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.

Charitable Roses

Roses with messages printed on the petals

Whenever a charitable cause wants to raise public awareness (and hopefully some funds), the first plant they consider is normally a rose. Then the added bonus is usually to get a famous person linked with the rose to raise the profile even higher. It is an association that works well, but it is not a new trend. The enduring rose ‘Peace’ was given its name soon after the end of the Second World War in the hope that there would be peace for ever more after such a destructive period in history. The story goes that a panel of the “great and good” who gave the rose its name did so without asking the person who bred it and introduced it.

The people whose names have been given to roses (although they are not all linked to charities) cover a very wide spectrum from royalty through to gardeners – and even famous racehorses. For instance:

Royalty: Duke of York, Duke of Edinburgh, Duke of Windsor, Elizabeth, Elizabeth of Glamis, Prince Charles, Princess Alexandra and Princess of Wales (to name but a very few).

From the gardening world; Alan Titchmarsh and Geoff Hamilton

From the world of entertainment; Chevy Chase, Susan Hampshire, Felicity Kendal, Joanna Lumley and Sir John Mills

Celebrities include; Jill Dando, Sue Lawley and Michael Parkinson (although his nickname ‘Parky’ is used).

From the sporting world; Bobby Charlton, Jimmy Greaves, Gary Lineker and the late George Best – all footballers, although it’s noticeable that we appear to have a much greater affection for forward players than defenders or goalkeepers – Sir Steve Redgrave

Historical figures; Sir Walter Raleigh, Robin Hood and Will Scarlet

The popular racehorse Desert Orchid is also remembered with a rose.

Even a teddy bear gets into the act, with a rose being named after Pudsey (the mascot of the Children in Need charity) to help raise funds.

A good example of how roses can bring out the best in us is the ‘Help for Heroes’ rose, launched to help raise money to equip a rehabilitation centre for members of the armed forces. £5 from each rose sold goes towards funding facilities at Headley Court, Surrey, to help these brave people rebuild their lives after injury. This deep red floribunda rose, raised by Harkness, and marketed by Hilliers Nurseries of Winchester, has already raised thousands of pounds and hopes to continue this momentum into the future. A charitable rugby match at Twickenham, with teams of current and former international players, filled the stadium to raise money for this cause, the link being the red rose on England rugby shirts.

We all love roses and we would grow them regardless, but it’s nice to be able to do something to help others at the same time. Even is this is the only charitable giving we do in a year, it can make a valuable contribution to a very worthy cause – and we still get a beautiful plant for the garden that will bring pleasure for many years to come.

 

See you next week

Feed the Birds

Nuts, Seeds and Fat balls just the thing for the bird table

This coming Saturday, October 25th, is “Feed the Birds Day”, according to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. They have been publicising the event quite heavily, and one of the local radio stations I work at had been given a nice new bird feeder to try out so they could promote it to their listeners.

 

Feeding birds (or other forms of wildlife) can be very important, especially if they appear to be struggling for food or having a hard time for one reason or another. Many of you must do it too, because for the past few years the high- selling products in garden centres throughout the winter months have been things like fat balls, bird seed, peanuts, nesting boxes, feeders and the like.

I must admit that I found this surprising, as I expected the Christmas-themed goods would win hands down. However, when I thought about it, this was talking about sales for the winter months and most garden centres actually tend to have their Christmas stock in from late August, which is definitely not a winter month.

Our general interest in birds and wildlife generally is increasing year-on-year and I was musing about the reason. Many years ago, I spent a short time in the United States, where they were using the phrase ‘touch and tech’, to describe peoples’ desire to get back to nature. They noticed that the more working time was spent in an air-conditioned environment, sitting at a desk or in front of a computer, the more we wanted to be involved with nature in our leisure time. So it appears in the UK at the present time.

 

The only problem I have with bringing nature into the garden is that you can’t be selective. Feeding the birds is good, but the grey squirrels and rats must really love it – and are probably doing far better than the birds will ever do. Grey squirrels are natural acrobats and brilliant thieves; they can do everything a bird can apart from fly (and they’ll even try that if they are desperate).

Once squirrels have found a regular food supply, the birds will only get what the squirrels leave unless you have a squirrel-proof bird feeder. The trouble is, birds don’t really help themselves; they’re messy feeders and tend to flick food all over the place when they start feeding (especially when there is competition between species for the food available), so much of the food that starts out in the feeder or on the bird table finishes up on the floor. This is where the rats get can become a problem. They start with the crumbs and before long, will be climbing up onto the bird table to get their share before they birds can have any.

 

All of which leaves me wondering how much the birds actually get of the food we’re paying so much for? And after millions of years of evolution, how did the birds ever cope with life before we had garden centres to supply them and Bill Oddie to speak up for them?

Must go, the robin wants his breakfast.

 

See you next week.

Dirty Manure

 

Damage Caused by Contaminated Manure

You may have noticed the debate that’s raging at the moment regarding the value of manure and its use in the gardens and allotments of the UK. The problem is that there appears to have been a problem this year with some batched of manure being contaminated. The culprit is a persistent weed killer, used to control broad-leaved weeds like docks, nettles, thistles and ragwort in grazing pasture. Ragwort is the main problem, as it’s highly poisonous to grazing animals, especially if it is pulled up and the animals find it while it’s wilting. It stands to reason that pulling up these weeds and carting them away is far too costly, so sprays are used to control them. The chemical aminopyralid in the weed killer does not harm animals or humans (in Canada and the USA it is used to control weeds in crops grown for human consumption), but it can do a great deal of damage to broad-leaved plants, including potatoes, tomatoes, peas, beans and many other vegetables. Although there is no evidence to suggest that the affected produce is toxic in any way, the manufacturers of the weed killer have suggested that affected vegetables should not be consumed as a precaution.

The chemical binds to woody tissue in grass, hay and straw and persists even after the fodder has been eaten and passed through the animal’s digestive system. It may also be in the bedding that the animals lie on. These materials are much valued as constituents in manure, particularly by organic gardeners who choose not to use chemical-based fertilisers. It is believed that that the chemical can persist for up to two years in contaminated manure. 

 

Advisors believe that the most rapid breakdown of the chemical occurs when the manure is in contact with the soil, where soil-borne bacteria and microbes help degrade it. Although there have been some suggestions that the best way to incorporate the manure into the soil is to use a rotary cultivator, these machines can do considerable damage to the soil structure, especially if they are used while the soil is wet. Perhaps a better alternative would be to use the manure as mulch, so that worms and insects will slowly incorporate it into the soil where it can be attacked by bacteria. This way, there is less chance of the chemical coming into direct contact with plant roots and the plants themselves will still gain the nutritional benefits of the manure. Some advisors have suggested that the contaminated manure is stacked in heaps for several years until the chemical is degraded (but this may take longer if there will be little or no contact with soil-borne bacteria); others have suggested the manure is returned to the supplier.

 

My main concern is where else this contaminated material will crop up. The current trend is towards composts with “peat-alternative” bulk ingredients, such as ‘green waste’ (which can include manure). What is the future for these ‘peat-free’ composts and how safe are they for our crops next year? If we can still get them, I think we may use peat-based composts at home next year, to be on the safe side. At least the results will be reliable.

 

See you next week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plan & Plant

• What unpredictable weather! Here, we had a wet, miserable weekend with howling winds shaking leaves off trees and the digging put on hold thanks to wet, sticky soil and puddles everywhere. I know lots of you will have had a lovely (if chilly) weekend with bright sunshine, so I hope you made the most of it. The sun’s still quite warm when we do see it and wet soil will soon dry out again with this wind.

  More importantly, the soil is warm, so as soon as it’s dry enough, this is a good time to start planting any new plants and dividing old ones. The autumn development of plants (particularly deciduous ones) can be very deceptive, because although they look dormant, that’s just the bit you can see. Down at the roots, things are still happening.

  Roots continue to grow (albeit at a much slower rate than in spring and summer) for several weeks after the top stops. Trees and shrubs planted over the next six weeks will get a head start next spring, because their roots will probably stay active until Christmas. This means that when spring comes, the business of making new roots to support the plant as it grows is well under way and more energy can go into growth.

   

  In the past, one of the main pitfalls of planting container-grown plants in autumn was the fact that many had only just been re-potted. So, when you knocked the plant out of the pot, you ended up with a pot in one hand, the plant in the other and a pile of fresh compost on your feet. This was crazy, especially when you remember that the whole idea of buying a containerised plant was so you could transplant it with minimum root disturbance.

  There is now a simple, practical alternative, as nurseries are beginning to introduce plants in bio-degradable pots. All you have to do is pop the whole thing (pot, compost and plant) into the hole. The pots are made from pampas grass fibres, coir (coconut fibre) or, more recently, rice husks and they take about two years to completely rot away in the soil – although the plant’s roots will have grown through into the surrounding soil long before that. This is one of the most useful developments to have come out of the organic movement in gardening. Look out for them when you’re in the garden centre.

   

  Remember that anything you plant at this time of year will still need to be well-watered. Yes, I know we’ve had a wet summer and most of the country is still getting soaked, but water does more than just give the plants a drink. A thorough watering settles the roots into their new surroundings by washing soil around the roots (so that there is close contact between them and the soil) and it also removes any air pockets left in the soil during planting.

   

  Well, I see it’s stopped raining so I have no more excuses. Time to go and sort out the herbaceous plants we seem to keep acquiring…. can’t wait….. is that rain again? Better have some coffee and give it a minute.

   

  See you next week.

Summer at Last

Cercidophyllum in Autumn

This last week has felt more like summer than the summer did. What a shame it can’t last, but we’ve already been warned that high winds are on the way.

 

Most climbing plants are starting to look a bit shaggy at this time of year and, as this makes them vulnerable to windy weather, this is the ideal time to give them a trim and tidy up. Tie in any loose shoots that might flap about in the wind and damage themselves or any surrounding branches and stems.

 

Perhaps the biggest problem is likely to be the loss of fruit from apple trees, which are still laden with apples. If I have any doubts, I remove the fruit and sort through them before storing them. Any damaged fruits can be used immediately or cooked and frozen. The biggest risk is fruit being blown from the tree and getting bruised as it falls, because bruised fruit has a very short storage life. It rots quickly and infects any fruit it comes into contact with, so I would rather opt for a pre-emptive harvest than wait and lose lots of my lovely crop.

 

The good thing is that this wind is due before autumn has really set in. Once the leaves on the trees and shrubs have started to change colour, they will blow away very easily, but they haven’t yet – so we could get some good autumn colour this year. The ideal conditions for good colour include damp weather, calm days and no frosts, so if we get all of these the vivid leaf colours will last much longer.

My particular favourites include;

-          Japanese maples, for their reds and oranges,

-          North American maples, with brilliant oranges and yellow,

-          North America oaks, which hold their red and orange leaves for a long time, with young trees often holding their leaves until Christmas, and

-          the Katsura tree (Cercidiphyllum), because not only does it have brilliant autumn colour, but as the leaves change they give off the smell of cooked sugar (which is why it’s also called the ‘Candyfloss Tree’. Mmmm ….. and you don’t put on weight while you are sniffing it. 

 

As the days get shorter and plant growth slows down, many perennial plants are already preparing for next year. Almost all of the food they manufacture in these warm sunny days is going to be stored in readiness for a quick start next spring.

I am taking advantage of this by treating perennial weeds (like bindweed, couch grass and ground elder) with a Glyphosate-based weedkiller. They will take in the chemical and appear untreated as they die down for the winter, but it will carry on working away before they go dormant, severely weakening them. Next spring should bring pale, weak shoots that have been partially poisoned. I will spray them again when they are about 15 cms (6 ins) high, and this second application should finish them off. 

See you next week.

Happy gardening!

Show off!

VertiGarden - Display at BallColegrave Trials area

Yes, I know, I’m late again. I should have written this last weekend, but at least I have a good excuse. I spent the weekend at the gardening industry’s most important trade exhibition in the UK, which is held every September at the NEC in Birmingham. This is the event where garden centres and supermarket chains get to see what’s new for next year (and possibly the year after). All the newest plants, products, fertilisers, pots and gifts are there and how the different buyers decide which to choose is beyond me (I strongly suspect price has as much to do with it as personal preference).

 

The other side of this exhibition is the people. Yes, you go along to find out what’s new; to decide which items are worth considering for offers in the newspaper and web site, but you also get to meet friends and colleagues from the gardening industry. You find out who’s doing well and who is struggling: which new plants have bred by whom and sometimes, sadly, who is no longer with us. Interestingly, you never see any of the television gardeners there. You’d think they’d want to be as up-to-date as the rest of us.

 

This year, I can tell you that the green theme rumbles on, with recycling, re-use and composting being the current buzz-words. Stewarts and Haxnicks both boasted that they were the first exhibitors to offer biodegradable ‘plastic’ flower pots – one of them must be right. This move way from plastics is gathering pace and the packaging of many items is now plastic-free or plastic-reduced.

Several new greenhouses being launched at this year’s show do not have any glass in them, just (perversely) lots of plastic. This seemed to be due to the Health & Safety people making the amazing discovery that glass can cut people. If the planet implodes, it’s their fault, then.

 

At these shows my main interest is always the plants and for next spring there are some real crackers in the pipeline, including

-          a new Cornus called ‘Venus’ from Germany, which has massive white flowers and makes a large shrub,

-          Hebe ‘Lady Anne’, a compact shrub with variegated leaves (green with white/cream margins) and rose pink flowers in summer,

-          an early-spring flowering Clematis called ‘Snow Bells’ with fragrant, white, bell-shaped flowers and evergreen leaves,

-          Lonicera ‘Golden Trumpet’, which produces a mass of bright golden honeysuckle flowers with a strong fragrance for summer evenings

-          a new Skimmia called ‘Obsession’, with white, star-shaped fragrant flowers in the autumn and bright-red berries contrasting the glossy, evergreen leaves. What makes it different from other Skimmias is that it’s self-fertile, so you don’t have to worry about having male and female plants to produce berries. This plant can manage the whole process on its own.  

Finally, the Best in Show award went to a new self-contained, vertical planting system called VertiGarden form Kinder plants. Sold as a complete kit, it’s ideal for someone with no garden, but a wall that they can grow plants on.

Autumn already? Maybe not!

Horse chestnut Leaf miner damage

Looking at some of the trees as you move around, you get the distinct impression that autumn is already here. Yes it is just around the corner, but it’s not here yet. If you take a closer look, you’ll see that most of the affected trees are horse chestnut (conker), rather than a range of plants. What we are seeing at the moment is brown leaves being caused by the horse chestnut leaf miner, which has burrowed into the leaf to feed and will still be there now, feeding or hibernating ready to emerge and lay eggs on the leaves next year, to start the whole process all over again. This pest is relatively new to the British Isles, being first recorded here in 2002 in South East England and spreading progressively north and west from that first sighting ever since.

 

Although experts in the UK tell us that these pests will not do any long-term damage to the trees they attack, I hear that in France a considerable amount of research work is going into finding a control that can be applied easily to large trees. Certainly, on the other side of the channel they are very concerned about this pest. We should be too.

 

I would have thought that if the leaves were damaged in this way every year, the general health of the tree would suffer – and a weakened tree may be much more likely to succumb to horse chestnut bleeding canker (which is a killer). When the trees get this, they have about three years left to live. To try and control some of the leaf miner problems, please rake up all of the leaves from your horse chestnuts and compost them in sealed plastic bags until next July. This will allow the dormant leaf miner moths to hatch, but they will die in the bags rather than flying around and laying fresh eggs on next year’s leaves. This will break the life cycle and go a long way to keeping the population of adults down to manageable levels until a control can be found.

 

Of course, some folks may welcome the demise of the horse chestnut. Schoolboys still relish the challenge of collecting and preparing conkers for annual battle, although the game is now frowned upon by the Health & Safety killjoys, who tell us that it is far too dangerous for children. It seems that you can only play it now if you wear a safety helmet, goggles, high visibility jacket and stand in the middle of a field so that no innocent passers-by get killed by flying conker shards. Me, I would regret the demise of another beautiful species of tree if (and it’s possible) the chestnut goes the way of the elm.

 

On a more pleasant note, last week the Royal Horticultural Society held a small and very successful flower show in the grounds of the Inner Temple in London. This show was held to commemorate the first RHS show, held at the Inner Temple in 1908. You may not have heard of this show before, because it moved a few years later into the grounds of the Royal Hospital in Chelsea. The rest, as they say, is history.