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Spring is busting out all over!

13/3/2014

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March is always a mad panic, and always, always, we have that moment when we suddenly realise we forgot something vital. Like planting fruit bushes, or chitting the seed potatoes.
The good news is it's amazing what you can get away with in terms of catching up.

Though fruit bushes are already sending out leaves, you can still get away with planting them if you're prepared to give them plenty of water in dry weather. If you're strictly a weekend allotmenteer, accept that it is wise to wait and plant in October. You can help get fruitbushes off to a good start, however, by planting with "rootgrow". Helpfully, this is currently on a half-price offer at Hamstreet Garden Centre till the 18th. "Rootgrow" supplies the beneficial mycorrhizal fungi that make the difference between a weedy plant and a vigorous one. You have to use it when planting and cannot add it later.

Click here to go to information about 'rootgrow' and how it works


As far as chitting seed potatoes goes, a study by the RHS found it makes very little difference to the time your spuds crop or the amount they yield. You don't imagine commercial growers lovingly chit them then carefully plant the fragile chitted seed potatoes, do you? If you're late getting away, just plant them as they are, don't wait to chit them!
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February 1st - don't give up now!

1/2/2014

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Because of the exceptional weather, many late autumn and midwinter jobs probably remain undone. Don’t forget to prune soft fruit (I still haven't done mine!), and autumn-fruiting raspberries can be cut to ground level now if you haven’t already done them. Burn or bin the prunings to get rid of cane-boring caterpillar and “cane blight”, both of which are more trouble for summer-fruiting varieties, but which may be present in the old canes of autumn-fruiters. If you are only now pruning blackcurrants, it is probably still worth sticking some of the younger shoots, pruned off because they are in the wrong place, in the ground to see if they will still root. Of course we should have done this in December, but blackcurrants are tough . . .
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If you intend to grow flowers for cutting, check your seed packets. Though it seems hard to imagine summer at the moment, carnations, late sweet peas, antirrhinums and many other cut flowers are sown in the propagator now.

Leave it too late and you won’t get the results you want. You can also start sowing tomatoes and peppers now for growing in an unheated greenhouse. There is still time to start onions off from seed. Sort out your main seeds so you know what will be going later this month. Spring WILL arrive and the gorund will, eventually dry up. Don't be caught on the hop!


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Don't forget to prune your fruit bushes!

25/11/2013

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PictureA lot of this growth needs to go
It's very easy, when the winter seems endless, to think there is plenty of time to prune your  currants or your  gooseberries. Then suddenly spring is upon us and it's a case of getting it done in a tearing hurry. It's a good idea to mark this job on the calendar as one to do over the Christmas break. It can be done when the ground is frozen and other jobs like digging are off the agenda.

Redcurrants and whitecurrants are pruned like gooseberries - blackcurrants need completely different treatment.
Click here for the RHS page on pruning redcurrants, whitecurrants and gooseberries.
Click here for a page and a nice clear video about planting and pruning blackcurrant bushes,
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When you prune blackcurrant or gooseberry bushes, you will often have some young shoots which you have removed. If they are about 9" long or more, plant them! A partly shaded spot with well-drained soil is best. Keep them well-watered in the spring, and unless you are very unlucky, by next autumn you'll have a row of well-rooted young bushes ready for replanting in their final position, or giving away as swapsies. This page will give you more information and pictures on blackcurrants - the technique is pretty much the same for other currants and gooseberries.

These young gooseberry bushes were just last year's prunings, stuck in the ground in a raised bed. Look at them now!

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    Kent's climate is drier, hotter and has a longer growing season than the average for the UK. Advice in gardening books may not fit Kent. This blog has local tips on what will grow and when to do garden jobs.

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