Category: Weather

Still no proper frosts?

4/12/2014

Though the weather now is raw and unpleasant to be out in, we've had no 'hard frost' - i.e. night-time temperatures below 0degC. This is quite unusual (although not unheard of) for early December, and it does present the gardener with some problems.

For example, many fruit bushes, in particular raspberry canes, are still hanging onto their leaves. And plants like asparagus, which have usually gone yellow and died down by now, are still partly green.

The usual advice to gardeners is, go by the weather not the calendar. This can be tricky when to many autumn jobs are being deferred into what is usually considered winter, though.

Winter digging can be put off till the Christmas break - there will be plenty of hard frost in January to break up the soil.

Clearing up debris should be done as soon as possible - you'll be clearing away pests too.

Continue to use slug pellets - a lot of slug damage is still being done to carrots and turnips.

Above: Godinton Walled Garden in a 'hard frost' - this picture was taken midday in late November in 2012

Beetroot have done well this year. Before we get really cold weather, lift the best roots and store them in damp sand in a shed or greenhouse.

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Flooding is inevitable this winter

9/11/2014

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Normally, our rainfall in Kent is inadequate to our needs and hosepipe bans are a frequent trial for the keen gardener. However, we have had a very prolonged wet spell -= several years now - and dry summer grass and parched soil are becoming a distant memory. Although September was dry, it came after a wetter-than-usual summer and has been followed by a long spell of frequent heavy rain. On Saturday night alone nearly one inch of rain fell.

Our subsoil is now fully charged with water. Normally by the autumn it would be dried out and shrunken, ready to absorb the rains of autumn. This year, like last, all the rain which falls is lying on the surface. A quick glance at low-lying fields shows standing water everywhere. We will just have to do our best to cope with the problem.

Left - lay boards alongside rows to walk on.

Covering areas of soil will, unfortunately, just throw the extra rain onto adjacent areas. But it is worth doing this if you intend to sow winter peas and beans. While in Northern areas it is OK to sow these in October, it's best to wait till later in autumn here in the South, and mid-December is an ideal date most years. Take the time to raise the area you will be sowing into by throwing soil towards the centre. Raking it will be tricky with it this wet, but level it as best you can then cover with polythene (clear is fine as you aren't trying to suppress weeds). Weight the polythene down well all round, or it will blow away. With any luck, a combination of keeping any further rain off, and the drying effect of the sun through the polythene, will mean you can roll the cover back in a month's time and sow into reasonable soil rather than a muddy mess!

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Look out for potato blight!

15/7/2014

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Blight on a tomato.

Spells of warm, humid weather mean blight. Blight is a fungus disease, spread by rain and wind, affecting both potatoes and tomatoes. The first signs are small patches of brown on the foliage, with the damaged areas drying and shrinking. Click on the pic (left) to go to the RHS advice page.

Blight can be prevented by spraying with Bordeaux Mixture - a post which said Bordeaux mixture was to be withdrawn, on this page, was MISTAKEN - your website compiler was reading info on the RHS website wrong. There have been a number of attempts to withdraw Bordeaux mixture over the years but it is still currently available. If you spray with Bordeaux mixture you will need to re-apply it after rain!

On tomatoes, pick off any affected leaves and burn or bin them (don't compost diseased material), spraying with bordeaux mixture to stop it spreading. Tomatoes in greenhouses, protected from the rain, are less vulnerable.

If your potatoes have already formed a decent crop - and I don't know about you, but my 'first earlies' are the size of maincrop, while my 'second earlies' rival some of the smaller moons of Jupiter - then you can simply cut off all the foliage and bin it. Thus will stop the blight migrating down to the spuds and you can lift them in your own time.

If there is any suggestion that blight might be about, store your potatoes in hessian sacks rather than paper. If you don't have a nice dark cellar (how many of us have one of those?) Then use the sacks double to keep out the light.

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Don't worry too much about watering

23/6/2014

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Most years, by now, we'd be wailing about drought and facing a probable hosepipe ban. However, because of the exceptionally wet winter, the water table is still very high.

Obviously, sites vary. But even those on the better drained sites still have a lot of water in the ground. Several novices have said recently to us "But the soil is bone dry!". Oh dear, the old-timers think, they have no idea what 'bone dry' is really like. On clay soils, the water is only an inch or so down, and rain is forecast for the end of the week again!

Watering too much doesn't help your plants. They will be stronger and healthier if they are obliged to put down roots into the moisture below them. Watering will only encourage weak growth and may lead to serious problems if the soil becomes over-wet. This is especially true on clay soils. So put that watering can away!!!

When do you need to water? Obviously anything in a container will need artificial watering. But even plants in greenhouses, if they are planted into the soil, will have access to the residual moisture from the winter rain. Newly planted stuff - cabbage plants for example - will need "puddling in" with a generous watering when planted, but do not assume they will need regular watering afterwards. Check the soil below the surface for water before adding more.

A 'dust mulch' created by hoeing the surface soil to a loose consistency will help retain that natural moisture. So will a mulch of grass clippings, or anything else which slows down evaporation.

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Going on holiday? Then you need capillary matting!

31/5/2014

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Even if it's only a few days away, at this time of year looking after plants in containers or young stuff in pots can be a real worry. Will the person who promised to look after them remember? Or will they over water them?

Capillary matting is cheap and easy, the professional's choice for ensuring a steady supply of water. Often used to cover greenhouse benches, can be a godsend. There are several ways you can use it to create a 'self watering' system to keep your plants moist.

Set up a bench, ideally in the shade, either in the greenhouse or outside, covered with waterproof fabric (a sheet of polythene will do fine). Cover it with capillary matting. Get a big bucket, fill it with water and place it on the bench. Now cut a long strip of the matting and weight one end down at the bottom of the bucket of water. Lead it up and out of the bucket, down the side and then tucking the other end of the matting strip securely under the main sheet of mat on your bench. Water will soak up the strip and into the main sheet, as long as the end of the strip is under water.

Your plants can then be placed on the capillary matting, where the moisture will wick up into the pots. The bottom of the pots will need to be in direct contact with the mat (no seed tray in between) and they will need to be filled with compost right to the bottom - no layer of crocks. Clay pots need a single crock to cover the hole of course, but otherwise the water will wick up through the absorbent clay.

A leaky plastic bucket, with a small hole pierced in the bottom, will do the job even better!

Your kindly carer will just have to top up the bucket every few days if you are away for a long break. For a few days to a week, this will do the job all by itself!

In the house, lay a sheet of capillary matting in the bottom of the bath - PLUG OUT! - and leave the cold tap gently dripping onto the matting. The bath will need a good clean when you get back but all your houseplants will be happy as anything. But remember - remove all saucers and make sure the bottom of the pot is in direct contact with the mat!

Capillary matting of a luxurious thickness is available from the Trading Store at just £1 per square metre.

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CLEARING UP AFTER STORMS

4/1/2014

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It's all so depressing, isn't it? It seems hard to imagine that only 2 years ago we were desperately worrying about drought.

There is a limit to what you can achieve in the current conditions, but there are some things that are worth putting the wellies on and snatching any dry spell for - apart from rescuing your damaged shed or clearing up broken glass!

Get out some stout canes and string and stake up brassicas which have been blown flat. Where they have wobbled about there will be a hole surrounding the stem. Once you have secured the roots in the ground with a stake, use your boot to firm the soil back well and fill in that hole. This will give you the best chance of salvaging a crop later in spring.

Windswept purple kale - but the roots are still in the ground thanks to the canes.

Leeks don't mind the wet, but if you're actually flooded, they may rot. If you can dig a channel to take the excess water away, then do so.

We haven't had much frost yet - though one expects it will come. Check root crops - beetroot, swede, carrots etc, even parsnips. It may be worth lifting them and storing them somewhere dry till you can use them. Parsnips are fully hardy but will rot if the ground they are in is waterlogged. Cerleriac is a marsh plant and will probably be OK - let us know your experience at the end of the season. We will be collating people's results and tips after the worst of the weather is over.

You may have lost your garlic. The good news is that, hopefully, the seed shed will have supplies for spring planting. Or you can put some in cell trays to root now - supermarket garlic is OK and better than nothing.

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Still no proper frosts?

Flooding is inevitable this winter

Look out for potato blight!

Don't worry too much about watering

Going on holiday? Then you need capillary matting!

CLEARING UP AFTER STORMS

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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