Gardener’s Cuttings


Can you grow melons outdoors in the West?


Can you grow tasty melons in the west?


Melons are usually thought of as exotic fruit best suited to a heated greenhouse. But in the hot summer of 2006, newer varieties started to appear at trial sites around the West country. It began to look as though melons were a viable crop for British gardens - at least in a good summer - but could they taste as good as melons raised under Mediterranean conditions? Last summer, Which? Gardening grew nine varieties to find


out. The weather was cool and damp - not ideal for ripening melons outdoors. However, two varieties of melon and one watermelon did well. Melon seedlings were raised under glass in late April and planted out through black plastic mulch in early June. The fruit began to form in mid-August, but some varieties did not ripen because of a dull, wet September. If this summer does not turn out as warm as predicted, help plants along with a well-placed cloche or layer of fleece. Three recommended varieties are:


'Alvaro' This hybrid variety gave an average of six stripy fruit per plant, 3½in in diameter, weighing just over 1lb: perfect for two people to share.


'Magenta' This is another new hybrid, similar in shape and size to 'Alvaro'. The fruit were slightly larger, weighing nearly 1½lb each. There were less of them, but still a respectable four per plant.


'Small Shining Light' This old variety of watermelon from Russia produced larger fruit than its name suggests. Each plant yielded an average of two football-sized dark green fruit weighing 5½lb each. Most ripened well and the red flesh was reasonably sweet and refreshingly crisp.


Saved – the world’s smallest waterlily


The world's smallest waterlily has been saved from extinction after a horticulturist at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, solved the mystery of how to propagate it. Nymphaea thermarum has leaves just 1cm across and is the only waterlily to live in mud, not water. The only known wild colony died out when its habitat in the overflow of a hot spring in Rwanda dried up. Specimens rescued by German botanist Professor Eberhard Fischer, of Bonn Botanic Gardens, proved difficult to propagate, so Kew's waterlily propagation expert Carlos Magdalena stepped in. After months of experimenting, he succeeded in replicating conditions at the spring, sowing into pots of loam sunk in a container of water kept at a temperature of 25°C.


Nymphaea thermarum – the world’s smallest water lily


Congratulations!


Hampton Court Flower Show – putting the emphasis on grow your own Hampton Court celebrates ‘grow your own’


Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, the younger, more relaxed sister of Chelsea Flower Show, is almost upon us. For many, Hampton Court heralds the start of summer proper. It’s the world’s largest annual flower show - celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2010. On the banks of the Thames, beside Henry VIII's royal residence, the show this year puts a real emphasis on growing your own, with experts on hand to share their knowledge and lots of ideas to take home, as well as cookery demonstrations and seeds and products to buy. It promises to be a real feast for foodies. As a sensory delight, make plenty of time for the rose marquee with exquisite displays from the country's top rose growers.


The show runs from 6th to 11th July. 10


Country Gardener


The prize for a high quality brush cutter from EFCO in our May competition was won by Penny David from Chandlers Ford. If you were one of the many readers who were disappointed and are interested in the brush cutter it is one of a range of Efco high performance lawnmowers, garden tractors, brushcutters, hedgecutters, chainsaws, blowers available.


Further information on 01543 687660 – www.efco-uk.co.uk.


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