Cringleford Horticultural Society
NEWSLETTER MAY - JUNE 2010
"Lovliest of trees, the cherrynow is hung with bloom along the bough,
and stands about the woodland ride
wearing white for Eastertide."
A.E.Houseman from 'A shropshire Lad'
Those beautiful, evocative lines of A.E. Houseman always come to mind at this time of year when the cherry trees come into bloom and everything in the garden is suddenly transformed. Of course the tree which Houseman had in mind was Prunus avium, the wild cherry and it is good to see how many of these white cherries are now being planted on the roadside verges.
It has been a hard winter and quite a few plants have perished - but that cold 'rest period' has worked wonders for our flowering trees, which this spring have been covered with an exceptional amount of blossom. As gardeners we still have to be aware that, beautiful as the month of May can be - she is also fickle and a sudden change in wind direction can bring icy winds from the continent and on clear cold nights the gardening 'f'word - frost. My early spuds are tucked away under their blanket of fleece, and if you have tender stuff out there - do watch out and listen to the weather forecast. Bring the plants under cover if portable ( like spuds in grow-bags) or cover it up with fleece, bubble plastic or whatever.
JOBS TO DO IN MAY/JUNE
Beds and Borders.
Should be kept clear of weeds as much as possible- though at this time of year as the weather warms up and we get some rain - the weeds really do grow at an alarming rate. Some of my borders which seemed clear and 'under control' a month ago are now in need of some serious work digging out deep-rooted perennials and especially dealing with those producing flowers and seeds. Weeds right in the middle of established perennials (like lavender) I have had to deal with using glyphosate or similar. If you do this on a dry, windless day - it really does work.Planting in the borders. If you want to plant Dahlias, either from cuttings taken earlier, or from bare-root tubers- these can be planted near the end of May. Put a stake ready near each plant hole - Dahlias are large and heavy and will need support - and watch out for slugs!
By now your spring bulbs will have finished flowering so the old flowers can be removed. Tulip leaves soon fade away, so marking any bulb position should be done now before you forget its colour. This is particularly important if you want to lift the bulb, dry it off and use it next year for a particular planting scheme. I forgot to do this last year - so a hoped for scheme did not work.
By the end of May you can start planting up your summer display plants which you have reared from plugs or seedlings. Do harden them off before planting out and do not put out at all if the 'weather Man'(or should it be 'weather person' !) is still talking about possible ground frost. Better to plant out your display a week later than intended , than to lose the lot! Shrubs. By June your spring-flowering shrubs like weigela, Ribes,Forsythia Philadelphus etc will have finished flowering and can be pruned now. If you leave it till the autumn to 'tidy up' your shrubs - you are in danger of cutting off the flowering stems for next year.
Beware of self-seeders! Some plants in your borders may give a lovely display in spring and summer - but after several years you realise that they are coming up everywhere and have become a pest! Forget-me-not is a good example and now I am forever pulling them out from where they are not wanted. The answer, of course, is to deadhead them before they can form seed - a job so easily forgotten! One of my beautiful but invasive pests is the winter aconite. Some folk can't grow them - I can't stop them. The only answer is to cut off all the seed heads before they are ripe and to dig up any tiny seedlings which have escaped. Nice things, yes, but their thick foliage can smother everything else in the spring garden. Anyone for aconites? just let me know.
Container Plants
May is the time to plant up your container plants, either in patio pots or hanging baskets. Keep them under cover until June then harden them off for a day or so before putting them on display. Planting up early means that you will have well-established plants in your containers.Sweet Peas.
By June your sweet peas should be in flower. They are one of the highlights of early summer and a great favourite of mine. Do keep cutting them or they will stop blooming. The more you cut, the more flowers you will get. My only regret is that they have such a short season. Do squash any greenfly you find. Not only do they make a mess as they drop off the flowers and onto the table - but they can spread sweet pea virus.Roses.
Like the rest of your garden flowers, dead roses should be taken off when they have finished. There seems to be two schools of thought about rose deadheading procedure. An experiment by the Rose Society seemed to indicate that roses do best if you leave on as much foliage as possible. So just snap off the faded flower. Others will hold that deadheading is a form of pruning and the whole flowering head should be removed down to the nearest healthy bud. You might care to check on this in your own patch.Hedges.
These need to be trimmed but don't do it too early or you may disturb nesting birds. This job should probably be left until June. Need a new hedge trimmer? I do, mine packed up last year. There seem to be some good cordless trimmers around now. No trailing leads and easy to use. Which? Gardening recommends one by Bosch which comes with two batteries so one can be on charge while you use the other-.one.Lawns..
Now in May, the grass is growing fast and the weather is reasonable so its time for lawn mowing. My wildlife meadow (A.K.A.Lawn)had grown so erratically over the spring - some bits very long, some bits very short, that my gardener had to give it the first cut with my 'hover' mower as I could not push my cylinder job through the long grass. I`ve just read a handy tip - "Give your grass a trim once a week and it'll never turn into a nightmare."In the Greenhouse.
Tomato plants will be growing strongly. Personally, I don't feed until the first truss is set - but some gardening magazines suggest that you feed sooner - its up to you. In E.Anglia when it is sunny, it is very sunny and that means applying shading to the glass to avoid violent fluctuations in temperature. The white summer shade is best green not so good - as green light is not much use to plants. I am now trying to find a way to restore my roll-up slat blinds - the best method of shading. Does anyone out there know where I can access wooden slats? Do any timber merchants known to you sell laths? Help please.I am having to renew my lower greenhouse (built in 1964 as an orchid house) Many of the plants are dead as I could not afford to heat it properly in this last cold winter. My fuel bills were frightening - so its going to
be a big rethink- which is actually no bad thing when it comes to gardening and we find that our personal circumstances are changing.
On those warm days in May and June open the vents and the door in the morning and damp down with water on the floor. This is the best method, not only does it increase the humidity but as the water evaporates, the temperature is lowered(latent heat of evaporation and all that!)
Tender veg like courgettes, cucumbers and squash can be sown in warmth in May, or possibly earlier.
Pest Watch.
Vine weevil. They munch away at the roots of container plants indoors and outside. If you are potting on your container plants, search the root balls for the vine weevil's C-shaped white grubs and put them on the bird table! On non-edible plants use Bug Clear Ultra Vine Weevil Killer or Provado Vine Weevil Killer 2. On edibles like strawberries; use the available biological control nematodes. Look out for the adult vine weevil. A 'dull'-looking beetle with a long 'snout'. It does not fly. The other day in my lounge, minding my own business and listening to Classic FM, I looked towards my curtains and something dark was crawling up them! Help! a spider!! (spiders and I don't live in the same room!) but no, it was a vine weevil. What sort of plant it could reach by going up my curtains is a mystery? So just keep a lookout for them.Other pests to look out for in May and June.
Lily Beetle. Bright red adults and disgusting-looking larvae. They can make short work of your prized lilies and fritillaries.
Codling moth - which attacks your apples (special traps are available). Woolly aphid white 'fluff' on the trunk and branches of apple trees. Asparagus beetle and the very beautiful-looking Rosemary beetle,
Kitchen Garden and Fruit
Potatoes. In May, keep an eye on your early spuds and be ready with the fleece (or upturned large plant pots) on chilly nights. Later, when the maincrop plants come through, earth them up to protect them from late frosts and to prevent the tubers turning green.Carrots. Sow main crop carrots in riddled soil and protect with fleece or cloches against carrot fly. A query - has anyone had success with the so-called carrot fly-resistant varieties like 'Resistafly' ?
Beans. French and Runner beans can be sown direct into the soil-but leave it later in the month if the soil is cold and wet. If you have got space in your greenhouse or conservatory, it is much better to raise your plants indoors. Rootrainers do a good job and do not take up much space. The resulting plants can be planted outside when all danger of frost is over. Provided that you can get beans to germinate in the soil, you can sow a second batch of dwarf French beans alongside the row of transplanted ones. These should crop in three or four weeks and spread the harvest period. I did that last year and was pulling beans in October!
Sow outdoors in June. These include - Salad leaves. Spring onions. Beans. Beetroot. Lettuce. Peas and radishes.
Tomatoes. By the end of May these should be ready to plant out in their final positions. If outdoors, harden them off before planting in a sheltered position. Indoors - tomatoes can be planted in the greenhouse borders, in grobags or in very large pots. I find that the latter is best as I can use fresh compost each year and there are lots of uses for last year's old compost. It grows carrots nicely, lightweight and no stones. Cordon tomatoes should be grown on a single stem with side shoots removed. If your tomato plants have grown too tall and 'leggy' don't worry - just plant them really deeply and the buried part of the stem will just produce lots of roots.
Fruit. Strawberry plants are now growing fast and are producing flowers and soon early fruits. Protect from predators with netting and protect from soil splash with straw or permeable ground cover.
Raspberries. Dig out those plants which have come up 'out of line' and will make control really difficult.
In June - thin apples. Some fruit will'-be shed naturally in the 'dune drop' but it is worth thinning the remaining fruits. 10 to 15cm for desserts and 15 to 22cm for cookers.
A Timely Seasonal Tip
This was quoted in a Church Magazine (not local) and I thought "how very appropriate" and entitled - GARDEN WARNING.This is good or bad news depending on how much you like your garden: now doctors have warned that-pruning, mowing and weeding can be just as dangerous as playing competitive sports.
Apparently too many of us rush at our gardens in a fit of mad enthusiasm, digging the whole allotment at
one go, laying a lawn in a day, hauling rocks for the rockery in a couple of hours, The results are a painful mix
of gardener's back, weeder's wrist, pruner's neck, extensive damage to our lower backs, and strains to ligaments
and joints.
Instead, here's how to survive your garden this summer: do some gentle stretching to warm up muscles and joints;
keep it to two hours a day until you are fit; kneel down when planting with both knees on a cushioned pad; if digging,
use a small spade and move less at a time. When lifting anything heavier than a slug, bend your knees and keep
your back straight. Finally, don't stick at any one thing for too long - keep moving around. Repetitive movement
can be dangerous!
On the bright side, medical studies have also revealed that even half an hour of gardening a day can reduce blood
pressure and cholesterol levels and aid your mental health.
Barbara Knowles May 2010