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Gardening Tips Week Ending January 10th 2015. Hello Everyone – A Happy New Year To You All. Gardening Tips Week Ending 12 January 2014.
Gardening
Tips For The Week Ending 8th January 2012. Hello
Folks We
are still eating our own Curly Kale, Artichokes, Pink Fir Apple
Potatoes, Kohl Rabbi and Turnips. You may not know, but Kale is supposed
to be very good for the eyesight and is being recommended by opticians.
Artichokes are said to be good for the kidneys, although I don’t know
whether they would do much for us 90
+ years old, but it might be worth younger people eating them. It is
Jerusalem Artichokes that grow in the ground like potatoes not the Globe
which look like Thistle flower heads. They are easy to prepare with no
scraping or peeling, just a bit of rub and then put them in boiling
water for about 20 minutes; or you can roast them after a short boil,
like potatoes. The very small Artichokes and Pink Fir Apple Potatoes
that are too small to bother with will be saved and potted to grow on
and be planted out for next years crop. Kohl rabbi we prefer to eat raw,
but peeled and grated, in a salad, like you might Carrot. I like some in
cheese sandwiches and find it a little moister and crisper than Carrot,
but not so chewy. Everyone has their own likes and ideas though. Alan
has just bought some young Hazel trees that were being sold as ideal
plants for hedging. There were about a dozen in one pot which worked out
at just over £1 each plant and he has potted them all up individually
to grow on outside for planting later. At the same time we saw some old
fashioned Blackthorn, or Prunus Spinosa that you get Sloes from. We
won’t use them to make “Sloe Gin,” but we did like the idea of
some Rosa Rugosa that we also saw as you can use the berries, or Rose
Hips, to make Rose Hip Syrup which was very popular during the war. In
the Winter, flowers are in short supply from our own garden, so instead
of buying expensive imported flowers I have started using my own dried
instead. Back in the Autumn we cut and hung up to dry, some Honesty,
Teasels, Allium seed heads and even some herb seed heads. Oh yes, and
dead aspidistra leaves lightly sprayed with a bit of Christmas spray
paint look very nice and fill a few empty vases. Gardening
Tips Week Ending 9th January 2011
Even if we have a nice spell in January, don’t be in too much of a hurry to pull out plants that look dead, as they may shoot again. Shrubs that have got burnt by the frost will most likely shoot again from dormant buds and should not be cut back too early in case we have another cold spell that may do more damage. It is normal to prune most fruit trees about now, but be careful with these as well, because if you cut back too much healthy wood you may lose a lot of fruit buds if there is any die back with the exceptional cold. Don’t be too eager to cut back your roses either as they can be left until well into March. Some garden centres will be selling any remaining bulbs that they have, cheaply now. They will still flower this year, but will be later and they will still get established for next year. If Garlic and Shallots were not planted in the Autumn they need to go in as soon as possible, but Onions sets should be put in later. It is too early to sow most vegetables yet, but early potatoes can be started off in boxes to “Chit” them. Jerusalem Artichokes can also be started off in boxes. Rhubarb forcing pots can be dug out of the shed and placed round the plants as the buds will soon start to shoot. If you have any stoned fruit trees such as Peaches, Apricots, Plums, Cherries, etc, it is a good time to scatter a little garden lime around them. This will help the stones in the fruit to develop and stop the fruit from dropping. Do not lime round Potatoes though as this can cause scab! Check on any wintering Dahlia tubers and Chrysanthemums stools as mould and rot can set in if they are too damp and there is not enough air circulation. Most garden centres now have a collection point for Christmas trees that will go for re-cycling. They will be chipped and then go back on the land, either as a mulch, or they may be composted. Well that’s all for now Gardening article For week Ending January 9th 2010 Hello again and a happy new year to everybody. Around about now you may well be thinking of how to dispose of your Christmas tree. There are a lot of places that will take real, cut, Christmas trees, for re-cycling. Collection points can be found at many places that sold them before Christmas including most Garden Centres and Cannock Chase Sales Centre. On the Chase they will be “Chipped” and spread amongst other growing conifers as a mulch, but most re-cycling depots will chip them and then blend the chippings with other green waste to produce a compost. If you try and do this at home the resulting compost will be highly poisonous to other plants as it will be very acidic. Don’t even put the fallen needles onto your compost heap. If you want to re-cycle your Christmas tree at home you can make use of it in other ways. Carefully cut off all the side shoots, (stripped of their needles) and then use them to support young climbing plants such as Sweet peas and beans, or herbaceous flowers in your borders, next year. If stout enough, the remaining trunk of the tree might be used as a tree stake or post. There are many other green re-cycling schemes that are more adventurous including one seaside council who are experimenting with using the dead trees to hold back and even reclaim sand dunes by partially burying them in the sand so that the branches trap the blowing sand. One nature reserve stacks dead Christmas trees lengthways along boundary areas to make a rough barrier that climbing plants can naturally colonise and green up to make a growing hedge. It is not easy to keep live Christmas trees in pots from one year to the next, so if you don’t want to plant yours in the garden, there are some sites that will take unwanted live trees in some areas for replanting in the wild. Some re-planted trees don’t survive, but many do and grow on to develop into full-grown fir trees and make new woodland. I think most leaves will be long gone from the trees by now, but some trees and bushes such as Jasmines and Passion Flowers have been holding on to them. If you have still got leaves on the garden, or even on the lawn if you haven’t cut it, either the worms will drag them into the ground if they are not in thick layers, or when the lawn mower comes out again, it will chop them up to make good compost if mixed in with the grass cuttings. Compost can include shredded paper and as the banks are always advising people to shred statements for security, my son and I bought a small paper shredder to shred all our bank statements and letters with our name and address on. The paper then goes on the compost heap and mixes in with all the vegetable and fruit peelings, including banana skins and egg-shells that should be roughly broken up. In about 6 months you will have some lovely compost ready. When Poinsettias have finished cut them down and grow them on as any other house plant until about September before restricting their light by putting them in the dark for a few weeks. When you bring them out they should colour up again with luck. During a warmer spell, when the soil is workable, it is a good idea to start and prepare for the Runner Beans by sorting canes and digging a trench where they are to be planted out in the Spring. Line the bottom with a layer of newspaper, then any rough compost or vacuum cleaner fluff, fill it in and leave to settle until the spring. There is not much else to do now except sort and clean seed trays and pots. If you have any plastic labels with writing on, you can clean it off with wire wool, or an old Brillo pad and a bit of elbow grease. There is no need to keep throwing them away. Well that’s all for now. Gardening Tips week Ending 13/1/07 Hi
Fellow Listeners
I hope you had
a good Christmas and I would like to wish you all a Happy New Year. It
is time to think about Spring in spite of the dull wet and windy
weather. Now is a good time to make a note of dull patches in the garden
and if you can’t see much, get a friend or relation to help point them
out. There are a lot of variegated foliage plants about in Garden
Centres and also shrubs with berries on that will give some Winter
colour. I know the birds will go for the berries, but they are not keen
on all of them. They will leave some of the Cotoneasters and hips on the
roses 'till they are desperate for food. If you have a large space, a
variegated Holly looks nice. There are some about with very few, if any
prickles as well as Gold and Silver variegated varieties and of course
on female bushes you will get the berries. Whilst
on the subject of foliage plants, there are quite a variety of Euonymous
plants available, some gold and some silver edged. They will usually go
greener in the spring and then back to colour later on. There are also
various coloured Sages, some of which will stay small and some that will
spread. I have a Golden Sage about 18 inches to 2 foot across and 1 foot
high. It is in a North facing bed among shrubs and gives a lovely light
patch. More grey leaved shrubs include Senecio Greyii, Helichrysum and
Phlomis. Other plants of interest in the Winter are Cornus that are
grown for their coloured stems. There are green, yellow and red stemmed
varieties, but be warned they can grow very large. It is the new stems
that show the best colour so they should be cut down hard each year to
encourage new growth. Another
cheap and cheerful vigorous plant is the garden Euphorbia. The foliage
is nothing very special but it does have bright yellow flowers early on
in the year. The sap is mildly poisonous and is supposed to deter moles
from your garden. My
vegetable patch is rather small but at the back of it I grow a few fruit
bushes, Raspberry, Gooseberry, Red Current, etc, which come in very
handy for a fresh fruit salad throughout the Summer. Some of the Garden
Centres have quite a good selection now and if they are root wrapped, as
some are, they will come cheaper than potted ones. If the ground is not
too soggy it is the ideal time for planting any type of shrub or tree in
the garden.
Well all for now
Frances Hartley.
House
Plant Tips. 4/1/06 Hi
folks, a happy new Year to all. If
you had planted bowls for Christmas they probably contained Cyclamen. It
is best to take the Cyclamen out and pot them up separately, in fact it
is always better to pot all plants in a bowl separately. The pots can be
hidden and stood in a larger container all together so they can be taken
out for different watering needs. Now
a change of topic, if like me, you grow sweet peas and don’t start
them off in the late Autumn, now is the time to sow them. Gardening
books say chip the seed first, but it is not a good idea to try it if
you have poor eyesight. I find if you soak the seed in hot water for a
few hours it works just as well. If you can’t, or don’t wish, to get
the deep sweet pea pots, save your toilet roll inners and plant in
these. You can stand them in a plastic container that has had fruit or
tomato’s in it with about 1 inch of compost in the bottom. The roots
will grow into it and then plants can be lifted out easily. When planted
out the pots, or toilet roll inners, will rot down in the soil. If
you want Snowdrops in the garden, it is best to buy them in pots already
growing, in “The Green” as it is called, because they are rather
temperamental from bulbs, specially if the bulbs have become a little
dry. I think we should be seeing them for sale like this soon. Keep
Christmas cacti slightly damp but don’t over water. When the summer
comes and all danger of frost is over they can be stood outside and
watering should be virtually stopped then. Alternatively they can be
stood in a greenhouse and allowed to bake in the sun. This apparent
neglect should be continued all Summer and they will reward you with a
burst of flowers next Christmas when you can start watering them
regularly again. That’s All For Now, Frances Hartley.
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