Spring in the garden, greenhouse and vegetable patch is in full swing!

The potatoes recommended in the February edition of this column are doing well, in fact they defy any attempt of heaping up by pushing their green shoots through the soil within a day or two.

This brings me to results on liquid feeds published recently: trials have shown that regular feeding is definitely worthwhile, with top marks ( for performance at a reasonable price) going to ‘Miracle-Grow‘ all purpose concentrated plant food and ‘Westland boost‘.

You may have been wondering if money could be saved by re-using the compost in your summer patio pots.

A recent trial provides some guidance: whilst the plants in new compost did marginally better, reused compost for a second year also gave good results, especially if pots were emptied and compost stored in a dry environment during the previous winter. In this trial, all the pots received controlled release feed, without which the results may have been different for re used compost. Compost was seen to have rotted down over time, becoming compacted with reduced drainage, so re-using compost for a third year was not recommended.

This makes the Savvy Gardener wonder if fresh compost wasn’t the cheaper option after all, and it was pleasing to find that the best performing peat free compost from the February trial is now available in a garden centre south of Singleton (as the crow flies..)

Harvesting and cooking with fresh herbs is part of the enjoyment of summer for the Savvy Gardener, and this month a trial of herbs grown from seed was published. Most keen gardening cooks (or should that be cooking gardeners?)have their favourite perennial herbs in a pot or herb border, but results on the annual ones are noteworthy:
As commonly known, parsley is tricky to germinate, taking up to six weeks, and pouring boiling water over the seeds first made no difference to the rate or speed of germination. If you have found other ways of germinating parsley successfully, the Savvy Gardener would be pleased to hear!! A way around the problem is of course to buy a pot from a supermarket and plant it up. More expensive of course than buying seed, but at least you are guaranteed to get a parsley plant!

Coriander is another problem herb. Whilst it germinates fast , it also flowers quickly, sets seed and dies, especially in hot dry weather.
Several varieties of coriander were trialled, and interestingly the one called ‚slow bolt‘ flowered even earlier than the better known ‚calypso‘.
Repeat showings may be best for a continuous supply of leaves, but good results were also reported from seed sewn under glass in September. These showings grew slower, but did not flower, giving a longer supply of leaves.

Another contender in the ‘grow fast bolt quickly‘ group is basil. The trial showed that small leaved ‘Pluto‘ was much slower to bolt than ‘Genovese‘, and the Savvy Gardener has had similarly good results with ‘Aristotle‘. In addition, the small leaved varieties make a lovely green mound, which look very attractive in a pot or border.

The Savvy Gardener hopes you found the musings interesting, and would welcome any words of wisdom you could add. Enjoy the garden!