Being a creature of habit I start sowing seeds on Valentine’s Day.  Any earlier and my mean streak hits in and I don’t want to heat the greenhouse unnecessarily.  Peppers and tomatoes all go on the hot bed.  I have already put mousetraps baited with peanut butter and poison down to reduce the chance of feeding the little blighters.
 
If you are growing the tomatoes outside later on, don’t sow until the beginning of April – they would be too big to plant.  Pepper I put in 3.5” or 9 cm pots as soon as they have three leaves, and the same with tomatoes.  I still use peat-based compost as I haven’t found a decent substitute. 
 
I use clover multi-purpose for seeds with the addition of 25% vermiculite.  This opens the compost up and makes the transplanting of the seedlings easier as the compost is so open and falls away with breaking any roots.
 
For any geraniums that have overwintered I shake off a lot of the old compost and repot into the same size pot with fresh compost containing a good amount of slow release fertiliser.
 
In the garden it’s not too late to cut off the leaves of hellebores.   The reason for doing this is that they suffer from leaf spot and you don’t want it on fresh leaves and flower stems.
 
Any dogwood or willows that are grown for coloured stems can be cut down to ground level.  Buddleia can also be cut down to ground level if they have become straggly or to about two foot if you prefer to have some height.
 
Ornamental grasses can be cut down now.  A hedge trimmer makes light work if you have a few and while you’re at it you can also give the same treatment to Michaelmas daisies, Japanese anemones or other tall-stemmed perennials that haven’t already been trimmed.
 
A friend of mine who grows a lot of rose, prunes his with his hedge cutter and he’s a good showman so it can’t be that bad!
 
It will soon be grass cutting time, so it’s worth dragging the mower out of the shed and making sure it works.  If it is a rotary with a grass box, you can chew up all the ornamental grass pruning and old herbaceous stems, having chucked them on the lawn.  The bits will take up less room on the compost heap. Of course if it doesn’t start, then at least you have an opportunity to get it fixed in good time.
 
We have a busy schedule for 2017, starting with a talk on Wednesday 1st February on Design and Landscape Principles in your Garden by Rupert Keys and Ruth Gwynn of Keyscape Design who have won a number of RHS medals.  Our March event will see Neil Cook, Head Gardener at Hanbury Hall telling us how he created a garden from a blank canvas (we’ll have the opportunity to see it in the flesh on 23rd April with a club trip). 
 
Our Spring Show will be on a Sunday this year as a first – the 9th April; and highlights will include our Open Gardens on 18th June and Bob Flowerdew on Wednesday 5th April.  So look on our website, or get a programme from me or one of the committee members so that you can get those dates down in your diaries.
 
Pete Chamberlain
01386 861438
www.bishamptongardeningclub.org.uk

Leaves still keep falling – if on the lawn why not use the mower to collect them as it will chop them up small and you can still bag them up for leaf mould – a bit of grass won’t hurt.

You can make a ‘bin’ out of wire mesh to keep the leaves in as long as it’s in a sheltered spot or if you’re limited for space, just use plastic bin liners with holes punched through to let the air in.  Sprinkle with water and tie the tops, giving them a good shake before stacking them out of sight and leaving them be for a couple of years.  If you’re using a leaf bin remember to dampen the leaves occasionally.  Once the leaves reach a crumbly texture you can use them as mulch on your borders.

Time to sit in the warm and read the seed catalogues but beware descriptions don’t always ring true e.g.

A ravishing colour – it’s pink and it’s your wallet that’s ravished!
Pale delicate colour – It’s grey
Flowers could be higher – it’s short
Wonderful substance – tough as old boots
This met with a favourable response – we had no complaints
Interesting colour – floral art judge will heave
Makes wonderful bulbs – these sell well
An improved variety – a more profitable variety

Just read between the lines.  If they have the letters AGM after the name, you know it has been trialled by the RHS and is good.

Pruning is a winter job.  Don’t prune stone fruit – the time to do them is when they are growing vigorously.  Apples, pears, and blackcurrants want pruning as long as there is no frost about.  Always take out dead, crossing, lopsided branches first to give an open centre to let the air in.  If it’s old and neglected, never prune more than a third of the tree.

Blackcurrants fruit on new wood so try and remove old black branches. Gooseberries can have shoots shortened by a third and any dragging on the ground removed altogether.  Redcurrants fruit on old wood so unless they are too big, leave them alone.  Cultivated blackberries want old branches cut out and new ones tied in to give them plenty of room as they shoot in spring and fill up space.  Raspberries fall into two categories.  Autumn fruiting – cut to the ground in early spring; and standard varieties (June/July fruiting) – cut all the old and weak canes out.

A generous mulch of muck or harden compost will benefit all fruit trees and bushes and will literally repay you in spades!

Wishing you all the very best for the New Year and don’t forget to check what’s on our new programme at www.bishamptongardeningclub.org.uk

Pete Chamberlain

October is the month for planting bulbs if you haven’t already done so. When planting daffodils remember that foliage should remain on until the end of May so don’t put them in the front of a border or formal lawn.  They will still show up at the back of the border because when they flower most herbaceous plants will be cut down or at least not be in leaf.
 
Tulips can be planted as late as November but most tulips will perish after flowering in the ground if left in.  The exception to this rule seems to be yellow ones as they appear to be tougher.  I like to plant tulips in containers as they seem to thrive there and can be moved into different positions, and once they have flowered, they can be put out of sight and something else put in their place. By buying different types of tulips you can have flowering pots from March to the end of May!  They can be combined with pansies, violas, and wallflowers for a stunning display, and for late tulips, forget-me-nots always look good.
 
Now is the time to put muck or compost on vegetable beds, and you don’t even have to bother to dig it in as worms and birds will all help incorporate it into the ground.  If you have enough, treat roses to a mulch of animal manure as they love it and respond well.  When you go around gardens run by the National Trust or RHS you will see all the rose beds are mulched with muck or compost.
 
Any vegetable gardeners should be ready to put broad bean seeds in.  My favourite panting time is the last week in October, but a week either side is okay.  If it isn’t a really cold winter, beans will be ready to harvest in May.  My winter greens on the allotment are all looking good.  Any yellowing leaves on the sprouts I will pull out to leave air around the lower buttons.
 
I have got my cannas and arum lilies in the greenhouse before the frosts get them.  I will stop watering now and leave them in the dry pots until next spring when I will get them out and repot in fresh material.  The old compost will go on my vegetable garden to build up humus.  Apart from checking my gladioli corms and dahlia tubers in store, I shall retire to my chair and browse the seed catalogues and decide what I am going to grow next year.
 
Our next two talks should prove interesting. First of all we have Dr. Ian Keith Ferguson talking about North American plants in British Gardens.  Dr. Ferguson is a widely travelled botanist and author, retired Deputy Keeper of the Herbartum at Kew Gardens and former Head of the Pollen Unit.  Our November meeting will see the return of lively speaker, Leila Jackson who came to our village two years ago – Leila will be talking to us about salvias - one of her specialities -  and other perennials.  Both events not to be missed and then we’re on countdown to our Christmas Dinner on December 7th – three dates for the diary then!
 
Pete Chamberlain
www.bishamptongardeningclub.org.u

June is the best month for sowing biennial plants such as wallflowers, foxgloves, sweet wiliams, Canterbury bells etc.  They can be planted in seed trays and when big enough, planted in a seed bed ready for transferring outside in October.
 
In the flower garden deadhead lupins as soon as they fade and you will get some more spikes. Also look out for lupin aphids – they’re twice the size of normal greenfly and can devastate your plants.
 
If you planted dahlia cuttings, try to restrict your plant to a certain amount of shoots. 
Knowing the size of the blooms will help you decide how many shoots to allow to grow. 
 
Earwigs can make a nuisance of themselves by biting the flowers, which are fine if you’re using the cut flowers for the house but a no-no if you want to show them.  An old-fashioned trap can be made by putting straw in a five or six inch pot and sticking them upside down on a bamboo cane next to your dahlias.  Then every evening empty them into a bucket and shake the pots.  You will catch dozens! 
​A bit of paraffin or diesel in the bucket will soon kill them.
 
I grow a lot of gladioli and they can be affected by thrips – a symptom can be flowers not opening properly.  If this happens to you, you will have to spray next year.  About the only systemic insecticide left to the amateur is Provado so that’s what to use!
 
In the vegetable garden if you plant out pants from pots, runner beans, marrows, courgettes, squashes, etc.  They provide a veritable feast for slugs and snails. Put some slug pellets down as you don’t want all your hard work to go to feed pests!
 
I say to people who don’t have any success with brassicas, you must feed them as they need high nitrogen levels to do well.  A straight high nitrogen fertilizer is ideal – nitro chalk nitram if you know a friendly farmer and can beg some.  If you are organically inclined, then chicken pellets or fish blood and bone will always help. July is the best month to clip privet, hornbeam or beech hedges.
 
June 1st features a talk by Una Dunnett form the British Hosta and Hemerocallis Society on the wonderful variety of hostas, so do come along.  We also need to finalise our list for our day coach trip to Wollerton Old Hall Garden on Wednesday July 6, by June, so please email info@bishamptongardeingclub.org.uk as soon as possible if you haven’t already done so! 
The club is subsidizing the cost so at £15 it’s a real bargain – setting off at 9.30 am in the morning and returning around tea-time in the village.
 
The National Garden Scheme open gardens is now gaining momentum with lots open in June and July.  You can pick  up a Worcestershire county book for free; look at their website at www.ngs.org.uk, or download a new app they’ve recently launched. (http://www.ngs.org.uk/gardens/find-a-garden-app.aspx)
 
There’s a lot going on at Croome including openings of Britain’s largest walled garden (which is privately owned and therefore attracts a £5 entry fee); seehttp://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/whats-on for more information.
 
Our summer schedule is now available for our annual Summer Show on Saturday August 13 with final entries due on Friday 12 or a week earlier if you want to enter your pots and containers a these are judged in situ.
 
If you want a copy see me, one of the committee members; emailinfo@bishamptongardeningclub.org.uk or telephone 01386 861438.

March and April are the two busiest months for the gardener, what with pruning and seed sowing, dividing herbaceous perennials, sorting the greenhouse out and the orchard trees.
 
In the greenhouse, any chillis, tomatoes, or other seeds that have germinated, need to be moved out of the propagator and potted into 9 cm pots of multi-purpose compost.  I always do too many so am going to be ruthless this year as I always end up with no room for other things, I you didn’t do autumn-sown sweet peas, now is a good time to sow them.  I like to put three or four seeds into 9 cm pots and soak the compost well before putting them in the propagator.  I don’t bother with rubbing them with sandpaper or chipping them with a razor blade as I find they do okay anyway.  I have some cabbage and cauliflower seedling ready to pot up.  Another job! 
 
My autumn-sown broad beans are looking well and I’m going to put some more seeds directly into the soil.  I tried a variety called Robin Hood last year and was impressed with its flavor.  It is multi-stemmed and a very dwarf variety.  The pods aren’t huge but there are plenty of them
 
I always delay lawn cutting as long as possible because as soon as you start, it seems to grow more quickly, although this year it looks like it’s as tough as wire wool!
 
Large flowered clematis can be cut back to 2-2/5 feet. The Montana’s should be left until after flowering, then just tidied up.  Make sure you cut the buddleias back again – they will repay you with tidier form and bigger flowers. 
 
Roses need to be pruned by the end of March. Cutting back hybrid teas vigorously will give you stronger stems and better flowers, but don’t prune the new English-type proses that have been bred by David Austin, - just tidy the shape and any unruly branches.
 
Gladioli are a favourite of mine and I reckon to plant in succession, starting in early April and ending late May.  I always peel the old husks off the corms to make sure they are sound and not infested with any bugs!  I plant mine on the sandy soil down in the allotment so don’t have to worry about drainage.  If I was planting in strong clay ground I recommend putting some sand or gravel in the planting trenches or holes they’re going into and burying at least 125 mm (5 inches) deep then they will remain upright.
 
And now a don’t!  Don’t tie daffodil foliage in knots please once they’ve finished flowering –just leave them alone until they’ve died down completely.  If they are on grass, move round them and they will repay you with better flowers next year.
 
Don’t forget our 2nd March presenters – Alun and Gill Whitehead will be talking to us about irises, and to put a date in the diary for the Spring Show on Saturday, April 2nd – you can download a copy from the website here: http://www.bishamptongardeningclub.org.uk/events.html
or ask committee members for a printed copy. 
 
Can we also recommend the range of RHS short courses which are run at Pershore College?  It’s worth picking up a brochure as they have regular talks and demonstrations as well as visits to the main shows too. 
 
I’m also pleased to promote Pershore Flower Club’s next event which is on March 16th at the Villages Hall, when Sharon Badger will be demonstrating ‘Spring Celebration’.
 
Pete Chamberlain

February is a busy time in my greenhouse.  I like to put seeds of chilli and sweet peppers in the propagator as they need a long season to fruit.  But only sow them this early if you can keep them warm to keep growing.

I start my dahlia tubers in batches so that I don’t have too many cuttings to take at one time.  If you are just going to plant the tubers, leave them in cold storage for now.

Tomato seeds go in at the end of February.  I grow four varieties and just put 10 seeds in 3.5” pots (9 cm) and when they start to show a true leaf, pot them on.

If it’s a nice day outside I might prune some of the winter flowering shrubs. I have a huge winter honeysuckle that is about eight foot high and 12 foot in diameter.  I’m going to cut it back carefully.  

Any apples that I haven’t got round to can be done now too, broken and crossing branches first, and then any that get in the way of mowing will be removed.  I have some damage on some of my plum trees but I won’t do them until they start growing.

I have a lot of young fruit trees that I have bought from Walcot Organic at Drakes Broughton.  I have been buying a few each year for the last few years and I am going to deal with the grass and weeds that have grown over in the last year.  I intend to put a layer of manure around them all, so that the weeds are smothered, and the trees will benefit from both the weed control, the nutrients from the muck, and the mulching effect of the muck. 

I also must check how the bulbs are doing. I have some in pots that hopefully I’ve timed right for the Spring Show in the first Saturday in April, don’t forget to plan your entries!  As it has been such a mild December and early January, I’ve noticed there are are some weeds growing.

The Spring Show Shedule also has the photographic categories for our Summer Show including so get snapping!  Our March talk features Alan and Gill Whitehead, who are the holders of the national collection of irises, so make a note in the diary.  

The end of March and beginning of April sees the main sowing and propagating of vegetables and flowers – a busy time for all of us!

Wishing you all well for the new growing season.

Pete Chamberlain
Chair

Bishampton & District Gardening Club

www.bishamptongardeningclub.org.uk

Tel: 01386 861438

​December and January are cold and damp times, and we need to look out for fungal diseases on greenhouse plants.  Old leaves need to be removed and plants kept dry. Geraniums often keep flowering but the petals are a magnet for fungal disease.
 
Any stored apples need a check in case any have gone off.  I usually have a few Coxes and Spartan left after Christmas but they are not as nice as fresh apples.
 
Talking of apples, any pruning can be done as long as there is no frost forecast for the night. Old trees that are tangled should have whole branches removed, not just a bit of snipping.  Keep the centre open, let the light and wind in, and never remove more than a third of the tree.
 
New trees can be planted up to the end of February.  I am going to plant some cherries this year.  Now that there are dwarfing rootstocks, it’s possible to have them in a garden environment.
 
When it rains I look through seed catalogues and decide if I want to grow anything new.  I have tried mizuna and mooli this year. The mizuna is an oriental vegetable which is becoming increasingly popular, and its also known as Kyona or potherb mustard.  I planted it in a big container outside and it lasted all winter – a good substitute for lettuce, and it’s also quite decorative, with glossy serrated dark green leaves and narrow white stalks. The mooli (also known as Daikon), planted in August grows huge carrot-like roots. It’s a long white crunchy vegetable, very radish-like and a good filler in stews and casseroles although it can also be eaten raw. I will be trying some more oriental seeds.
 
Don’t forget if it snows heavily, get a broom and shake any conifers that are in danger of getting their branches out of shape.
 
From a maintenance point of view, one other thing to do is start the mower and let is run for ten minutes so that it dries it out!
 
Don’t forget our feathered friends either as they will find it increasingly difficult to find food.  Put out some nuts and seeds and break the ice on bird baths so they have fresh water.
 
We’ve got a full-on programme again for the coming year with outings and some interesting topics at our monthly Wednesday night meetings in the Villages Hall.  We have decided to postpone our Open Gardens event until the summer of 2017 so this will give you plenty of time to start thinking about whether you would like to join in – last time we raised considerable funds for the Air Ambulance and Acorns Hospice on a beautiful sunny day.
 
You can pick up a hard copy of the annual programme and the Spring Show schedue from one of the committee members or download them from our website at www.bishamptongardeningclub.org.uk

Autumn is a time for clearing up and getting ready for the next season of growing.

Hedges need to be tidied and cut, as well as any deciduous shrubs that have developed in the wrong place.

I always look at the weather forecast and won’t prune if it’s going to be frosty.  There are plenty of frost-free days ahead of us as we only seem to get a few frosts now.  Having said that, we will have a real winter for a change proving me wrong!

Gladioli are better lifted and stored dry and frost-free. Dahlias also need lifting and drying off.  Don’t wash them with a hose – just let the soil fall off them naturally.  Turn them upside down to let any water in the stems drain out.  I store my tubers in boxes all with a wired on label attached to a strong stem.

I cover them up with a dry Grobag compost.  Usually the tomatoes have finished and I have stopped watering them, so this is ideal for covering the tubers up.  I put slug pellets on and stack them up in the shed.  Don’t forget to check early in January in case any have gone mouldy and discard these.

Autumn is also the time to plant spring bedding such as wallflowers and polyanthus and spring bulbs – although leave the tulips until November for the best results.

Don’t forget our next talk, Defensive Gardening at a time of Climate Change – by David Cropp on Wednesday, 7 October starting at 7.30pm in the Villages Hall, Broad Lane.  With our weather seemingly becoming more unpredictable, it promises to be an interesting topic.

And then we’re on countdown to this year’s highlight in our programme, Chris Beardshaw on November 4.  Please don’t leave it too late to get your ticket or you may find you’re disappointed!  Tickets are £10 for members, £15 for non-members.  With annual membership now down to just £5 a year you could do a double whammy and have the benefit of both!  Emailinfo@bishamptongardeningclub.org.uk, speak to one of the committee members,  or telephone me on 01386 861438 if you want one or more.

I hesitate to say this, but dare I plant a seed about our Christmas bash?  As ever we’ll be holding it at the beginning of the month so it doesn’t clash with your other commitments and our traditional approach with brain-teasing quizzes and a three course menu always seems to hit the right note. Again use the contact information above if you need to register an interest.

Pete Chamberlain