Helensburgh & Gareloch Horticultural Society

As the days get shorter, below are some tips of things to do in (and for) your garden on the West coast of Scotland this November. Tips for November 1. Plant tulips Now is the month to plant tulip bulbs for a spring display next year. See October's hints and tips for a couple of great tulip bulbs to try 2. Continue the big tidy up By weeding, collecting leaves which can be stored for a couple of years to make mulch, store stray pots out of the wind, put light weight furniture

The first month of the Autumn, there is less demand on the plants, but harvest and store as much produce as you can. Enjoy dry sunny days before the weather deteriorates. Tips for September - Harvest crops as they become ready. Main crop tatties should now be harvested before they become damaged by slugs or the like. - Green manures will come into their own this month. They cover the soil, help prevent erosion and when they are dug in they add humus and fertility. Grazing Rye

Enjoy the garden and all the produce that is ripening. Late summer and the days are shortening. Plants will become less demanding in their need for water. Tips for August - Harvest crops as they become ready. First and second early tatties should be harvested and stored in a cool dark place. Main crop tatties can be left until September, unless they are being damaged by slugs or the like. - Peas and beans should be harvested in their prime and if they are not eaten, stored, p

Hopefully there are more days to sit out in the garden and enjoy the results of your labour. Also, vegetables and fruit should start cropping. Tips for July - Crops such as early tatties maybe ready. Start feeling down below the shaws and see if they are large enough to harvest. If they are too small leave them until they are about the size of an egg. Other crops that are ready are lettuce, courgettes, (pick small and often) soft fruit like the currents and gooseberries. Mayb

Days in June are very long and should be relatively warm so growth in the garden is exuberant especially in a wet area like Helensburgh. Tips for June - Towards the end of the month, first early potatoes may be ready. This should be when the flowers open, or scrap around the top to feel the size of tubers. They should be about the size of an egg. - Water your potatoes if the weather is dry. - Continue to hoe regularly around the garden and in between the crops already sown. G

Summer is definitely on the way. It is another very busy month both keeping on top of plants already in the ground and planting more tender crops.where. Tips for May - The potatoes should start coming through and need earthing up. - Hoe regularly around the garden and in between the crops already sown. - As the bulbs die down they will look a bit of a mess, but don’t be tempted to cut off the dying foliage as it feeds the bulbs for next year. Enjoy the late tulip display. - T

Gardening really gets going in April. It is a very busy month planting seeds and transplanting various crops that have been brought on elsewhere. Tips for April 1. Plant potatoes Once the potatoes are chitted they can be planted in trenches in the ground or in bags. Bags work very well if you are short of space or fancy trying a few potatoes of a different variety. Specially designed potato fertiliser is available to help improve your yield. 2. Plant shallots If your shallots

The meteorological Spring starts on the 1st March. This means the days are getting longer, and increase in length more quickly, the temperature increases and spending more time in the garden becomes a possibility. Tips for March 1. Buying seed potatoes March is an important month to think about buying seed potatoes for chitting in a light frost free place. Apart from being delicious fresh from the soil and lightly cooked, the main reason for growing them yourself is to grow v

A fascinating talk from James Hitchmough - Professor of Horticultural Environment in the Department Landscape Architecture at Sheffield University which has 400 students and celebrates its 50th Anniversary this year. James travels 80 days of the year to far-flung places including Argentina South Africa, Japan, USA and China where he was sowed their first perennial meadow. Recognising that the world is going through climate warming James research involves killing plants!! That

Slowly but surely the days are getting longer and gardening seems a possibility again. Spring has almost arrived. Tips for February 1. Put right any storm damage After several storms, it is a good idea to pick a sunny calm day and go outside and tidy up. There will be a lot of debris and damage to put right. Also a lot of soggy brown dead foliage which needs collecting or cutting back. 2. Visit a snowdrop garden Visit a snowdrop garden, there are several in the area, Ardardan

A lively, interesting and light hearted talk from Louise Bustard with her own special brand of humour, set the mood beautifully for our Christmas Meeting on 13th December. Louise's talk was an" Introduction to Houseplants", tracking their journey through the ages from Roman times to the present day showing a huge number of examples to suit all tastes, situations and horticultural experience. We were also reassured that we should not be too concerned about our own failures whe

The shortest day has now passed and the days are getting longer. There are some lovely days in January to get out into the garden. Tips for January 1. Recycle the Christmas Tree Recycle the Christmas Tree. If you can shred it or collect some needles, they are great as a mulch for the Blueberries or Camellias.. 2. Poinsettia Don’t try to keep your Poinsettia plant until next year, once its past its best, compost it, but take care because the sap is poisonous. 3. Houseplants If

As we get closer to the end of the year, here are some tips of things to do in your garden on the West coast of Scotland this December - and maybe some ideas for Christmas presents. Tips for December 1. Catalogues and Christmas Gifts Following on from November, Suttons Seed Catalogue has been recommended. It has a Fun to Grow - Children's Range and some interesting looking Seed Tins – thinking of Christmas gifts.. 2. Feeding the birds Keep on feeding the birds, especially wit

On 8th November , Nursery Manager, Ian Christie entertained and informed us with some of the insights he has gleaned in his over 35 years of experience growing woodland plants.  He’s known for his snowdrops, and had a few interesting tips to share about meconopsis, including the fact that exposure to sunlight changes the colour within hours – a fact of which many of us present were totally unaware. But the stars of the show, due to both  the stunning photographs and Ian’s

I was down at the allotment plots today where some plot holders are well ahead and have been making the most of a few weeks of dry weather, and more recently the much needed rain. Nice tidy plots, no weeds , broad beans, onions, asparagus already well a head. I see some peas - a bit ragged round the edges – pesky birds have been nibbling again. Courgettes have been planted out and sowings of carrots and goodness knows what have already been made. Some nice lettuce further u

Fergus Garrett, Head Gardener of the famous Great Dixter garden in Sussex, delighted the Society and a wider audience at the Victoria Halls on the evening of Wednesday 19th April. He took us on a magical journey showing us why Great Dixter is renowned for its tradition of sophisticated and cutting-edge plantsmanship. He thrilled us with his knowledge of how to extend the seasonal colour in the borders of Great Dixter by experimenting with successional plantings of perennials,

On Wednesday 8th March over 90 members and guests experienced the boundless enthusiasm of a true plantsman, Billy Carruthers. As well as a stunning presentation, he arrived with a van load of wonderful plants for sale. It was like a rugby scrum - touch and go whether we had a talk at all! But we did - on spring flowering plants, and above all , Peonies, which, with over 250 varieties and flowering spread over many months of the year are glorious plants for the garden. There

HGHS’s first outing of 2017 was a visit to Cambo Estate in Fife during the Annual Snowdrop Season. Snowdrops abound here with around 300 different varieties to be enjoyed in the gardens close to the house and vast carpets of the more common Galanthus Nivalis (single) and Galanthus Flore Pleno (double) mixed with winter aconite and leucojum vernum( Spring Snowflake) lighting up the woodlands on a beautiful sunny day. The walled garden is a delight, even on a cold February day