No Glasshouse – No Problem!

There are a number of ways we can beat the weather when gardening. Weather normally dictates when we sow, what we sow and when we harvest our crops – but we can take measures that will at least give us a helping hand.

1.       GROWING UNDER GLASS: again this usually means growing our crops under the protection of a glasshouse or polytunnel, either heated or unheated, to create a warmer environment so we can plant& harvest earlier or grow plants our climate wouldn’t naturally let us do. But don’t panic if you neither have the space or money to erect either, because by using steps laid out in No’s 2, 3, & 4 (below) we can still get ahead off the posse.

2.       WARMING THE SOIL: With the use of cloches or a layer of plastic sheeting, we can warm the soil enough to give our seed/seedlings a good head start. A week or two prior to planting should be enough. You could leave the sheeting in place and plant by cutting holes/slits at the required intervals, if you don’t mind seeing plastic over your drills. This method would vastly improve soil temperatures while growing and give the benefit of both suppressing  weeds and keeping fruit/vegetables cleaner

3.       HEATED WINDOW-SILL: by starting your seeds inside on a warm window-sill that gives light but not direct sunlight, you can plant your seeds earlier - weeks earlier in most cases and that means an earlier harvest. By transplanting them into the heated soil later when they become too big for your window sill, you will have given them a great jump start – rather than planting seed directly into unheated soil. One thing to remember though, plants will grow toward the light so you will need to turn them daily if you want nice straight stems for planting later.

Geraniums left unprotected outside our Dublin home.

 Geraniums over wintered inside .

     

      Dont under estitmate the value of your heated home to produde early plants or protect plants over winter - see both unprotected and protected Geraniums

4.       CLOCH PROTECTION AFTER PLANTING: After we transplant our seedlings into our heated soil, they would still benefit from some protection against the elements. If you have purpose built cloches great, but again there are cheaper ways around this. By cutting the ends off clear plastic bottles (but leave the top on), fitting them over the plant and pushing it into the soil you have created a mini-glasshouse for your plant.

mini cloch  - botton off & leave top on.

You can use the methods stated above for a whole host of plants: Beans, peas, lettuce, leeks, turnip, tomatoes, peppers, etc. and over the next few weeks we will mention how to plant these to get the best out of each individual plant. Another benefit from this type of growing is you will only transplant strong healthy plants and at required spacing (so no more thinning plants - saving time & money).

Until next time - Happy Gardening

Planting Onion Sets

Onion sets can be planted now, and up to April, into well manure /well raked ground that is also well drained. If your soil is on the heavy/clay side you can lighten it with course sand/grit mixed with organic matter.

Plant the onion sets into the well raked but firmed ground about 4” apart and with rows about 12” apart. (That’s about 10cm and 30cm in new money!)  Plant the sets about 1” deep but just have the very top of the set showing above the ground. If the “tail” of the set is too long snip it off with a scissors, because if you leave them too long birds will pull them out. Weeding is really the only aftercare required as you don’t need to thin out onion sets like you would need to if we had planted seedlings. As onion leaves sprout upwards they don’t really suppress weeds naturally. You can use companion planting not only to ward off pests but to suppress weeds as well. Onion-fly can be deterred by planting Parsley and/or Radishes (a little later!) between the drills of onions. Avoid crushing the leaves of the onions while weeding or if you find the need to thin out your plants – the smell of sap will increase the risk of onion-fly attacks.  Onions shouldn’t   be planted beside peas or beans as the plants won’t do well beside one another. We can hope to harvest this crop around August depending on weather and when planted. The leaves will topple over and start to yellow when ready, I then like to loosen them in the ground with a garden fork and they will start to ripen. The leaves will totally wither/yellow within a week to ten days and can then be lifted and placed on a wire rack to dry out. One local neighbour always placed them on a low lying corrugated iron shed roof – with great results may I say.

While not mad expensive to buy in the shops there’s nothing like growing your own and I think they are always stronger too. I bought the variety STRUTTGARTER RIESEN to try this year from my local supermarket (J C Savage of Swords) for €2.99. Great value! Don’t know how may sets I got but it looks like I’ll be planting all week.

                                                       

              Stuttgarter Riesen                                                                               Lots of Planting ahead!

Don’t be put off planting a little patch of vegetables this year – you don’t need a huge plot .If you don’t have a dedicated vegetable garden , incorporate them into the flower beds, or use containers on the patio or balcony .You’ll be surprised how well they'll do .

Happy Gardening and let me know how you’re getting on.

BlackSpot on Roses

Blackspot on roses is caused by a similar fungus to potato blight and thrives in similar conditions – warm, moist & stagnant air. You might well ask how so many roses are affected by it so! , but effected they will be unless you treat it by spraying regularly - every week. The fungus (Diplocarpon Rosae for those that must know!) will not kill your roses but will cause them to weaken by loss of their leaves and to flower poorly as a result.

There are several chemical sprays available but I prefer to use the homemade greener sprays listed below as an alternative. If you alternate your spray each week or two I think it always works better. When spraying chose a dry day and make sure you also spray underneath the leaves as well. If there is any blackspot on the leaves, remove these leaves plus any fallen leaves and burn them, rather than composing them.

You could start spraying now as the leaves are starting to show and get in ahead of the fungus, and continue every two to three weeks until the weather warms up and then increase to every week.

Baking Soda Fungicide:

1 tablespoon of baking soda/potassium bicarbonate

1 tablespoon of either horticultural oil/molasses/citrus oil

1 gallon/4.5 litres water

Vinegar Fungicide:

3 tablespoons of cider vinegar

1 tablespoon of either horticultural oil/molasses/citrus oil

1 gallon/4.5 litres water

As always happy gardening!