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Welcome to this months contribution by Taff Morgan Jones, hints and reminders for what should be done in
June
It is now all systems go with everything growing at full pelt and no more frost. It is not only our plants that grow, so also the weeds, so keep using the hoe.
Pests are now also on the march so keep an eye out for aphids, cabbage white butterfly etc. Spray if the attack is very severe otherwise leave it to nature!
Earth up the potatoes now and weed between the plants and row.
Plant all your tender plants that you have been keeping in the greenhouse during the cold spell last month. Remember not to plant everything at once, but to plant small amounts every 2-3 weeks.
Those of you who would like to have a pumpkin for Halloween, now is the time to plant a couple of seeds or young plants.
Keep damping down in the greenhouse to keep the temperature down and prevent plants getting scorched.
Make up pots, tubs and hanging baskets now and place outside. Remember to use special water retentive gel in the compost to avoid drying out.
Keep nipping out the side shoots growing in the leaf axil of your tomatoes. This encourages the growth to produce flowers and so more tomatoes.
If you have planted carrots, cover then with a fleece to prevent root fly from laying its eggs anywhere near your crop. I have planted marigolds next to mine hoping this will help stop them.
You can plant tomatoes and cucumber plants out now in the garden. The flavour of these grown outside is very good indeed.
If you have gooseberries growing, it is a good idea now to thin them out, so all those left on the plant have room to grow and mature.
Keep cutting the grass on the lawn but avoid cutting it too short.
I have finally cut all the sad looking leaves of the daffodils and cut the edges of the lawn. It looks so much better.
A lot of work ahead so good gardening.
May
How nice it is to really feel the warmth of the sun on your back and see swallows flying over the allotment! The cold weather is now well behind us, but still be wary of frost at night, so do not plant out tender annuals until about the third week in May. If you do plant them out, cover then with a fleece if a frost is forecast.
Now is the time to plant your tomatoes, cucumber and peppers in the greenhouse. If you have done so already then pinch out the side shoots of the tomatoes and tie the stem carefully to the cane. You can also shade the greenhouse by using plastic or painting aspecial white pain on the glass to prevent plants getting getting scorched.
Plant runner bean seeds both indoors in pots and also straight out in your prepared rows. Those that you plant indoors with mature before the others so you get a continuity of harvest and prevent a glut.
Keep your eye on your potatoes and weed by hand between the plants and rows and earth up each plant to prevent blight getting in, this also prevents potatoes greening up.
Plant all the vegetables now but try to do so over a period of weeks so that you do not end up with a glut of produce.
Make successional sowing of salad crops, especially lettuce by sowing and pinching only every two weeks.
Keep dead heading the spring bulb flowers - daffodils and tulips and do not pull the leaves of until about six weeks after flowering. If you need the space, then lift them up and keep them in a corner of the garden so they dry out slowly.
Weed carefully around your plants. Weeds will now be growing at an alarming rate so must be dealt with all the time.
Keep cutting the grass about twice a week, gradually lowering the blade to about one inch (2.5cm)
Bare patches on the lawn can be sown with grass seed, watered in and prevented from birds using some chicken wire.
Make up your hanging baskets but do not hang out yet, especially at night as frost could damage your tender plants.
Harden off all plants grown in the greenhouse by leaving them out during the day and bringing them in at night.
A busy time then, but all the work done now will be rewarded with a bumper harvest over a long period of time and a wonderful and full show of flowers.
April
Thank goodness the cold snap is behind us. We can now look forward to Spring with typical warm April showers to really get things moving!
Finish pruning the roses if you did not do so last month
Plant all your seed potatoes now. My main crop this year is Maris Piper. Tubers are planted 15” apart and 30” between each row.
I am steadily getting the greenhouse ready for my tomatoes - Gardeners Delight and Harbinger. The seedlings are in 3” pots in a cool place and will be ready to be transplanted into a grow bag towards the middle of the month.
All the half hardy annual seeds can now be planted ready to be pricked out later on in the month. Those that were planted last month should now be ready to be pricked out and kept in a frost proof place
Dead head Daffodils and Hyacinths as they fade, but DO NOT remove the leaves. Those should be left on for a minimum of 6 weeks after flowering
The following vegetable seed can be planed in the ground leeks, onions, shallots, cabbages, sprouts, broad beans, peas, beetroot, carrots, parsnip and lettuce
Half hardy tender melons, cucumbers, marrow and courgette seed can be planted in small individual post now. Also plant runner bean seed and sweet corn in pots towards the end of the month ready to plant out in the middle of May
Keep on top of the weeds now otherwise they will be very difficult to eliminate
The lawn is now greening up nicely and should be cut twice a week, only cutting the tip of the sword. This will encourage thick young growth. You can also now feed and weed the lawn. Add the chemicals according to manufacturers instructions. Plan what you intend to put in your hanging baskets and tubs and make sure you have the plants ready to put in towards the middle of next month.
With all the work going on I hope our backs can stand it all!!
March
I am writing this with a layer of snow and ice on the ground! I hope this will be the last of the cold weather as I have lots to do in my garden and on the allotment. One good thing that the cold weather does is to get rid of pests and diseases found in the soil, so it’s not all bad!
The clocks go forward this month, so Spring has finally arrived
Keep feeding the birds as most natural food is now virtually exhausted
When the weather allows, you can start to cut the lawn as the grass should now be beginning to grow. Keep the blades quite high as you only want to cut the tips of the grass blade. The less you cut the thicker the grass will become and the better it will look.
Towards the end of the month I will be planting my early potatoes.. The seed potatoes have been in a cool light place and have strong chits. They should be planted about 6 inches deep and twelve inches apart.
I missed planting all my broad beans, so I intend to plant some seed in clean yogurt posts (about an inch deep) and place them in an unheated greenhouse. They will catch up on the others!
Plant a few tomato seed on the surface of some compost and just cover with sieved compost. This is put in a warm place such as an airing cupboard or a propagator. These will be the ones to grown in the greenhouse later on.
Most of the hard annual seeds can now be planted - petunias, lobelia, antirrhinums, marigolds, salvias etc. These should be protected from frost and will only be planted out towards the end of May.
The following vegetable seeds can now be sown outdoors - leeks, onions and shallots, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, parsnips, beetroot and salad crops
Dig a trench and add compost or manure and fill in ready to plant runner beans later on.
You can soak parsley seed overnight and plant in a pot of compost . This can be planted outside later in the season
Take cutting of over wintered chrysanthemums, dahlias and fuchsias
If you intend to grow tomatoes in grow gabs, buy the bags now so they warm up in the greenhouse prior to planting later on
As the weather warms up plant gladioli bulbs
This is the month to prune the roses. Use clean secateurs. Make a cut to an outside facing bud at a slope. Remove all dead decaying wood and keep the centre free to allow air to circulate.
Lots to do then. Hope the weather allows us to make a good start to this new season.
February
After a horrendous start to the year, I hope that the coming weeks will be kind to the birds and allow us to get on the lawn and ground/allotment. February is a busy month with a number of things that must be done.
Only venture on the lawn or allotment if the soil is dry and frost free, but other things can be done
Put up bird boxes now, as birds will get used to a new box and hopefully use it later in the season.
Buy seed potatoes and put them in “eyes upwards” in old egg boxes to form chits. Varieties I will be buying are:
Early – Home Guard and Main Crop- Picasso or Maris Piper.
Now is the month to prune gooseberry bushes and Autumn Raspberries – DO NOT prune the Summer Raspberries as they produce fruit on last years canes.
Any overgrown deciduous shrubs can be pruned to improve their shape, such as hardy Fushica’s and Buddleia
Summer flowering Clematis can now be cut hard back to encourage new growth
Now is the time to plant snowdrops, these should be bought with leaves still attached
Sew half hardy annual seeds. Read the instructions on the packet as some seeds need light to germinate, therefore they must not be covered with sieved compost
Check the PH of your vegetable plot, especially the part that you intend to grow your brassica’s on. Thin patch should have lime added as brassica’s prefer alkaline soil. The PH should be 7.5
Sprinkle organic fertilizers such as Hoof and Horn Seaweed extract etc on the soil surface and allow the rain to wash this in. This takes a long time to dissolve so should be OK in the Spring
If you have not planted out Sweet peas, do so now, either in deep trays of 2-3 seeds in a pot of compost
Peas can be sown in plastic guttering filled with compost. Plant 2”-3” apart and 1” deep. When the seeds have germinated they can be slid off gently into a shallow trench with least disturbance
Plant onion sets/shallots if the weather and soil allow
If you want early Rhubarb, cover the crown with an upturned bucket or pot. This will encourage young shoots to grow
A busy time ahead and good to look forward to the Spring which is just round the corner.
January 2010
A Happy New Year and a successful growing season to one and all.
The weather dictates what can and should be done this month
1. Keep digging your vegetables patch. Try to complete this by the end of the month or beginning of next in order for the frost to help break the soil down.
2. Keep off the lawn if wet, but do get rid of fallen leaves. If we have a dry spell, you can spike the lawn with a fork and brush coarse sand into the holes. This helps with drainage and aeration.
3. Make sure that you cut back all your perennial plants and weed all around the clumps. For half hardy perennials try and protect the new growing tips with compost or straw.
4. Most of your garden tools can now be given a good soapy scrub, dried thoroughly and lightly oiled ready for the coming season.
5. For giant onions, sow the seed about 5mm deep in a pot. When the young appears, at the crook stage transplant carefully into a larger pot (4-6 inch) and place in a light, frost proof place.
6. For Hybrid Tea Roses or Bush varieties cut back to half the length of the stem. This avoids wind damage, the final pruning should be done in March.
7. Lettuce seed can be planted in a pot or container and protected from frost. Also you should sow Sweet Pea seeds. I plant mine as follows: Soak the seeds in warm water overnight. Plant seeds individually in the cardboard middle of a toilet roll about one inch deep. Place these in at cool greenhouse. They will germinate in about 2-3 weeks
8. Keep feeding the birds, don’t forget to leave a dish of clean water for them, especially during frosty spells.
9. Those of you who did not plant Broad Bean seed in November can do so this month. The variety to use is Aquadulce. They should be planted in double rows, 4 inch deep and nine inches apart.
10. A very useful foliage house plant that is easy to raise from seed is coleus. This can be raised by scattering a tiny pinch on the surface of damp compost in a cleaned yogurt pot. Put a plastic bag on the top and leave in a warm place. Keep an eye on the seeds germinating. Remove the bag at the first sign of germination and place the pot in a light cool place.
December
This is the time of year to reflect on what you did last season and to start planning for the next one! What did you do wrong, which plant is growing in the wrong place, which plant is growing much faster than you were led to believe? Now is the time to decide what you intend to do to put things right!
Make sure you have sent for seed catalogues so that you can browse at your leisure - Dobies, Thompson & Morgan, etc
List the seeds you intend to buy and keep a copy before you send it away
It is not too late to make a winter basket. Fill it with ivy, polyanthus, violas and dwarf daffodils.
Keep raking the leaves off your lawn and put then on the compost heap, but do not trample over the lawn too much, especially if it is wet.
If you planted bowls of prepared hyacinths, check them now and if they have grown about 2 inches bring them into the house.
The amount of watering in the greenhouse or conservatory should be minimal and do try and allow as much air as possible to circulate.
Keep going with your winter digging, but in mild spells keep an eye on weeds appearing (again!)
You should now be feeding the birds in you garden all the time. I make my own birdcake which works out much cheaper than the bought stuff. My recipe is as follows: Packet of Porridge Oats Packet of raisins Packet of sultanas Kilo of peanuts Kilo of mixed bird seed 2-3 blocks of lard/suet
Buy “own-brand” ingredients (or past sell-by date from cupboard) To make the cake. Melt the fat in an old saucepan and take off the heat. Slowly add all the ingredients, stirring with a large wooden spoon. Spoon the mixture into clean and dry margarine tubs, yoghurt pots etc. Leave to cool and the job is done.
If you are interested in growing large onions, varieties to use are Kelsae of Ailsa Crag. Traditionally onion seeds are planted in a pot of compost on Boxing Day. They are kept in a cool, airy place indoors. Transplant the seedlings - but that is for next month!
Leave hints around the house about you want Father Christmas to bring you - new spade, hoe, seed tokens, ride on lawn-mower! Season’s Greetings to one and all.
November
If you have a greenhouse, garden, allotment or even a window box the there are things that need doing!
Cut your lawn if the weather is mild and dry. This could be the last time this year but be prepared to do it again if the weather allows it. Clean the lawnmower and if you have a motorised one, have it serviced, it may have been some time since the last one.
The greenhouse should have a good clean. Removing all dead leaves and accumulated debris. The glass should be cleaned inside and out but be careful!
Rough digging in the allotment or vegetable plot should be in full swing. Leave the soil in chunks so the frost and rain breaks it down. Spread some farm yard manure over the surface ready to be turned in the Spring
You can still plant onion sets, RADAR is a good variety, and garlic cloves.
Broad beans can also be planted - AQUADULCE are good.
You can plant daffodils and tulip bulbs either in borders, tubs or window boxes for next Spring
Plant salad seeds in window boxes. Lettuce, spring onion and radish. If the weather gets frosty bring them indoors or cover with a fleece.
This is the time of year to plant fruit trees, bushes, roses and shrubs. Sow when the soil is not too wet or cold
Take cuttings of geraniums, fuschia and many hardwood cuttings of viburnum, salix, forsythia etc.
This should keep you all busy during the coming month. Happy gardening, until next month. Taff
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How nice it is to really feel the warmth of the sun on your back and see swallows flying over the allotment! The cold weather is now well behind us, but still be wary of frost at night, so do not plant out tender annuals until about the third week in May. If you do plant them out, cover then with a fleece if a frost is forecast.
