GINA PARKINSON reports on bringing spring colour to a raised bed.

THE raised alpine bed in our garden, which has been the subject of much clearing and planting over the past three years, has been re-gravelled and tidied ready for spring.

However, further round this L-shaped bed it is a different story. Here, the plants are in light shade, apart from a little evening sun at the height of summer, and the area has been left much as it was when we first took over the garden.

Euonymus and box give a relaxed hedge to one side of this area, while the long stems of cotoneaster are being taken back and fastened to the fence behind. Underneath is a mass of blue-flowered hepatica in early spring followed by white Iberis in late spring and summer.

Mingling among these well-established plants is frilly leafed Teucrium scordium ‘Crispum’ and golden variegated ivy which has been firmly encouraged to fall down the sides of the wall rather than smother everything in the bed.

Hepatica transsilvanica is a member of a family of small herbaceous perennials often used in rockeries or alpine beds, their ability to thrive in light shade a useful characteristic.

I had assumed our plants to be the woodland anemone, Anemone blanda; at first glance, the flowers are similar and appear at the same time. The foliage is quite different however; that of the hepatica is rounded while that of the anemone is deeply lobed and the petals of the flowers thinner.

Once established, hepatica is a tough plant coping with any aspect apart from deep shade in a north-facing site. Semi-shade is preferred, although a sunny spot will be tolerated as long as the soil doesn’t dry out. It can be planted then left to slowly spread and self-seed in any part of the garden, providing welcome flowers along with crocus as snowdrops begin to fade.

Propagation is best by seed because hepatica dislikes being disturbed. Transplants and divisions may struggle to establish and flowering can take several seasons. A mulch of leaf mould in autumn will give the soil extra nutrients for the plants especially on well-drained chalky or sandy sites.


Weekend catch-up

Dahlia tubers – either new ones from the garden suppliers or the ones saved from last year – can be started into growth during March.

I have a mixture of saved tubers to sort out this weekend. All but one of the ones dug from the garden last autumn have survived the winter in the shed although at one time I thought they had all rotted. They were put on a layer of slightly damp compost in a porous garden bag and covered with straw. Fortunately, they were checked in January and the one with the furry white overcoat removed along with all the straw.

Now is the time to wake the tubers up from their winter slumber by potting them up into pots or trays depending on their size. The tubers should feel firm. It is worth soaking dried out ones in water for a couple of hours before planting to see if they will plump up.

Small tubers will be fine in trays to begin with, covered in damp compost. Large clumps will need to be put into plant pots to accommodate their size and again covered in damp compost. Keep them in a warm, light, spot indoors and increase watering as the shoots begin to appear. They can be hardened off in May and planted outside once the danger of frost has gone.


In the veg garden

Tender vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, chillies, aubergines and cucumbers can be sown this month. They need warmth to germinate and can be pricked out into individual pots once they have grown their first true leaves.


Open Garden

Tomorrow: In aid of the National Gardens Scheme

Goldsborough Hall, Church Street, Goldsborough, HG5 8NR, two miles south east of Knaresborough. Eleven acre garden and formal landscaped grounds in a parkland setting that was originally open for the NGS in 1928-30. It has been restored by the present owners and reopened for the NGS in 2010. Things to see include Gertrude Jekyll inspired 120ft double herbaceous borders and rose garden, a lime tree walk planted in the 1920s and underplanted with 50,000 naturalised daffodils and a woodland walk with specimen trees. St Mary’s Church will also be open. Open noon-4pm, admission £5.

 

TV & Radio

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

9am, BBC Radio York, Julia Lewis. Ideas and features from gardens around North Yorkshire.

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

9.30am, BBC2, Gardeners’ World. With Monty Don, Carol Klein and Joe Swift. (Repeated from Friday).

2pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. Chairman Eric Robson is joined in the potting shed at Sparsholt College in Hampshire by Christine Walkden, Anne Swithinbank and Bob Flowerdew in a postbag edition of the programme. (Repeated from Friday).

Friday
3pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. Panellists Pippa Greenwood, Matt Biggs and Chris Beardshaw advise gardeners from Nottinghamshire. The chairman is Eric Robson.

9pm, BBC2, Gardeners’ World. Monty Don pots up dahlia tubers, Joe Swift visits a garden on a rocky cliff face in Lancashire and Carol Klein, pictured, celebrates the daffodil.