Garden News - July Digital Sampler

Dig up your potatoes
Early potatoes are ready for harvesting about 12 weeks after
planting, so that’s now if yours were planted in April. When
the flowers appear, carefully dig around
one of the plants. If the tubers are the
size of a hen’s egg, they can be
lifted, but if there are lots of tiny
potatoes on the roots, leave
them for another couple of
weeks. Dig a fork into the soil
away from the potato plant,
angled slightly towards the
stem. Gently lever up the fork
and pick off the potatoes with
your hands. Brush off excess soil
and cook them as soon as possible
after lifting for the best flavour.
Bauer
I’ve never seen such long
leaves on exhibition onions!
MEDWYN WILLIAMS
Growing for
SHOWING
Winner of 11 Chelsea golds and awarded an MBE!
Neil Hepworth, unless stated
Harvest
garlic
If you planted garlic
in spring, look for
the tops of the plants
turning yellow as
that’s a sure sign the
bulbs are ripening
and almost ready to
harvest.
Stop watering and
once the foliage
starts bending over,
but before it turns
brown, carefully dig
up the bulbs with a
garden fork. Brush
off the soil and leave
them in a dry place
to cure for two
weeks. When the wrappers are dry and papery, you can
trim off any remaining roots or leaves and store them in a
cool, dark, dry place.
Prune blackcurrants
after picking
Although older blackcurrants
(four plus years) are pruned
in autumn, on younger plants
pruning can be carried out in
the summer, straight after
harvesting. Simply cut the old,
fruited branches back to a
network of seven or eight strong
branches. Remove any weak,
damaged or diseased stems
and those that are growing
low down on the plant. Spread
a granular fertiliser, such as
Growmore, around the base
of the plant and water well.
Finally, top with a mulch
of well-rotted compost or
farmyard manure.
Subscribe for just £1 an issue. Go to www.greatmagazines.co.uk/gn
Photos: Bauer unless stated
All systems go...
Onions are planted in the new polytunnel
I
‘ve finally managed to
complete building the
polytunnel I moved from my
own garden down to the land and
it’s now up and running. It’s 8.2m
(27ft) in length and 3.3m (11ft)
wide with roll-up polythene
curtains along the sides on the
inside with a fine nylon mesh on
the outside. This mesh is
extremely useful as it lets plenty
of air in but blocks the pathway for
most of the flying insects.
Breaking down and moving the
structure was a nightmare with so
many pieces involved and one I’d
never like to do again! Filling the
beds was a major job, too, and
I couldn’t have possibly done
without the assistance of my son,
Alwyn, and our Massey tractor.
A few tonnes went into the
three beds, the bulk being
well-rotted manure and top soil
with some added calcified
seaweed rotovated in with my
Mantis tiller. The final 23cm (9in)
is the same composition with the
addition of Levington M3 compost
and prior to planting we added our
own leek and onion fertiliser and
some Nutrimate powder.
Knowing I wouldn’t be in the
new polytunnel in time, I potted
The onions
planted out in
beds in the new
polytunnel
up my own exhibition onions into
larger pots a month ago and
they’ve certainly grown on well.
I don’t think I’ve ever had onion
plants with such long leaves on
them. Carrying them from my
glasshouse to the tunnel without
snapping any leaves was testing to
say the least!
I’ve now planted these onions
in the new beds in the polytunnel
at 46cm (18in) apart. This year
I haven’t used the black and
white polythene on top of the
soil, preferring to let the weeds
germinate, many of which I know
will be nettles. Someone once told
me nettles only grow in good soil,
so let’s hope the onions love it, too!
July 1 2017 / Garden News 41
Photos: Medwyn Williams
Medwyn Williams