Survival Gardening Diary

February/March

Vegetables

It has been a relatively cold and wet winter.. As a result, early plantings of some vegetable seeds may have to be postponed until ground conditions improve. If the ground is too wet to walk on without lifting clumps of mud, it is also too wet to sow. Seeds sown too early in cold wet ground will fail, leading to time lost in having to re-sow at a later date.

Once the ground dries sufficiently to walk on, sowings of broad beans and peas may take place. Garlic may also be sown. Shop bought garlic is generally unsuitable for sowing as it usually comes from China or Southern Europe where growing conditions are very different. Instead, buy bulbs from a horticultural source. Use varieties already grown in Ireland, the UK or other Northern European countries. To sow, break up the bulb into individual cloves and sow approx 100-120mm apart in triple rows of 150mm apart. The cloves are simply pushed into the ground so that they are just buried. Birds sometimes pull out newly sown garlic, thinking it is something more tasty. If this happens, simply push the clove back into the ground again.

Although garlic is suitable for late winter or spring sowing, it prefers a long growing period and does better if sown in the autumn. To compensate for late planting, sow in rich ground, and add additional compost to the soil once the garlic emerges.

Potatoes are generally sown from the middle of March onwards, though possibly much earlier in favourable areas of the west and southwest where frosts are rare. Seed potatoes (small potatoes for sowing) can be obtained from most garden centres and horticultural outlets, as well as from some hardware stores and farmers coops. Usually local shops can be trusted to sell varieties that are known to do well. However, in recent years many traditional varieties have disappeared as modern high yielding (and sometimes tasteless) varieties have become more popular.There is more than a suspicion that some of the high yielding varieties may do far less well when not boosted with large quantities of artificial fertiliser.

All seed potatoes grow better if sprouted first before planting. They should not be planted in waterlogged ground, and probably not before there are signs that the grass is beginning to grow again (an indicator of rising soil temperature).

Other early sowings might include some members of the brassica (cabbage) family: cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale and brussels sprouts. However, with the exception of cabbage, there is no advantage in sowing these out of doors before the end of March. Alternatively, most brassicas may be sown under glass from the beginning of March onwards.

The sowing treatement is pretty similar for all brassicas. The direct method involves sowing the seeds shallowly in parellel rows of 30-45 cm apart, with individual seeds about 3cm apart. The subsequent seedlings are gradually thinned to the required distance apart for mature plants. This method avoids transplanting and generally involves less work and less risk in dry weather. However, in a bad year, poor germination can leave rows inadequately populated. The other method is to sow in purpose made seed beds (or in seed trays in a greenhouse) and plant out at four times the required final density, thinning later as required. The later thinnings many be large enough to use for cooking. The leaves of all brassicas are edible.

Onion sets are often best left until late March or the start of April, but can be planted earlier if ground conditions are good. They should be sown approx 200mm apart in double or triple rows, with 200mm between each row. The sets are simply pushed into the prepared ground by hand. It is better to firm the ground beforehand by patting it down by foot. Onions do best in relatively hard soils where they have to struggle a little.

Potatoes, peas, beans and garlic are all good candidates for guerilla gardening, as they are vigorous growers that may survive partial neglect. Potatoes may even survive total neglect if weeds are supressed with cardboard - leave a small area of soil (200 x 200 mm) uncovered by cardboard above each seed potato. Normally potato plants would be earthed up to encourage growth. However, unearthed potato plants do quite well, especially deep rooted varieties such as Arran Victor - a purple/blue skinned variety once very popular in Donegal, Derry and Antrim.

The best peas for guerilla gardening are tall growing varieties which will climb up anything that attempts to outgrow them. Peas are very susceptible to slugs when young and do better if weeds are kept back from young plants, as slugs do not like open ground. From a guerilla planting perspective, both peas and beans do better if started elsewhere and planted out when 100-150mm high.

Sowing under glass (or polythene)

Vegetables originating from warm temperate or sub tropical climates will not successfully grow from seed outdoors in Ireland, but some, such as pumpkins and squashes, will do well outside provided they are started off under glass and moved outside once the soil has warmed and all risk of frost has passed.

Other vegetables such as tomatoes and peppers only do really well outside in good summers and generally perfrom best when treated as a greenhouse crop.

The sowing time for tomatoes and peppers is February to March, while for pumpkins and squashes it is mid March to early May. The best way to achieve germination is to sow the seed thinly in a pot or tray and postion in a warm place in the house. We use our mantelpiece. The larger seeds do better if sown more deeply. The pots should be deep enough to provide room for root development. We sow 4 squash seeds per 2 litre pot. Tomato or pepper seeds can be sown at about 10 seeds per pot.

The pot or tray should be covered with something to prevent the soil drying out, and inspected every day for signs of germination. As soon as germination takes place, the pot must be moved to a sunny window, or better still to a conservatory or greenhouse. Warm temperate and sub tropical Plants will survive quite cold temperatures, even down to near freezing point, once they have emerged above the soil, but will not grow much unless day temperatures can reach 17 Celsius or higher. Care should be taken not to over water as all young plants are susceptible to moulds and fungus.

Warm temperatures combined with poor natural light will lead to weak leggy plants. Such plants will often die prematurely.Conversely, colder temperatures combined with good light will lead to strong and hardy plants.

As plants get big enough to crowd each other, they should be transplanted into individual pots.

Squashes can make good guerilla plants as they grow very vigorously during the summer months, and will outgrow many weeds.

Tree Fruit

February is the final month for winter pruning. This is a good time to inspect previous pruning work, and make good any bad cuts. A stanley knife, if used carefully, if a great tool for tidying up rough pruning work. Rotten wood should be gouged out with an old (but servicable) chisel. The cuts should then be sealed with a proprietory sealant.

Fruit trees that are too big should be ruthlessly cut back. It takes up to 5 years to restore an old tree to decent fruiting capability, as new growth will have to be thinned and then trained into an appropriate shape. It is a relatively long term project. However, it is nearly always worth attempting the restoration of an old fruit tree.

Trees that fruit poorly or not at all may have too many branches, or be excessively shaded by other trees. Fruit trees need good light and ventilation to do well. They do not like being overshaded by larger trees. Moss growing up the tree is often an indicator of too much moisture, possibly as a result of inadequate ventilation around the tree.

The other reason for non-fruiting is the lack of a suitable pollinator. Add more fruit trees! Katja ( Katy) a productive and tasty eating apple originating in Sweden, makes a very good pollinator, as does Grenadier, an early fruiting cooker. To ensure good pollination, varieties should be in the same pollination group. There are 4 or 5 groups, depending on the system of classification used. Both Katja and Grenadier are in the middle of the range (group 2 or 3). Bardsey, a variety discovered growing on the Welsh island of the same name in 1998, is self fertile and produces apples suitable for both eating and cooking. There is a young Bardsey tree on the Sustainability Institute premises. The first fruits were harvested in 2007.

The pollination of pears is a little more complicated as some varieties are triploid and will require two different polinators in order to fruit. Emile d'Heyst (pollination group 2) and Pitmaston Duchess (pollination group 4 but partially self fertile) are two extremely tasty varieties worth trying. Lousie Bonne of Jersey is another fine eating pear ( pollination group 2). For a second pear from pollination group 4, try Onward.

Plums, gages and damsons are less problematic as many varieties are partially self fertile. For damsons choose Delma, Blue Violet, Farleigh or Shropshire Prune. For gages or plums choose Marjories Seedling, Dennisons Gage, Oullins Golden, and Gordon Castle. The latter is a Scottish variety reknown for its hardiness and good flavour. All these varieties are self fertile. Victoria is disease prone and should be avoided. Even self fertile varieties will benefit from the presence of a pollintor.

Of the cherries, the best self fertile varieties are Stella and Sunburst. Summer Sun, Kordia, and Regina are hardier and more reliable, but require the presence of a pollinator. Use Stella or Sunburst as a pollinator.

If possible, bare rooted trees should be planted by the middle of April. Container grown trees may be planted later.

Nursery Terminology

Maiden: this is a one or two year old tree, untrained

Bush: Usually supplied as a 2 or 3 year old tree, pruned to encourage the development of a bush shape

Half Standard: Usually supplied as a 2 or 3 year old tree, with lower branches pruned away to encourage tree shape.

The larger/older trees will usually come into fruit production sooner, though this also depends on the type of rootstock.Rootstocks determine ultimate tree size. As a general rule, choose the most vigorous rootstock that the space can accomodate. MM106 is very good apple rootstock for large gardens, paddocks and small orchards. MM26 is more suited to bush-sized trees, but may do poorly on less favourable sites. M25 and M111 rootstocks will produce large trees.

Quince 'A' is the most common pear rootstock. Pyrus Communis will produce larger trees and will perform better in harsh conditions.

St Julien 'A' is a semi-vigorous plum rootstock, whereas Pixy rootstock produces more compact trees and is more suited to small gardens.

Of the cherry rootstocks, by far the best is Gisela 5, which produces very small trees suited to protecting from the birds with netting or fruit cages.

All other things being equal, the more dwarfing rootstocks will produce fruit at an earlier age. For more on this, see the January gardening diary.

Further Information

Many excellent gardening books are available very cheaply second-hand from Amazon.co.uk. Books published in the UK are nearly always more useful than ones from North America, as growing conditions in Britain are similar to Ireland, and the same varieties are grown.

Sources

Fruit and nut trees