PROTECTING POTS AND LAST ORDERS FOR GARLIC
It may be getting colder and more wintry in the kitchen garden, but as long as the soil isn’t frozen solid there are still things we can be getting on with, including checking on gooseberry plants. If you’ve tried to propagate plants by layering (pinning a branch down and allowing it to root), you may find that last year’s efforts have been rewarded with healthy roots from your chosen stem. You can now remove the pinned-down stem by cutting it from the main plant and transplanting to where you want to grow the new plant.
Gooseberries should also have the older wood pruned out while dormant, aiming to create the much talked about ‘goblet’ shape, which improves air flow and makes picking berries easier – and less thorny! While removing older, damaged and diseased wood, remember you can also take gooseberry cuttings to increase your number of plants. Simply
TV gardener and social media star. Also a seed guardian for the Heritage Seed Library
If you haven’t already done so, try and clump container and po ed plants together with the tallest in the middle (if they’re in the open) or at the back if they’re by a wall. By doing this you lessen the chance of taller plants blowing over in the wind and smashing the pots. It’s also advisable to raise them on feet or use tiles, bricks or the like to raise them off the floor to take 30cm (1ft) cuttings and slide into pots of gritty compost (down the side of the pot) after dipping the bottom end into rooting powder, then leave them in a cold frame or unheated greenhouse. Gooseberries make particularly effective border hedge to keep intruders out, both the two and four-legged kind!
I’ve totally failed when I said I wasn’t going to buy more fruit for the garden, hence I’m now planting a small patio cherry tree in my new raised planter. I’ve had several ideas what to plant in this but finally decided on a cherry, which I will fan train once it starts growing as it’s not a good idea to prune any ‘stone fruit’ in winter. Pruning can introduce silver leaf into the plants, which can cause damage and reduced cropping. I’ve used a mix of topsoil, manure and
aprevent them from becoming waterlogged.
If you haven’t planted garlic cloves yet, December 21 is the shortest day of the year, which is the traditional date to plant them; they should then be harvested on the longest day of the year. I’m going to try this with a few cloves to see if this method produces be er, bigger plants! compost in this bed (which has an open bottom) and will stake the tree to prevent winds loosening the roots. Patio-size trees have very dwarfing rootstock, so work well for raised containers, pots or areas where regular trees would become too large.
If you grow indoor grapevines, it’s time to think about pruning them now that all the leaves have dropped and there’s no danger of them bleeding when cut. Firstly, remove any dead or damaged wood, then prune the side branches back to one or two buds from the main stem, this should encourage more fruit next year and hopefully keep your vine at a manageable size.
I also like to remove any loose or papery bark from the plant to help prevent any pests overwintering in the crevices. If your vine is tied
Ialways used to sow my large exhibition onions on Christmas Day. To be precise, it was Christmas morning, just before lunch, when me and my tot of malt used to go down to the greenhouse to carry out the deed. Growers these days certainly sow them much earlier, indeed those with aspirations for winning at the heaviest onion competitions will have sown them around mid-October.
Mid-December suits me fine as I need them to be at the right size in both plant and pot so I can plant up in my polytunnel from mid-April without any heat at all. I sow my seed in Levington F2S in a large seed tray using a plastic template I had made for me. This template has holes drilled in it at 2.5cm (1in) apart either way and countersunk so that the seed drop in very easily.
The template has just over
100 holes, which means that every seedling has its own space to germinate, grow on and develop until they’re ready to be transplanted. After I’ve sown the seed, I remove the template carefully and flatten down with another piece of thin wood the same size. I cover seed with about 10mm (¼in) of superfine Vermiculite and the tray is then floated on some water to soak the compost and the Vermiculite from the bottom.
I’m also sowing some onions from pips that I had from David Metcalfe. These are developed on the seed head of the onions. Unfortunately David didn’t have many this year and I actually lost some as well while they were kept in a box in my garage.
As I did last year, these plants will end up in 25 litre Autopots using Canna Professional Coco fibre and once the roots are at the bottom of the pot they’ll be continuously fed through the system with Canna A and B. The result this year was quite remarkable and I could have shown a few sets had there been any shows!
■ Why not follow me on Twitter throughout the season as I grow vegetables for my show displays – @medwynsofangles.
Don’t neglect those shady areas! They can be just as beautiful as the sunny parts of your garden; you just need the right plant to shine for you. These easy-to-grow beauties will happily provide colour to enjoy all through the season.
These elegant woodland plants are perfect for growing under trees, or in borders and containers, where you’ll have a stunning carpet of colour each spring and into the summer. Once the flowers have faded, the foliage creates a wonderfully attractive display too. Supplied as Grade I bulbs.
Buy 9 bulbs (3 of each) for £18, or 15 bulbs
(5 of each) for £24.