More Gardening Tips from 2021

This week I’m sharing my second installment of gardening highs and lows from a year in the garden. So if you are up for a few more gardening tips – often learned the hard way – read on!

Gardening Tips

1. Sweet Peas

It seems pathetic that the easy old sweet pea, has yet again proven such a challenge for me, but this year really was a sweet pea disaster! I tried to improve my chances with the little beauties by doing an Autumn sowing. I’d read that over-Wintering the seedlings would mean I’d go into the year with a bit of a head start.

Well I didn’t. I went into 2021 with a sweet pea headache!

The seeds took beautifully. But in my house (I don’t have a greenhouse) they grew too quickly. I had put them in a small, cold spare bedroom, and forgot about them. When I finally remembered they’d already romped away. I quickly tried to pinch them out – and slow them down by putting them in the shed. But they kept growing rapidly. So I spent most of last Winter and early Spring not so much pinching them out as hacking them back – and worrying about them!

By the time I was ready to plant out the poor things, the sweet peas and I were exhausted. I planted them in a large pot to grow up a wigwam of canes. They did so reasonably prettily. After all they were sweet peas so are born to be pretty. But they weren’t abundant and flourishing. I think they’d expended too much energy over Winter. I certainly had!

Not All Bad!

The one thing I did do right with them was meticulously keep tying them into the canes as they grew. By doing this I ensured the flower stems stayed nice and straight, making them much better in my vases. This brilliant video by Sarah Raven explains why it’s so important to do this.

I also picked the sweet peas regularly – to ensure a constant crop. But if I’m honest, I had slim pickings to choose from due to my over-Wintering nightmare!

Gardening Tips

So when it comes to more gardening tips, I’d say, if you are doing an Autumn sowing of sweet peas:

• Watch them carefully
• Don’t keep them too warm once they’ve germinated
• Pinch them out promptly
• Keep pinching them out to create bushier plants
• You don’t necessarily gain much by doing an Autumn sowing
• Once they’re planted out, tie them regularly into the canes
• Pick regularly to keep them flowering

2. Fuchsia

With my fuchsia I managed to clutch defeat from the jaws of success this year. I’m not surprised, as I did such a stupid thing! But let me start at the begining.

I’m not a massive fuchsia fan but last year I saw the most gorgeous specimen and treated myself. I had her in a pot on my patio where she looked stunning for months.

But as Winter approached I worried about how to best over-Winter her. The problem is that while a fuchsia in the ground may be fine, with their roots nice and deep in the soil, when in a pot, the roots are much more exposed. This is because the roots may well grow towards the walls of the pot. So if you have a lot of frost they are in essence only a centimetre or so away from the cold and so can be damaged.

The upshot was I read that I should trim her right back to about three inches of growth. Put her in a dormant state (minimal watering) and keep her in my shed away from frosts.

I did all this with absolute trepidation. She looked dead as a dodo over Winter. But sure enought she triumphantly leaped back into leaf in the Spring. Success! I was chuffed. However, here comes the defeat bit.

Where It All Went Wrong!

I decided to reward my lovely sprouting fuchsia with a new pot of fresh compost. So far, so sensible! However, as I had the sweet pea seedlings in view, (gah those pesky sweet peas) I had a brainwave. Why not put the fushcia in the middle of a very large pot and have the wigwam of sweet peas growing up around her?

Well I’ll tell you why not. Because even if your sweet peas are poor, which mine were, they will still prevent your fuchsia from getting enough light. So in a desperate bid to get a few rays she will grow terribly leggy and weak!

I found this to my cost. While the sweet peas were flowering (if you can call it that) I couldn’t really see my fuchsia. And once the sweet peas had gone, my fuchsia was alone, but with branches that were so long and weakened that they kept snapping off in the slightest bit of wind.

I cannot believe I was so stupid as to do this. But I was.

So as I tuck the poor old fuchsia away (alone) in her pot, in the shed for the Winter, once again putting her in a dormant state, I have faithfully promised to take better care of her next year.

So I share with you these fuchsia gardening tips.

Gardening Tips

• Over-Winter hardy fuchsias that are in a pot by putting them in a dormant state
• Cut back to about three inches above the top of the soil
• Minimise watering
• Store somewhere cool that doesn’t freeze – a shed is fine
• When the plant bursts back into life in the Spring, treat to some fresh compost
• But keep in its own pot
• Do not attempt something ‘clever’ like putting her in a pot with sweet peas!
• When putting two plants in a pot together consider whether one plant will obscure light from the other

3. Salvias

Last week one of the gardening lessons I shared was to take heuchera cuttings. And this week, one of the gardening tips to complete my list for 2021 has to be to take salvia cuttings.

Salvias are a wonderful plant. They come in so many colours and look great in beds or containers. However, they can be tender. If you’re not careful, that glorious salvia which was such a feature in your garden can succumb to a particularly harsh spell of frost and be gone.

It’s heart breaking when that happens, and can leave a real gap in your plans. Which is why I always take cuttings as an insurance policy. That way if a salvia dies over Winter I still have a back-up plan, another salvia waiting to take its place. And if my salvias all survive in the garden, well I can use my new plants to spread even more salvia joy around the place.

Not Too Late

I typically take salvia cuttings in August and September but I think you can still taken them now if you’re quick. It’s definitely worth a try. I’ve previously blogged about how to take salvia cuttings. So do check it out.

The reason why I’m reitterating this gardening tip now is that this year, with all the late frosts, I did indeed lose one of my favourite salvias Royal Bumble (pictured above). This is a beautiful, dainty, red salvia. I had her in a pot, near my shed.

Luckily, I’d taken a heap of cuttings the year before and so was able to instantly replace my old friend. In fact, I had so many successful cuttings that I popped three of them the old dressing up basket which I have planted up on my patio. Here they have thrived.

Below you can see a picture I’ve literally just taken of them as I sit and type this blog! Isn’t it lovely – absolutely overflowing with Salvia Royal Bumble?

Of course, I’m not resting on my ‘salvia laurels’ – sorry that’s a bit of a mixed metaphor. I’ve once again got cuttings of this salvia developing on my windowsill, just in case I lose this beauty once again.

I’ve also taken cuttings of my penstemon garnet pictured below, as it’s so beautiful. I’m not so much worried that it will die over Winter (though I’d be devastated if it did). But I’d love another. I’ve tried to take cuttings from it before but never successfully. However, one of the cuttings this year seems to still be alive. So fingers crossed.

In a cutting frenzy, I’ve also taken cuttings from my aforementioned ill-fated, fuchsia. If this lot all survives I’ll be absolutely overflowing with new plants!

So here’s my final few gardening tips gleaned from no end of trials and a few triumphs in 2021…

Gardening Tips

• Take salvia cuttings as insurance policies
• Why not take cuttings of other favourites while you’re at it
• The same technique works for salvias, penstemon and fuchsias
• Take lots as some won’t survive
• Have a go now – why not!

Happy gardening – x