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YOUR MONTHLY GARDENING DIARY

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YOUR DECEMBER 2003 GARDENING DIARY

- GARDEN - PATIO - FRUIT & VEG - LAWN -

There is little point in making work during winter months, but it is important to protect existing plants against the worst of the weather that is likely to occur during January and February. It's also time to take stock of the gardening year and to review your horticultural successes and failures. Like all gardeners unless you learn from the weather and your mistakes there is no way your garden will improve. Make a few notes now to guide your planting plans for 2004.

THE GARDEN

Make a check list of your successes and failures of 2003. For me I will remember to plant busy lizzies in the shade rather than open sun, so that watering is less of a chore. I will feed salvias regularly every couple of weeks with Miracle-Gro Water Soluble Plant Food so they again bloom in profusion right through the summer. I will try to check more thoroughly the labels for the geranium plants I buy so that the red border isn't peppered with pink. But I suppose one man's red is another man's pink. And I will once again plant 'One Colour' collections of bulbs and corms in large patio pots. Growing lilies, begonias, and dahlias in either yellow or white was a great success.
Biggest lesson of them all is to spray the roses with RoseClear3 early in the season. It is no good waiting until June for the first sprays if you want to keep on top of blackspot disease. Next year my diary tells me to start spraying in April so that I can avoid the inevitable leaf drop and resulting poor summer flowering.

No garden should be short of flowers and perfume, even in the depths of winter. There are some very well-behaved shrubs and climbers that will produce blooms that will encourage you out into the garden on a regular basis.

Top of the list are the winter flowering viburnums that usually flower from November to February. Some of the old favourites such as .V. farreri and V. bodnantense have been replaced with new cultivars such as 'Dawn' and 'Deben' that offer quick establishment and a longer flowering period. These deciduous shrubs grow in an upright fashion and reach about 3m (10ft) and prefer a sunny position.

To protect the roots of semi-hardy plants it's a good idea to mulch the surface with a thick layer of Levington Soil Conditioner & Mulch or Levington Mini Chipped Forest Bark.
topical tip
Slugs can still be seen wherever there is a good food supply and shelter. Clear up all fallen leaves and debris and then sprinkle SlugClear Mini Pellets evenly over the area. If you have pets and prefer not to use pellets then water on SlugClear around decorative plants to give good control without leaving any visible bait on the ground.

ON THE PATIO

Growing winter-flowering perfumed shrubs in containers will allow you to move them to a strategic place beside your front or back door when they are at their best and giving off a heavenly scent. Most are not worth a place of prominence during the rest of the year but make a great show for visitors in winter.

Top of the list is the Christmas box (Sarcococca) which is a smallish evergreen shrub that carries scented white flowers up its many stems in January and February. A little more lanky is the sweetly-perfumed Witch Hazel (Hamemelis mollis) that carries bright yellow flowers in spider-like profusion on bare stems.
As with all shrubs grown in containers ensure there is good drainage and plant in a quality growing medium such as Levington Multi-Purpose Compost.

LAWNS

How did your lawn survive the summer? Despite the long, hot weather in August without rain, my lawn has survived, green and growing, thanks to the occasional watering with a sprinkler and one feed with Soluble Lawn Food applied through the hose-end Feeder. Being on a meter means I will pay for this extravagance, but it was worth the cost, especially when you compare it with some other lawns in the neighbourhood.
Winter provides different problems for the lawn, especially when frost is lying on the grass. Keep off the lawn when it is frosty or you will leave footprints that will last several weeks until the grass grows through.

Cutting the grass will be possible during a mild spell in December. Try to pick an afternoon when the grass blades have dried and adjust the mower so that it just tops off the grass. These winter trims may seem at first sight to be a waste of time but they do help to prevent the stronger grasses from turning into large tussocks and pushing out the finer species.

topical tip
Clean and overhaul machines and equipment, putting them away well oiled in a dry place until the spring.

FRUIT AND VEGETABLES

vegetables
Check the firmness of stems of Brussels sprouts in the soil. Taller varieties tend to rock in the wind and gradually make a large hole, preventing roots taking up moisture and nutrients. Earth up some soil around stems of these brassicas and spring cabbages, firming the soil with a heal. Make a note that tall varieties need to be staked early in their life.

Start digging the vegetable plot, incorporating well rotted garden compost, Soil Conditioner & Mulch or farmyard manure and leave the surface rough so that frosts can break down the surface structure. Areas that are to grow carrots, parsnips and other root crops next year should be simply dug over without adding further organic matter.

The soil may be frozen solid in January and February so it's a good idea to prepare the planting area to be used for runner beans next year now. These plants send down a good long root system to search for nutrients and water and appreciate finding a good reserve of moisture holding material. Dig a trench 45 cm (18 in) wide and at least 30 cm (1 ft) deep. Dig over the bottom of the trench and add a layer of Levington Farmyard Manure or well-rotted compost. Add some Miracle-Gro Controlled Release Plant Food at this level so that the roots will be able to absorb balanced nutrients whenever the soil warms up in the summer.
topical tip
Before the ground freezes solid, lift any carrots, turnips and swedes and store in damp peat in a shed or garage. Lift part of your crop of parsnips and leeks and heel into a sheltered spot beside a wall ready for later use.

fruit
Apple trees that have been trained into step-over, column or cordon shapes will maintain their chosen size and shape if they are pruned during winter. Cut summer side shoots back to leave just one bud from the main stem.
Check the buds forming on blackcurrants to spot those which are affected by the big bud mite. The infected ones will be large and globe-shaped in contrast to the smaller and more pointed healthy buds. All the affected buds should be picked off and burnt.

Spray fruit trees with Murphy Mortegg when the buds are completely dormant in December or January. This tar oil winter wash will kill the eggs of greenfly, blackfly, apple suckers and scale insects. Cover any grass below the spread of the branches of your trees to minimise the discolouration that occurs when grass is sprayed with the solution.

ALWAYS READ THE LABEL. USE PESTICIDES SAFELY
BugClear™ and BugClear Gun!™ contain bifenthrin. FungusClear™ and FungusClear Gun!™ contain penconazole. RoundupGC, Roundup Ultra 3000, Roundup Tough Weedkiller Ready to Use and Tumbleweed Original Extra Strong Gel contain glyphosate. Roseclear® 2 contains bupirimate, pirimicarb and triforine. RoseClear® Gun!™ contains bifenthrin and flutriafol. SlugClear™ Mini Pellets contain metaldehyde. Spotless® contains carbendazim. Verdone® Extra contains fluroxypyr, clopyralid and MCPA. Weedol® contains diquat and paraquat. Weedol® Gun!™ contains diquat.

®, ™, Miracle-Gro, and Scotts are trade marks of The Scotts Company or its affiliates. Roundup is the registered Trade Mark of Monsanto Company.

GARDENING INFORMATION FROM The Scotts Company (UK) Limited

WRITTEN BY JOHN CLOWES
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ROSES AS GIFTS

Roses make a great Christmas gift as most gardeners can easily find room for one or two more. Selecting the best of modern varieties is one way of making sure your gift will be highly prized, and one breeder that is outstanding in adding exciting English roses is David Austin. Recent additions to his list include Alnwick Castle an Old Rose formation in soft pink with apricot tinge that carries cup shaped buds. These gradually open to a deeply cupped flower; later developing into a broad, full-petalled, shallow cup of a soft pink which is paler at the outer edges - a most pleasing progression.

Benjamin Britten is an unusual colouring for an English Rose, an attractive red with a touch of orange. Deeply cupped flowers gradually develop into an open, slightly cupped rosette.

The Mayflower is said to represent an important new breakthrough in English Roses. It forms a small shrub bearing charming, medium sized, typically Old Rose flowers of deep rose pink. Its unique feature is that it is claimed to be completely resistant to blackspot, powdery mildew and rust. Only time will tell. Just keep your RoseClear Gun! handy, just in case.

Although these English roses have some scent they are not as powerful as traditional roses. Top of the 'most fragrant' list must be Fragrant Cloud, an old-stager first introduced in 1963. Also at the head of my list is Margaret Merrill (a blush cluster-flowered rose) and Compassion (a pink large flowered climber).

Once you have found your rose gift don't forget to add a good rose fertilizer such as Miracle-Gro Rose 'Plus' to ensure your present will grow and bloom to its promised magnificence.

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TIDY UP THAT GARDEN SHED!

Most of us use pest and disease control products from time to time and store them from one year to the next awaiting the inevitable return of greenfly or mildew. Now is the time to clear away all the old bottles that have been on the shelf unused and gathering dust so that you can have a clean start next year.

If you have any tar oil winter wash in stock, such as Murphy Mortegg, dilute it in a sprayer and use it up by treating apple, pear and other fruit trees, your raspberries, gooseberries and blackcurrants, plus, of course, any roses in the flower beds. Stocks of Murphy Mortegg is approved for use through until the end of December 2004, although any Jeyes Fluid or Armillatox can only be used to control pests on fruit trees up until the end of December 2003. Use these last two products up now or only use them as disinfectants from January 2004.

Some other products have also had their approvals withdrawn in 2003 and they need to be used up by the end of the year. It's not a question of safety, just that manufacturers can't afford to carry out lots of expensive trials to pass the review of all garden pesticides that is being carried out by the EU.

Check your shelves for stocks of RoseClear 2 and Nimrod-T as these need to be used up by the end of this December. Simply dilute the products as per the instructions on the pack and use up by spraying all your roses and other decorative plants with the solution. Both products will give good control of any blackspot spores that can be over-wintering on the stems and leaves of your roses to give you a clean start next season. Once the product has been used up you can dispose of the empty pack in the dustbin in the usual way.

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