COME GARDENING

The magazine of the National Blind Gardeners’ Club

Editor: Val George Technical Editor: Wendy Chamberlain

Readers: Actors from Sound Talking

Subscriptions: SueTwigg

Copying and mailing: Rita Goodall and Marilyn Goss

Series No 114 July 2010

CONTENTS

EDITORIAL

ANNOUNCEMENTS – Plant a Difference scheme, Thrive Chelsea garden, and reformatting the Audio library

GARDEN WRINKLE 1 – cutting back plants in July for a later flowering

MARKETPLACE – hardy orchids, spring flowering plants, potatoes for Christmas, a useful marking fluid and some lightweight containers

GARDEN WRINKLE 2 – build a bee hotel

NEWS AND QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS – starting with club news, some favourite plants, and getting rid of cats and ants

GARDEN WRINKLE 3 – saving seed

THE FLOWER GARDEN – Buddleias

GARDEN WRINKLE 4 – spreading fish heads!

GREENFINGERS – some seasonal tips

GARDEN WRINKLE 5 – autumn lawn care

AUDIO LIBRARY

TAILPIECE

Please send all correspondence, including changes of address, to:

The National Blind Gardeners’ Club, Thrive, The Geoffrey Udall Centre, Beech Hill, Reading RG7 2AT Telephone: 0118 988 5688, which has a 24-hour answerphone facility when the office is closed or

email:

Thrive Registered Charity no: 277570

EDITORIAL

Welcome to this summer issue of Come Gardening. It’s good to hear news from quite a few gardening groups this time, and we are thrilled to see the success some projects have had in securing their own dedicated garden spaces. We hope to hear more from these as they settle into their new sites.

We hope you enjoy the Marketplace finds that Wendy has sourced this time and would be glad to have your feedback on any of the products and plants. It would be interesting to know how you get on with growing hardy orchids, for instance.

Finally, members want to know how to deal with problem pests in the garden - cats, squirrels and ants - and we have a range of solutions to try.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Plant a Difference

In the last edition of Come Gardening, we told you about Thrive’s ‘Plant a Difference’ scheme which has been launched to raise the money to send boxes of plants for disabled gardeners to grow. The boxes will contain ready to plant vegetables, herbs or perennials which can be planted on the kitchen windowsill, in patio containers or in the garden.To register for a Plant a Difference Box for yourself or for another disabled person, please call us on 0118 988 5688 or register through the Thrive website

One box has already been sent to Greenshoots club in York to help with planting up their new garden which you will hear about later in this issue.

Chelsea Garden

At the time of writing Chelsea has just finished and we are delighted with the award of a Gold medal and ‘BestUrbanGarden’. We hope that many of you will already have heard this news through the coverage that Thrive has had on both radio and TV. This is just the publicity that we had hoped for to spread the word about Thrive and the support we offer to all disabled gardeners. By the time you read thisthe Thrive show garden from Chelsea will be looking splendid in its new location at Thrive’s Trunkwell GardenProject - and will be enjoyed for years to come by both the gardeners and visitors to the project. If you are in the Reading area, come and see the garden on one of our open days on Sunday 18th July or Sunday 25th July 2010.

Audio Library

The Audio Library is a fantastic resource which,as members of Thrive, you can all benefit from. At present the library exists only on audio tapes. Since audio cassette tapes are rapidly becoming obsolete and the life of the tape reduces each time a tape is played, we have decided to have all the titles in the library copied onto audio CD in digital format. This means that the quality of this resource will be maintained, copies to CD can be made quickly and easily and, in time, they should become available as mp3 downloads from the website. We plan to re-launch the library in its new digital format in our next issue of Come Gardening, so watch this space!

International Year of Biodiversity

The United Nations has proclaimed 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity, and people all over the world are working to safeguard irreplaceable natural wealth and to reduce biodiversity loss.

The term biodiversity is used to describe all plant and animal life found on earth, as well as micro-organisms such as bacteria, viruses - and their habitats. In a garden, biodiversity covers everything from mosses and lichens, to plants and trees, different cultivated varieties of flowers, fruit and vegetables including common and rare species, soil micro-organisms, insects, reptiles, amphibians, mammals and birds.

As our gardens have trees, shrubs, ponds, hedges and a great range of plants and layouts, they offer habitats for pollinating insects and wildlife and contribute enormously towards sustaining biodiversity.

We can all make a difference by taking small steps in our gardens to help garden wildlife. These can include:

  • Build a bee hotel – see Garden Wrinkle 2 for instructions
  • Make a log shelter
  • Put in a pond
  • Create a compost café
  • Go chemical free
  • Catch the rain
  • Recycle something
  • Save water by growing plants that need less water, such as hebes, lavenders and buddleias
  • Cut off old sunflower heads and hang them up. Birds eat the seeds and bugs hibernate in them
  • Plant pot saucers and dustbin lids make good birdbaths.

Gardening for All

We are pleased to announce a new collaboration between Thrive and the RHS to assist with the inclusion of gardeners who have sight loss into their local community gardening groups.

The RHS currently runs three community gardening programmes which support groups and communities throughout the UK in:

  • Sharing their gardening knowledge
  • Helping the environment
  • Increasing civic pride
  • Building a sense of community
  • Getting the community active

The current programmes are:

RHS Britain in Bloom: One of Europe’s largest horticultural campaigns in which over 1,000 cities, towns and villages participate each year in order to show off their achievements in environmental responsibility, community participation and of course, horticulture.

RHS Neighbourhood Awards: The grass-roots community gardening sister campaign to Britain in Bloom offering support and recognition to over 600 community-lead groups who are cleaning up and greening their local patch.

RHS Affiliated Societies: The UK’s largest network of gardening clubs which supports over 2,800 local gardening clubs and horticultural societies in sharing their knowledge and getting even more people gardening.

We have just launched a new guide called Gardening for all which gives information to enable community gardening groups to feel confident in welcoming gardeners who have sight loss to participate in their activities. This guide is being launched in the RHS July issue of their quarterly magazine “Growing Communities” which is sent to the 4,500 community gardening groups. The guide is available as a download from either the Thrive or RHS websites or as a copy from Thrive.

If you are interested in participating in a community gardening group in your area and would like details of groups that are active in your area, please contact the RHS:

Telephone: 020 7821 3651

Email:

Visit:

GARDEN WRINKLE 1

A tip from Alan Titchmarsh’s website. The ‘Chelsea Chop’ is a method of cutting back plants for a later flowering, bushier plant, and is usually carried out in May, around the time of the Chelsea Flower show. In fact, depending on the species, you can do this operation at different times through the year. Here are some plants you can cut back in July and into August:

Aconitum napellus, or Monkshood: cut back early varieties after flowering (they're poisonous so wear gloves) to encourage side shoots to flower.

Alchemilla mollis - prevent self-seeding and tidy tatty foliage by cutting right back to 5cm (1in) above the ground after flowering.

Geranium (hardy) - after flowering, cut right back, feed and water thoroughly to get fresh foliage in a fortnight and a second flush of flowers later in the season. Geranium macrorrhizum is the exception, which only needs deadheading. Cutting back or deadheading also helps stop self-seeding which can be problem with some species.

Geum - after flowering, cut right back to new basal growth, feed and water thoroughly to get fresh foliage and a second flush of flowerslater in the season.

Salvia - cut back fading flower spikes of perennial ornamentalsalvias to just above the side shootsbelowthe spike to encourage them to flower.

Sidalcea malviflora –also known as Prairie mallow - cut back immediately after flowering toget fresh foliage and a further flush of flowers in autumn.

MARKETPLACE

Hardy Orchid - Cypripedium reginae

Orchids are now fairly familiar to us as houseplants, as we saw in the last issue, but did you know how many hardier family members – both native and exotic – can contribute to the open garden, as reported in an article in the RHS magazine The Garden earlier this year?

European and North American producers are developing some reliably hardy slipper orchids and Dobies are currently offering the hardy Cypripedium reginae, the Queen Lady's Slipper. This variety has some of the largest and showiest blooms of the Cypripedium, with white petals that hover above the fuchsia-flushed 'slipper'. Dobies are supplying this plant as a root that is already six seasons old, which will produce strong rich green foliage of up to 50cm (20") to carry the flowers. The flowering time for this orchid is from mid June. As the plant becomes established in the garden the rhizomes will spread to form spectacular clumps – or you can plant three for an immediate clump. You don’t need to be an orchid expert to grow these - no experience or specific growing conditions are necessary. There is a current offer of ‘buy 2 get 1free’, and one bare root plant costs £14.95; Code: 440008.

Orderphone (open 24 hours)0844 701 7625

Wallflower Prince Mixed Plants

Also from Dobies, this wallflower is described as an excellent dwarf growing variety with bright, fragrant flowers produced on compact, bushy plants. Colours include yellow, scarlet, primrose, violet and intermediate shades. Its dwarf habit -height 20cm (8") - makes it particularly suitable for growing in patio containers.

Buy 20 Easiplants, for delivery in August 2010,for £6.95;Code: 479701. You can also save £3.95 on a pack of 40 Easiplants.

Orderphone (open 24 hours)0844 701 7625

Spring Bedding Plant Collection

Dobies are also quoting a saving of £5.00 on their collection of Spring Bedding, which includes 40 Easiplants of Wallflower Prince Mixed, as just described, along with 40 Easiplants of Polyanthus Pioneer and 60 Easiplants of Pansy Paradise Mixed F1.PolyanthusPioneer has excellent winter hardiness, a strong-growing, floriferous habit, and an impressive range of colours. Height 30cm (12"). Pansy Paradise will give you a display of pansies in an enormous range, both with and without ‘faces’.The vigorous, uniform plants are very hardy, showing some colour throughout winter, and reaching a spectacular climax in spring. Height 15-20cm (6-8"). £24.85 for the collection of 140 plants, Code: 481253; delivery: August 2010.

Orderphone 0844 701 7625

Autumn and Christmas potato varieties

These tempting seed potato varieties are on offer from JBA Seed Potatoes of Scotland.

Autumn Collection: These varieties should grow on until the first winter frosts hit them, which will start to kill the foliage off. You can plant them in your garden under a fleece or grow them in potato planter bags, also available from JBA. The Collection is £19.99 including delivery, for 1kg of Maris Peer, 1kg of Charlotte, 1kg of Carlingford and 1kg of Nicola. Each kilo pack should contain approximately 12 potatoes.

Christmas maturing potatoes:All of the followingseed potatoes should give you a lovely Christmas crop if you plant them in early August. All are £6.99 per kilo.

Balmoral is a beautiful part-coloured, high yielding variety with shallow eyes, with good resistance to powdery scab, common scab and blackleg.

Carlingford is an excellent salad type potato which produces a high number of round to oval tubers with white skin and a firm waxy texture, with good disease resistance.

Charlotte is now the most popular salad potato in the UK and has been chosen by Gardening Which? magazine as the best tasting salad variety available. The long tubers have a yellow skin and firm yellow waxy flesh, with very good resistance to foliage and tuber blight.

Kestrel is said to be one of the best tasting varieties with an even colour, excellent cooking uses and disease resistance.

Maris peer has scented flowers, which makes these potatoes unusual. Tubers are oval, with a firm creamy coloured flesh and white skin. They have good resistance to all skin diseases.

Pentland Javelin produces heavy crops of short oval white skinned tubers with pure white tasty flesh.

So for your early winter or Christmas crop, contact JBA Seed Potatoes, telephone:01461 202 567

Tacti-Mark

Tacti-Mark, from RNIB, is a liquid plastic that sets hardfor use as tactile labelling in the garden and home. Excellent for marking tools, containers and plant labels, it can also be used on clothing, paper, metals, and hard plastics. The bottle nozzle has a fine point for accurate marking, such as marking controls on cookers, washing machines, thermostats etc.It dries within hours of application. Tacti-Mark does not stick to flexible plastic.

Available in three colours: Florescent Orange, order code DL40; Black, code DL40A, White,code DL40W.

Price per bottle: £3.36 excluding VAT and£3.95 including VAT.

The RNIB helpline: 0303 123 9999

Potty Innovations

This company produces some good looking lightweight expanded foam planting containers. Clover pots are designed to stack together to create a two tier container suitable for strawberries, tomatoes, herbs or salad leaves. Each tier is made up of a clover leafshaped container with three planting spaces. The container is roughly 36cms in diameter by 38cms high when stacked. Available in granite,blue, green, gold and bronze, Clover pots are £11.99 or on offer at 3 for 2 - £23.97 - for a limited period.

Lucky Clover is a similar design with a four-leaf clover shape and four planting stations on each tier. It is currently available in blue and green, priced at £13.99, or 3 for 2 - £27.98.

Another idea is the range of Cultivation Station kits also made in lightweight foam. Interlocking planting blocks slide together to create a raised bed made up of small planting stations around the edge, with an open space in the centre. If you lay the bed onto soil, or even grass, you can fill the centre space with compost too. The idea is that you plant deeper rooted crops in the centre, and something like herbs or smaller crops in the planting stations.You can buy the planting blocks individually, as edge or corner pieces that simply slide together, or choose from various DIY kits. The Starter kit is a 1m square design made up of eight pieces; price £35.21. The Octo design has an octagonal shape and is again made up of eight interlocking pieces; 1.4m square, £45.94. The starter rectangular kit measures 1m x 1.9m and costs £58.18. All of these prices are ex VAT, and there is a delivery charge that only becomes clear when you order! To find out more, visit

GARDEN WRINKLE 2 - How to Build a Bee Hotel

Unlike the familiar bumblebee, mason bees are solitary. Mason bees are much more effective pollinators than bumble bees, so they’ll help pollinate your fruit and veg. After hatching in spring, the female spends most of her life searching for hollow stems in which to lay her eggs. If you can provide something suitable, she’ll come to you. There are a number of commercial varieties of bee hotels available, but why not save some cash and make your own?

You will need:

• Tubes – hollow plant stems or bamboo canes

• Garden twine/string/wire

How to make it:

1. Prepare the tubes: any hollow plant stems can be cut into 10-20 cm long sections. Bamboo canes have sealed nodes, cut them so that long hollow sections are exposed; they come in a variety of internal diameters, those up to 1 cm will be used by some species of bee. When cutting down plant stems in the autumn, keep some sections of hollow stems of shrubs and/or fairly tough herbs (even down to 2mm diameter hollows). Cut bramble and rose stems have pith into which tiny bees make their own burrows. If reeds are available, then dead hollow stems can be broken into sections.

2. Tie a bundle of tubes together: with garden twine, string or wire.

3. Hang them up: place and anchor your nest on a sunny or partly sunny shelf on a shed, or similar location. Ensure that the nest is protected from the rain.