FRthE£E SEEDS
July 25, 2015
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AboutNOW Streatham’s borders are older than Sissinghurst’s
White roses form part of the scheme
New saskatoon!
White garden blooms again
A
historic public garden has re-opened after restoration by volunteers. Older than Sissinghurst’s famous example by 30 years, the white garden at Streatham Common in London was originally created in 1913 and contains a double 30m (98ft) herbaceous border paved in Yorkstone. Known as The Rookery, after a large house of the same name that once stood on the site, it’s the only white garden to be found in any of London’s public parks. After a period of neglect, a local friends group decided to restore the gardens to their Edwardian glory. With financial help
Words: Lucy Purdy
A Sh a d e G re en er
Install a bu for a free supply of water
6 Garden News / July 25 2015
Frank P Ma hews
Saskatoon – ornamental and edible
from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Lambeth council and local partners, 40 volunteers set to work. After researching how the garden looked in its prime and visiting notable examples, more than 230 plants and 1,200 bulbs – representing white forms of 40 species, such as roses, foxgloves and hellebores – has seen the feature revitalised. “I’m glad local people have been given the chance to make a change, and hope our design will help people see The Rookery with fresh eyes,” said team member Kate Daly. Visit www.streathamcommon.org
An unusual new fruit will soon be in a garden centre near you. Very popular in the USA and Canada, the self-fertile saskatoon is similar to the blueberry, but is much higher in antioxidants, anthocyanins and other nutrients – around three times the amount found in strawberries and raspberries. Ripening in June and July, they can be eaten fresh, dried or made into jams, pies, salad dressings or wine. What’s more, being an amelanchier or June berry (A. alnifolia), it’s also extremely ornamental, producing white flowers in spring and red leaves in autumn. With a height and spread of 3-4m (10-13ft), it will also fit right in with your other shrub plantings and is tolerant of a wide range of conditions, except dry soils. Supplier Frank P Matthews is introducing five different varieties – ‘Martin’, ‘Northline’, ‘Smoky’, ‘Thiessen’ and ‘JB30’. Available in 3-litre pots for £15.99 from September. Visit www. frankpmatthews.com for local stockists.
Harvest rainwater D ripping off roofs, flowing down gutters and disappearing into drains, water has become something to be shed quickly and efficiently – and many of our homes and gardens have been designed to be ‘hydrophobic’. But much rainwater can be captured, stored and diverted towards uses that benefit our gardens and the environment. And why not? After all, it’s a free, untreated and increasingly precious
resource for gardeners. Installing water butts and tanks is a great place to start. Fix up a hose attachment or a tap from which to fill your watering can, and you should be able to collect enough to regularly water your plants and vegetables. Hosepipe ban? No problem! A pond is another water-storing option, and has the benefit of creating a wildlife-friendly space at the same time. The RHS recommends this as the
‘single easiest way to add wildlife value to a garden’. Depending on the size of your growing plot, you could think bigger. Creating swales – long, meandering basins placed on contour lines so as to be exactly level – capture water and enable it to be slowly released into the ground over time. This reduces erosion and helps take water to where you need it: under the soil level, ready for thirsty plants during dry periods.
Know
YOUR Enemy
Check pots for the destructive larvae
#7 Vine weevil
An evil weevil to strike fear into the heart of all those who love their pot plants. This critter can kill them stone dead in just a few days – and it’s the young ones
Shu erstock
Self defence: If you garden organically, biological control comes from nematodes that enjoy eating weevil larvae as much as larvae enjoy eating roots. Mix them with water and drench the soil or compost. Otherwise, reach for the Provado…
T h e W in do w s ill Ga rd e n e r
Try a container display
T
his is the time of year when container plants are filling out and borders are looking their best. Windowsill gardeners may feel a bit envious of growers with plenty of space, but it’s still possible to enjoy a proper summer container display indoors if you choose the right plants.
real summer appeal, grow them together in one container, just as you would in an outdoor window-box. If you want your indoor summer display to sit in a hot conservatory or on a southfacing windowsill, choose Mediterranean plants that can cope with heat and strong sunshine, such as bright
Plants suddenly wilting and not recovering, notches in leaf margins, especially broadleaf evergreens.
Afects Pot plants, evergreens such as rhododendrons, strawberries.
pelargoniums. Zonal or trailing ivy-leaved pelargoniums, are the traditional choice for indoor pots but regal and Angel varieties make a nice change. Scented-leaved pelargoniums are usually grown for their foliage and stand more shade than the other types. In warm bathrooms and humid kitchens, keep a watchful eye for green or whitefly and spider mites.
No-mess tips
● Use a pot cover or stand containers on a tray, and water carefully to avoid messy drips. ● Deadhead fowers as they fade to prolong the display and to reduce the risk of grey mould.
Neil Hepworth
For this shade-tolerant display we used bronze-leaved Begonia semperflorens , basket fuchsia, tuberous begonia ‘Firewings’, and glechoma (trailing nepeta)
Petunias and tuberous begonias perform best on west-facing windowsills – add ferns or ivies to trail. Fuchsias, ivies and fibrous-rooted begonias, such as Begonia semperflorens, all enjoy moist soil and warm, shady conditions, so they’re ideal for an indoor display on a northor east-facing windowsill. For
Responsible for
Neil Hepworth
Adult weevils cause notches in leaves (top right)
you have to watch! The maggoty larvae burrow through the soil to feast on tender roots, which is far more dangerous than the unsightly leaf nibblings of older family members. C-shaped, with creamywhite bodies and brown heads, they lurk in pots and do most damage in spring and summer.
What to do this week
ON YOUR FRUIT & VEG PLOT It’s the perfect time to decide on cold weather crops, says Karen
Sow winter veg
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St e p by st e p Photos: Neil Hepworth, unless stated
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Give the soil a good rake to make it fine, airy and crumbly, ready for your seeds.
3
Cover drill over with soil, and water well if dry. Use cloches before frosts arrive.
Six of the best to sow now
Choi Sum ‘Moulin Rouge’
Cabbage ‘Spring Hero’
Pak Choi ‘Blizzard’
The first ballhead spring cabbage has large, heavy heads in winter.
Harvest young and add to stir-fries. Crisp, a ractive, red-veined Sow under glass for baby leaves. leaves for salads and stir-fries.
Lettuce ‘Valdor’
Radish ‘Chinese Dragon’
Winter purslane
Tasty bu erhead variety, and one of the best winter-hardy types.
Long, pink-skinned roots, which are crisp even when large.
High in Vitamin C, this is a hardy, cut-and-come-again salad crop.
Photos: D. T. Brown
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Sow directly, making a drill about 1cm (½in) deep, and sow seed quite thinly.
Garden News RECOMMENDS
lanning ahead is the ultimate tool to success for a gardener, but it can often be difficult to think of warming winter veg during July, whatever the weather! Nevertheless, it’s the perfect time now to decide on your old favourite cold-weather crops, or even to think about trying something new. There are several robust ones that need planting now, so they have plenty of time to mature for winter, such as Brussels sprouts, kale, sprouting broccoli and leeks. You can sow leafy veg from now, which will be ready by the autumn, and by that time you can sow winter salads so you’ll always have a supply at your fingertips during the colder months. Whoever said summer and autumn were prime harvest times? There’s such a wide range of winter veg to pack into gardens, that the coldest season can be just as fruitful! If you’re sowing successional brassicas, remember that the soil is being worked continuously and all the nutrients are being used up, so with each sowing, give a good dose of general fertiliser to the area so all the goodness is boosted. Also watch out for flea beetles on your brassicas and oriental leaves. Insect-proof netting can help deter them, though.
40 Garden News / July 25 2015
● All are available from D.T. Brown Seeds, tel: 0333 003 0869; www.dtbrownseeds.co.uk