116 June 2019 http://www.yourhomemagazine.co.uk
what to do in the fruit garden
Plum trees tend to have good and bad years
of producing fruit. A heavy crop one year
is often followed by a poor crop the next. You
can help alter this cycle by thinning some of the
small fruits when the branches are heavily laden.
This also reduces the risk of branches snapping
under the weight of the fruit, something plum
trees are very prone to do.✓ ✓
Other fruit trees that benefit from
thinning include apples (left), pears,
peaches, nectarines and apricots but wait
until after they have naturally shed some
fruits, a process known as the ‘June drop’
which usually occurs at the end of the month.
If you have enjoyed picking fresh figs
while on holiday abroad, then give them
a go in your own back garden (right). Figs
need a sunny, sheltered position to produce a
crop that will ripen. They also prefer to have
their root growth restricted, so plant your
fig tree into a pot only one size bigger than
the one it’s in. When given too much space
they tend to produce an abundance of leaves
rather than fruits. Edible figs are self-fertile
plants so will pollinate and set fruit on their
own, without the need of pollinating insects.
Good varieties to grow in the UK include
Brown Turkey, Violetta and Brunswick.Good things are worth waiting for and none more so than biennial bloomers.
Biennials are slow burners, they produce foliage in their first year and flower in
the second, completing their life cycle after they have set seed. After flowering,
many will self-seed freely and once introduced will linger in various corners of
the garden for years to come. Classic garden favourites include foxgloves (below
left), sweet Williams, honesty, wallflowers and sweet rocket.Ju ne is the traditional
month to begin sowing seeds of these leading lights as the milder temperatures
will aid their germination.
Sow the seeds into small pots or modules and remember to water them
over the summer months. Transplant the established seedlings into borders in
September. The little plants will hunker down over winter, start back into growth
in early spring and dutifully produce beautiful flowers.Sl ightly more unusual
biennials that deserve a place in any garden include Salvia sclarea var. turkestanica
(below right); a highly-scented plant that produces multi-branching strong stems
smothered in soft blue and white flowers encased in lilac and white bracts.
Also, Dianthus barbatus nigrescens ‘Sooty’; an exquisite sweet William that has
mahogany foliage and the deepest chocolate-coloured flowers plus Angelica
gigas; a statuesque plant that carries crimson domed flowers on strong wine-
coloured stalks.Going underground
✓
Dianthus
barbatus
nigrescens
‘Sooty’, £2.50
for 50 seeds,
Avon Bulbs
Photos
RHS/Tim Sandall