Salad Leaves

The salad leaves in my raised bed are a little sad, flattened by the snow and cold snap before Christmas. However, what I miss most is being able to pick a little flat-leaved Parsley to chop up and sprinkle on winter stews or vegetables. It too has rotted, but I have been blessed with a population of healthy self seeded parsley plants that are growing through the cracks in my patio. They are healthy, untouched by the cold/wet and actively growing. I have to learn from this that I need to add more drainage, in the form of grit if I am to succeed in growing salad leaves and herbs successfully through the winter. The alpine strawberries that have also self seeded on my patio are also the strongest in my garden.

For many plants to thrive through the winters we have experienced recently, they must have free draining soil to ensure their roots do not freeze when waterlogged. This is especially true of silver leaved plants such as Lavender, Cistus and Helianthemum and those plants that have aromatic leaves- Rosemary, Curry Plant and Geraniums.  All are native to warmer climes where winters are as cold as ours but not as wet.

So, as you prune back or replace any winter damaged plants this spring be sure to give them the best start and treat them to a extra bit of grit for long term success.

Winter Scent

On warm winter days the best shrub near the house is Christmas Box. A little unseasonal by name maybe, when decorations are down but it makes a neat evergreen hedge with shiny leaves and has masses of tiny scented flowers. Its flowers maybe picked and taken inside where a small vase will fill a room with scent. Sarcococca confusa is one of the best forms as it grows to a modest height (5ft eventually), has pointed leaves and produces black berries. It responds well to clipping, which is best done immediately after flowering. Sarcococca ruscifolia has red berries and hookeriana humilis is a dwarf form that reaches only 1ft tall and spread by suckers.

Skimmias are also well known for their winter scent, but an understanding of their sex life is vital to successful berry production. Unless you mix male and female forms you will not get good fertilisation. One male plant can cope with up to five females in its midst, but smaller groups per male will result in more berries. Among the females “Nymans” produces large red berries followed by “Veitchii”. Paired off with the male japonica “Fragrans” which is shorter and is best planted in front of them both. The male “Rubella” is well known for its reddish-brown flower heads that develop before Christmas. All Skmimia like some shade making green mounds of foliage in difficult shady spots. Their foliage can take on a scorched yellow colour when in direct sunlight. Plants respond well to pruning and have a good vase life when picked in berry.

Winter flowering Honeysuckle is an easy, free flowering plant with a powerful scent. Whilst it is not fully evergreen its thick twiggy growth can act as a good screen. There are 2 forms, of which the earlier flowering Lonicera x purpusii “Winter Beauty” is better. It has small creamy white flowers in early spring which have a slight sharpness to their scent. It responds well to pruning and also maybe picked to be taken into the house. Lonicera fragrantissima flowers later than “Winter Beauty” and therefore gets lost in the cacophony of early spring.

Probably the greatest of all late winter scents are Mimosas. In recent winters these have struggled to survive in colder areas so choosing a sheltered spot out of cold wind is vital- ideally against a south or west facing wall. Plants that are hit by the cold will often recover by producing new suckers from ground level. Acacia dealbata is a large tree that produces bunches of ball-shaped yellow flowers, but I like baileyana purpurea which has purple foliage and more subtle open flower heads.

Wintersweet, Chimonanthus praecox is a shrub whose scent overpowers all of the above but some patience is required as can take a few years to flower properly. This should not put you off as it makes an impressive shrub whose bare branches will be filled with straw-yellow flowers in time. The heavily spiced winter scent is amazing and unmatched by any perfume you could ever buy.

Cyclamen

I think the small-flowered indoor cyclamen are as pretty as anything you'll find in a pot at this time of year and they're cheap! At £2.50 each, they come in an intense range of colours from white, rose-pink, to wine-crimson and a bright, rich red.

Don't just buy and plonk your indoor cyclamen - they're worth the effort of a bit of doctoring. The plastic pots they come in don't do these winter-flowering tubers justice, so plant them up in a brightly coloured bowl or something sparkly and shiny.

Try not to disturb the roots - you're doing this for aesthetic reasons only - planting them into a loam-based compost with added grit and a handful of peat.

You can use a soil-less compost, but it makes watering more difficult, especially at the end of the dormant period when you want it to take up moisture again.

Gently firm the roots into the new pot or bowl and cover the compost with dried leaves or an emerald-green cushion of bun moss.

That's how they'd look in the wild and it's always a good aim with houseplants to recreate this as closely as possible.

One of the great things about indoor cyclamen is if (like me), you are a bit hit and miss with your house plant care, they are pretty easy and reliable – they look good for six to eight weeks in our cold house.
They're happy at a cool room temperature (about 55F/13C), and shouldn't get too hot. Find them a light position, without too much direct sunlight.

In the wild, Cyclamen persicum grows in deciduous woods, or you might find it more out in the open, with its tuber hidden under rocks and just the leaves and flowers poking into the light.

Too much heat in a sunny window will encourage early dormancy, while growing in light, but cool conditions may see them continue to flower into the New Year.

If you heat your house to above 15C its an idea to place the plants on east and north-facing window ledges, bringing them out more prominently into your main dining table as and when you want them, but putting them back in between times.

Cyclamen don't like freezing temperatures (don't let them fall below 50F/10C), so on frosty nights try to remember to bring them into the room.

As far as watering goes, they don't like much - the worst thing is a constant dribble of water. Keep them moist, but not dripping wet.

Once a week, I sit the pots in a tray of water about half an inch deep and leave them overnight. Then the whole root ball gets a good drink and the compost rehydrates. I then drain them and leave them for another week or so without water.

If water collects in the base of the saucer or pot-holder, tip it out and don't water again until the compost feels fairly dry. Dead head and remove any dead or dying leaves with a sharp tug to the stem.

Plants can be dried out after flowering with a view to getting them to re-bloom next winter, but it’s a long journey and they will be unlikely to flower with the same vigour so I would suggest you plan to buy new ones again next year- houseplants should be a pleasure not hard work!

Orchids

I have never had the patience to get an orchid to reflower. It’s mainly a function of the amount of space and time that I imagine it takes and partly because I hear so many people talking of their disappointment that their year long efforts were in vain.

I get as excited as you when I am choosing something of such exotic beauty (usually to give to my lovely wife) and then enjoying the flowers for many weeks through periods of neglect and the occasional watering. After many weeks of great value we are left with a few rather dried out leaves, a couple of bare flower spikes and 2 short split canes attached to them. At this moment I reflect that I have had great value from the £10 spent and set the plant aside, having pruned the spent flowers spikes off and leave it on the window sill. A few weeks later I loose heart and will and it’s sent to the compost heap. Now that’s OK, I say- you have had better value than a bunch of flowers would have given you so just start again with another when you feel like it.

However, if you are up for the reblooming challenge then here are a few things to help. Orchids have rambling roots that in their native habit cling to the stems of trees- i.e. they are epiphytes and they take most of their water from the air so they are never found sitting in water. The bark that orchids are supplied in, therefore, acts more as a stabilising material than a nutritional one. Never re pot orchids in a peat based compost- orchids should only be repotted into specialist orchid compost. Orchid’s roots produce energy from light so growing them in lattice baskets or clear pots is vital.

Orchids need bright light but not direct sunlight and enjoy an ideal temperature of a steady 68◦F (20◦C). Leaves should be a mid green and the appearance of plum coloured leaf blotches indicate that the light level is at an optimum- the equivalent of a suntan.

Orchids do only need a watering once a week and should ideally be indulged with rainwater. They should be stood in a sink or bowl containing the water for a few minutes and then left to drain before being returned to their container. Leaves enjoy a high humidity so if you keep your room especially warm a regular misting will ensure they do not dry out.

Plants that have finished flowering will enjoy a rest period- after pruning the old stem back to the second lowest bud move to a slightly cooler (64◦F/18◦C) for a few weeks until it shows sign of regrowth.

Use a speciality orchid feed once a month to keep your plant healthy. Repotting should not need to happen very often – roots growing over the side of the pot are not a sign that the plants needs more space. Only when the growing medium has broken down so that the water doesn’t drain properly or the body of the plant is hanging over the edge of the pot is it time to move it on.

So treat yourself to a really special orchid and see if you can enjoy a second flowing in 2011!

Orientation

There are many ways we can improve as gardeners, one of them is to understand how our plants are likely to behave in varying circumstances in our gardens.

Plants have a way of turning towards the sun. If you have a path that runs east-west with borders alongside it, the flowers on its north side will turn towards you because you are on the sunny side, but those on the south side will face away from you. Bad luck, but if you have the option to plant alongside one path edge the northern edge will give you more head on colour. Equally if you walk along a north-south orientated path bordered by beds everything will look towards you if you walk from south to north, but away from you if you return in the opposite direction. There are of course heliotropic plants to consider in your designs- plants whose flowers follow the sun such as sunflowers but the borders may not land up containing a very diverse range of plants.

If you are planning to plant box hedging along the edge of a patch its worth remembering that the southern vertical side will grow more densely than the northern side which will be most noticed on an east-west path. It’s worth therefore considering that if you are planning to plant a box, or indeed any evergreen hedge, that its northern side is given maximum space and light to ensure it is more densely furnished.

Planting symmetrically with feature plants, as on four corners or in an evenly spaced row, is always risky, because at least one of those plants is likely to let you down by behaving slightly differently from the rest. This is often because of differences in soil type, depth or drainage. If you can make your points with groups rather than individual accents, then differences in behaviour won’t matter, indeed they maybe an asset.

Sun versus shade for plants is a question that needs understanding. Many plants that are merely tolerant of shade are termed shade lovers, although many perform better in sun or at least in dappled shade. Such are perwinkles (Vinca) or the majority of spring flowering Anemones. Periwinkles will certainly cover the ground in deep shade, but they will be mighty dull cover. In sun, and especially mown to the ground every year or so their flowering will be abundant.

We are often told that certain wall shrubs are for certain aspects. It maybe good to make use of Morello cherries or Cotoneaster horizontalis or many Camellias against a north wall but they will do just as well on any aspect, or indeed out in the open. The self clinging climber Hydrangea petiolaris grows well on a north wall, but planted where it can catch the autumn sunlight it can give far more pleasure and excitement when its foliage changes to yellow before being shed.

Sweet Peas

Is anyone else suffering from a prolonged invasion of the house fly this autumn? Whilst I may not live in hospital style sterile conditions I consider my home to be clean, yet the fly population this year seems to persist in hanging on much longer than usual. We have put the usual sticky traps around the kitchen which have effectively reduced the population swiftly, but no sooner than we have decided the situation is under control and taken down the traps, the next wave arrive. Whilst the glowing blue light zapper I bought and installed, lags behind the effectiveness of the basic sticky strip, yet with both in action the problem continues into November.

I have to confess to living next to a dairy farm and so expect a greater diversity and volume of bug life, that enjoy hanging around cows and cowpats, and that is the price I pay for living in a rural part of the countryside. Or maybe, I have to move my recently installed wormery a little further away from the back door. Hopefully, a cooler spell of weather will soon arrive and the invasion will retreat to their overwintering pupae.

Wet days, when the garden is inaccessible is becoming more common in November, so tasks for the garden shed or greenhouse can be welcome. There are just some days when I feel I have to have to go something in the garden, however small. There is no better time to plant Sweet Peas than in the autumn, to allow them to germinate slowly making a strong root system over winter. Seeds should be planted into a good potting compost such as John Innes Seed and Cutting  – plant 1 seed to a 3 inch (8cm) pot or 6 to 8 seeds to a 6 inch (15cm) pot. Place the pots in a cold frame or greenhouse and cover them with newspaper until the seedlings have germinated. If you leave your planting to January or February your seedlings may need a little gentle heat to germinate. Make sure you stop the heat as soon as germination has occurred, otherwise your plants will get leggy.

If you have problems with germination consider soaking the seed overnight before sowing (and only sow those that have swollen). Overwinter your seedlings in a cold frame or cold greenhouse, bringing them up as hard as possible. Take precautions against slugs, snails, mice and birds (also cats who may find them to be a tempting bed). Watch out for bad weather – when frosts are forecast, your seedlings will need some extra protection. Close the frame’s lights and add some lagging (eg newspaper, bubble wrap, sacking etc). If the weather is particularly cold or the frosts prolonged, leave the lagging on to allow the seedlings to thaw slowly. When the first four leaves have formed, nip out the top two leaves to encourage bushiness. Do not forget to keep your plants moist if the weather is dry.

From our experience in the Learning Garden this summer we liked the following varieties-Gwendoline (pink), Hunter’s Moon (creamy white), High Scent (creamy white with a purple edge) and finally a great stalwart Winston Churchill (deep red). Plant them now for an early crop next summer. Consider a spring sowing for a succession of flowers through the summer.

Physalis

One minute I was picking tomatillos from a heavily frosted bush in my veg patch and the next minute I was gathering Chinese lanterns from a border, 2 plants providing me something very different from the same species. Both belong to the Physalis family, a relation of the tomato. Tomatillos are widely grown in central and Southern America as they provide the fruit that is the base for salsa. The fruits are like small flattened green or purple tomatoes and are encased in a fine papery skin like that found of a cape gooseberry.

The tomatillo, a close but very independent cousin of the tomato and Cape gooseberry, is known by several names, including husk tomatoes, jam berries and Mexican green tomatoes. In the UK fruits mature in late summer and are best picked just before ripening, when the flesh is still firm and the flavors are bright with a gentle but assertive acidity. Look for firm fruit with tight, unwrinkled husks.

With husks on, tomatillos keep for about two weeks stored in a paper bag and refrigerated, but husk them and store refrigerated in a plastic bag and they keep up to four weeks. If you find yourself with an abundance, try freezing them (spread them, sliced or whole on a sheet pan in the freezer until solid, then place them in an airtight freezer bag).

In Spanish, tomatillo means "little tomato," and records show that tomatillos were cultivated by the Aztecs as far back as 800 B.C. Tomatillos liven many Latin American recipes with their vibrant colour, often silky texture and mildly tart flavour.

In contrast, Chinese lanterns are not edible, but have great vivid orange husks that decorate the late summer garden just outside my back door. Physalis alkekengi are often simply called physalis, a name derived from the Greek word for bladder. As a member of the nightshade family, physalis is related to tomatoes, peppers and petunias.

The ribbed, lantern like bladders are actually enlarged sepals that have fused together to envelop the forming fruit. The bright husk guards the fruit as it dehydrates in the autumn air. Gradually, it becomes paper thin and begins to break down to a delicate, lacy veiling.

Physalis is a vigorous perennial, capable of escaping cultivation or becoming a nuisance in the flower bed. It spreads by way of creeping rhizomes. These horizontal stems scramble about just below the surface and produce an amazing number of offspring. Chopping or pulling up the plants leaves pieces of rhizomes lurking in the soil to sprout again. I have learnt to live with it by thinning the growth in spring every year, allowing Salvias, Sedum, Gaura and Geraniums to compete with its bullish habits.

Before including physalis in a bed with other plants, its best to restrict its root area with an underground barrier. This will assist in restraining the rhizomes' underground march. Despite its vigour some people find it hard to establish- if it does you will be rewarded with armfuls of bright orange lanterns that will brighten your house all winter.