Orto di Casa Cecconi – Page 9 – My first allotment, and then one thing leading to another…

Monday, 13 October 2014

Nothoscordum borbonicum

Nothoscordum borbonicum

Only one weed is considered obnoxious at RHS Garden Wisley, and that is honeybells or onion weed (Nothoscordum borbonicum).

It is spreading in the fan borders and the fruit garden, so I have had the opportunity to weed it out a few times in the last couple of weeks, so I’ve become familiar with it.

Easily detached bulbils surround the main bulb

It is quite a successful weed as the main bulb is surrounded by tiny bulbils that break away as soon as the soil is disturbed: some are white and better visible but others are shrouded in a brown papery cover that merges easily with the background; it is very difficult to remove them all, unless a soil clump comes away with the bulb and you don’t break it.

Leaves

Despite belonging to the Alliaceae family, Nothoscordum does not carry the tell-tale scent, but the white, bell-like flowers with greenish bases and brownish marks across the petals, are fragrant, hence the common name honeybells.

The leaves are straplike, flat and slightly concave in section, with fine longitudinal veins.

Seedlings

Seedling

Seedlings do their best to disguise themselves as grass, from which they are almost indistinguishable above ground, but the bulbils with rather long white rootlets are easily identified.

It’s just a matter of getting up close and personal.
Friday, 10 October 2014

Crop of the week: grapes
As part of our coursework our teams ask us trainees to study specific crops in more details, so that we learn:
- some general information about the plant and how it is grown;
- available and recommended cultivars, including any with an Award of Garden Merit (AGM);
- common pest and diseases and how to deal with them.
As the department SOC I have been asked to coordinate this exercise, then, fortnightly, we will get an hour or so to discuss the chosen crop with an expert in our department. As we are three trainees, each of us will take it in turns to report back on each of the three aspects of crop growing mentioned above.

As this week we were planning a team grape picking day (to strip the vineyard ready to send the grapes to Plumpton College that makes RHS wine for us), we decided to have Vitis spp as our “crop of the week”, and I worked on the cultivars section. The exercise was very interesting and among the most interesting things I learnt were:
- the grapes we cultivate for fruit, in the family Vitaceae, are grouped in two main species: Vitis vinifera (the so-called European vines, not very cold hardy and prone to pest and diseases given their long history in cultivation) and Vitis lambrusca (among others, the North American vines, hardier and stronger) and their interspecific hybrids;
- hybridisation with resistant US was prompted in the second half of the 19th century when a plague of pest phylloxera, Daktulosphaira vitifoliae, (accidentally introduced from the US*) decimated vineyards in Europe, that had no defence against them; incidentally V. lambrusca, is only resistant to the leaf-infesting form of the pest, not the root-affecting one, which damaged vineyards the worst; some European varieties that survived attacks from the pest, and remain ungrafted, are now considered a niche of connoisseur’s “pre-phylloxera” wine grapes;
- a vineyard pest new to me: the Spotted Wing Drosophila (or SWD, binomial name Drosophila suzukii), unlike other fruit flies deposits eggs in healthy fresh fruit, and once the larvae hatch, they cause primary damage that facilitates access to other pests and diseases. More information on this pest is available from all agricultural extensions of US Universities, like Cornell Fruit or Michigan State University IPM and, specifically for the UK, by Horticultural Development Company (HDC) which specialises in near-market research for the industry;
- RHS Garden Wisley grows in excess of a 100 cultivars of Vitis, as part of a collection of outdoor and indoor grapes, plus a vineyard used to make RHS wine and stocked with over 750 plants of Vitis ‘Phoenix’ (for the bulk of the wine) and ‘Orion’ (for flavour) that have now been in place for some 10 years;
Vineyard: double Guyot
- the vineyard plants are trained according to the double Guyot system: the leader is cut at about 15 cm from the ground, to 1-2 strong buds (in order to build up the root system). A new leader, from a strong shoot, is then trained until it reaches about 60 cm from the ground. From then on 3 strong shoots will be grown on: 2 will be trained and tied to the lowest horizontal wires of a post and wire system with 3 lines at about 90, 120 and 150 cm. These will form the cropping arms for the current year, which will send up vertical shoots to be tied to the higher wires. The 3rd shoot, is pruned back to 3 strong buds and its sideshoots will form the arms for future years;
- the vineyard is managed with weed control and regular pruning of the canopy in the summer, plus a feeding and spraying programme to control Botrytis, on instructions from our fruit specialist; it is pruned in December and tied down in early spring.
Picking: ‘Phoenix’ grape

Picking: ‘Orion’ grape

The grape picking day saw all the team mobilised, but we did not take much time to strip all the trees as this year has not been a good year for grapes at RHS Garden Wisley, especially not the ‘Phoenix’ cultivar, while ‘Orion’ fared better.

‘Phoenix’ affected by Botrytis

I grow ‘Phoenix’ at home, and my grapes seemed to fare rather well this year (in rather different conditions, including heavy chalky soil rather than sandy).

Is it a matter of soil conditions, of general growing conditions (for obvious reasons more pests and diseases concentrate where a wider range of plants are cultivated more intensively, of scale of production, of orchard management?

I am now intrigued to compare and understand further, so I will be following developments in the orchard really carefully, and look forward to working with my colleagues who specialise in grapes growing.

*an interesting article on the pest was published in the US magazine Popular Science Monthly in May 1874 (reproduced on Wikisource)
Wednesday, 8 October 2014

An area all of my own in the Model Fruit Garden
I was offered to take charge of an area in the Model Fruit Garden that needs some redevelopment as a cottage garden. It is an exciting, though slightly daunting (as I have never done a large scale design before), project!

My manager will offer me a small budget to acquire some plants and one day a week to take care of it after my initial induction into the team. In the meantime, it needs weeding and autumn clearing, pruning of the stepover apple trees and drawing up a plan of (as I could not find one that was detailed enough for me to work with). I also need to compile a list of seeds I would like to sow, as I they could be available in our members’ seed scheme department or they might come in as a donation to the RHS (which is a charity).

Anyway, today, I managed to spend the day in my area even if I’m still in my induction, as it is quite a prominent space in the garden and it needs autumn tidy up, so I pruned the stepover apples, cut back the spent Geraniums (which will regrow fresh leaves), and spent the rest of the time digging out last year’s meadow, which was not looking good any longer.

We had discussed how best to carry that out, as the meadow is 4.5m by 4.5m with a recently planted apple tree in the middle. My manager had suggested we mowed, sprayed and then raked away the dead plant material. However, I never think of spraying as the first option, as my background is in organic gardening: I said the way I would do it was by digging it out by hand. We evaluated the possibility of doing half the bed one way and the other half the other way, to assess which one would be the most effective practice. However, the week being a wet one, it was not ideal spraying weather, so we went forward with the digging it out plan for the whole meadow.

The mowing, spraying and raking had been estimated as 3 hours’ work, so, with that in mind, I timed myself over the day.

Starting on the meadow

Over midway through the job

It took me 4.5 hours to clear the space, mainly with a handfork (especially as the apple tree is still establishing), composting all the plant material and tidying up the bed and surrounding gravel.

At the end of the day

Lissotriton vulgaris

Everyone was pleased with the result, and over the day I got to find a common newt (Lissotriton vulgaris), and two of the weeds that would come up later in the day, after work, in our fortnightly plant ID exercise!

That is also one of the reasons why I like hand weeding: you get to know the plants you have to deal with, which is great for a range of reasons:
- you understand weeds and how to deal with them (those with rhizomes like couch grass Elymus repens or perennial nettle Urtica dioica, or and that regrow from leftovers of the ttaproot like dandelion Taraxacum officinale require a totally different treatment from those that can be just hoed away, like annual nettle Urtica urens)
- you learn about plants and their ways to thrive and reproduce, which, for me, is an essential bonus… cannot personally understand how botany has disappeared from the UK curriculum. Weeds often also harbour pests and diseases, so if you are inquisitive enough you get to know those too. Who says that weeding is an unskilled job?!?
- some weeds are simply beautiful, or even useful, and knowing them does trigger my curiosity to try them, like it happened with dandelion and nettles which I have included in my diet in the last few years: they are cheap and nutritious greens.
Coronopus didymus

Juncus effusus

The two weeds I got to learn today, which I had never seen before (as I worked in different soils and areas of the country) but that will never forget about now were Coronopus didymus, lesser swine cress of the family Brassicaceae and Juncus effusus, soft rush of the family Juncaceae (good to remember Rushes are round and sedges have edges).
Tuesday, 7 October 2014

The London Harvest Festival

All the team went up to London in shifts over the last couple of days to showcase our apples at the London Harvest Festival, held at the RHS Lindley Hall.

The Festival revolves around the RHS Fruit & Vegetable Competition, which everyone can enter with their lovingly tended produce, and compete on the traditional criteria of size and uniformity.

Around the competition, however, a range of produce and products that are all about flavour and diversity: stands of gourmet food and drinks, heritage seed for sale, and – of course – Wisley apples (and fruit identification sessions).

Our job for the day was to core and slice apples from the orchard, and offer them for tasting to the visitors, who had the opportunity to buy them. It was the first time I had tasted so many different apples, in the attempt to remember their flavour to advise the customer, and they were irresistible!

I found that my favourite one at the end of the day was a cooking apple: tasty Bedfordshire Foundling, a cultivar that dates back to 1800 and whose looks have made it into History, and I mean the Natural History Museum, where it appears on a glyphograph.

When we display fruits at events, they come accompanied with a card describing them: their origin, flavour, their season of keeping in storage, and the pollination group, that is the time of flowering (as most apples are self-infertile, you need at least 2 varieties flowering at the same or at least partly overlapping time, in the vicinity, for pollination to lead to fruit set – 3 varieties if the apple cultivar is triploid). So here is how the card would look like for my favourite apple: the best sources for researching apples, and the ones I used for my card, are the National Fruit Collection, website Orange Pippin, and of course specialist nurseries that sell the variety (in this case Keepers Nursery).

Cultivar: Bedfordshire foundling
Origin: Thought to have originated in Bedfordshire, England in about 1800
Season: Oct-Dec
Pollination group: 3
Notes: Large, round fruit. Orange-red flush over yellowish green skin. Cream coloured flesh with a rich sweet-sharp flavour. Fruits are firm, juicy, a little coarse-textured and subacid. Cooks well.
Friday, 3 October 2014

Chervil (Anthriscus cerefolium)

One of the plugs we planted

I have never tasted chervil, not consciously (although I read it is the main ingredient of French fines herbes and bouquet garni). Nor have I ever tried to grow it, so it would be fair to say I had no knowledge of the plant at all when I was asked to plant out some plugs today. I assumed it would be, like all Apiaceae, a rather tall plant, with white umbels as flowers.

My colleague said they liked firm soil, so I shouldn’t dig too big a hole for them, which I was careful about. But otherwise, I treated it like I do any other seedling. Having never received much practical gardening training I guess I developed my own ways, good or bad, even if I always try to improve them as I learn more about plants and techniques.

It turned out I may have planted the plugs too low and pressed the soil down rather than around the sides. It also turned out that Anthriscus is rather sensitive to root disturbance and my colleague was worried I might have caused a check in growth. I really hope not, and the various books I consulted tonight make no particular warning about careful handling, but maybe it’s just taken for granted, and I will keep an eye on the plants, and surely be more careful in the future with planting requirements.

In the process of learning I got told a very memorable story on planting that applies to lettuce: too loo it won’t grow, too high it will die. However, as I was reading about lettuces, I think that may have originated from instructions for dealing with cut-and-come-again leaves as cutting them too low into the crown will cause them to take a long time to grow back (it is the same with grass and overgrazing) while too high might cause them to rot and die (very much like the dying back of snags when you prune badly).

In any case, this made me research the plant, which has been used as a culinary herb and salad leaf since Roman times (when it was introduced to Britain) for its delicate aniseed flavour, which does not withstand drying or long cooking (freezing is the best way to preserve it). It has also medicinal properties as a tonic: it contains vitamin C, carotene, iron and magnesium.

An established chervil plant

Chervil likes a well draining, moist soil in partial shade best and bolts easily in sunny weather (some
grow it in between rows of other plants that may shade it). A hardy plant (to about -10C), it can be sown late for winter leaves, especially when protected. We were planting it out in the herb garden because it will provide useful light-green and feathery ground cover over winter, with its low growing habit. It is said to be a good companion plant for radishes, which it makes hotter, and for lettuces, which it may protect from ants, aphids and slugs.

Seed of Anthriscus cerefolium is not viable for long, only about a year, and the plant may suffer from greenfly. Named cultivars are available, ‘D’Hiver de Bruxelles’ for example is mentioned in the RHS Plant Finder, and there’s a curly leaf form of no particular culinary value.
Thursday, 2 October 2014

The reciprocating mower
I had never used a sickle mower with reciprocating blades before, and as they were cutting a small patch of meadow grass my team leader briefly showed me how to use it and let me have a go: an impromptu learning opportunity that I really appreciated.

As most mowers, this one was also a four stroke engine, which means you have your lubricating oil separated from the fuel, which makes the exhaust less polluting and also means you have oil amongst your pre-start checks.

The machine had already been checked, and the engine was warm, so no priming needed. I got an explanation on the handles:
- to the left, with a safety catch, the red handle to engage the blades
- to the right, the handle to engage the wheels and the throttle control
Blades handle

Throttle control

Wheels handle

With the throttle on 3/4 to start, I had the honour to pull the recoil start cord.

Because it was not self-propelled, the machine was a little heavier to use, but not too unwieldy.

However, as the grass was wet from a morning shower, I soon found out one of the weak points of reciprocating blades (one of the oldest technology and the one still used in hedge trimmers): they get clogged rather easily. Nothing that cannot be solved with a bit of reversing, though, and I am told they are quite good on dry, long grass.
Wednesday, 1 October 2014

Trained apples and pears
This has been an unusual summer, dry and warm and apples and pears have not started growing until very recently, that is why summer pruning had not been done before in the fruit garden.

But as it’s now October, and the new shoots have stiffened at their tips (previously sappy growth), it was finally time to prune them back. We worked on apples trained on arches, oblique cordon apple and pears and some stepover apples.

We applied the following criteria:
- looking for new growth that was longer than secateur lenght (as stems that are shorter usually bear fruiting buds so must be kept), we traced it back to the bud scale scars, which usually have a cluster of leaves just above them, named the basal cluster
Bud scale scar with basal cluster
- laterals (not very many of these present, but they could be described as new growth from a dormant bud on the main stem) were cut back to 3 leaves above the basal cluster, to give them a chance to put up secondary growth, making them more robust
- sub-laterals (or fruiting spurs) were cut back to 1 leaf above the basal cluster, to keep the tree compact and tidy (some pears had rather thin sub-laterals, which we treated like laterals to encourage thickening).
Training restricted forms of apples and pears like this helps:
- to encourage fruit buds (in the picture below, you can see a short spur with a tip bud developed where the new growth was cut to one leaf above the basal cluster, together with a fruit bud lower down)
Fruit buds from previous pruning
- to let the sun in to ripen the fruits (particularly if, unlike this year, leafy growth stops before the fruits are ripe)
- to have decorative and compact, as well as productive fruit trees.
While summer pruning restricts growth, winter pruning encourages it: some of these tree will need some over winter, to bring back laterals that have grown too unwieldy and encourage new growth to keep plants productive and to remove damaged stems (like the ones in the picture below, damaged by stem sap-suckers woolly aphid, Eriosoma lanigerum – incidentally, earwigs, Forficula auricularia, are natural predators of the aphids and encouraged in the orchard).

Knobbly stem, woolly aphids’ damage