ACTION PLAN: CIAR BYRNE’s essential jobs for your garden this week

• Capsicums cannot survive temperatures which regularly dip below 10c (50f)
• READ MORE:  CIAR BYRNE’s essential jobs for your garden this week

HOW TO HOTHOUSE CHILLIS 

Lots of people treat chillis as annuals in the same way as tomatoes, sowing seeds in the spring, harvesting the fruit in the summer and discarding them in the autumn. 

But Capsicum are perennials and with a little care over winter they can last for several years. 

Originally from Central and South America, they cannot survive temperatures which regularly dip below 10c (50f), and a single frost can kill them, so unless they are in a heated greenhouse, they need to be brought indoors during the colder months. Place them in a cool, light position, ideally between 10c to 15c. 

If your chilli has grown unwieldy over the summer months, you can give it a light prune, but don’t cut it back too much. 

The soil should be kept slightly moist, not too wet, and not allowed to dry out completely. Continue to spray regularly with water because chillis like high humidity, but stop feeding until the spring when you want it to come back into growth. 

Capsicum are perennials and with a little care over winter they can last for several years

Make sure the air temperature is not too warm, as chillis are prone to pests and diseases, such as aphids and spider mites. 

Place your plants where they can make the most of any sunshine because they need high light levels to survive, which can be tricky in the middle of a British winter. 

MAKE A BULB LASAGNE  

There’s still time to plant bulbs, and tulips are best planted this month now the soil has cooled. 

Get the most from your containers by making a ‘bulb lasagne’, combining late and early flowering bulbs. Put crocks in the bottom of your pot for drainage, add a mix of two-thirds compost to a third grit to about halfway, then place the later flowering bulbs with the pointed end facing up and a finger’s width between them. 

There’s still time to plant bulbs, and tulips are best planted this month now the soil has cooled

Add another layer of compost, then the early flowering bulbs and, finally, top up with compost and water, and leave in a sheltered position until spring. 

MEND SHEDS AND FENCES

Now that the garden is dying back, you can assess what repairs need to be made to wooden garden structures that have taken a battering from the wild and wet autumn weather. 

Now that the garden is dying back, you can assess what repairs need to be made to fences and sheds 

It is a good time to mend or replace fences because there is less risk of damaging plants growing near them while they are dormant. Think about what climbers you want to grow up them in spring and put supports in place. 

Make sure your shed is waterproof and fix any damage to the roof, so that you have a dry environment to start sowing seeds next year.

PLANT OF THE WEEK 

Fatsia japonica – Japanese Aralia 

Fatsia japonica (Japanese Araliamedium) is a medium, evergreen shrub that pulls its weight all year round with lush, palmate bright green leaves

I know winter is coming when the Japanese Aralia I can see from our kitchen window puts out its Sputnik-like whitish green flowerheads, like little alien Christmas trees. 

This medium, evergreen shrub pulls its weight all year round with lush, palmate bright green leaves. 

The flowerheads are followed by small black fruit that are ornamental and not edible. Although Aralia thrives best in sun or partial shade, it can tolerate full shade.

 It prefers a well-drained soil, so does well in our chalky garden. Although it is evergreen, the leaves can blacken, in which case cut them off at the stem.

READER’S QUESTION 

Can you recommend a tree for a windy spot with good autumn colour? 

L. May, Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire. 

Tilia cordata ‘Winter Orange’ is a small-leaved lime tree tough enough to withstand an exposed position and can act as a windbreak. 

Its heart-shaped green leaves turn buttery yellow in autumn. As an added benefit, its leafless branches have a warm, orange glow in winter, providing an attractive foil for an underplanting of spring bulbs. 

The leaves of hawthorn variety Crataegus persimilis ‘Prunifolia Splendens’ turn a lovely bronze in winter, and its berries are a good food source for wildlife. 

Source: Read Full Article