'Garden Column - May 2009'

Space – the final frontier!

 

The greenhouse this month tends to be bursting at the seams. With summer bedding plants awaiting their curtain call out into the garden and greenhouse vegetables growing at an accelerated rate. Space seems to be in rare supply.

It is all so easy to clutter everything up to gain extra space but this will not do your plants any good.

Being cluttered together plants can soon become distressed with the lack of air flow around them and then Botrytis and other diseases can set in.

Most greenhouses are usually cluttered up with empty pots, labels and compost bags. Anything which is not growing or plant orientated should be exiled into the garden shed or garage. This will at least give you some well-earned space.

Bedding plants and crops which are awaiting for the end of the month to be planted out should be hardened off by placing them outside during the day then returned to the safety of the greenhouse on cold nights when ground frost is given.

Alternatively those of you with a cold frame or one of those tiered plastic covered grow houses should place these plants into there and then shut down the vents or zip up the front during the night - if it does threaten frost then either return these plants into the safety of the greenhouse or place a anti-frost heater into it.

 

Plant some evergreen colour with conifers.

 

This month is an ideal opportunity to plant conifers.

Conifers are ideal plants for the gardener who wants a low maintenance garden. They can produce all-year-round colour with their decorative foliage and their architectural shapes.

Conifers have a wide range of uses; they can be used to gain structure in mixed borders making great backgrounds for other plants. As hedging they can screen off eye-sores and also make great boundaries. On the rockery, coniferous foliage can help gain height and colour in the winter months. Groundcover varieties can quickly cover the soil and produce a carpet of evergreen foliage which can then help to suppress weed growth. In containers they can help make great companion plants or even be trimmed into a wide range of topiary shapes.

Certain varieties of Conifers can even be trained onto trellis work. Create an espalier or fan shape by taking a well branched medium-sized variety and then train onto the trellis work by secure the stems onto the frame using twine or raffia.

One thing to remember is make sure that your plants are well irrigated in dry spells especially at the base and feed twice a year with Vitax Pelleted Conifer & Shrub Fertiliser in the spring and autumn.

 

Spring bulbs now need a BOOST!

 

Spring flowering bulbs which are now finishing should be fed as the foliage slowly dies away.

Do not be inclined to chop off untidy foliage or tie it in knots. This foliage needs to die back naturally as the bulbs need the food stored in the leaves. To encourage this process it is worth feeding the bulbs with a low nitrogen feed – ideally use Miracle-Gro Bulb Booster.

This will plant food will be absorbed by the bulbs allowing them to store the food ready for next year and will hopefully give you a better show next year.

Once bulbs have fully died back remember to mark where they are planted to remind you not to go digging in that area! 

 

Everyone likes Juicy Melons!

 

Melons can be planted in the greenhouse this month.

Plant your plants in either 26-30cm pots or straight into grow bags.

Grow bag cultivation is the most popular and it is best to allow the compost in the grow bag to acclimatise to the temperature in the greenhouse especially if the bags you are buying have been stored outside.

Plant at the side of the house and create a frame for the plants to be trained up. Place a wire framework onto the greenhouse frame and strengthen the wires by connecting canes onto the wires.

Plant 2 Melons to each grow bag and place them against the framework.

Grow the plants right up to the eaves before pinching out the leader.

Tie the laterals onto the framework and grow them along the frame.

These laterals will produce male and female flowers; the male flowers will appear first followed by the female ones. The difference between them is the male flowers will have a thin stalk behind the petals and the female blooms will have a tiny melon behind theirs.

Allow at least 6 female flowers to open then remove a mature male flower and fold back the petals and then brush the male flower against the female flowers. Do this at noon and use one male flower to every for female.

Then allow the fruit to set.

Once the fruit has set leave one melon per lateral and then count 2 leaves and then pinch out the growing point. Water regularly feeding with Doff Tomato Feed once the fruit reaches golf ball size.

Support the fruit with hair nets connected to framework as they grow in size. Once fruit has ripened pick each fruit as you need to use it.