Welcome to Growing Week 2011

We hope that everyone finds something to get involved with the week of the 28^th March to the 2^nd of April.

Get inspired to grow, learn new skills or just get outside to enjoy the spring with workshops, poetry, walks, films and more...

If spring is inspiring you to write a poem, why not enter it into the poetry reading event – deadline 17^th of March (pick up a leaflet from the Patients Council for more information). In the run up to Growing Week the library will have a display of books to get you thinking as well.

If you haven't already booked your advice slot with Tom the Gardener then do so quickly as there are limited spaces and they are filling up fast. Tuesday and Wednesday only.

All throughout the week you can go on the art hunt – discovering old and new art work round the grounds. There will be some art work that is only there for growing week so don't miss it!

Thursday is the high point of the week for the Glasshouses with the market stalls in the morning, picnic lunch and planting in the afternoon – clear your diaries!

A round up of what is happening each day:

Monday

- Spring Walk with the Walkways Project – Take an hour's stroll round the grounds with a guided walk
- Photographic Printing with the sun! Cyanotype workshop with Laura from Artlink

Tuesday

- Edinburgh Community Food fruit and veg stall – special focus on seasonal produce this week – raffle ticket for a hamper with every purchase (announced at the picnic lunch on Thursday)
- Trip with the Hive to Botanic Gardens
- Sowing and Planting with the Royal Edinburgh Community Gardens – Get tips and ideas on planting different seeds and transplanting seedlings
- Hive Music Night – live music and visuals with 'on the wheelbarrow' and 'paper marriage' – a film about bees

Wednesday

- Mrs Plant Pot and the potting trolley – the travelling gardening workshop – let us know if you want her to drop by your ward or office
- Poetry Readings on the theme of growth in association with the Patients Council and created by people in the hospital

Thursday

- Market Place – Come and see displays and talk to people from Bridgend Allotment Community Health Project, Master Composters, Vegware, Edinburgh Community Food, Health and Wellbeing group, Royal Edinburgh Community Gardens . Pick up your bargain herbs from the Growing Spaces stall and enter this years Growing Competition (free seeds to the first people who come along).

- Picnic Lunch – Join us for al fresco dining – Bring your own lunch – teas, coffees and snacks and entertainment provided
- Springtime Planting with Growing Spaces - Mothers day planting and hanging basket workshop in association the Volunteer Centre. Donation towards materials appreciated.

Friday

- Tour of the Royal Edinburgh Community Gardens – take a walk down to the site near the myreside gate, find out what they have been up to and spot some wildlife and wildflowers along the way

- Growing Week Cinema featuring the film 'Grow Your Own' – free popcorn and refreshments. Grow Your Own (2007) is a warm-hearted British comedy with a host of well-known British stars. A refugee family is given a plot to help rehabilitate their traumatized father. At first they are met with suspicion by the men who have worked the gardens for years but eventually they are accepted by their united love of making things grow.

Saturday

Springtime Clear up – come and help us get the Growing Plots ready for spring planting – bring a picnic – refreshments provided

Growing week is organised by the Artlink Growing Spaces project

For more information get in touch with Anne or Alex on 46127 or email growingspaces@functionsuite.com

The Annual Growing Week at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital

Monday 28th March – Friday 1st April

Organised by Artlink's Growing Spaces project Growing Week is a chance for everyone to get involved in growing related activities throughout the hospital.

Make positive changes to your community and your health...

What are your ideas? What would you like to do? How can you contribute?

Here are some activities we are organising that you can take part in.

•Sign up for a free gardening advice slot with Tom the gardener.

Transform your ward garden, courtyard or flower bed round the hospital with his help.

Hurry, hurry don't miss out this year there are six sessions slots available on the Tuesday and Wednesday.

•Invite the extraordinary Mrs. Plantpot and her mobile potting trolley to visit your ward or department for some indoor gardening.

•Art Hunt - artworks will be located in the grounds - follow the art trail.

•Film screenings, Picnic Lunch, growing competitions, Trip to Botanics.

Much much more and it is all FREE

FREE advice, FREE plants, FREE help

The Growing Week Hub will be in the Glasshouses this year.

A full programme for Growing Week will be coming out in March.

Contact Anne or Alex at Artlink on ext 46127

email growingspaces@functionsuite.com

Supported by Artlink Growing Spaces project and the REH Health and

Wellbeing group.

Tom's Top Tips for February

Gardening tips for January from Tom the Gardener

Previous Tips That Still Apply

Many of last month's tips still apply:

• Check that brassica netting is secure and undamaged

• Dig in organic matter (if conditions allow)

• Prune deciduous trees

• Plan what you'll be growing where in the year to come

• Start a garden diary if you haven't already

• Clean pots

• Protect bulb shoots

• Artificially stratify seeds where such treatment is needed

Sow Vegetable Seeds Indoors
Although you'll have no success sowing seeds outdoors, if you have access to a heated greenhouse or a cool conservatory, or even a bright windowsill in a cool room, then there are quite a few things that can be sown this month in trays/modules/pots for planting out later. (But don't fret if you don't have the time or facilities as few are essential; sowing now is to give you an extra, early crop.) These include:

• Onion

• Tomato

• Summer cauliflower

• Summer cabbage

• Carrot

• Beetroot

• Spinach

• Kohl rabi

• Radish

• Lettuce

• Turnip

• Jerusalem artichoke

• Garlic

• Shallot

With the vegetable growing season about to get under way, here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Only grow what you like to eat. This may sound obvious, but it's easily forgotten.

• Sow thinly – not only will this avoid waste, it will also give sturdier seedlings and reduce the risk of virus taking hold.

• Avoid gluts – employ successional sowing.

• Use fresh seed.

• Use fresh seed compost and clean trays.

• As soon as the seeds start to germinate, move them to a cool, light location.

Sow Flower Seeds
There are no flower seeds that can be sown outdoors at the moment as the soil is too cold; however, now is the time to start sowing half-hardy annuals, some hardy annuals and many hardy perennials indoors (in a heated greenhouse or a cool conservatory, or a bright windowsill in a cool room).

Sweet peas are a must and could be flowering from June onwards if sown now. Giant sunflowers will also benefit from being sown now as this will maximize the growing season. Examples of half-hardy annuals that often feature in the flower garden are:

• Tagetes (marigold)

• Tropaeolum

• Brachyscome (swan river daisy)

• Bidens

• Ipomoea (morning glory)

• Antirrhinum

• Lobelia

• Impatiens (busy lizzie)

• Amarathus

• Dorotheanthus (livingstone daisy)

• Cosmos

• Petunias

• Scarlet sage

If you do not have the time or facilities to sow seeds in a protective environment then don't lose heart; sowing from seed is the most cost effective but not the only way to grow these plants. In a month or two most of the above will be available in garden centres and supermarkets as trays of bedding plants.

If you are unsure as to the difference between annuals, biennials and perennials and also between hardy and half-hardy, an explanation is given on the attached sheet “Common Classification Of Flowers Grown From Seed”.

Make Reflectors For Your Seedlings
If you are resorting to a bright windowsill in a cool room to start off your seedlings, they will be extremely grateful for the presence of some sort of reflector to make maximum use of the precious and limited light available. Lengths of card or hardboard, 8 inches or so high, painted white or covered with tin foil and propped up behind the seedlings are ideal.

Plant Summer Flowering Bulbs
There are two main times for planting bulbs. The spring flowering bulbs that are forcing their way through now (daffodils, crocuses, tulips, etc) are planted in Autumn. Now, however, is the ideal month to plant the summer flowering bulbs (foxtail lilies, regal lilies, gladioli, dahlias, galontia, etc). Some bulb planting guidelines:

• Bulbs bought in general stores can be fine but inspect them carefully as they are often stored in less than favourable conditions; make sure they have not dried out or started to sprout.

• Most summer bulbs thrive in direct sun.

• They do best if the soil is fairly rich, so add compost and bonemeal to the planting hole.

• Bulbs will rot if you try to grow them in areas that are prone to water-logging.

• Most do well in tubs provided you don't let them dry out.

Warm Up The Soil
The growing season can be brought forward by three weeks or so using cloches made of clear plastic or horticultural fleece under which early crops of, say, lettuce, beetroot, carrots, spring onions, summer cauliflower, summer cabbage, peas and spinach are sown. Sowing won't take place till March; however, now is the time to put up the cloches so as to get the soil temperature raised and to let the soil dry a little, ready for sowing next month.

Remove Dead Foliage
The dead foliage of many grasses may well have been left in place over Winter. Now is the time to cut that dead foliage away, before the new growth comes up amongst it.

Bird Boxes
If you're wanting to put up bird boxes then get it done as soon as possible. The nesting season in the garden starts in March and boxes should be up a significant time before then so that the birds have time to get used to them being in their territory. There are numerous books and web-sites that will give you dimensions and designs depending on what type of bird you are trying to attract. Here are a few things to bear in mind when installing your box:

• Make sure the box will not be exposed to long stretches of direct sunlight as it will get too hot inside. On a tree, facing in a direction between north and south-east is best.

• Avoid installing the box in the vicinity of a perch or covered place that could be used by a cat to launch an attack.

• Make sure they are securely fixed as a falling nest box will, obviously, be disastrous for the occupants.

• Place it at least six feet above ground level.

If you have no success this year don't lose heart; leave the box where it is and it may very well be occupied next year.

Feed Fruit Bushes
Pretty much all fruit bushes will benefit from an application of a potassium based fertilizer about now (potassium promotes good fruiting). Use “sulphate of potash” or even wood ash.

Forcing Rhubarb
An early crop of tender rhubarb can be had by “forcing” a plant. Place a large up-turned pot, preferably filled with straw, over the plant so that new shoots grow into this dark and protected environment. You should have shoots ready to eat in about 4 weeks.

Gardening club and growing plots 2011

Get ready for the start of the growing season. Come along to the first gardening club of the year on the 27th of January and get planning what you are going to grow and where.

Sign up for another season at the growing plots. New and existing plot holders need to come and register their interest. Free seeds for those who come along on the 27th!

From the 27th January the gardening club will run on a weekly basis on a Thursday 1-3pm

Tom's Top Tips for January

Gardening tips for January from Tom the Gardener

Previous tips that still apply
Many of last month's tips still apply:

• Keep feeding the birds

• Check your stores of fruit and veg for disease and pest damage

• Check that brassica netting is secure and undamaged

• Dig in organic matter (if conditions allow)

• Plant bare rooted shrubs (but again, only if conditions allow)

• Prune deciduous trees

• Plan what you'll be growing where in the year to come

Start a garden diary
Even if you ignore every other tip I ever give, consider this one. Given that the difference between a good gardener and a bad one is a couple of weeks, get a diary (they'll be half price soon) and use it exclusively for garden notes. Make a note of what was planted when and then later on in the season record your results – flowering/ cropping times and success rates. (If you're really keen, you could go for the full phenological record, making a note of key occurrences in the life cycles of the flora and fauna of your local environment.) This time next year you'll have an invaluable resource documenting a year's worth of your experience.

Start collecting eggshell
Crushed eggshell has a number of uses in the veg garden:

• To keep slugs and snails off your plants (albeit with varying degrees of success)

• As a fertilizer to provide calcium and certain micro-nutrients, and also to increase the alkalinity of the soil

• To clearly mark out the areas or rows in your beds where seeds have been sown, to remind you where seeds are for the days or weeks prior to their germination.

Have a baking dish in the bottom of the oven into which you put eggshells as and when they appear. The eggshells will dry and become more brittle whenever the oven is on, making it a fairly easy task to crush them into a coarse powder when you have collected enough.

Think potatoes
Seed potatoes become available in the shops this month, and the most popular varieties for your area will be flying off the shelf quickly. Do your research now so that, when they are in store, you know exactly what varieties you need.

Veg sowing indoors
Although you'll have no success sowing seeds outdoors in the depths of Winter, if you have access to a heated greenhouse or a cool conservatory, or even a bright windowsill in a cool room, then there are already a few things that can be sown this month:

• Onions and leeks can be sown in modules – sow 5 or 6 seeds in each with a view to thinning out to 3 or 4 seedlings per module

• Early Summer cabbages and cauliflowers

• Peas sown now, with a little luck, could give you a crop as early as May.

Flower sowing indoors
Annual bedding plants, for summer-long colour in planters and flower beds, can be sown this month if you have access to a heated greenhouse, cool conservatory or cool, bright room. Examples include petunia, salvia, lobelia, busy lizzy and sweet peas

Clean pots
When the sowing season starts to gather pace in a month or two, you'll be wanting a ready supply of pots, trays, modules and tubs. Get ahead of the game now by cleaning last year's containers (ideally with a horticultural disinfectant such as“Armillatox” which is both bio-degradable and made from naturally occurring ingredients). It's a fairly wretched task, but you'll be pleased you did it come March. Also, start collecting the sort of useful containers that would otherwise find their way into the domestic waste – yoghurt cartons, plastic punnet, etc. Toilet roll tubes make excellent bio-degradable modules.

Artificial stratification
Something most keen growers will encounter at some point is the need to “stratify” the seeds of certain varieties of ornamental flowers. Stratification is the process of exposing seeds to a period of cold prior to germination to break their dormancy. Examples include aconite, alchemilla, some ornamental alliums, angelica, aquilegia, astrantia, bergenia, clematis, eryngium, geranium, lavender, lilly, lobelia and trillium. Also, a majority of shrub/tree seeds need extensive periods of chilling. Now is the time to act so that such seeds, which will require a period of chilling in the fridge for anything from 2 weeks to 2 months, are ready to germinate in the Spring. Specific instructions will be given on the seed packet, but the general rules are:

• Prior to chilling, sow the seed in a tray of moist seed compost, seal in a clear plastic bag and leave at room temperature (15-20C) in light conditions for 3 days

• Place the seed, still in the tray and plastic bag, in the fridge for the recommended time

• Check the tray regularly and remove germinated seedlings out of the fridge and into the coldframe/greenhouse/etc

• Make sure the compost remains moist but not saturated throughout the process

Protection of bulb shoots
The tips of many spring flowering bulbs - for example snowdrops, daffodils, bluebells, chionodoxa - will be breaking through the surface of the soil in the next few weeks. Where they have become naturalised, or planted as if they were, they will probably be growing in areas where they could be trampled . Mark out these areas with string, eggshell, a contrasting coloured mulch or some other method that will make the areas obvious.

Tom's Top Tips for December

Gardening tips for December from Tom the Gardener

1. 
   

Previous Tips that still apply

Many of last month's tips remain pertinent:

• Keep feeding the birds

• Check your stores of fruit and veg for disease and pest damage

• Check that brassica netting is secure and undamaged

• Dig in organic matter (if conditions allow)

• Plant bare rooted shrubs (but again, only if conditions allow)

Things not to do

Having given you a list of some of the many things to be getting on with this month, bear in mind that, in the depths of Winter, your plants and soil, like you, might fare better if left in peace until conditions become more clement:

• Don't dig if the soil is frozen or waterlogged.

• Don't over-water house/greenhouse/conservatory plants. Many will be in a state of at least semi-dormancy and will need only enough water to stop the soil completely drying out.

• Don't plant or move shrubs unless the weather has been mild and reasonably dry for a number of consecutive days.

Start collecting seed catalogues and think about summer

Some of the most enjoyable gardening this time of year is done from the warmth of home, in the comfort of an armchair. Collect a good stock of gardening catalogues (which will already be becoming available for next season's stock), and start planning for the year to come. It may be the depths of Winter, but in as little as 6 weeks you could be making the first sowings of next Summer's veg and ornamentals. If nothing else, pictures of burgeoning fruits, fecund beds and multi-coloured flowers will lift the spirits no end.

Protect plants against pests

As the Winter starts to set in food resources become scarce for wildlife, and plants that have, up until now, been untroubled by pests can come unexpectedly under attack:

• rabbits, if hungry enough, can kill a tree – even a relatively mature fruit tree – by stripping the bark off at the base. (This was a particular problem last Winter when prolonged periods of snow-cover and freezing temperatures made much of the rabbits' usual food resources inaccessible.) Protect the bottom 3 feet of tree trunks with either shop bought tree-guards or a piece of carpet tied around the trunk.

• Spring flowering bulbs planted a few months ago can suddenly become of interest to mice. Check for signs of digging around newly planted bulbs. Cover the ground above them with a mulch to throw them off the scent – eg garden compost, chipped bark.

Have a fire

It could be that you shun the idea of a garden fire for environmental reasons (release of toxic and greenhouse gases, the destruction of dead wood that would make a beneficial wildlife habitat). Even if this is the case, consider treating yourself to one fire a year to get rid of diseased material from Winter pruning. As for the resulting wood ash, that's a valuable resource, being a good source of potassium and certain micro-nutrients, and also a means of making soil more alkaline. There are a few crops on which it can be applied direct – gooseberries, alliums – but it is probably best of all deployed by adding it to the compost heap.

* Please note fires in the hospital grounds are not allowed

Trench composting

Some vegetables that prefer a moisture retaining soil grow well on top of a trench that has been filled with shredded paper and vegetable waste from the kitchen. Runner beans are the classic example, but the method applies also to squashes, courgettes, sweetcorn and french beans. Dig a trench, at least 12” deep, in the place where such crops will grow in the year to come and fill it with such waste as and when it becomes available. Mix the waste with soil in the trench and then fill it in as you go.

Clean the greenhouse

If you are lucky enough to have a greenhouse, it should be thoroughly cleaned once a year. There are two reasons for this:

1. To clean the glass so that the maximum amount of light can get to the plants inside

2. To disinfect all surfaces.

Remove as many plants as possible and then, using a horticultural disinfectant (such as “Armillatox” which is both bio-degradable and made from naturally occurring ingredients), wash all surfaces. Use a squirter and a brush to clean out all crevices, such as those between glass panes and framework. Leave the disinfectant to work its magic for an hour or two and then wash down all surfaces with clean water. If you are unable to find a disinfectant that meets your environmental/organic credentials then use a powerful jet of clean water to wash down your greenhouse; at the very least you should aim to get all the glass clean inside and out.

Winter Pruning
The Winter months – December through to early March – are in general the best time to prune deciduous trees and shrubs, as this is when they are dormant and also, as they have no leaves, it's much easier to see the work in hand. The order of priority when pruning a specimen is:

1. Remove all dead and diseased wood

2. Remove weak, badly placed and rubbing branches

3. Reduce congestion, particularly in the centre of the crown

4. Bring the tree back to the shape and size required.

A few pointers:

• If you're unsure, do some research into the pruning requirements of the type of tree you are tackling. Pruning isn't as complicated an art as it's often portrayed but, on the other hand, if it's done wrong, it can leave a plant looking miserable for years to come and you will be a long time regretting a few moments of ill-planned or over-zealous pruning.

• Don't remove too much all in one go as this will stimulate excessive amounts of sappy, weak and poorly placed new growth. Renovation of a mature tree is best carried out over a number of seasons

• Make clean cuts with sharp, clean tools leaving the cut face smooth and sloping so that water runs off the wound.

• Prunus family trees – plum, damson, cherry – are not pruned in Winter, but in mid-summer. This is done to reduce the risk of infection by silverleaf disease.

• You don't want to be constantly cutting back a shrub because you are trying to restrict it to a shape or size unsuited to its natural growth habit. Either replant the space with a more suitable species/variety or allow the existing specimen to fill the space in accordance with its natural growth habit.

Tom's Top Tips for November

Gardening tips for November from Tom the Gardener

Feed the birds

Food is relatively abundant for garden birds throughout the Autumn, with berries, seeds and insects a plenty. However life can become a great deal harsher this month as supplies start to dwindle, frosts hamper access to the ground and ice locks up drinking water. Hanging feeders with nuts, seeds and fat will attract blue tits, great tits, coal tits, long-tailed tits, greenfinches, goldfinches, chaffinches, sparrows and nuthatches, to name but a few. Loose feed – seeds, boiled rice, grated cheese, dried mealworms, fruit - scattered on a feeding surface such as a bird table will be accessible to ground feeders such as robins, dunnocks, blackbirds, thrushes, fieldfares and redwings. As well as putting out a regular supply of food and drinking water, take care to preserve the bounty provided naturally. Do not remove dead flower heads with seeds on – sunflower, cornflower, asters, fennel, lavender, honest, evening primrose, and cranesbill for example. Also bear in mind that pretty much all berries could be taken by the birds at some point in the Winter, so if one of your tasks in the coming months is to cut back shrubs and ground cover try not to remove any material that still has berries on it – honeysuckle, cotoneaster, hawthorn, dogrose, ivy and holly all supply useful berries.

Protection for over wintering beasties

Don't be too enthusiastic when tidying your garden or plot of the debris that has accumulated over recent weeks and months, such as fallen leaves, dead wood, dried flower stalks, stones and bricks. These are potential refuges for beneficial beasts seeking somewhere to hibernate or shelter from the worst excesses of the Winter.

• Logs, bricks, stones and slate offer shelter to insects such as ground beetles, rove beetles and centipedes, as well as hibernation sites for reptiles (frogs, newts, toads, even slow worms);

• Flower bugs and bumble bees will hibernate in the dry insulation of leaf litter;

• Lacewings and ladybirds hibernate inside the hollow remains of old flower stalks.

Take particular care if you are planning to turn or empty your compost heap; it will be hosting many beneficial insects, maybe the odd toad and possibly a slow worm. Similarly, take care if you are disturbing large piles of leaves and/or wood for here you might find a hedgehog or shrew.

Plant tulip bulbs
Most Spring-flowering bulbs should be planted already, the exception being tulips. Late planting – mid November – helps reduce damage by slugs and the fungal disease tulip fire.

Plant bare root trees and shrubs
Now is the perfect time to plant bare-root trees and shrubs bought from a nursery, or moved from a nursery bed where they were planted as cuttings last year. Following these few simple rules will give your plant the best possible start in its new home:

• Prepare a generous area, at least 3 feet diameter for a typical fruit tree, and dig in as much well rotted organic matter as reasonably possible (remember, this is the soil the tree will be sitting in for years to come, and it's your one and only chance to prepare it down at root level).

• Add a couple of handfuls of bonemeal to the hole.

• Plant at the same level that the tree grew at before (a tidemark from its previous location should be visible on the stem).

• Firm the soil down with your feet and then stake the tree.

Dig in manure and compost
Now's a good time to dig the soil and incorporate organic matter; beds and borders will be bare and the soil still workable. A few notes of caution however:

• don't dig if the soil is heavy and waterlogged as compaction with your feet can adversely affect the soil structure (not to mention the well-being of your back);

• minimize compaction by standing on a plank of wood, or something else that will help spread the load, as you dig;

• only dig if the soil has caused you problems in the growing season just gone - if the soil is already in good condition, with a good balance of organic matter and nutrients, and good drainage properties, then compost or manure can simply be applied as a surface mulch.

Sow hardy perennials and trees
If you have “caught the bug” for collecting and sowing your own seeds, then now is the time to sow tree seeds and many hardy perennials. This is because the seeds of these plants need to undergo the process of stratification - moistening, followed by sustained periods of cold and mild weather - to break their dormancy. Sow the collected seeds in trays or pots in a soil based seed compost, covered with a layer of compost equal in depth to 1 or 2 times the seed size. Finish with a thin layer of gravel (to keep in moisture). Label clearly and securely. The sown seeds then stay outside in an open frame for the Winter; all you have to do is make sure they stay moist but not waterlogged. Germination occurs in Spring, at which point the seedlings should be moved to a covered frame or cool greenhouse. Examples of trees that can be grown this way include holly, rowan birch, hazel, acer (including Japanese maple) and cotoneaster. Hardy perennials include hellebore, iris, perennial poppies, paeonia, primrose, gentian and trillium.

Check stored fruit and veg
Continue to make periodic checks through the produce you have stored, such as onions, pumpkins, potatoes and apples.

Net winter brassicas Over-wintering brassicas – purple sprouting broccoli, spring cabbage, kale, brussel sprouts, winter/spring cauliflowers – will become increasingly tempting to pigeons the longer the Winter goes on, and any netting that has afforded them protection thus far may become increasingly insufficient. Check for rips and make sure the net is secured all the way round the bottom.

Lay turf
Whether you're laying an entire lawn, putting in grass paths between beds, or making repairs to lawn edges, November is a good time to lay turf as the ground is still warm enough to allow the roots to get established but there is little risk of the turfs drying out.

Lawn mover care
This time of year lawn mowers go into the shed and won't be seeing the light of day again for 3 or 4 months. A little care now could save much frustration next year. Make sure exposed mechanisms and, in particular, the blades are dry; rub them with a light oil to stop rust setting in. If you have a petrol mower, don't leave any petrol in the tank.