What to do in the garden this month

• Still time to do a late “Chelsea Chop” to prune a wide range of border perennials by a third to produce more compact, neater plants with slightly smaller but more abundant flowers.
• Continue to snap off tomato side shoots as they appear.
• Thin out hardy annuals eg cornflowers, nigella and English marigolds, to around 30cms apart. More room means more light and more flowers.
• Tie in sweet peas and other annual climbers regularly.
• Keep weeding and deadheading!

Did you know?

Nasturtiums

Colourful, edible, butterfly-like nasturtium blossoms have delighted gardeners and cooks alike for centuries.   At different times in their history, they’ve been considered a vegetable, a herb, a flower, and even a fruit!   The name nasturtium comes from the Latin words for nose (nas), and tortum (twist), referring to a person’s reaction upon tasting the spicy, bittersweet leaves.    

Renaissance botanists named it after watercress, (Nasturtium officinale in Latin) to which it tastes similar.

The garden nasturtiums we grow today descend mainly from two species native to Peru.   The first, brought to Europe by Spanish conquistadors in the late 15th to early 16th century, was Tropaeolum minus, a semi-trailing vine bearing spurred, lightly scented orange-yellow flowers with dark red spots on the petals and shield-shaped leaves.   According to Jesuit missionaries, the Incas used nasturtiums not only as a salad vegetable but also as a medicinal herb.   They used the leaves as a tea to treat coughs, colds and the flu, as well as menstrual and respiratory difficulties. Being high in vitamin C, nasturtiums act as a natural antibiotic, and as such were used topically as a poultice for minor cuts and scratches.  In the late 17th century, a Dutch botanist introduced the taller, more vigorous Tropaeolum majus, a trailing vine with darker orange flowers and more rounded leaves.   Since Spanish and Dutch herbalists shared seeds with their counterparts, the pretty, fragrant and easy-to-grow plants quickly became widespread throughout around Europe and Britain.

Nasturtiums were commonly known in Europe as Indian Cress or a translation of “Capucine cress”, in reference to the flower shape, which resembles Capucine monks’ hooded robes.   Nasturtiums’ ornamental value was also appreciated: flowers were used in nosegays, and planted to adorn trellises or cascade down stone walls.   They became especially popular after being displayed in the palace flowerbeds of French king Louis XIV.

Over the course of the 19th century, breeders produced smaller, more compact types that mounded neatly into containers or formed a colourful, less sprawling edge to flower beds. The development of cultivars such as Empress of India, paralleled the gradual shift in the perception of nasturtiums from edible and herbal garden mainstays to viewing them as ornamental landscape plants.   Monet let large swaths ramble along the border of the pathway that led to the front door of his home in Giverny.

Nasturtiums are a gardener’s dream. They are virtually care free once established and as a bonus snails don’t seem to be interested in them!

Sources: 

https://www.sallybernstein.com/food/columns/gilbert/nasturtiums.htm

https://nasturtiums.wordpress.com/2008/10/31/a-brief-history-of-nasturtiums/

Christmas greenery, straight from the garden

What could be more lovely than stepping out on a cold and frosty morning to pick home-grown Christmas greenery, straight from the garden? Graham Rice offers some expert plant suggestions.

It used to be that the only option for holiday greenery in the home was the Christmas tree, along with holly and ivy. Now everything’s changed, and very definitely for the better.

Today an increasing range of attractive evergreen alternatives for decorative foliage is available to use in wreaths, in table decorations and in long-lasting seasonal arrangements. And the great thing about so many of these alternatives is that you can grow them yourself at home. Here are ten options.

Numbers at the end of each entry refer to plant height and RHS hardiness rating.

Source: https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/articles/graham-rice/shrubs-and-climbers/grow-your-own-christmas-greenery