Growing for something new.

It is at this time of year, every year, that people say 'I expect it's getting quieter for you now?'
Frankly it couldn't be further from the truth.

I am in the enviable position of being a grower retailer that has control of both the stock I order in and the stock I grow. This has advantages in abundance.

I can grow the crop so know if it is easy or difficult as a young plant, and I can explain why we don't grow things that people think are fabulous. It also means that I get the opportunity to learn from my mistakes. There are more advantages but this is the one that, this year, stuck in my mind as one of the best.

Choosing next year's crop is a long job but one which is very fulfilling. I get to look at the stock we grew this year and in previous years, and a new list of plants; and I get to blend the two to produce a mixture of stunning, understated, practical, ridiculous or simply popular plants for people to enjoy.

What I am trying to explain is that I get to try a little of everyone's pallette and to add some unusal things in 'just because', and all I have to do is convince my staff and the customers who seek my advice that these plants are the best.

Retailers all over the country would groan at the prospect, but to me it is the easiest thing imagineable. I chose it because it was the best of a selection of colours; I grew it because I know it won't struggle and cost the world to get a finished plant; and I put it on a bench for sale because I knew it is worthy of a place in any border or pot. It is not because a model in skimpy pants told you it's good and it's not because a boxer told you it would grow as well as he fights. It is purely and simply that it is a terrific plant.

I recently listened to a talk by Pat Fitzgerald (Fitzgerald Nurseries) about plants and plant use and how it is down to growers and retailers to focus their plant stock at the spaces available. I know it sounds basic common sense, but for years we have ignored it and just grown the same as we did last year.

Landscapers and architects are also to blame for getting too comfortable with the pallette they are using and, because of customer feedback, are frightened to chance a new variety even though the promise is massive. For example: the most likely Geranium to be seen out and about is 'Johnson's Blue'. Don't get me wrong, it is a blinder but as I thumbed through a hundred plus varieties yesterday evening I wondered how it had remained on top for so long.

I still know landscapers whose staple is Cotoneaster horizontalis or Hypericum 'Hidcote'. Grasses must not step out of line either - in that Stipa gigantea and Festuca glauca still list high.

You can't throw caution to the wind and abandon all the favourites but you could try and break out with some crackers. With the new breeding that is available, more of the new varieties should be out there rubbing shoulders with 'Johnsons Blue' and Festuca glauca.  Be a bit Victorian - find something new!

To Jubilee or not to Jubilee

If you have followed my blog you will know that the nursery trade has been a little steady this spring. For this reason imagine how the little burst of warm weather and the apparent lifting of grumpy faces towards the fiery, gaseous swirling ball of heat we worship and adore affected us at the nursery. People started to buy barbeques and adopt Australian accents and a love of crustacea. Bedding plants that had been scorned were stacked so high that all you could see was a hairdo pushing a trolley, and the sustainable teak forests were being bought up wholesale to adorn the slabbed runway that we all know as 'patio'.

So yes, sales have improved and the faces of managers and owners alike have lightened from an ever darkening grey to a flustered pink. This is not remarkable or interesting but what is, is the fact that we could not supply the whole country with red white and blue.
'So what?' I hear you say. 'They just couldn't plant up the place'. Well this is the remarkable thing. My love of all things British stems from a nations ability to make do and say 'it's not red but it's a very dark pink.'

I have, for a number of years, wondered if this was gone - this concept that we can create something more wonderful from 'not-quite-rights' than we would if we had exactly what we need. People bought what was available and spent some time talking to staff about how they could use it. Things were purchased that never sell because they aren't the norm, which instantly put a smile on my face. Most importantly we had very few miserable customers. They were, for the most part, happy to wait in that true British way and they didn't complain when the queue was jumped (except to mutter gently to a partner that it really wasn't the done thing) and overall they were enjoying themselves.

What made this year so different? Well, the weather made life pretty dull for a fairly long time this year and because we all had to wait for Mother Nature and not some snotty nosed assistant there was no one to blame and we had to get on with it. We also have the promise of the jubilee and the olympics that stretch over a long enough period that there is the prospect of good weather at some point.

I know that some people don't get on with the concept of a royal family and I also know that some people don't care too much for sport but in a year that is so full and special for Britain lets take one chance in time to enjoy it for what it is without too much discussion. For my money, if it could be like this every year and we sell a little less I would be happy. In truth I think it would only serve to help sales but that's not the point. The point is I love a happy Britain that is willing to change and adapt whether it be a new plant or a different curry. Go on - be a bit British!

The veritable merits of training your plums and maybe a nice pear.

I consider myself fortunate in that I have lots of space to grow fruit and veg without being too restricted by my boundries. Having said this, I love trained fruit and the formal soldier-like rows of veg in a well maintained and thought out veggie plot.

As a nurseryman I spend a lot of time getting plants to do what I want when I want them to and in a space that I dream about being double the size. So many people are in the same position as me, the basic difference being it's home and not work.

You want it to look beautiful or neat, or both, and with so much emphasis put on 'grow your own' there is also the expectation that it should produce wonderful veg and flowers. These expectations are the same with me and although the approach is different the basic concepts are the same.

If you have a limited garden space make sure you use your walls and fences productively. Espaliers, Fans and Cordons are a brilliant way to get a massive volume of fruit whilst using very little of your garden's precious floor space. This is especially important if you have kids or dogs as they will only congratulate you by pruning with a football or finding the tree as appealing as a lampost for peeing against. (I point out here that the children prune and the dog pees just in case there is any misunderstanding).

Pruning is once a year on trained fruit and it is, to me, one of the most relaxing passtimes you could have. Be mindful that the range of fruit found ready trained is more limited than that of bush fruit but if you are brave you can take a maiden (term for 1 year old grafts not Guinevere) and turn it into whatever shape you like if time doesn't worry you. Make sure that your rootstock is correct and the variety is spur bearing not tip bearing.

These all seem like strange terms if you aren't used to them but a quick google search or visit to a garden centre or nursery with knowledgeable staff will have all of these questions answered usually with  a trained fruit tree in front of you so it all makes sense on a practical level. If you decide to visit the nursery ask for myself or David and we will happily explain as little or as much as you feel you would like to know.

It is worth knowing what fruit will suit which style of train so I have listed them below:

Espalier

Apples
Pears


Fan

Stone fruit (Peach, Nectarine, Plum, Damson, Cherries)
Apples
Pears

Stepover

Apple
Pear

There are other ways in which to save space when producing fruit. The obvious is to use a cordon or minarette tree to form a column of fruit in a border or parterre but remember that ripe colouful fruit requires a good aount of sunlight so don't grow things through them or right up the stems.

The second way is to use stepover fruit as a border to beds and veg plots. Stepovers are effectively the first tier of a an espalier designed to show the border off but demarking a boundary at the same time.

There is a lot to explore with trained fruit, including u-cordons and candelabra trains. As always remember that a garden is trial and error and should predominantly be a pleasure to undertake. Yes there is some hard work but the effort will reap rewards, especially with fruit.

Garden grumble.............not really

I am a nurseryman and as such am prone to complain about everything that prevents me producing what I consider 'the perfect crop'. So I have, for the past couple of months, had the perfect foil with which to carve a really miserable grumble into my days.

I can honestly say, however, it has been the opposite for me this year. Yes, I have sold less than I would like and I have tunnels full of plants that really need to go out but I have had the time to spend getting that crop to it's best and I haven't had to make any compromises. I have potfulls of rooted bulk standard plants and an incredible selection of plants that are very unusual and they have all had much more time than they would ordinarily have had.

I now need to sell them but that is a minor detail because the plants are great. They will sell themselves and my customers will get much more than they bargained for. We never sell bad plants but I do feel that sometimes one more feed or a touch more picking over would just finish the plant to a higher standard. With Chelsea just around the corner I feel this more than ever and I hope that the weather hasn't made things more difficult for the exhibitors.

The other thing that I am pleased about is that I have given my customers more time. It is very easy when things are hectic to organise the plants for customers and get them out, without really talking to your customers about where they feel the plant market is or should be going. I am now stocking some lines I didn't and selling them. In this case a little more conversation a little less action is certainly proving beneficial to the nursery and the customers that shop here.

We hold regular open days for our trade customers and by talking to them about why we grow in a particular way or why it's best to buy Bay from Belgium and Photinia from Italy.  It has allowed a really good relationship to build up based on the experience of grower and landscaper.

I always try to look on the bright side and, as I was building my ark and drawing up my list of worthwhile animals to save, it felt as though I may not find that optimism for the year. I did find that, in time I didn't really want, I had the oppotunity to improve some things I didn't know needed my attention.

I could do with some dry weather now but I have in a round about way really enjoyed the wet.