Garden News September 19

FRhE£E SEEDS

September 19, 2015

Wort

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Grow a B rit a in'sed st m o st t ru in vo ice g a rd e n in g

3

easy steps to sow your best-ever sweet peas

mini orchard on your patio

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BE YOUR OWN BREEDER

COLLECT VEG SEED!

PLANT BULBS

in grass for a natural look

PERENNIALS that run riot – in a good way!

HOUSEPLANTS YOU CAN'T KILL! Beautiful leaves ✓ Fascinating textures ✓ Colour all year ✓

Keep the

colour comıng!

Try Carol Klein's favourite dahlias Metallic plants for glitter all year!

AUTUMN WOW-FACTOR Anemones for flowers NOW!

er Show Harrogate Flow

AboutNOW NOW DNA test needed for giant toms

Testing times – show manager Nick Smith trials the technology

Concern builds that winner could be a ‘ringer’ Words Ian Hodgson

W

hile the sports world continues to reel from fallout of random drug tests, Harrogate Flower Show is to enter the fray by introducing genetic fingerprinting.

A new class specifically for ‘Gigantomo’ tomatoes in its giant vegetable competition left show organisers with a dilemma – how do they know when they have the real thing? With a potential £6,000 prize-pot offered for a world record-busting berry, stakes are high, with some growers expressing concern that a ‘ringer’ might weigh-in to top the scales.

Enter scientists from Naktuinbouw Variety Testing in the Netherlands, whose project ‘Green Forensics’ examines the DNA genome sequence for individual tomato cultivars. In what is believed to be a first in the world of giant veg, the Dutch scientists will use sensitive Variety Tracer technology to ensure winning toms are true to type.

‘This has to be one of the most unusual challenges we have received so far!” said molecular biologist Hedwich Teunissen.

The official Guinness record for heaviest tomato stands at 3.5kg (7lb 2oz), though a berry of 3.81kg (8.41lbs) was reported in the USA last year. ● Harrogate Autumn Flower Show runs from Friday 18 to Sunday 20 September.

Tel: 01423 546158; www.flowershow.org.uk

ge

Tea is just the tonic

C

ompost tea has proved the best tonic for turf, a researcher has found. Undergraduate student and horticultural technician echnician Penelope Wright, trialled rialled the brew, along with water and shop-bought fertiliser, in a six-month trial at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC).

SRUC). Applying the various substances to an area of organically-managed turf, urf, the tea-treated area was found to stimulate grass

4 Garden News / September 19 2015

Thompson & Morgan

Scotland’s Rural Colle

Student Penelope Wright tends to her nutritious blend

Dead ringer – heaviest ‘Gigantomo’ tomato entry will undergo genetic fingerprinting

with a far better root structure, more even growth, as well as improving the soil’s moisture retention.

Although grass in the fertiliser-treated zone was longer, growth was more uneven, the stems less substantial and roots weaker than that treated with compost tea. Soil fed only with water produced weak growth, both above and below ground.

The compost tea was

produced by soaking a bag of green waste compost in water, together with humic acid and kelp seaweed, to boost the amount of microorganisms in the brew. Left for a number of days, the solution was pumped with oxygen and was ready for use after a week. “Overall, the compost tea was the clear winner and I hope to see it used on our green spaces in the UK,” said Penelope.

Plant

OF THE WEEK

Japanese anemones!

These rambling beauties give borders a boost in early autumn

T

all stems that catch the wind give Japanese anemones their common name of windflowers. As they hover over the late-summer border these dainty pink or white flowers appear fragile, but they are tough plants, their stems are flexible enough to bend with the breeze, and they’re

unbowed even by autumn gales.

The pale flowers look superb planted against a dark backdrop such as a yew hedge or stone wall, and they are tolerant of shade. Anemones’ single or semi-double flowers start to bloom in summer and just keep on flowering, often well into autumn.

Their central ring of gold stamens attracts bees and pollinators. Their deeply divided leaves are semi-evergreen and make a permanent feature in the border. Some new hybrids such as anemone ‘Wild Swan’ bloom almost continuously from May to November.

Once the petals drop, the spent flower heads leave sprays of green ‘buttons’ – leave them standing in the border, or cut and use as dried flowers.

Keep them happy Ranging in height from 45cm (18in) to over a metre tall, Japanese anemones fit into most schemes. They thrive in moist soils in sun or semi-shade.

Position them carefully because they dislike disturbance and, once established, can make a solid mass that is hard to move.

If you need to divide and transplant them, do it in spring. ● Crocus, tel: 01344 578000; www.crocus.co.uk

5 of the best varieties to try

Photos: Crocus

‘White Swan’

‘Pretty Lady Susan’

‘Pamina’

‘Honorine Jobert’

Grey-blue outer petals make a wonderful contrast with the white inside. Flowers May to November.

Height: 45cm (18in).

Deep pink flowers with a golden centre are perfect mid-border plants. Flowers August to October.

Height: 60cm(2ft).

Dark pink double flowers have unusual twisted petals and golden stamens.

Flowers July to August.

Height: 90cm (3ft).

White petals that curl and overlap prettily are massed on strong stems. Flowers August to October.

Height: 1.2m(4ft).

Subscribe now for £1 an issue! Go to www.greatmagazines.co.uk/gn

‘Hadspen Abundance’ Masses of deep red-pink flowers with prominent stamens. Flowers July to September.

Height: 1.5m (80in).

September 19 2015 / Garden News 5

MARTIN FISH

The undercover

GARDENER Former head gardener, TV and radio broadcaster and RHS judge

Fruits are ripe for the picking!

It’s a busy harvest time for Martin as his plants have cropped well

E

Polytunnel strawberries and blueberries keep cropping

Bunches of ‘Fragola’ grapes in the greenhouse

I think in anotherr week or two they’ll be ready to eat.

In the polytunnel, we’ve been picking strawberries all summer from the everbearing plants in a hanging basket and, even now, they’re still flowering and fruiting. The polytunnel is also home to my blueberries while they’ve been ripening, again to protect them from birds.

By allowing the fruits to fully ripen on the

Photos: Martin Fish

arly autumn is a time when many fruits are ready to harvest from fro the garden, greenhouse and polytunnel. poly Despite the cool, slow start to the season, se many of my plants are now croppin cropping well, even though they’re a little later than normal.

In my greenhouse, the vine has done very well and I’ve managed to keep the hungry blackbirds out by hanging old CDs in the doorway! By keeping the greenhouse closed at night, my grapes and tomatoes have benefited and ripened well.

The grape variety I’m growing is ‘Fragola’, which is also known as the th strawberry grape because of its distinctive dist flavour. It’s the sweetness you get in i strawberry-flavoured drinks and sweets, and the grapes are very tasty and juicy, although the skins are a little tough. Every time I go in the greenhouse I eat a few and the rest are being picked as bunches.

I also have melons in the greenhouse, which unfortunately got off to a bad start, but a few fruits are almost ready to pick.

plants they’re much tastier than those bought in supermarkets. After the ripe berries have all been picked, the plants will be moved outside for the winter.

With all this fruit under cover, I feel a fresh fruit salad coming on!

Sponsored by

Tel: 01531 633659 www.haygrove.co.uk

Jo b s to do now

Harvest tomatoes, at last!

Pot on polytunnel potatoes

Pelargonium cuttings

We’re finally ge ing plenty of lovely, ripe tomatoes now, which I’m harvesting quickly to let more light in and help the remaining green fruits ripen.

A few weeks ago I started off some seed potatoes in small pots. They’ve sprouted well and are ready to go into larger pots to grow on in the polytunnel.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been taking pelargonium cu ings and I’ll be making the final few this week.

Subscribe now for £1 an issue! Go to www.greatmagazines.co.uk/gn

k: care e wepus t x r Netoca p September 19 2015re / Garden News 35 t S

What to do this week

ON YOUR FRUIT & VEG PLOT

Save veg seeds Enjoy home-grown crops year after year, says Karen

St e p by st e p

1

Choose your favourite non-hybrid, home-grown tomato, cut in half, and scoop out its seeds into a glass bowl with a spoon. Cover with cold water, and let it ferment for around three days, until a white scum appears on the surface.

2

The white scum helps all the jelly-like seed membrane dissolve, so you are left with clean seed. Sieve the contents of the bowl through with water, to clean away the remaining froth and seed membrane.

I

t’s satisfying to grow tomatoes successfully, what with all their demanding growing needs, but to then save your favourite varieties’ seed and grow them for free again next year doubles the fun. The benefits are numerous: you know what you’re getting when you save your favourite seed – it’ll likely be good quality, and tasty to boot. It’s also cheaper, and you could save a good quantity of your garden spending by effectively creating your own free plants. And, lastly, it’s fun and educational – for yourself or for children – to encounter a plant’s life cycle from the very start to the very finish!

When saving tomatoes, remember that heirloom, non-hybrid varieties are best, as they will grow as true as the original from seed. F1 or modern hybrids may turn out differently than expected.

Garden News RECOMMENDS Other easy seed to save

3

Shake off any water, and leave the seed to dry on kitchen paper in a warm place. Once dry, store them in a well-marked seed packet and they’ll keep for a few years.

38 Garden News / September 19 2015

Aubergine

Peas

Sweet peppers

Leave one or two until they’re past eating stage. Chop into sections, and rub out the seeds in a bowl of water. Good seed will sink. Sieve out the debris, then dry the clean seed and store.

In good weather, leave some of your pea plant pods to dry where they are – in bad weather, bring them inside and hang to dry.

When the pods are very dry and brown, and the seeds ra le inside, they’re ready to store.

Simply cut your pepper in half, and remove all the seeds carefully from the inside core.

Separate any remaining pith away and leave seeds in a warm, dry place, until they’re bri le and ready to store.