Pushing on (From York Press)

Pushing on

8:30am Saturday 20th March 2010 in

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SPRING is showing signs of arrival in our garden and plants are at last beginning to make a show of growing. It is a time of anticipation and planning, taking pleasure in the tiniest shoot pushing up through the soil.

The garden needs to be enjoyed carefully as the gardening year begins, lots of bending down to soil level to see what is going on. How different it will be in July when the beds are massed tall with flowers and foliage of all shapes and colours.

Then it is easy to enjoy the instant hit, now we have to work a little harder for the pleasure.

But what can be more beautiful than the sight of sedum spectabile rosettes just appearing around the feet of last year’s cut stems. Each perfect cluster of leaves holds a glistening drop of water among its folds that catches the light.

I love this transitory sight each spring, soon that plant will have moved on to develop long, thick stems covered in cold, fleshy leaves that give rise to the country name of ice plant.

Later in summer, each stem will be topped with a large clump of fluffy pink flowers which on a sunny day are a magnet for insects seeking nectar.

While out enjoying these miniature sights, it is a good idea to get back to reality by keeping on top of the weeds that are appearing among the more welcome plants.

My garden is so packed with plants in the summer that there is rarely a problem with weeds, but in March and April, when growth is sparser, they quickly begin to take a hold.

It is definitely worthwhile spending time removing any unwanted shoots from the beds; they are usually easy to pull up from the damp earth and recognisable from the clumps of herbaceous perennials and bulbs that are starting to appear.

If in doubt, leave anything suspicious for a little while longer just in case the small shoots turn out to be something else.

Annual grasses look just like weeds at the moment and need a few more weeks of growth to show their worth.

Weekend catch-up

IT IS time to cut back those members of the dogwood family grown for their colourful stems.

These shrubs are invaluable in the winter garden, long branches of red, yellow or orange depending the species, providing a blast of hot colour in the depths of winter.

Those stems now need to be cut hard back to within a few inches of the ground. The best colour is produced on the new stems that will grow over the next few months and although this treatment seems harsh, fresh growth will begin to appear very quickly.

The cut stems can be kept to use elsewhere in the garden as supports; they retain their colour for a while and will blend almost unseen amongst other plants.

At this time of year, I stick several of them in with a Helleborus argutifolius, a lovely plant with sprays of cup shaped greenish flowers. It is a floppy plant in our garden, however, and needs strong support if the long stems are to support their heavy blooms.

TV and Radio

Tomorrow.

8am, BBC Radio Humberside, The Great Outdoors. With Blair Jacobs and Doug Stewart.

9am, BBC Radio Leeds, Tim Crowther and Joe Maiden.

2pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. This week Bob Flowerdew, Pippa Greenwood and Matthew Wilson are in West Sussex where they answer questions from gardeners in Shoreham-by-Sea. Chairman Eric Robson keeps order and there is a report on the British Plant Fair 2010. The gardening weather forecast is at 2.40pm. (Repeated from Friday).

Friday.

3pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. A postbag edition with Matthew Biggs, Bob Flowerdew, Pippa Greenwood and chairman Peter Gibbs. There is also a report on supermarket bedding plants and an update on the slug trials. The gardening weather forecast is at 3.40pm. (Repeated on Sunday at 2pm).

8.30pm, BBC2, Gardeners’ World. Toby starts off quick maturing vegetable varieties, Joe plants evergreen hedging and Carol discusses the lily family and demonstrates some propagating techniques.

Saturday, March 27.

7am, BBC Radio York, Julia Booth. Presenter Julia Booth and plant expert Nigel Harrison hold their weekly plant surgery.

Seed swap

THERE will be a seeds and seedling swap today at York Environment Centre, St Nicholas Fields, Rawdon Avenue in York. Just bring along any spare seed packets or seedlings to share with others from 10am-1pm. Entry is £1 and there will be plenty of gardening tips, information on the plants postcode database, advice on using nitrogen fixing native plants and an introductory talk on permaculture at noon.