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New Seeds
Many keen gardeners start to plan their seed orders in November and December.
Not only is it a wonderful excuse to put off preparing for Christmas, but some
seeds do benefit from being sown early, for instance Aquadulce broad beans in
November, Kelsae and Mammoth onions in December and geraniums, lobelias and laurentias
in January.
As usual we have one of the widest ranges in the area, with seeds from Country
Value, Johnsons, Kings, Thompson & Morgan, Mr. Fothergill’s, Robinsons,
Suffolk Herbs and Unwins. Country Value seeds are good value at the recommended
price of 69p per packet and even better value at our price of 59p. They are good
quality seeds from a leading supplier and the number of seeds in the packets is
comparable with other brands. The catch is that to keep the price down the range
has been restricted to a small number of fast selling varieties, e.g. 2 varieties
of sweet peas compared with 30 in the Unwins’ range and 2 cabbages compared
with 19 in the King’s range. If you like a bargain it is also worth looking
out for Thompson & Morgan’s special offer packets, e.g. hanging basket
tomato Garden Pearl (Gartenperle) at 49p when you buy two other packets from their
range, and twin packs, e.g. Spring Onion plus radish and nasturtium plus sweet
pea where you get two varieties for the price of one.
 There
are many interesting new varieties for the 2003 season. Two that caught my eye
were Unwins’ Cucumber Melonie, a melon flavoured cucumber, and King’s
broad bean Stereo. This can be used as a conventional broad bean, but is particularly
good when picked young and cooked whole, like a mange tout pea. There are also
two completely new ranges of vegetable seeds. To celebrate their centenary Unwins
have introduced a range of varieties which were popular in 1903. This includes
a few well-known varieties such as cabbage Offenham, but most are varieties which
have unjustifiably fallen out of favour, but which are still well worth growing
a century later.
Thompson & Morgan have introduced a range of varieties which have received
the Royal Horticultural Society award of Garden Merit. The award is given after
trials at R.H.S. Wisley and on the recommendation of at least six dedicated vegetable
judges of the R.H.S. Vegetable Trials Subcommittee. To qualify the variety has
to be excellent for garden use, be of good constitution and not require specialist
growing conditions or care. This range includes some varieties which we have stocked
before, such as lettuce Little Gem Garden Pearl and the unfortunately named beetroot
Wodan which produces good flavoured roots that do not go woody, but most of the
varieties are new for us.
Both ranges are in distinctive green packets, which are displayed in the main
alphabetical sequences of the Unwins and Thompson & Morgan vegetables. The
R.H.S. award pea and bean seeds are at the bottom of the Thompson & Morgan
flower stand as in their wisdom they designed the packets so that they would not
go on their pea and bean stand!
 The
success story for 2002 was Unwin’s Kitchen Crop sprouting seeds. These can
be grown successfully on any warm, light windowsill which is not in full sun all
day, and are an excellent alternative to mustard and cress. As well as the traditional
alfalfa, there are carrot, radish, red cabbage and spring onion. They are harvested
after about 10 days. Well worth a try! They are on the stand at the far end of
the Unwins’ vegetables in distinctive purple topped double width packets.
Do not worry if you do not have time to plan your seed purchases in advance.
We cannot guarantee that nothing will sell out, but we will have good stocks and
a wide range throughout the year, even in the difficult change over from one season
to the next in the late summer and early autumn, so you should still be able to
buy as and when you need to sow.
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Chimenea Competition
For anyone interested in acquiring a chimenea we are again running a competition
to win one worth £169.99. All you have to do is come in to the shop and
one of the first things you will come across is the competition. There are a few
simple gardening questions to answer, then just post the completed form into the
box provided and you could be the lucky winner. However, do come quickly as the
closing date for the competition is Friday 8th November, so hurry, hurry! If you
are not the lucky winner, you still have a chance of buying one of our special
promotional price of £99.99, saving £70. Again do hurry as stocks
are limited.
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Garden Pond Maintenance
If you have a garden pond this may need some attention before winter sets in.
Any non-evergreen marginals need to be cut back before the dying leaves fall into
the water, and any leaves which have blown into the water from surrounding trees
need taking out before they sink to the bottom and start to rot. Water lilies
should now be fed and an easy way to do this is to use Lotus Lily Grow, a tablet
which can easily be inserted into the soil around the plant. If you have irises
or other such plants which have outgrown their pots, now is the time to repot,
dividing the plants if necessary. If you want a larger clump you can just repot
into a larger container. If you have not done so already, may we take this opportunity
to remind you to change your fish food to wheatgerm as this is more suitable at
this time of the year.
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Bare Rooted Plants
On the plant side the bare rooted stock is now being lifted, so hopefully within
the next two weeks most of the stock will be available. We shall be contacting
all those who have put orders in for collection as soon as the plants are ready.
We just hope the rain which keeps tumbling down will stop soon as the ground is
wet enough and will start to be difficult to work if the rain persists.
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New Plant: Hosta Remember Me
 Surely
top of the slugs' good food guide are the ever-popular - and succulent-leaved
hostas. How often have your efforts to grow these perennial beauties been thwarted
by those slimy beasties! Well, help may be at hand for gardeners who are, literally,
fed up of seeing their hostas shredded by slugs. Hosta 'Remember Me' is a dwarf,
yellow variety which, according to one grower, Fromefield Nurseries, offers a
high level of slug resistance. Fromefield supply the Garden Centre with a wide
range of herbaceous perennials and we're excited about this latest introduction.
According to the boss of Fromefield, David West, hosta sales have suffered in
many garden centres this year simply because of the poor summer weather conditions.
But 'Remember Me' is a different type of a hosta - a Tardina hosta, a form of
hosta well-known for its slug resistant properties! Hosta 'Remember Me' is ideal
for pots and patio planters as well as borders and it grows 6in (15cm) high. Keep
an eye out for 'Remember Me' and other Tardina hostas this season. By the way,
Chris Day, in the Plant Info Office tells us that his trials of using decorative
slate around both potted and border hostas worked well this season. Obviously,
they don't take too kindly to moving across the sharp slate!
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National Tree Week
Do you remember Clint Eastwood 'Talking To The Trees' in the hit musical film,
Paint Your Wagon? Thank goodness he continued his acting career rather than becoming
a recording artist! Well, we're thinking and talking about planting trees as we
run up to National Tree Week, which this year falls between 20th November and
1st December. The dormant season means you can plant much larger bare-rooted trees
to create greater impact in the garden. Judging by the comments from customers,
there's another good reason - they provide much better value for money as trees
lifted by the grower cost, on average 30-40% less than their container-grown tree
equivalents. That's not all, there's usually a much wider variety of trees offered,
and it is environmentally more friendly as no plastic pot or potting compost are
needed for bare root stock. So, if you're looking for a larger tree for that special
spot in the garden, please come and have a chat with us. Did you know? The UK
has the second lowest percentage of tree cover in relation to land area in Europe.
However, National Tree Week is trying to change this by encouraging everyone to
play a larger part in their community and make a bigger commitment to their future.
Every year millions of trees are planted as part of the event and this year there
will be lots more opportunities across the country to take part in events, walks,
talks, songs, story telling and tree dressing. For details and events, call the
Tree Council hotline on 020 7828 9928.
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Winter Hanging Baskets
Don't forget there's still time to inject some colour into hanging baskets for
winter and early spring interest. Cram winter heathers, evergreen hebes, skimmias
and other small-leaved evergreens to give your baskets a strong framework and
then infill with pockets of colour from winter-hardy pansies, violas and polyanthus.
Between your planting layers, do add a few crocus, dwarf tulips, narcissi to create
a knock-out display next spring.
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Clay Soils
Just one final note for those who suffer with heavy clay soils. Now is the best
time to rough dig the soil and apply Gypsum at a rate of 200 g. per square metre
(6oz to the square yard). With this in mind we have this at a special price of
£2.99 for 5kg. That’s all for now – so happy gardening!
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