Peter Leighton

Gledstone Gardens

THE first batch of autumn and winter flowering pansies and viola were pricked out during the first week of August, which will be starting to flower and ready for sale during early September. This batch is relatively small in volume as it is still early - yet it meets demand.

The second larger batch was pricked out mid August for sales in late September and early October, this batch also included primroses and polyanthus. I much prefer polyanthus to primroses as the flower stalk protrudes three to four inches above the foliage and give a fine display throughout early spring.

The final batch was pricked out the last week of August and will make late October, November and December sales. This batch also includes most of the primroses which will not flower until March. This is perfect for spring sales. Pricking out winter pansies and viola out any later than the end of August in this part of the world will result in the plants not flowering until spring. For flowering pansies in spring we will not prick out until late February or early March. What a difference a week makes!

Hand in hand with autumn and spring flowering bedding goes bulbs. Our little Tête-à-Tête narcissus are now potted every four weeks to give a continuity of supply. We pot prepared hyacinths in early September for Christmas flowering, and un-prepared hyacinths at the end of October for flowering around Mother's Day. (Prepared hyacinth bulbs have had an artificial winter in cold storage to induce the flowering buds, whilst up-prepared have to have a natural winter to do this). Dwarf and miniature tulips are planted during October for spring flowering. Many of the winter baskets and tubs we produce are under planted with tulips and narcissus to add extended flowering and winter colour.

August has been a wet and cold month, after a wonderful May, June and July. It is noticeable everywhere that the summer bedding and basket displays are looking tired and exhausted. This unfortunately is nature’s price for giving a super summer display. By comparison last year's bedding displays looked really good well into September. I suspect that this year there will be a good early demand for autumn and winter bedding.

With the prospect of an Indian summer on the horizon, now is a good time to get into the garden and tidy up the herbaceous borders, clipping out old and tired growth and letting a little light in for the autumn flowers. Heleniums, Rudbekia, Aster and Anemone just to mention a few will put on a good autumn show. Roses will probably have been infested with black spot following the wet August, a good tidy up and dead heading along with an good feed and spray will help give them another flush of flower.

In the coming weeks we will be sowing some of our herbaceous perennials which need a winter on them as they flower in the second year - lupins and delphiniums in particular are a good example of this. Other key jobs for September are washing down and disinfecting the empty glasshouses and poly tunnels ready for the winter potting and spring production, removing the whitewash from the glasshouse as we need all the winter light we can get.

September is a great time to plant up your autumn and winter hanging baskets, tubs and troughs. The relatively good light and temperature in September will ensure a well established planting before the onset of the autumn and winter when growth slows dramatically.

I, like many of you enjoy growing a few tomatoes and cucumbers for the kitchen. I normally sow my tomatoes in February, two types, Shirley as a salad tomato and Tumbler for a cherry tomato. The two are very distinct and different.

The Tumbler is great for those with little time who just want to enjoy the fruit. It is a determinate variety which means it is self stopping. Every time a flower truss is produced the growing tip becomes blind and will not grow anymore. The tomato then produces side shoot which then produces a flowering truss and goes blind. This just repeats and repeats so you have no side shooting and very little maintenance.

Shirley, on the other hand, like all salad tomatoes requires supporting, side shooting and a lot of attention to detail. The important thing to remember is that unless you are growing with a lot of heating then you should not plant out until mid to late April and restrict your plants to only four or five fruiting trusses as the season is too short to ripen all the fruit. The lead shoot should be pinched out two leaves above the desired truss. This will be around early to mid July. To aid the ripening of the fruit all lower leaves should now be removed leaving only five or six leaves at the top of the plant. This allow light and air into the fruit and will greatly aid ripening.

During the eighties I used to be a commercial market gardener producing over an acre of tomatoes, cucumbers, celery and over a million glasshouse grown lettuce per annum. The common market virtually wiped out the traditional market gardener, hence my move to ornament production. Watch this space in early spring when I will give you frequent and regular advice on how to get the best results. It is a little late this year to have too much influence on the crop that is coming to its end.