A Twit without Twitter...

Gardening is a combination of three things: materials, technique and information. The materials are the structures we build and the plants we use to make a garden, while technique is how ideas and materials are brought together to create a garden. Information in gardening is both inspiration and science, brought together to guide the hand of the gardener.

Take someone who knows nothing at all about gardening; deliver a whole truckload of plants and they might have a stab at 'doing something' with them. Give them information and technique and they are able to create a garden. Communication is key to transferring knowledge from one gardener to another. Working on a nursery I have to communicate a lot with customers, some of whom are experts needing a little specific information while others are novice gardeners who seek the knowledge and confidence to achieve what they want, whether it be the conquering of a trouble spot in their garden or wanting to know how to grow a plant that's caught their eye. Without communication everybody is left floundering.

How communication is achieved can vary; information is everywhere, in books, in magazines, on the internet (including the blog that you're reading!), on the radio and on the TV. To be entirely honest I think we're almost at the point of being overloaded with information, some of it good, some of it... dubious. Several times now I've had customers ring and ask about things because their books disagree on a topic, or they've spent an hour wading through website after website looking for advice relevant to their problem but to no avail; in the end they'd like to speak to someone and get a hopefully definitive and specific answer to their question. This is why BBC Radio 4's Gardener's Question Time is still going strong despite the strong presence of the internet and freely available information- people don't want to know if a plant is hardy, they want to know if it's hardy in their area, for example. An opportunity to ask an expert is an opportunity not to be missed.

Nice plant, but how do I grow it?

Technology plays a key part in gardening, as it always has done. Today's technology allows free and ready transfer of information from one person to another, and this means that today's gardeners can ask their question easily and know that someone, somewhere, knows the answer- the trick is just to find that someone. Twitter can seem daunting to anyone over the age of 12 (the average age of a Justin Bieber fan, and believe me there's enough of them on Twitter) but is actually a digital platform for an enormous number of gardeners from around the world. In Monty Don's article in Gardener's World Magazine he says (so I'm told, I've heard about his article but I'm not rushing out to buy a copy of the magazine just to read it) that there aren't any gardeners on Twitter because gardeners are over 50 and don't really understand technology.

Let's tackle ages first- I'm not over 50 and I've been gardening for many years, and I am (I believe) fairly good at it. The horticulture industry employs plenty of people under 50, many of whom are experts in their field. Many of my customers at work are under 50, and many of them are accomplished gardeners. There is also an ever increasing number of people in their late 20s and early 30s who are gardening for the first time, often when they move into their first house.

One of the great appeals about gardening is that it is not exclusive; you can be a gardener in a window box or a huge estate, you can be rich or poor, upper class or working class, male or female, young or old.

Technology is a simple matter... if you engage someone with a technology they will learn to use it. Before the invention of hormone rooting powders nurseries used all sorts of ways to propagate plants, and when the powder arrived it brought new techniques that needed to be embraced. These new techniques are fairly ordinary now, and in fact it is the old techniques of grafting and layering that is a mystery to many gardeners! Likewise technology doesn't differentiate between age groups; if you are nine or 90 you might need to be shown the basics of a technology, and once you've got the basics you are on your way. Likewise if you're a gardener tempted by Twitter sign up, go to the 'search' box and search for whatever topics interest you, find the people you share interests in common with and before you know it you've joined a community of gardeners.

It's as easy as sowing seeds.

Opinion: The rise of the Tomtato

Unless you've been on Mars for the last week or so you must have heard about the latest development from UK nursery/seedsmen Thompson and Morgan, the 'Tomtato'. It's even on the BBC you know?!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-24281192

The pictures show T&M's New Product Development Manager, Michael Perry, holding a plant that looks like a prop from a science fiction film, a tomato plant on top and a clump of large potatoes underneath. There's no sticky tape here, this is no cheap prop for a corny film, this is a new development for the 21^st century vegetable grower!

I say new but the idea behind this new product is nothing new; tomatoes and potatoes are incredibly closely related and can be grafted together, but the Tomtato is the result of 15 years of development and research... my guess is that much of this time has been spent finding tomato and potato varieties that grow well together, grow at a compatible pace, and don't 'pollute' each other's flavours (a problem with early attempts- apparently the tomatoes were vile!). This is a triumph of horticulture.

My horticultural sensibilities were outraged! Here a respectable company has taken a fairly run-of-the-mill (albeit fiddly) process, the art of grafting, and the science of how plants are related to each other and turned it into what... a gimmick? Certainly the young starter plants don't come cheap, and despite T&M pointing out that this is a great space saving plant, suitable for a pot on the patio or in the ground, you can get heavy crops from three seed potatoes in a potato bag (about the size of a dustbin) and delicious and reliable crops of tomatoes from the grafted tomato plants coming onto the market- more expensive than a packet of seeds but the rootstock gives improved performance and disease resistance, and just how many tomato plants do you really need?!

The problem is that I'm missing the point; I'm getting bogged down in gardener's wisdom and not seeing this new plant for what it is, a new and exciting product that has brought a lot of publicity not only to T&M as developers but also to the science of horticulture. Here's something new, different, accessible to the home gardener and the result of good solid horticultural research. The Tomtato won't solve the world's hunger but, along with the development of grafted tomatoes, does draw attention to possibilities for the future of food production both commercially and at home; great work T&M!

Gardeners are already familiar and comfortable with grafted fruit trees on different rootstocks (chosen to alter how the tree behaves) and it does beg the question of what else can be grafted to great use? While plant breeders dabble with their paint brushes to create better yields and disease resistance, will the science of rootstocks spread from the orchards and into other areas of the edibles market?

In the words of the character Fallowfield (played by Kenneth Williams) from the classic 1960s radio comedy Beyond Our Ken, “I think the answer lies in the soil!”

You can follow Michael Perry on Twitter:  @gardening_greek

Ode to the untidy garden

Garden, garden, why don't you grow?

These are things I'll never know.

Your lawn is rough and full of weeds,

Despite me tending all your needs.

Your shrubs continually expand and balloon,

Despite my best efforts to trim and to prune.

Perennials die with monotonous ease,

Leaving labels behind to bait and to tease.

Bulbs and seeds go in but then die,

My drawer-full of packets proves it's no lie.

The pond is brown and choked with weed,

And the hole in the liner more stress than I need.

The tree at the back is probably dead,

But lends some height to the rest of the bed.

But as I gaze from the kitchen inside

I can't help feeling a sense of great pride.

And although my garden isn't that fine,

It's all that I've got, and mine, all mine.

Beyond Lucifer

If you're lucky enough to live anywhere in the South West west of Exeter the chances are that you will recognise the orange patches of wild montbretia in the hedgerows. Although not native it has naturalised to become a familiar part of the local flora through late summer and well into autumn, and while some groups see it as a wild and destructive pest for most people it's a fairly innocuous plant. But how did a South African plant come to be so widespread in the mild western parts of the United Kingdom?

Weed? Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora

Montbretia is the common name given mainly to the hybrid between two species of Crocosmia, C. aurea and C. pottsii, which were crossed by eminent French nurseryman Victor Lemoine in 1880. It is well worth researching Victor Lemoine and his contributions to horticulture... The hybrid was a triumph, providing gardeners with a freely clumping plant with attractive orange flowers, and a hybrid that would produce different varieties that could be named and grown as garden plants in their own right. The only downside of this hybrid is that it can set copious quantities of viable seeds (a trick picked up from C. aurea) and these seeds could escape into the natural environment.

The horticultural world was nonetheless taken by storm, and Lemoine's legacy was to give gardeners a hardy, bright and colourful plant for the drab days of autumn. WWI saw a decline in Crocosmia cultivation and breeding as many gardeners were taken away from the gardens of the wealthy landowners to serve their countries. Many varieties were lost as plants died, labels were lost or clumps become overwhelmed by seedlings, and the arrival of WWII certainly didn't help things for the humble Crocosmia.

Crocosmias languished for many years until, in 1963, Alan Bloom and Percy Piper crossed C. masoniorum with C. paniculata (what is believed by some to be what is now named C. paniculata 'Natal Red' in cultivation) to raise the most iconic of these late summer plants. Love it or loathe it, Crocosmia 'Lucifer' is quite a plant; standing 4ft (120cm) tall, the devil-red tubular flowers are well presented on a branched inflorescence, and held above sword-like leaves. 'Lucifer' has picked up two bad habits from it's parents, the habit of flopping in late summer (which I think comes from C. masoniorum) and the habit of setting seed. Given some support and a good deadheading after the flowers have finished and it will be fairly well behaved. One good feature about C. 'Lucifer' is that it bulks up well, so a large and impressive clump is easy to achieve (but give it space!). C. 'Lucifer' is so well known in cultivation that I don't really need to provide a picture...!

Now the breeding and selection of Crocosmia varieties is enjoying a resurgence of interest.

I recently visited Crocosmia expert Mark Wash at his nursery in Cornwall. On paper Trecanna nursery isn't such a good idea; grow and sell Crocosmias in an area where nearly every hedgerow is peppered with them! Thankfully Mark's customers are discerning gardeners and enjoy the cultivars on offer. I visited in the very last few weeks of the Crocosmia flowering season, but there was still plenty to see.

Crocosmia 'Hellfire', an unbelievably intense red!

Crocosmia 'Anna Marie', a charming new cultivar for 2013

As the flowers of Crocosmia 'Limpopo' age they take on peachy tones

Crocosmia 'Tamar New Dawn', bred by Mark Wash in the Tamar Valley

Crocosmia 'Tamer Glow', also bred by Mark Wash. Lovely colour!

Small but bright flowers of Crocosmia 'Prince of Orange'

Trecanna nursery isn't just about Crocosmias though; Mark Wash also grows Eucomis ('Pineapple Lilies'), which grow well in the same conditions as Crocosmias.

Eucomis comosa in all it's glory

Although popular South African plants Mark doesn't grow Agapanthus in large numbers as these are covered excellently by other nurseries. However in any small nursery you will find the occasional plant that is grown 'for the hell of it', like this Agapanthus 'Queen Mum', a new and desirable variety.

Bicoloured flowers fading on Agapanthus 'Queen Mum'

Trecanna nursery is not open to the public, but plants can be bought by mail order or from the shows/fairs the Mark attends. As well as South African plants Trecanna Nursery also sells dry bulbs (in season). If you live in Devon or Cornwall Mark does talks to gardening clubs etc., contact him via his website for more information.

You can follow Trecanna Nursery on Twitter: @TrecannaNursery

More to do...

After a busy spring period summer is a useful time on the nursery to take a breath. Most of the young plants have been potted and are growing away in their tunnels or outside, and in a few cases the fastest rooting plants are making their way slowly but surely towards the sales area. Summer is a time to get some real horticulture in, pruning, training and staking plants as necessary, as well as watering and using liquid fertiliser (including the amusingly named 'fertigation', that is applying feed via the drip irrigation to trees etc.).

Adding a complex task to the summer schedule is unwise, especially if you're short staffed. Nonetheless there are some things where the pain is worth the rewards, and one such job is potting shrubs sent from New Zealand.

But why New Zealand, and why is this a problem? In New Zealand there is a rather excellent nursery called Stepping Stones, and they produce large Acers and Magnolias (and possibly other things too). In terms of the product they are world class, producing good sized plants at a reasonable cost. For those 'in the know' it is easy to recognise a Stepping Stones 'rod' in a garden centre or nursery- the distinctive straight stem with horizontal branching can be spotted from quite a distance. The advantage to the gardener is that fairly large specimen trees can be bought for less than a UK grown plant of the same size would cost.

The problem comes from the shipping time; plants are sent dormant and bare rooted in July which is winter in New Zealand... but is summer in the UK! The battle for any UK nursery is to allow the plants to have a 'spring' in August, grow a little and become established, and then move safely into autumn with the rest of the deciduous stock. Successful overwintering of the new stock relies on the skill and experience of the growers, regulating the moisture of the compost all winter.

You can see why they nickname these boxes 'coffins'!

Potting quickly is vital, the delicate roots won't stand being exposed to dry air for long. Plants are carefully unpacked and sorted into their varieties; each plant is taped with a code that relates to the name of the plant. Once sorted, each plant is potted up into the appropriate size pot, usually 7.5L or 10L. 

Picking out the trees from the 'coffin'...

... and counting them in their batches.

Tape with a code for each variety...

... best to write your own label too!

Quickly sorting and potting the plants is only a tiny part of the struggle- now here comes the tricky bit! Allowing bare rooted Acers and Magnolias to be subjected to summer heat is not a good idea; the plants need to gently ease themselves into growth, rather than exploding into full growth. Plants need a cool and shaded space, under plastic, with a very good air flow. We found a spot in one of our tunnels where the new plants are sheltered by large specimen Acer griseums, Acer davidiis, and a few specimens of Cedrus atlantica 'Glauca'. The other side is open to the elements and this should allow good air circulation- if the weather takes a turn for the worse we might have to choose another spot!

 

Potted and set out in the tunnel.

To help reduce stress on the Magnolias the suppliers sent a bottle of a 'Sticker' which gets mixed in water and sprayed over the new shoots. I believe it works by providing a protecting film over the fleshy stems which seals moisture in. Can't say if it's effective or not because I've never seen what happens to a Magnolia that hasn't been sprayed- the opinion seems to be that if Stepping Stones sends it with their products then it probably works!

Free gift- 'sticker'.

For now the plants are settling down to their new surroundings and should leaf in the next fortnight or so. These plants will probably be ready for sale in 18 months or so, so it's a long process, but should be worth it in the end. Sorry if you're hoping for hot and dry conditions for your summer holidays, a lot of UK nurseries will be hoping for cool and dull weather!

No, Puyas are NOT carnivorous!

Sheep farmers needn't worry about a menacing plant at RHS Wisley attacking their sheep! First, read the original story here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-22967160

Puyas are terrestrial bromeliads native to fairly arid areas of South America, with most originating from the Andes. They are notorious in specialist gardening circles for their stiff and vicious backward facing spines that can easily ensnare an unsuspecting hand. Interestingly Puya raimondi holds the record for the tallest flower spike of any plant, a staggering 32ft (10m) tall!

But are they carnivorous? Despite disagreements from anyone who has lost their own blood to this genus, they are not. Carnivorous plants are specifically adapted to lure in their prey, usually with the promise of tasty nectar, but then trap the prey in sticky goo (e.g. Drosera), pitfall traps (e.g. Sarrecenia) or in a fast moving trap (e.g. Dionaea, the Venus' Fly Trap). There are a couple of disputed carnivorous bromeliads too, Catopsis and Brocchinia, but these are epiphytic 'tank' bromeliads and are very different from Puyas.

Stories about Puyas feasting on sheep are probably exaggerated- no doubt sheep occasionally get trapped in the huge rosettes of Puyas, and cuts to the face from the sharp spines are probably fairly commonplace (after all sheep aren't all that bright!) but there's nothing really to suggest that the Puyas are munching on fresh lamb!

I originally saw this story in the members magazine of the Eden Project in Cornwall, although it might have come second hand to them. As my friend showed me the article I was astonished to read these claims of carnivory being peddled by a so-called educational establishment. To find this dubious information being passed on by the RHS is doubly disappointing, but I suppose the promise of a rare and macabre plant will do no end of good to their visitor figures, but there's one thing puzzling me; Puya chilensis is a rare plant with vicious spines that seldom flowers outside the mild gardens of Cornwall, but when it does it produces a flower spike 10ft (3m) tall... why isn't that impressive on it's own?!

8 Urban Myths In Gardening

With so much information around in gardening it's no wonder things sometimes don't come out quite right. Here are eight urban myths in gardening

Agapanthus need to be pot-bound or they won't flower

Nope! Agapanthus flower very well in the garden, large clumps often bearing dozens of fabulous flower heads for weeks in the summer. The secret to success with Agapanthus is good life- good rich soil, enough water during the summer (although not too much during the winter) and plenty of sunshine. The myth that Agapanthus need to be pot-bound probably stemmed from a misunderstanding; Agapanthus flower better when they've made a clump- dividing your Agapanthus into small chunks won't help it flower. Plant your Agapanthus out in the right spot and then leave it!

Perfectly happy in the garden- Agapanthus inapertus 'Sky'

Nerines want to bake in hot, dry and poor soil

Nope! Not sure where this has come from; Nerines are happiest in good garden soil with good drainage (but not dust dry!) and with plenty of sunshine, here they will bulk up beautifully. The larger the bulb the better the flower display. This myth might have come from Holland, where bulbs are treated with hot water to stress them into flowering when the bulb is too small- this is all well and good for bulb merchants, but in the garden it is better to focus on building up the bulbs naturally for long term benefits.

You should water your plants every day until they're established

Hmmm, no.... Although this is rooted in common sense, it is generally reckoned to be better practice to water your new plants really well 2-3 times a week (normally twice a week, three times a week if it's very hot and dry) instead of a little and often. The sense behind this is that a few good soaks encourages the plant's roots to grow down and search for water, whereas watering a little and often encourages roots to stay near the surface (and makes the plant more susceptible to stress during dry weather).

Shallow pots drain better

NO! Garden books will tell you to put a nice layer of crocks (bits of broken pots/flat stones) at the bottom of the pot for drainage, but in fact current thinking is that a drainage layer at the base of the pots might do more harm than good. Compost is much like a sponge; if you saturate a sponge and then let it drain you will be left with a saturated layer at the base of the sponge, while the top has dried out. The same happens in a pot, but the drainage layer pushes that layer of saturated compost closer to the roots. If you want to get your compost to drain then pick tall/deep pots which keep the saturated layer of compost further away from your plant's roots. Often if you remove a nursery grown plant from it's pot you will find that the roots aren't quite as keen to fill the bottom centimetre or so of the pot, and it's because of this layer of saturated compost!

Add lots of grit to improve drainage on clay soils

Nope! This old wisdom can spell disaster- clay soils are made up of tiny particles and these mix with the grit, and in dry weather this layer stiffens into what could only be referred to as a natural concrete! Much better to add plenty of good organic matter to the soil, and this will improve soil structure.

Only native plants are good for insects

Insects need a ready supply of nectar from flowers, and the best way to provide plenty of food for native insects is to fill your garden with plants that will flower for as long a season as possible, and these are nearly always non-native species*. Try to make sure there's plenty in flower in spring and autumn for the early emerging insects and those late to hibernate.

Early flowering and good for bees, but this Mahonia 'Lionel Fortescue' is not native!

Plant snowdrops in the green

Nope. This old hunk of horticultural 'wisdom' is probably well enough known to have become 'ancient gardening lore'! It is, however, of dubious accuracy. Like all bulbs, snowdrops (Galanthus) are best divided when dormant, in this case in August. However it must be said that Galanthus bulbs have thin skins and can dry out fairly easily if not handled carefully; with this in mind you are probably best avoiding dry bulbs in bags from the garden centre! Lifting bulbs 'in the green' (when in full growth) is more convenient to commercial growers who like to lift and bundle Galanthus from the open ground, but this does cause the bulbs a degree of shock from the disturbance. Gardeners really should try to lift and divide their bulbs in August, making sure that bulbs are planted again very quickly, and the bulbs will grow away healthily in spring.

Galanthus 'Straffan'- please divide when dormant!

Alstroemerias must be grown in pots

Hmmm, well possibly. Alpine species and tender varieties need to be in pots out of necessity, but the garden hybrids really are much better in the ground! Alstroemerias like good deep garden soil with good drainage (see the bit about drainage in pots above). In pots plants can easily get overcrowded and pot-bound, as well as needing a lot more feeding and watering. Also plants in pots are more susceptible to damage by frost being able to get into the too area from all sides. I would suggest assuming that any Alstroemeria grown in a pot is tender. In the garden, however, Alstroemerias have ample soil to grow in, are less susceptible to drying out and are better protected from frost. For best success it is wise to give your Alstroemerias a thick layer of a dry mulch (bark chips would be ideal) for the first couple of winters while your plant gets established.

Alstroemeria 'Inca Exotica'

*Conserve native plants for their own sake!