Pat on the back

As Christmas looms and people slip into a party mood (although the celebrations may be more subdued this year), most industries also move into awards mode. In that respect, horticulture is no different. There are actually more sectors than you might realise and, over the past couple of weeks, two of them started off the awards season. First up were the Garden Retail Awards for independent garden centres, DIY stores that sell gardening merchandise and garden centre chains. The awards are judged independently and not even the judges know who has won until the night, as they only see their own marking schemes, not the final totals. The accolades are awarded for categories such as;

Best environmental policy, won by Wyevale Garden Centres,

Best customer service, won by Sidmouth Garden Centre (who had a very good evening and picked up three awards),

Strongest commitment to training, won by Webbs Garden Centres,

Best retail outlet of the year (with a turnover of 3 million plus) won by Scotsdales Garden Centre, who also won the Community involvement award (for supporting a care centre for terminally ill people). The last award of the night was the Lifetime achievement award, given to a lady called Phyllis Self who at 101 years of age still manages Whitehall Garden Centre (with the help of her son who is in his 70’s). Unfortunately she could not receive the award in person, as she was busy at Windsor Castle accepting her MBE from the Queen. It’s a pretty poor excuse for not turning up don’t you think?

 

The second event was for the gardening media, journalists, photographers, authors, TV and radio presenters and, dragging us into the 21^st century, webmasters and editors. As with the previous awards, some contestants did particularly well, most noticeably the BBC, with top gardening programme for both the TV and radio categories, as well as top gardening magazine. In some respects this is hardly surprising, as they swamped some categories and had as many as 75% of the total entries. With this awards ceremony, the grand finale was also a lifetime achievement award, which went to Michael Warren, a garden photographer who retired and sold his business last year. Well done to him.

 

Now there is even talk of a knighthood being awarded to someone in the horticultural industry. The names being bandied about include;

Beth Chatto, Andrew Colquhoun, David Gwyther, Charles Notcutt,

Peter Seabrook and Alan Titchmarsh.

 

Some are household names – the public face of gardening – while others work behind the scenes and are major figures within the industry. It’s noticeable that the youngest is just under 60 years old, the eldest in their 80’s. One thing that is certain is that Val and I aren’t in the list, because as you have probably gathered by now, you don’t really get a great deal of recognition in the gardening world until you are almost too old to enjoy it.

See you next time.   

Let us spray

The European Union is in the process of debating whether or not to withdraw from circulation a number of popular and well-used pesticides. Even if you are organic or anti-chemical (no, they are not the same thing), you have to wonder what on earth is going on. These politicians deal in concepts before making decisions that affect us all, allegedly for our benefit. If they go ahead, an estimated 90% of the chemicals we see on our garden centre shelves will vanish, with no replacements on offer.

 

These chemicals include glyphosate, sold in various forms but probably best known as ‘Roundup’, a systemic herbicide that is absorbed by the weeds it is sprayed on and moves through the circulatory system to kill all parts of the plant. For many years, this material has been used as a very effective control for persistent perennial weeds where no amount of cultivation or hand weeding provides effective control. This product could be banned under the new legislation and withdrawn from garden centres, leaving us with a real problem controlling perennial weeds. Interestingly, this product has, in the past, been approved by the Soil Association (who set the parameters for the standards in organic farming and growing) to control weeds when their other methods have failed to work. If this legislation goes ahead, weed control on allotments will be a nightmare and gardening will be much harder.

 

Another chemical that could vanish from our shelves is mancozeb, which is marketed as Dithane. This is recognised as a vital fungicide, which gives high levels of protection against potato blight (a devastating disease across Europe). To make matters worse, this also a very effective chemical for the control of fungal diseases in cereals, oilseed rape and other edible crops. Many experts in the world of crop protection and food production agree that if this chemical is withdrawn from use, it could set back crop protection between 10 – 20 years, with the end result being huge rises in the costs of food production. Obviously, these costs will have to be passed on to the consumer, so not only will it become more difficult for us to grow our own food at home or on the allotment, but it may also cost much more to buy from shops and supermarkets. It’s sad that this is all coming at a time when the ‘Grow your own’ movement has gained real momentum, particularly coupled with the increasing awareness of environmental issues such as food miles and carbon emissions? 

Bear in mind that as we can still import food from non-EU countries (who will continue to use these products), we will not be protected from the effects of these chemicals.

 

The chairman of the Crop Protection Agency tells us that it takes at least 10 years and costs around £100 million to develop and test a new product, so it does make you question the wisdom of withdrawing products before a suitable replacement has been tried and tested.

Keep logging on and, as we find out more, we will pass the information on to SUN online readers as quickly as possible.

See you next week.

Cold Comfort

1. 

   Frost damage on a young Lemon tree

    

    

    

   It’s time to batten down the hatches! November is often a very windy month and, as a result, the temperatures under cover can drop quite dramatically as the wind sucks out any residual heat that may have built up in your greenhouse, frame or polythene tunnel. Short days and cold nights mean that temperature fluctuations often lead to damp misty days outdoors and quite a bit of condensation inside, which encourages rots and moulds to establish and spread. You can soon have a batch of geraniums looking like a penicillin factory, especially if you over water them.

    

   The trouble is that plants grow much more slowly at this time of year, with cooler temperatures, lower light levels and reduced air circulation all affecting the growth rate. The slower a plant is growing, the more vulnerable it is to attack. Protected over-wintering plants are always going to be a tempting source of food for pests, simply because there are so few plants for them to live on. They will feed on whatever is available and every single one will go for your plant if they are given half a chance. This is even more of a problem with plants which were grown outside and have been brought in for the winter as you have no real idea what problems you brought in with your plants.

    

   Even if you don’t intend to heat your structure through the winter, it is well worth insulating the inside with fleece or bubble plastic to retain as much residual heat as possible. If you are providing heat, thermal screens placed in the roof and closed at dusk can help to hold in the heat overnight. They can be opened during the day to allow in the maximum amount of sunlight. Most importantly, make any repairs that are needed, so that you keep as much heat inside the structure as possible.

    

   The key to winter survival for plants growing under protection is usually linked to how well you can control the humidity and temperature within the structure. Generally speaking, the drier the air, the less chance your plants have of suffering from fungal rots. Grey mould (Botrytis sp) loves cool damp conditions and, once the fungus produces spores that can start to drift on the air currents or be moved around in water splashes, a problem soon becomes an epidemic.

   Although you may often hear about making a clean start in the spring, it’s actually much more important for plants growing under protection that you get a clean start in the autumn. As your crops finish their life cycle you need to;

   -          wash down the cladding inside your poly tunnel,

   -          fumigate or sterilise your greenhouses and cold frames.

   These jobs may seem like hard work, but they are the foundation of a pest and disease free environment in which to grow your plants next year. Where pests have been a severe problem, fumigating the inside of the structure with a Sulphur Candle can be a very effective way of killing off unwanted insects and fungal spores using the structure for winter shelter. The thing to watch is that sulphur can pit the surface of some metals, so it is well worth reading the information on the packaging before using one.

   Pots and other containers need a thorough cleaning before being stored away. If you have any frames that are not in use clean them too. Clean wherever you store all your equipment to reduce the risk of cross contamination.

    

   There you were thinking that the garden was finished with until after Christmas.