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New books for spring
If you're looking for inspiration as the warmer weather beckons, try leafing through some of the excellent books out this spring, bringing you advice on everything from growing fruit and veg to design and practical tips.
There's a plethora of new books out this year on every conceivable way to grow every conceivable fruit and veg, pushed further by the Jamie Oliver effect and with all the big guns jumping on the grow-your-own bandwagon.
These include Alan Titchmarsh, with The Kitchen Gardener (BBC Books, 20), and the RHS, with two yummy titles including a revised edition of its Vegetable & Fruit Gardening (Dorling Kindersley, 20), featuring advice from experts on growing more than 150 different foods, and Grow It Eat It, (April 1, Dorling Kindersley, 9.99), aimed at junior chefs and gardeners who can get to grips with healthy eating but grow the food themselves.
If you want something a little quirkier, wait till the May publication of Forgotten Fruits, a guide to Britain's traditional fruit and vegetables, from orange jelly turnips to Dan's mistake gooseberries, by Christopher Stocks (May 1, Random House, 16.99).
As well as being a guide, it's also a fascinating work of natural and social history. Did you know, for example, that gooseberry-growing contests were a prominent feature of 19th century rural life? Or that the first radishes to arrive in England (in around 1548) were the size of small turnips? Or that there are over 2,000 varieties of cooking and eating apples in Britain alone?
TV tie-ins are also abundant now, so if you have been enjoying Monty Don's Around The World In 80 Gardens, you can find out more about them in the accompanying book (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 20), as he searched for the world's most inspirational gardens.
If you're after something different, a little later on in the year you can pick up some entertaining titles including One Man And His Dig (Pocket, 6.99, May 6), written by journalist and allotment holder Valentine Low, who decided to forego his world of dinner parties with the chattering classes to take on a down-to-earth pastime. He recounts tales of the characters and crops he has encountered on his allotment and offers tips for green-fingered urbanites.
If we don't have a similar summer to last year's washout, we may be in need of Ian Cooke's new book out in May, Waterwise Gardening (New Holland, 12.99), which offers all manner of water-saving advice for gardeners - what to do if you have a hosepipe ban, ways to recycle and store water and water-wise plants.
Take a leaf out of Chelsea gold medal winner Andy Sturgeon's book by following his design ideas in his new book, Minimum Space Maximum Living Outdoors (Mitchell Beazley 16.99, Apr 15). It looks at a range of different spaces from balconies to basements, rooftops to entrances, and highlights particular considerations of each as well as illustrating inspiring design ideas.
And for those planning some visits to gardens for inspiration, grab some companions such as Gardens Of Britain And Ireland, by Patrick Taylor (Dorling Kindersley, 14.99), featuring 300 of the greatest public and private gardens, with quick and easy references arranged by region.
Alternatively, pick up a copy of the 19th edition of The Good Gardens Guide (Frances Lincoln, 15.99), which selects only gardens of real merit, vividly describing their main characteristics and qualities, with detailed information and coloured maps.
BEST OF THE BUNCH - Hyacinth
They are among my favourite spring bulbs, providing gorgeous colour and terrific scent in a vast range of colours from whites and creams to pinks, reds and blues. If you want something a little different, try H. orientalis 'City of Haarlem', which bears highly scented, soft primrose-yellow flowers.
Hyacinths grow to around 30cm (12in) and look great planted in pots, but place the pot on a ledge at nose height if you can, so that every time you go out on the patio you'll get a waft of the delicious scent.
Bulbs should be planted in autumn, 10cm (4in) deep, in fertile, well drained soil. While many hyacinths will stand up on their own, I tend to help support those in pots with pea sticks, to keep them standing firm.
In most soils you can leave the bulbs of Dutch hyacinths outdoors over winter, although you may not get as good a show in the second year.
GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT - Small salad carrots
You should be able to make the first outdoor sowings of carrots this month on lighter soils and in milder areas, but try to warm the soil up first to aid germination. Your soil needs to be free of stones or you'll get funny-shaped carrots, but alternatively you could grow some in deep pots of compost.
For a continuous supply of baby carrots, sow a short row and keep sowing at regular intervals through the summer, drawing out a 1.5cm seed drill, spacing the drills 15cm apart. Sow the seeds thinly to avoid having to thin them out later and cover the drill with dry soil. Don't water or you'll disturb the seeds. If the soil is very dry you could dribble water into the drill and let it soak in before sowing.
If you are growing baby carrots in pots, scatter the seed thinly and cover with a 1.5cm layer of compost.
When the seedlings are big enough to handle, gently thin them out to leave a plant every 2.5cm. The first baby carrots should be ready for pulling in June. Good varieties include 'Early French Frame', which are small and round and won't fork if they hit a stone, or 'Early Nantes', which grow well in light, sandy soil.
THREE WAYS TO... Strengthen tomato plants
1. Always use a tomato or high-potash fertiliser as too much nitrogen produces leaves rather than fruit.
2. Help flowers to set fruit by tapping the supporting canes or strings and damping the surroundings on a warm, sunny day.
3. Check regularly for pests such as aphids, whitefly and red spider mite.
WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK
:: Prune plum trees once they have started growing.
:: Make sure pots and seed trays in the greenhouse do not dry out.
:: Cut off dead flower spikes from summer-flowering heathers and prune young tree heathers.
:: Make the first outdoor sowings of culinary and salad herbs.
:: Apply a spring fertiliser to established lawns once they are actively growing and cut grass when it is about 8cm (3in) high.
:: Transplant autumn-sown onions to their final quarters, spacing them alternately at 12in (30cm).
:: Check over naturalised plantings of bulbs. Where overcrowded, mark them for lifting and replanting either after flowering or in the autumn.
:: Thin early sowings of lettuce.
:: Give roses a top dressing of rose fertiliser.
:: Sow campanulas under glass.
:: Clear remaining crops of leeks and celery so the ground can be prepared for new crops.
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Weather for Bedford
Sunday 27 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 25 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 12 C to 26 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North east
