Bring on the blooms

Whether it’s drying out your Christmas hippeastrum or popping anemones in the fridge, Mary Lovell-Smith shares her tricks for encouraging flowers.

ORNAMENTALS

• Anemone corms and ranunculus tubers can be planted from now until mid May, for flowering from mid-winter on. You can help encourage germination by chilling them in a paper bag in the fridge for four to six weeks before planting. Plant corms with pointed end of cone pointing down, and tubers with claws facing down. Fertilise well.

• Seeds may be saved from both annual and perennial flowers and are best gathered once they harden. To be really sure of successful gathering of favourites, tie a small paper bag loosely around some of the flowers as they start to age, brown or wilt.

HIP-HOORAY

• Don’t let your Christmas hippeastrum be a one-hit wonder – it isn’t too hard to get it to flower again next Christmas. Once the flowers fade, cut their stems as close to the bulb as possible, leaving the leaves. Feed with liquid fertiliser and keep watering until about midApril, then store somewhere dry (in its pot on its side outside protected from frosts is fine) and do not water for at least 10 weeks. Generally, it will take about 10 weeks to flower once watering is started again. • In warmer districts, hippeastrum will grow outside in a sheltered, warm, sunny spot in rich, welldrained soil. Plant with the necks of the bulb above the soil. Ideally, they should be kept dry in winter and moist from spring on. If they don’t have dry winters, their foliage will not dry off and energy will go into the leaves at the expense of flowers.

VEGETABLES

• Plant winter greens, such as broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, celery and silverbeet as soon as possible.

• Sow cabbage for spring crops.

• Keep water up on celery – and all your vegetable garden. Many annual vegetables are shallowrooted and thus will dry out quickly, which can stunt growth, and in the case of tomatoes, cause problems with the fruit.

FRUIT

• Increase stocks of strawberry plants by cutting off rooted runners and replanting. Many consider only the runners nearest the plant to be worth replanting. All excess runners should be removed.

• Prune blackcurrants, removing branches that have borne fruit. Next season’s fruit will grow on this season’s growth.

• Similarly, cut back raspberry canes that have borne fruit to ground level, leaving younger ones behind.

• Fertilise citrus trees, and maintain a good watering regime to help swell the growing fruit. Mulch with lawn clippings or peastraw to retain the moisture.