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Wellington Fields Allotments - Hixon.

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Wellington Field Allotments Hixon

Gardening Tips
By Mrs FM
Hartley.

Unusual & Old
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Trees.

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Alan J Hartley

Looking Forward.

Winter seems to have set in now we are at the end of December and the start of a new year, and my thoughts are going to my plans for the next growing season. It may not seem like a good time to buy Garden Plants and perhaps when there is frost about it isn’t, but a lot of Plant Retailers will have reduced their old Stock from last Season and there can be some real bargains to be bought. All Herbaceous Perennials will have died down and will look very tatty and of course any Deciduous Bushes, or Shrubs will be bare of Leaves, but if you can see past that and find Plants that have a healthy Pot full of roots then you may be on to a good thing with many Plants like this only costing just a token payment of a pound, or two. With this in mind, not long ago, I bought a White and pale Blue Aster plus a very much reduced “Curcuma Siam Splash,” which I later found out is a type of ornamental Ginger. It will have to overwinter inside my House as it likes to be quite warm at all times, but when we are well into late Spring it should go out along with things like the Cannas and Citrus. It is a perennial commonly called the “Siam Tulip,” and is quite big and bold with showy purple flowers that may last 2 months, or more. It likes humid conditions, but shouldn’t be allowed to get too wet as it will then rot. I am hoping that like other Gingers, it’s root mass will divide to give me a number of Plants later on in the Season to go towards a later Sale. It will certainly live on my Yard for the Summer Months, as do my Cannas and Banana, and it will give me something else spectacular in a big Pot to help make a colourful display.

Another thing that I have been thinking about for next Season is what Seeds I will be growing, not only the usual ones like Beetroot, Squash, Courgettes, etc, but what different ones I will be trying. There are any number of what we used to call Mail Order Seed Companies, but of course they are all on the Internet now which sometimes makes browsing through enormous great Seed lists a bit easier as you usually get more details on how to grow them, etc, along with great Pictures to show you what they will look like. I usually order most of mine though, through a specialist Seed Company that has a separate listing for Allotment growers and they come a bit cheaper than those for the general Public.

I like to grow quite a lot of Cut Flowers of one sort or another, but unlike a few other Plot Holders, I never grow Dahlias. People seem to do well with them on our Site even though it is quite exposed, but I have always been put off by the fact they are well known for attracting creepy crawlies, namely Earwigs, to their Flowers. However, I only recently realised that there is a whole family of Dahlias with what are often called “Simple,” flowers that are a bit like large and coloured Daisies and of course they don’t have the Insect problem. I was going to order some Tubers until I saw how expensive they are and then I also realised, that they grow easily enough from a cheap Packet of Seeds. Bishop’s Children is the variety name and the Packet cost me less than a couple of pounds which I hope will produce a bed full of large, flowering Plants later on in the new Season. I don’t know if they will produce Tubers at the end of the Season that I will then be able to keep for the following year and onwards, but I am hoping they will.

I might try sowing some more Onion Seed, but I never seem to do well with it because it needs to be fresh and if not, won’t germinate well, or maybe I just put it in too late. One of our Lady Plot Holders always does some from Seed and generally does quite well with them. I guess I just haven’t got the touch with Onions!

However, I normally do well with my Broad Beans that I usually put in at the end of November and Over Winter outside in my Plot. This year though, I forgot to put them in so will have to sow them when we have a mild spell after Xmas. I should be able to put a second sowing in, directly in the ground, later on, at the end of February, or maybe even afterwards. It used to be that Broad Beans, along with a lot of other Seeds, needed a longer growing time to germinate, grow and mature, but these days many of the newer varieties of most Vegetables, will mature a lot more quickly than the older types. Also, these days, most Seed Packets helpfully give the sowing dates and time taken until maturity, on the backs of the Packets.

Last Spring I put in a number of different Tree Seeds, most of which I had collected, they came up well and in the Autumn I was able to pot them on into larger Pots. Whenever you put Seeds in you nearly always have too many come up, but the spare Tree Seedlings didn’t go to waste as I took a lot to the Charity, called Oak Tree Farm Rural Project, where I volunteer. The same as I did, they potted them on and they will now be grown on for a year, or two before being sold.
Vegetable Plant seeds generally mature in one Season, with the exception of things like Rhubarb, Asparagus and Globe Artichokes, but for most Tree Seeds, it is the other way round and they will take a number of years before the Seedlings grow into proper Trees so you need more patience and planning. However, a few grow much more quickly and can give a useful sized tree in a short time. Eucalyptus is one such type, but there are others. Not long ago I saw a TV Gardener extolling the virtues of having a Horse Chestnut growing in a large Tub in his back garden. As he pointed out, they have big, showy and unusual leaves and can be kept in a large tub for maybe 5-10 years before they get too big. Costing next to nothing to grow they are then cheap enough to just throw away when they are too big and you can start again! I liked the idea, so I hunted out a local Tree back in the Autumn and planted a few nuts. I am sure we all planted Horse Chestnuts when we were Children, and I did get some Childish delight at seeing them come up. A few came up before the Winter and hopefully the rest will come up in Spring. Some Tree Seeds will germinate like this in the Autumn when they are still “Green,” and fresh whereas others need to be allowed to fully ripen and dry before coming up in Spring after a short period of cold called “Stratification.” Another word is sometimes used to describe this chilling of Seeds to encourage germination and that is “Vernalisation.”

Back on my Plot I have been doing other seasonal Jobs such as digging Potatoes and Jerusalem Artichokes. You can go on digging Potatoes out as long as they don’t start to rot from getting frosted or too wet, but Artichokes will happily go all through any winter in the ground. Other vegetables that can often still be harvested at this time are Beetroot, sometimes Carrots, Parsnips, Sprouts and of course Leeks. My Leeks went in too late and were not ready in December, but hopefully, if the ground is not frozen all Winter, they will put on some late growth to make them a better size for eating because unlike most vegetables, they will grow at quite low temperatures.

Maintenance Jobs can routinely be done throughout much of the Winter in preparation for Spring as well and a good job for a cold day is turning the Compost Heap. I don’t do this very often, but done just occasionally, it helps speed up the natural breakdown of the waste vegetation. Also, of course, it mixes everything up more evenly, so if you put in wet, green stuff like Grass Cuttings and dry clippings from dead Herbaceous Perennials along with bits of turflike sods and spent compost from your greenhouse, you should end up with a lovely, smooth blend instead of having part rotted clumps. With this in mind, I bagged up the Compost Bay that was mature and turned the fresh heap into the empty side. At the end of each Season I generate a lot of waste so I had decided some time ago to make another, open Heap next to the Hügelkultur Bed that I constructed a couple of Months ago which would then allow me to compare the productivity of each heap after planting. A Hügelkultur Bed is basically a German style Compost Heap built on waste wood that is planted up, whereas English growers have traditionally planted hungry plants like Squashes on Compost Heaps. As the new Season goes on, I will find out if one has any merits over the other.

Another good job that I have been doing to tidy up for next year is renewing my woodchip paths at home as well as on my Allotment. Winter generally means that Tree Surgeons have more Wood chip available from storm damage and just general cutting and can sometimes be persuaded to drop off a load for free. Some tree Leaves supress growth and I didn’t know Eucalyptus did when I put them in my Hügelkultur Bed, but apparently Walnut Yew, Conifer and Rhododendron do as well so they are Better on Paths rather than between fruit bushes. Maple and Oak leaves supress growth a little as well, but obviously you won’t get these in Wood chip made in Winter as they are Deciduous and will have dropped their leaves earlier. This natural suppression of the growth of competing Plants by chemicals within trees is called allelopathy.
Along with renewing the Woodchip on my Paths I replaced some of the edging logs themselves. On my Allotment I mostly use proper, machine cut and preservative treated, Boards to edge my beds, but at home I have used whole Logs, or small Tree Trunks, about knee thickness, cut into 6-8 foot lengths. Most of these Logs I got at the “Right Price,” whereas the Boards cost me “An arm and a leg,” and to be honest they seem to last as long as each other before they start to rot away.

My freshly remade Paths make another regular Winter Job a bit more pleasant to do and that is Tying in my Fruit trees and replacing a few posts that the Autumn and Winter Storms keep loosening. When there are no Frosts forecast for a week, or two, I sometimes do a bit of “last minute,” Winter Pruning always making sure not to accidentally cut anything off my Trees that have “Stoned Fruit,” such as Cherries, Apricots, or Plums. Then as it gets too Frosty to do very much, in January and February, I will start sorting my Seeds ready for “The Off,” in the new Season!