You can already feel a nip in the air this week as temperatures fall away to single digits and all of a sudden it is feeling very autumnal. And if we are feeling it then young plants outdoors are feeling it too, so it’s time to get them prepared for the colder months ahead to give them the best shot at making it.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Well, good morning. It's cold and hot weather again after a beautiful week of weather here
00:18in the North West. Well, good morning. It's cold and hot weather again after a beautiful
00:29week of really sunny weather. It's now late September and it's a bit of a race against
00:36time now over the next few weeks to get everything potted up to give it the best protection for
00:41the winter to come. These are all young seedlings. These ones are pheasant's eye, kind of unusual
00:48plant. Native to Ireland, but I've read that they're endangered and their white light flowers
00:57come up, shoot them up in spring. The seeds germinated. This is the second tree I've worked
01:02with. They germinated very well. I'll take you around the tree in a while. I've got probably
01:09hundreds of seedlings for the spring. These are some others. This is Columbine Aquilegia.
01:20This is Candelary Bells as well. So these are biennials. These are perennials, so they
01:26should come back every year. These will flower hopefully either next spring or next summer.
01:34They're quite small. This is the third different type of these I've planted. These ones are
01:38single. I have cup and saucer ones as well and the double, which are just like two sets
01:46of flower petals. And the other thing I'm doing today is this one which I'll do now
01:52is they're known as Chinese lanterns. I was hoping to get them up for Halloween. These
01:59have been in here for far too long, but you can see the root on that. These are perennials
02:06as well. You can't put them in the ground because they spread under the ground. Like
02:10a lot of eastern plants from the eastern part of the world, they actually can become invasive.
02:19But they produce little almost airy pumpkin like seed pods and then they turn skeletal
02:27then. So we'll see how they come on anyway. I doubt they'll be up in time for Halloween,
02:32but we can but try. I'll get some of them and I don't need a lot of these so I won't
02:38be dumping a lot of them. I'm just potting them on these smaller pots and I've been doing
02:45that with a lot of things. Last week was brilliant for getting stuff done. It's probably the
02:52equivalent of our summer to be honest. It's such a rubbish summer weather-wise here. Very
02:59wet, very cold as well. But it doesn't seem to affect a lot of the plants now. In fact
03:06some of them really preferred it. Hydrangeas and more thirsty plants seem to really, really
03:19thrive in the colder weather. These are really well developed, the root systems on them look
03:25like. Maybe they will come on faster than I thought they might. Some of the other things
03:37I've been growing from seed and potting up are some cold hardy plants like Delphoniums.
03:50Sorry, Augusta 1 just blew the camera away there. It really is a tumble today now. Pots
04:02are flying everywhere as well. And I'm just using normal compost for these, just a good
04:12rich dark compost. There's about 20 that have come up in this packet. Or actually this
04:21is half a packet, the others are already potted up. But they don't seem to have done as well.
04:29Maybe they're just taking their time. There's this batch of them. Can't get over the roots
04:39on them. So the other plants I've been potting up ready for next year are Delphoniums, which
04:46will give big spikes of blue and purple flowers. I have some Hollyhock, I have two sets of
04:55Hollyhock actually. One is coming on grand, the others are still quite small, they're not long
05:02potted. They will overwinter okay. I'll plan to keep a lot of them in the greenhouse, the wee
05:12plastic greenhouses. And then I have loads and loads of Canterbury Bells. I'm going to have to
05:18give some away because there are far too many. And at least Featherside, just looking over here,
05:27loads of Columbine, which are known as granny's bonnet as well because of the wee flower shape
05:32on them. They come back every year so I thought I would try giving them a go. And I have Winter
05:40Pansies potted up now. They're in their window boxes ready to go. I just need to clear the
05:48dying flowers off the window boxes to get them out at the front. So they get a bit more
05:53protection and a bit more sun when they will out here. This is a, I have a north facing
05:57back garden which is a shame. But it hasn't stopped things growing and I'll show you in a
06:03minute. There's still, things are still flowering away. Out here, they're a bit more delayed out
06:08here because of less sun but you still get a good bit in the mornings and the early afternoon. So I
06:16am not going to do too many of these because I have nowhere to put them basically. I'm just
06:21choosing the larger ones and then I'm going to just make sure and bun these because I don't
06:28want them taking root in the ground if I reuse this compost. Let's see, we've one, two, maybe do
06:36three more of these. I'll use these broader ones. I'm trying to use low maintenance ones for the
06:57winter. The ones that will survive, okay, they'll not need, well they should survive anyway as long
07:03as the temperatures don't get down too bad and as long as they have a wee bit of protection.
07:11They should do okay in theory but there is, there's every risk some of these will die and maybe the
07:21frost will hit some of them, like a particularly cold night. Which is why I'm over sowing as well
07:25because I don't want to end up with nothing. Some will be left out beside the wall, like a walled
07:32garden effect out the front. They'll be slightly sheltered against the wind and hopefully the
07:37house will keep them a bit warmer. But that's as much as I'm going to do with them. There's probably
07:42about ten of them there, which is probably too many anyway because I've other ones piled up as
07:46well. So these others will just go in the bin and then, now these look really healthy, these are
07:56the pheasants eh? And they were planted about two months ago maybe. And then I potted them all under
08:07these individual cells and yeah, look at the root balls on them. Yeah, really they need potted under
08:13bigger pots. There's some here, so I'll put this guy down here for a minute. I do want to get a lot of these under the ground as
08:35well before the real winter hits. Still have a good while to go yet but I want to get them as
08:43advanced as possible for two reasons. Because the more developed their roots are, the more chance
08:49they have surviving in the winter. And especially if they have a bit of foliage. And the less likely,
08:55the less attractive they're going to be to slugs. Older plants, slugs aren't that much
08:59interested in them. Unless it's something like Degas, where they just love them about anything.
09:05And lupins, also been a few casualties of both. It was out-planted in the ground. I'm doing this quite quickly because the one is just picking up and I'm not sure if I can or
09:26Not being too gentle, you can see the really extensive roots on these. And they're wildflowers, so they should be tough anyway. There was a time I forgot to water these and they survived fine in the greenhouse.
09:46I'm putting two in each pot for now. And then I'll probably just plant them out like that as well.
09:54Very attractive leaf, almost like a carrot leaf. But if I left them any longer, they might get root-bound. So I don't want that.
10:12And then, this is the other thing I'm going to do.
10:15And in a few weeks time, I'm going to, or maybe even next week, I might do this, start it early, do the wonder sowing method. You may have seen it before in milk jug and lemonade bottles, where you can just put some seeds in and leave them outdoors with a lid off.
10:44Or in old, cleaned out milk bottles or lemonade bottles. Let them overwinter if they're hardy enough seeds. And then by the spring, you should have young seedlings come up.
10:58And it's a big thing in America. I haven't really seen anybody doing it here, but I've seen a few people in England try it. I'm just going to give it a go to see how it goes. I'm not expecting great things from it.
11:12But it's handy. It means you can just leave the whole idea of it as you create a wee terrarium, a mini greenhouse within the milk bottle or the lemonade bottle.
11:26And then the water can filter down through where the lid was, the mouth of the bottle. And the condensation stays in there. So it's kind of a self-sustaining thing.
11:50It just means you're not taking up room indoors too early. And then the plants should be quite tough by the time spring comes around. That's the theory anyway. Let's see how that goes.
12:07I'm not sure if I'm going to bother using all these either. I'm kind of fast running out of plant pots. I know of some more. I've got a few more storage boxes in the sale there. At the end of summer is a great time if you can afford it to get storage boxes.
12:32I can't afford a shed yet but I would love one. Maybe next year. Let's see. I have to get a car first. And this has been great this year because I have been saving for a car all year. For over a year now. So I haven't been anywhere.
12:58I love getting away but this has been a great distraction from looking at everybody else on their holidays enjoying themselves. And you're not. It could always be worse.
13:19Alright. I think that's enough for now. I'm not sure if I'll just leave it here. There's a couple of really healthy looking ones but it's very hard to be ruthless. It's very hard to kill healthy looking seedlings.
13:35What I tend to do is throw them in the ground and see if they'll survive. Plop them down rather than throw them out. I think it's a big waste. Though you have to make sure they're not invasive ones. These are not. These are just annuals. So next year they should. This time next year they'll be gone.
14:06I'll just try two more.
14:09I'll just leave my snuffling. It's a hay fever.
14:22Right. So that's as many as them as I'm ever going to need. These ones will just be put up under the border and see if they fend for themselves ok. And maybe throw a handful of compost in around them too.
14:45And finally today there's actually this one.
15:00I'll just put him around. This boy was looking at me there. I couldn't ignore him.
15:06There we go. That's that one.
15:15That's that one.
15:29What else have we got? Colombo Owls and Aquilegia. I'll just do one of each to show you.
15:45What they're like. These are really healthy looking. All the, not Colombo Owls, what do you call them, Canterbury Owls have come home pregnant. All the different varieties that I've planted.
16:04I've never grown them before, but I've noticed them actually in a photograph of flowers that few people are planting anymore, but which were once in a cottage favourite.
16:17And these look stunning. So I'm hoping for good things from them.
16:23As you can see there are just a few sets of leaves on them so far, but the ones I have planted up have come along great. So there's no problem transplanting them either. I've been reading up on them.
16:36And these ones have been fairing, I've got two different packets of these. Some have been fairing great and they're two different colours as well. One's like a mauve, which I'll show you here.
16:48Kind of a much darker, and then these lighter ones. So I don't know if that denotes that these will be lighter flowers and these darker. Sometimes that happens with the likes of Delias too you find.
16:59The darker foliage sometimes produces lighter plants. I'm sure there's some science behind it, which I don't know.
17:11Right, so that's everything there. And that's that done. And we'll just take you around now and show you some of the things I've been planting.
17:26Down here, this is a new wee tiny greenhouse that I got in a sale here. In the summer sale I have lupins that are coming up really well.
17:37And then some more Canterbury Bells down here. These are a double variety, they were the first ones planted. And you can see nothing's eating them, nothing's even attempting to eat them.
17:48And in the back there is a few Hollyhock. There's a lot more of these out the front. A few Hollyhock on here too, starting to get their big leaves.
17:58And in the back there's a mint, which is even better in the year.
18:04And here, this was my father's beetroot. One wee beetroot has come up. These are 15 year old beetroot seeds.
18:15Father passed away a decade ago and I've just been trying and these were his radishes seeds, radish seeds.
18:25I've already put a lot of them into the raised bed, I'll show you in a minute. They came up brilliant, despite being 15 years old there's been no noticeable depreciation in the season.
18:36More lupins, some, these need on the bigger pots too, this is Rosemary and Lavender. Some of them are piled up on the bigger pots.
18:46More Hollyhock getting eaten, oh no sorry, these are Honesty. Some big Honesty on the ground there. Planted out in the year, they should all flower next year.
18:57Something's happening to these, are they getting eaten? Something's taking a bite out of them, but I think they're probably dry too, so I better get these planted up.
19:07And then, more Hollyhock, more Gojia, and here are some of the Baby's Breath seeds that I just picked from the dead heads and replanted and some of them have come up.
19:22And here are Garlic Shaves, Nigella, Loving a Must, and Foxlove all coming up.
19:30More Canterbury Bells, and here, what are these? Do you ever plant stuff and you can't remember? Oh, more Lavender.
19:40So that's newer Lavender seeds, and then yet more Baby's Breath and yet more Rosemary down there. Rosemary smells beautiful, I've never used it for anything like this, just wanted to see if I could do it.
19:56Due to the cold stratification, it worked really well. Here's more Chinese Lanterns, and some more small Canterbury Bells, Sunbelt Valley.
20:13What I'm going to do with the rest of the, this is the Swiss Chard that's going over, you can really see the different coloured stems in that. So I'm hoping to collect these seeds before I pull them out.
20:26And this was lovely in salad actually, really nice, just in a sandwich or something like that. I've never tried cooking it or anything, but you can cook it too.
20:36I'll just show you the garden as well, there's still things flowering away. So these Lobelia, they're down back now, but they were just a massive blue this last month or so, they were kind of late in coming, maybe I had too late in planting them.
20:50This is the Calendula, which are still flowering, I can't believe they're still flowering, these were among the first to flower way back in March-April time.
21:01You can see all the seed heads now, I've just been collecting as many seeds as possible, going to give them away to people whoever wants them. Keep some, they so overwinter.
21:11Here at last is one sunflower in the ground, one mini sunflower, everything else was eaten. I don't know how this wee guy survived, because the rest were all immediately guzzled up.
21:25And here's some bulbs that I disturbed and replanted while I was digging up the garden earlier in the year. Gladiola bulbs, beautiful colour, they have this reddish peach with lighter markings on them.
21:40There was some lemon ones there, you can see them dying back, and a purple one over yonder that was battered by the wind.
21:47So the poppies now are all dead, oh no there's one, one still in there, and these seed heads, I've been collecting these too just to dry out the seeds, keep them, because these were one of my favourites from this year.
22:05Here we have the last of the beautiful godiches that were grown. These were one of the earliest seeds I planted back in February, and I just left them outdoors, they were very hardy.
22:18They did absolutely nothing in the pot for ages, and then they all took off at the same time, about six weeks later.
22:25So wee seedlings, but they survived everything, the late winter and the early summer.
22:31And here we have a wee marjoram, it didn't grow too big so it didn't need to get dug out.
22:36Still some straw flowers growing.
22:44Cosmos, I always forget the name of these, Cosmos are looking lovely actually.
22:49Let me photo that one, that's nice.
22:52And I'm trying to keep some seeds of these, the ones that I like, I like the white on them too.
22:58But they're really lovely for a late colour.
23:01And this one here, this is like a dark two tone, almost pink, it looks more purpley in real life but it's picking up pink in there.
23:09And this one over here is kinda a lighter version of it.
23:15See there, it's really pretty.
23:18And these are no fuss, easy to grow, very easy to grow, big tall plants, and really nice colour range on them too.
23:28There's some more back here, and also some hollyhock.
23:40You can see there a wee bee on them, bees love them, and some sweet pea.
23:45And...
23:51And here you can see there's some radish seeds, or seedlings, that I just planted this week.
23:56The Brussels sprouts are coming on great.
24:00And maybe next week I'll take you round the front as well.
24:04You can see some things there, I'll just leave you with a final image, this might be the last one I get now before I dig up the garden in a few weeks time.