare, Estonia, is always in the thick of the action. At 150 years it’s the oldest on the field, but age is no barrier to it playing a tactical role as students know how to use the tree to complete their passes. It also cares for exhausted players by providing cool shade at half-time and is a welcome venue for postmatch reflection.

Before 1951, the fledgling oak stood beside a small sporting area, but when this was expanded it ended up being in the middle of stadium facilities. The story goes that two of Stalin’s tractors tried to pull it out of the ground, but when the cables kept snapping it was left alone. Its trunk still bears the scars. The oak is the quirky

32 Garden News / February 14 2015

Match fit: Estonia’s entry in the ‘European Tree Contest’

THEQUESTION

GN readers have over a MILLION years’ gardening experience between them, and we’re tapping into it every week!

Would you grow and eat genetically modified veg?

We need it

I

Don’t play with our food

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Shu erstock

ive me unplayed-with organic produce anyday. If you don’t grow your own, find an organic wholesale supplier and start a syndicate. Myself and eight friends have an order delivered to one address, split it into nine equal portions and pay 40% of the cost of regular Aldi produce.

And oh my goodness, the range, taste and flavours take me back to childhood when my mum had a grocers in the 1960s and 1970s. John Cranwell

Where’s the fun?

Newer isn’t be er

Grow your own is best, always fresh and rewarding.

Gardening is about the challenge of fighting those bugs and things and we love it! Diana Eastwood

We don’t need new varieties when there are so many wonderful old heritage plants that have been forgo en – like the ‘Ailsa Craig’ tomato. Much more flavour than the newer varieties!

Paul Chapman

We’ve got the plants we need Genetic modifications may interfere with biodiversity in other interdependent species; evolution happens at a pace that facilitates natural adjustment. There are enough varieties of vegetables already on the market to suit most people’s requirements. Phil Cazanne

Count me in No problem at all. If it means I don’t get blight or my raspberries are less a ractive to moths then count me in. We should use science to our advantage.

Geraldine Taylor

get the arguments against GM, but on balance I think it’s a good thing for the world. I read somewhere there are now one billion people at risk of starvation, and that number is growing fast. GM crops can give higher yields, more vitamins, and resistance from drought and insects. And we have to put the ‘dangers’ of GM in perspective – it’s never caused a single illness or death, despite the fact that in the US, around 60 per cent of all food products contain GM. If my toms and cucumbers weren’t so perfect anyway (!), I’d be happy to grow GM! Tim Perry

It’s not just us It’s not just our own wellbeing that’s at stake, all insects have a part to play in the food chain and any link that’s broken in that chain can have dire effects. So much has been done in the last 50 years to improve yields, there should be no need for GM. John Bocking

Quick quotes I like my food as nature intended, “give me spots on apples but leave me the

birds and the bees... please.” Lou Shefford I would avoid at all costs, growing or eating GM crops.

I don’t believe we should tamper with nature. Lynn Cundy No never. We shouldn’t mess with our food. What’s wrong with good old-fashioned vegetables? Sue Roper I would eat them, people forget cabbages weren’t always like that and actually came from the good old seaside. Leighton Elliman

JOIN IN! Coming questions: Is gardening well served by what’s on TV? (And what types of programmes would you like to see?) ● What are your top tips for keeping houseplants alive?

Go to www.facebook.com/GardenNewsOfficial, click ‘Like’ and post your comment on the Question of the Week. You could win free plants just by having your say! /GardenNewsOfficial Shu erstock

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