Ruud Kleinpaste: Buds and flowering trees

Buds and flowering trees – it sometimes feels like Spring, but don’t be fooled for another 4 weeks mistakes can be made! 

Spring —by the way— starts 23rd of September at eleven minutes to seven in the evening. ;-) 

Yet slowly —very slowly— the soil starts to warm up a bit and that is a condition that requires us to plant our new crops and ornamentals. 

First of all, the soils are still quite moist and that is a positive reason to plant anything that lives long: shrubs, trees, fruit-bearing vines, and flowering, perennial beauties. 

Reason is: the planted trees/shrub etc will not need to “sulk” for a long time – it will ‘wake up’ from its winter slumber relatively quickly to start the growth.  

And there little need to water these new plants. 

Because the soil is slowly warming up, the fertiliser you apply will be absorbed relatively quickly – the N-P-K won’t dissolve into the deeper soils where it might get “lost”. 

The same arguments will go for your food crops: 

Peas, Broadbeans, Cos lettuce, and spring onions will almost immediately germinate or adapt after planting, giving you the first spring crops of fresh vegetables. Oh, and Carrots, Cauliflowers, and spinach are also on the “NOW” list. 

For those of you that like “new Potatoes” for Christmas: start chitting and plant your spuds as seed potatoes; Jersey Bennes and such early varieties are probably the best to use before Christmas. 

That’s all I do this year so I don’t play Russian roulette with solanum pests such as Psyllids, later in the season (AND I WANT TO PROTECT MY MAIN TUNNELHOUSE CROP: TOMATOES!). 

That brings me to SOWING the tomato varieties for 2023-24. If you do that now, (like inside in a relatively warm room with plenty of light) you’ll find they will germinate quickly, so that you can start “hardening” them off by placing them outside in sheltered areas during the day (take them inside again when the evening coolness comes along after 5 pm). 

Just get them used to the spring conditions slowly. 

Mine will go into the tunnel house to provide me with tomatoes from Early December till well into autumn. You can also grow them under “cloches” to help them along during the cooler spring nights. Cloches are miniature glass houses that hold just one plant. They literally reduce the difference between warm day temperatures and cool nights. 

My fabulous, rich and well-drained bed for Strawberries is ready to be planted. Last year’s crop has been disastrous, probably because I really didn’t have the time to weed well; and I left too many old runners in that bed, which didn’t provide me with too many strawberries. 

Cama Rosa is my pick of the strawberries and a fine netting will need to be placed on top, so that the birds are not able to access them later this spring. 

Don’t forget to use some liquid fertiliser (Seafood Soup and Seaweed Tea!!) to give your plants the boost they need! 

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