I love growing plants from seeds and delight in watching their stems and leaves unfurl from the soil in almost a time-lapse way. However, in order to have seeds we need bees! You can see where the saying ‘Busy Bees’ came from – you just have to watch them flit from flower to flower. In my spring garden bees first home in on the flowers of the bay tree and then move onto the echiums and as those flowers fade, they move upwards to the wisteria and make it come alive with their humming. Meanwhile, other bees flit from flower to flower in the orchard ensuring a wonderful crop of fruits for us to enjoy later.
Bees are crucial to our existence as well so we must work harder to protect and preserve them by growing the sort of plants that they like. The ironic thing is that bees are not out there pollinating our food intentionally; they’re out there because they need to eat! Bees get all of the protein they need in their diet from pollen and all of the carbohydrates they need from nectar. They’re flower-feeders, and as they move from flower to flower in the garden they provide us with this valuable pollination service.
It is possible to pollinate plants yourself – rose growers, for instance, o this by brushing the rose pollen from the stamen of one plant to the pistil of another, the seeds of which, after some years of nurturing in the nursery, may produce an exciting new variety. Not to get too technical about it all, the stamen is the pollen-producing male organ of a flower, while the stigma, style and ovary are the female organs. Bees perform their job naturally without outside help and are nature’s best pollinators, along with butterflies of course. Flowers have adapted their shape, colours and scents through evolution to attract pollinators, and bees prefer yellow, blue and ultra-violet colours.
They are also responsible for much of the food on our plates, which is vital for agriculture to survive. In fact, one third of our global food supply is pollinated by bees, which helps to keep plants and crops alive. It is a well-known fact that hundreds of bee hives are transported across America in the spring time in order to pollinate the vast almond orchards in California, as there are just not enough bees there to sustain that industry. Almonds are California’s most valuable export crop, producing around 1.5 million tons of nuts annually. Without bees, humans wouldn’t have very much to eat, so they are very important to our well-being and welcome visitors to our gardens
What to do in the garden this month
There is one major spring job left to do and that is to give the fruit and nut trees their last feed until December. Lots of fresh leaf growth is appearing now and this needs some nitrogen to help it along, so for large trees scatter three mugs of 20.10.10 fertiliser between the trunk of the tree and the tree canopy. For young trees one mug is enough. You may have to water the fertiliser in this time. With all that attractive juicy foliage around, bugs appear daily in their search for food and will descend upon your trees with a vengeance and you may find green flies and black flies attacking the leaves and stems. Later on, that other menace the Asian Citrus Leaf Miner will appear. The little egg, having been laid earlier by a moth, turns into a grub and burrows its way into the leaf, leaving an unsightly mess and distorting it. Spraying will not make any difference here – it is the moth that has to be dealt with, but that opportunity has passed. Remove any citrus fruits that remain on the trees as they will attract Mediterranean fruit flies, which can also be a nuisance. You will have seen the yellow sticky cards that hang amid the branches, which are a slightly safer way than spraying.
In my garden we don’t grow prunus trees any more as they were all affected by bacterial canker but around now Peach Leaf Curl may appear on the trees when the leaves become distorted and blistered. This will cause the leaves to fall prematurely and may mean that the fruit set is poor. The treatment is usually spraying 50ml of Cuproxat, a copper-based fungicide, mixed in ten litres of water, onto the leaves as the flower buds start to swell, and then again two weeks later, as long as the flowers haven’t opened. Take care when spraying and wear eye protection and gloves, and wash skin thoroughly afterwards. If you have had this problem before, then it might be an idea to spray again in the autumn. Some gardeners protect their fruit trees with bands around the trunk during the winter.
Weeding and dead heading are ongoing jobs and osteospermum flower heads especially go over almost every day. They flower for such a long time that eventually some of the plants become weakened and straggly, so look for new growth towards the bottom of the stems and cut back to there. This will give them a new lease of life and you may get some new flowers appearing before it becomes too hot. Sweet peas need picking daily too, as once they start to set seed they won’t put out any more flower stems. Their season is very short here, but glorious while the flowers last.
Carissa and plumbago flowers will be emerging now and as they come into bloom, the rosemarys and lavenders go over and may need a trim to remove the dead heads. If you have grown those bright shrubs which herald spring, like medicago and winter jasmine, then prune them back now.
Tomato and lettuce plugs are readily available in garden centres, so just buy a few at a time or you will have a glut of produce all at once. Sweet corn is another good crop but should be planted in a grid as they are wind pollinated. There is such a wonderful choice of plugs, mostly raised by Solomou Garden Centre in Nisou, which you can plant at any time of the year. It certainly removes the hit and miss that comes with seed sowing. Some veggies like carrots, beetroot, peas and beans still have to be sown straight into the ground though. They need to be thinned out as they grow, to allow the strongest to grow to maturity.
Plant of the Month Wisteria sinensis
Wisteria sinensis (Chinese Wisteria) is a woody, long-lived perennial climber and there are some known to
have lived for over 100 years. This wonderful plant first introduced into England and America in the early 19th century, is one the most popular climbers grown in many countries today. The easiest way to tell if you have a Chinese or Japanese wisteria is the way that the vines twist. Chinese tendrils grow in a counter-clockwise direction while the Japanese grow clockwise. When buying a wisteria from a garden centre ensure that it is showing big fluffy buds or even flowers, which proves the plant has reached the flowering stage. This can be a very long period, sometimes seven years or even more if grown from seed.
Over time, the plant may reach about 20-30 metres, aided by the twining tendrils which will latch on to any support. The trunk will eventually become very thick and strong, necessary to support all the top branches and leaves. The very fragrant, lavender-purple, pea-like flowers hang in clusters up to 30cm long, and appear before the leaves. As with many other climbers, the roots should grow in shade but the heads should be able to enjoy the sun to bring out the best of the flowers. Wisteria is a heavy feeder and needs to be mulched around the root area with lots of organic matter. Grown over a sturdy pergola or along wires at the front of a house, it can become a wonderful feature, and why would you want to hide this beauty away – let everyone enjoy it. Wisteria may flower a second time after the leaves have formed, but there will not be as many flowers as the first blooming.
Watch out for attacks of black flies on the new shoots in early spring and treat accordingly. Some pruning is required in late winter when all shoots can be cut back to two or three buds and any dead stem-ends removed. This seems quite severe but good advice. In summer, wisteria sometimes sends out new stems from the base, which may produce roots if they touch the ground. It is best to remove them as they occur. Propagation is by the huge flat seeds produced in hard pods in late summer that should be soaked before sowing.
Be careful when handling wisteria as all parts can cause nausea or vomiting if ingested.
