December Gardening News
November, true to form, delivered autumn and the colours have been amazing. Across the last ten years I have planted quite a few native trees and this year have been rewarded with a stunning show. Even the domestic planting has been generous with Maples, Liquidambar and very noticeably Cotinus and Gingko all showing off. As we are encouraged to be planting trees, do consider the extras (flowers, berries, bark and autumn colour) when making a choice. The weather has been suitably seasonal though at the time of writing only one full frost has landed, and it was just enough to knock out the summer bedding. The gentle tumbling of leaves has created work of course and the compost heap is piled high. Leaf mould is very special, so do try and round yours up for composting. With the bedding out, we can set about the bigger tidy up, thinning shrubs and trees a little, just nipping out overcrowded, broken or damaged branches. If we do get snow, the removal of clutter will protect the plant from damage. Top weary herbaceous plants too, removing the failing growth and dead flower stems. With the space open we can still do a bit of late planting, dropping in bulbs and even oddments of selected over winter bedding. Remember this is the month for bare root planting, so hedging and soft fruit will all transfer well as will rhubarb. If you are done with planting, then digging over the ground on drier days is worthwhile. Winter will bite into turned ground, breaking it up ensuring easier cultivation in the spring. Where ground is particularly heavy you can lightly dust it with lime to accelerate the crumbling process. If you have any protected space, then you can still be sowing a few seeds. A number of annuals (like Antirrhinums) will make good growth from a winter sowing and historically, my grandfather would always have something going by Christmas. It can be managed on the windowsill in the kitchen until germinated, when seedlings can be moved to a cooler space. And finally, start researching compost. The horticultural industry is currently wrestling with the changing shape of growing mediums as we move towards a peat free future. By 2025 the use of peat in horticulture will be stopped. Alternatives are around and you should be considering through experimentation what will work for you. This year we have trialled 5 different products. The jury is still deliberating. Happy Gardening. Chris Evans www.dundrynurseries.co.uk www.thebutterflygarden.org
October Gardening News
And there it was gone, the summer just upped and left, making way for autumn. By early September many plants looked close to surrender as the dry weather thumped them and there was a fair amount of early leaf fall. The gardens have been reasonably productive, even without the rain. The beans have been ok, the French in particular have been amazing, but everything has needed to be kept tightly picked. My real joy this year has been with Aubergines, which have been fantastic and tomatoes which have been so flavoursome. I don’t do too much feeding, so the plants really have to work on finding what’s there. I really believe that taste can be compromised by too much feed. Most mornings I have had tomatoes on toast for breakfast. If you are chasing bigger crops then feeding is important, but I am talking about my domestic needs and I need flavour. This month, we will be pulling out the stops to get the bulbs in and pad the borders and containers with the next offering of bedding plants. Pansies and violas to bring some winter colour and wallflowers and biennials as an investment for the spring. There are plenty of bulbs about and with careful management of the flowering times, very extended shows can be achieved, with selected varieties offering colour from early February into May. There are bulbs for every setting, statuesque sentinels for open space, with a little protection and dwarf forms for the breezy spots. In the vegetable area, you can be planting out onions, garlic and shallots as well as spring cabbage plants and by the end of the month broad bean seed for over wintering. As always there is some tidying up to do, a good final cut of the lawn and a repairing prune of overgrown trees and shrubs to lessen the risk of winter damage through rough weather. This is also a month for new planting or relocation of trees and shrubs as they move into dormancy. The disruption will be minimal, many items not even noticing they’ve moved. You can also consider propagation by division, putting the spade through perennial favourites to expand stock, a clean slice through a clump will make you to extend displays. Such division can also be used on rhubarb crowns to increase the crop. And finally, lift and shift dahlia tubers and other tender plants moving them into some shelter, early frosts can be brutal. Happy Gardening. Chris Evans www.dundrynurseries.co.uk www.thebutterflygarden.org
February Gardening News
And so to business! The distraction of COVID had disguised the advance of another month and there is a gentle easement on daylight. Nature teases and whispers of better days ahead. There is evidence of buds filling and bulb shoots are spearing out of the ground. In just two months we will be tweaking the clocks all over again. I think spurred by the successes and the distraction of last year’s garden, the populus are already looking to get gardening. It’s there to do and there’s plenty of variety. I am pruning and redefining a tired hedge at the moment, cutting away rubbish and slipping in bits of bare root hedging to fill gaps. My plan is to move on this month to finish pruning. I have some fruit to tidy up and towards the end of the month will cut back a couple of roses. I have a rambler that has gone mad. Whilst any regular roses can be cut back hard, I will be more modest with the rambler. With the sap on the rise, I don’t want the plant producing masses of new vegetation, so will just restore some order. I am going to get some onion sets and shallots out, indeed most bulbous vegetables are available this month including Garlic and Artichokes. Asparagus and rhubarb can also be considered. Rhubarb is a great plant to have around. It’s easy, prolific, edible and it looks good even in a border. Don’t rush to harvest it in the first season and with care you can have a crop that harvests for years. This month I will be seed sowing. Make a start on a few bits and pieces, it’s so uplifting. Vegetable seed sowing should be modest and regular, creating a succession of cropping. Everybody gets carried away, just sow a pinch at the time, nobody wants 100 lettuce in one go. Try running rows of different items across a seed tray on a window sill. Just fill a tray with some good compost and then create five or six lines across the width, depressing the line with your finger tips to create a shallow channel. Then spill a few different seeds along each line, lightly sweeping the compost back and firming over the seed. The method is great for lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and spinach. Lightly watered, you’ll see new growth within a fortnight. The journey has begun. And finally, remember, it’s just a game, sometimes we may lose, but when we win, what joy. Happy Gardening. Chris Evans www.dundrynurseries.co.uk www.thebutterflygarden.org
November Gardening News
The month of October offered prelude to the changing season and now autumn is upon us. Already the air carries the scent of aging decline, tumbled leaves litter the garden and there is a dampness to everything. I have already spent a good amount of time cleaning up. I think that the warmth and wet of the early season made for some luxuriant growth as I can’t really see where the leaves have come from. The month ahead is going to be busy. Apart from the cleaning up, November is a good planting month, especially if you need bare root items. There will hedging about shortly and in a state of near dormancy it will transplant smoothly. Formal and informal stock is about, with everything from native field plants, like hawthorn and maple to beech, and laurel. Soft fruit is about too, with I suspect many looking for raspberries, which generally have performed well again this year. And blueberries, which seem to have had big television exposure. Modern varieties do very well actually and can be grown in containers. Blueberries will prefer a slightly acidic condition, so consider using some ericaceous compost or in season a suitable feed. Roses too are about now and for many centres, offered for the first time since the lockdown. In the vegetable garden you can still be planting onions, garlic and shallots as well as rhubarb crowns. The shallots enjoy the cold, which encourages early division, delivering good clumps of bulbs in the spring. If you have not put in some overwintering broad beans, your hesitation has delivered you to the perfect moment. For the purposes of overwintering broad beans are best sown between the last week of October and the second week of November. Sown earlier you can end up with stalky plants before Christmas which will not enjoy cold weather. If you can offer some shelter then winter lettuce and oriental vegetables are also worth a go. On the flower front, get cracking and lift any bedding that you may wish to over winter, Pelargoniums, Begonias and Dahlias are salvageable ahead of the frost. They can be allowed to dry and then will need storing in a shed, garage or greenhouse. Or can be potted to bring late colour inside. And finally there is still time to pop in some over wintering bedding and bulbs, but you need to get a move on. Buy big plants in pots or 6 packs to ensure winter resilience. Happy Gardening. Chris Evans www.dundrynurseries.co.uk www.thebutterflygarden.org
March Gardening News
Wet, wet and a bit more for luck. My goodness we have had some rain. The ground is saturated, tough enough for gardeners, it must be a nightmare for farmers. It is very frustrating; you’ve really had to seize your moments to get out. Thankfully I did. I shifted a couple of shrubs, did some serious pruning and managed to sow a bit of seed. In the days ahead I will hope to finish pruning an apple tree and then I will hang out a Codling Moth trap. I had quite a bit of moth trouble last year, so a trap hung for two or three months will help to knock out adults ahead of mating. The beast is impossible to spray for and once the eggs are laid, trouble will follow, with emerging grubs diving into the bottom of young fruit and then eating their way out. I have some pricking out to do too, with cabbage and lettuce needing space. I will transfer them into a couple of seed trays for a few weeks and will hopefully have something fit for the ground around Easter. March is a really good month for sowing seed if you have space, you’ll need to be selective according to the space and protection that you can offer, but many things will grow now without extra heat. You can be sowing grass seed too, establishing new space or patching up old. It will germinate quite quickly and will be spurred by the changing of the clock to bring more light. You can continue to plant out onions, garlic, asparagus and rhubarb this month and they will be quick to show life. Towards the end of the month you can also get your potatoes into the ground and direct sow some salad vegetables. If you have any soft fruit or newly pruned roses, then a bit of top dressing with a general feed or even chicken pellets will be beneficial at the turn of the month. As the daffodils and winter pansies fade, you may want to bring some early colour back and many centres will have aubretia, pansies, anemones and violas to brighten the run up to Easter. And finally, consider growing the vegetable that you never have. Supermarkets do get plenty of bad press and certainly have a negative effect on the High Street, but they have created interest in a huge range of vegetables and many of them can be grown from seed at home. Try Celeriac or Kohl Rabi and sow it now. Re-join the adventure. Happy Gardening. Chris Evans www.dundrynurseries.co.uk www.thebutterflygarden.org
February Gardening News
Soggy, soggy, soggy, what a frustrating few weeks to start our new year. The ground has been so difficult to get on, even the lawn has squelched like a laden sponge and whilst there hasn’t been a huge amount to plant, the ground has been almost unworkable. I did however manage to get my bare root hedging planted (though not the raspberries which I will set out next week) and the pinch of lettuce I sowed on the windowsill is almost fit for pricking out. In the days ahead I am hoping to set out a few onion sets and shallots. There is plenty of time, but I had high hopes of getting some of them out in January. If the weather continues to tease, I am going to be doing some pruning and grubbing up. I have ivy growing invasively and blackberry seedlings everywhere. Courtesy of the blackbird I suspect, delivering seed around the place to germinate and colonise in the middle of established shrubs. They need culling now or they will run riot in the spring. I am also going to get my apple tree pruned this month. It wants doing whilst the trees are dormant, and pruning can be brutal if necessary. Prune to a manageable open shape, knocking out dead, diseased, crossing or crowded growth. Mine hasn’t been done for a couple of years, so there is some work to do. Soft fruit can be tidied up too at this time and if you have late fruiting raspberries a good trim to remove old canes will encourage new growth for this autumns production. You have also a bit of time to relocate established plants, if you have the energy. We are deceived by the label describing our purchases as ‘small’ and all too regularly plants defy the information and do extraordinary things. Reshaping the garden to make things fit is good practice. As you toil to wrestle plants from the ground, celebrate the bounteous generosity of the triffid. If the outdoors isn’t calling then get prepared for the season approaches quickly. Consider your planting plans for the spring and get seed organised, select bulbs, get your compost bought and put under cover and select seed potatoes setting them in a cool but frost free place to start them chitting. And finally, if you have any rhubarb in the ground, drop a large pot, bucket or even redundant water butt or compost bin over the crown to force some early growth. Happy Gardening. Chris Evans www.dundrynurseries.co.uk www.thebutterflygarden.org
January Gardening News
Ho, ho, ho, here we go. Off again on the sleigh ride into tomorrow and who knows what. I get quite excited by the turn of the year and the smell of new adventures. 2018 didn’t turn out too badly really. December was a mixed bag, with one or two very cold nights, with the compensation of some glorious days. The growing year was late and as always a few things struggled to deliver, but in the balance it was ok. Now, with the corner turned and the days starting to lengthen, we can look ahead. As the month moves forward and the mood takes we can look to start planting onion sets and shallots, as well as garlic. We can consider dividing things too, extending commitment to Rhubarb and Raspberries by splitting clumps with a spade and replanting. We can start to look at seed potatoes this month and whilst it is still too early to plant, there is more choice available if you buy early (tubers can then be held for weeks in a cool space). You can also be playing with the first bits of seed and towards the end of January, try your luck with a few Broad Beans and some Early Peas. You can use up your Aquadulce bean seed and look at something like Feltham First if you want to stick in Peas. The ground will still be cold, but the seed will emerge slowly as the days advance. Just keep your eyes open for rodents. They are all hungry and will be pleased to help themselves if temptation is obvious. So store spuds and seeds out of harms way and consider lightly dressing lines in open ground with a bit of grit (they don’t like it. Scratching around on a frosty morning in a pile of sharp grit ? No, I don’t think so). When the weather bites, as it is bound too, retreat and start looking at the seed catalogues. I talked of adventure and the journey into a seed catalogue is very special. As we embark on a new season, it is really important to remind ourselves of how extraordinary nature can be and whilst man will always poke his nose in, the ever changing shape and performance of plants is to be celebrated. Do try something new. And finally, play the game and never think that you are in charge. Losing is no big deal, there is always tomorrow. Happy Gardening. Chris Evans www.dundrynurseries.co.uk www.thebutterflygarden.org
November Gardening News
Isn’t it great when seasons actually deliver more or less what is expected? I felt that October worked and that the season had turned. There were a few cold nights, some beautiful misty dawns, the occasional bright watery days of sunshine and some very soggy rough moments. Things just got beaten up and then the colour started to tease through. The growth having been so luxuriant, I suspect we may be on for a long shutdown and a never ending clean up. I have been sweeping and clearing debris for a couple of weeks already. I am just glad that last month I managed to tidy and harvest from the compost bins. Luxuriant growth creates a bigger compost heap and composting is well worth the trouble. Just don’t make it too complicated. I tend to commit all green debris to the heap. Sorting and grading at this stage can be really tiresome. So, a few of the wrong bits make it through, well you soon spot them when you access the compost. I sieve mine and then reintroduce the lumpy bits to the heap even the brambles surrender eventually, and the exertion is great for body and soul. Oh yes, now where was I? Cleaning, tidying, clipping, anchoring, tying, disinfecting, and pressure washing are all on the agenda. Try to resist cutting the lawn, but if you are in the mood spike it with your fork. If you are up for gardening, then consider bigger planting now. Fruit trees, ornamentals, roses and soft fruit as well as hedging are all moving to dormancy and settle very quickly at this time of the year. In the case of trees it will be worth staking. You can still be titivating borders too and there are plenty of bulbs around as well as autumn bedding. The pansies have been great this year and are showing real promise for winter flower, many being laden with buds. In the vegetable space, you can consider Garlic, shallots and rhubarb as well as overwintering onions. If you can find some Perpetual spinach plants and kale are certain survivors for late planting. They are good fillers and a really useful fall back when other veg is scarce. Try some by the door in a pot, it saves marching off down the garden on a grotty day. And finally take a look at Tithonia, an old fashioned, little used bedding plant that belongs to the Sunflower group. It’s very jolly and I will be giving it a go next year for sure. Happy Gardening. Chris Evans www.dundrynurseries.co.uk www.thebutterflygarden.org
March Gardening News
The spring draws ever closer and hopefully we leave behind the bleakness of recent weeks. It has been a curious winter, with some very precious sunlit days, but the treacherous scything wind has never been faraway and the cold has bullied joint and muscle. How I ached some days. Still we are on the turn, the ground is still sitting wet, but buds are popping, the birds are getting frisky and the days are drawing out. I am doing a bit of rearranging this month, moving a few fairly well established bits to new homes. I have a couple of trees to plant, a rose bush to drop in and I am going to divide my rhubarb. All of this safe in the knowledge that with the rise of the sap and the imminence of new growth everything will settle and repair quickly. I am also going to finish off some pruning, I had hoped to sort a fruit tree out last month, but this month will be fine and I think March is the right month for rose pruning so I will sort it in one go. This month, I will reopen my connection with the vegetable plot too, running in broad bean and pea seed to extend my over wintered rows and looking to push in the first summer cabbage plants. There is still time to plant onion sets, shallots and garlic too, all of which will take off very quickly. As the month draws on the seed potatoes can be planted out (although I have a few early ones already showing in buckets). As long as you keep up with the earthing up as shoots show, you will get a good start. Mounding up the soil definitely improves the crop. Potatoes are carried on buried shoots and not actually on roots, so the more shoot you bury the greater the potential crop. On the flower front, perennials are starting to reappear, as are violas, pansies, polyanthus and primroses, these can be dotted to bring a bit of early colour to borders, all are totally hardy, so just stick them in, though do watch for slugs, especially if you have picked up delphiniums (which are much loved by molluscs everywhere). And finally go through your seed list, as we get to the end of this month, we can push in all sorts of seed and its great prepared when the weather comes right or the mood takes. Happy Gardening. Chris Evans www.dundrynurseries.co.uk www.thebutterflygarden.org
February Gardening News
Hooray, I can see the light. With January behind us, the spirit starts to rise, the extended days just 8 weeks away. The winter has been, well, wintry with a treacherous mix of conditions, changing by the hour. Every second person nursed a cough or a sore throat and whilst there were outdoor jobs that we could have tackled frankly it just wasn’t NICE. But brighter days loom and we can start to get back out there, even if we do need to tiptoe across the grass. There is going to be a bit of attention needed there next month, at very least a bit of prodding with the fork to move some of the wet. It’s looking like being a great season for moss. There’s enough in my lawn to service the Municipal baskets this year. So aeration, silver sand, lawn sand or even something heavier maybe on the shopping list. There is also a good deal of tidying up to do, so much rubbish scattered about, with plants and structures all taking a bashing in recent weeks. Whilst you’re tidying, if the mood takes, give the compost heap a turn, it too will have compacted down. It needs to breathe to be good and there will be some useful material to reward your efforts in the bottom of the bin. If you have any light ground that you turned in the autumn, then you can be setting out onion, shallots, garlic, asparagus and even rhubarb crowns. If you already have some, then rhubarb divides easily, so now is a good time to propagate or manage the size of the patch. Just set the blade of your spade on the crown and push it down, it’s very easy. Even the smallest pieces will re-establish, so spare bits can always be given away. Seed potatoes are about everywhere now and if you have picked some up, lay them out in a frost free location to spur sprouting. Just for fun drop a couple of early tubers into a pot of compost and see if you can get some new spuds up by May. As we turn out of February we can be looking at setting out vegetable plants, so this is a lovely time to start germinating a bit of seed. In shelter or on the window sill, pinches of all leaf vegetables can be started. Cabbage, lettuce, summer broccoli will all show within a couple of weeks. Seedlings will be soon be fit to prick out. And finally………welcome to another adventure. Happy Gardening. Chris Evans www.dundrynurseries.co.uk www.thebutterflygarden.org