Gardeners' Question Time
Gardeners' Question Time
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On April 9th 1947 the first Gardeners' Question Time radio programme was broadcast from the Broadoak Hotel, Ashton.
60 years on, to commemorate this event, Tameside Council erected a plaque at the Broadoak Hotel and held its own Gardeners' Question Time style event.
Local horticultural experts and Tameside Council staff (also experienced in horticulture) volunteered to form the panel chaired by Cllr Alan Whitehead.
The audience was made up of many local gardening enthusiasts.
Text Only Version
Councillor Whitehead
We at Tameside Council are extremely proud of local heritage as I think I'm pretty sure people have noticed around the Borough and our association with Gardeners' Question Time through the local connections with Bill still attracts, Question Time still attracts a very huge following and we're very pleased to be involved in the horticultural side of things with our "In Bloom' activity which we will continue to support year after year so they could make the place a cleaner, greener and more enjoyable environment for everyone. So I think with that I take pleasure in unveiling this plaque in commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of Gardeners' Question Time.
Applause - General Chatter - Band playing
This recording of the Broadoak pub over here and the singers at the back in April 1947 you know and it was called then How does your Garden Grow which I believe evolved from the Dig for Victory campaign during the war, later became known as Garden Question Time but the notable event for us besides it being actually here, broadcast from in Ashton at the Broadoak was the connection to Sowerbutts a local man who was on that first panel and every panel until he became unable to be on, he became a very well know national figure in gardening circles.
Peter Kinder
One of the things that sticks out in my memory was the chap who turned up with a cornet and he had mistakenly thought the program was Wilfred Pickles', Have a go Joe and he wanted to play his cornet of course Frankie Ingleman wouldn't wear that at all but after the program had been recorded they did allow him to pay his cornet.
Doris Sowerbutts
It's been very, very enjoyable knowing that Bill's name is still around even though he's been dead for 16 years and its nice to see all these people, a lot of people I haven't seen for quite for some time.
Robert Frost
I think today's been a very special occasion, my father and myself have been the landlord of the Broadoak 45 years this year. I think Tameside have done a fabulous job across the road I think it's a tribute to Bill Sowerbutts and his wife Doris and I also thinks it makes the area look an awful lot better so credit to Tameside.
Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome the Broadoak Hotel, we've got a great team tonight, instead of having 3 we've got 6 so without more a do I'm going to pass you on to Alan Whitehead now who'll open the meeting tonight and I hope you have a very happy and successful evening. Thank you.
Applause
Councillor Whitehead
Good evening everybody. If I could introduce the panel we've got three employees of Tameside who are, have various credits in their own rights in the field of horticulture and we've got three guests, so I'll start with the guests first and introduce them. To my left in the middle we've got Ken Harrop, Ken is from the Denton Chrysanthemum Dahlia Society and if any of you have had the pleasure of going to see some of their creations I'm quite sure you'd feel that you'd be very impressed in this. Now Ken is the secretary of the Denton Society he exhibits regularly on a national level and he's also a nationally accredited judge, so he has specialised knowledge in that field but he also has a good general knowledge of everything else, flower, perennial, annual flowers so welcome to Ken.
Applause
In the middle on my right hand side is Frank, Frank Ashton, from the Mottram Road Allotment Association. Frank is president of Tameside Allotments' Federation, he's also a national vegetable society judge, he's former head of horticultural science at Saddleworth School, he's also been a show exhibitor for more than 50 years, so welcome Frank.
Applause
My far left is Paul, Paul Tyler who's manager of the Daisy Nook Garden Centre, he's worked there or been associated with Daisy Nook Garden Centre for 25 years I'm sure at some stage all of us would have been down there for one thing or another. I get dragged down there regularly I tell you. His passion for gardening so he tells us started when he was about 5 years old helping his grandad in the garden and his first job after leaving school was with Manchester Parks Department from whence he went to horticultural college in Norfolk, during that time he also worked for Lewis Thurman Nurseries in Bressingham in Norfolk. Paul tells us he loves every aspect of his job and especially advising customers and helping sort out their problems and he finds every day different and challenging but if you've ever been down there lately its challenging enough to get into the place with the road works I know, but that's not Tameside's problems that's Oldham's fault.
Right now our Tameside people, on my left is Stuart Mollison his official title is Town Manager of Denton and Audenshaw District Assembly so he looks after those towns in Tameside. He's worked for Tameside for 17 years and you can see I think some of Stuart's experience and knowledge in crafts coming out in that one part of Victoria Park in Denton as you know that was Tameside's first Green Flag park and its really is quite lovely there. On leaving school Stuart studied horticulture and he actually got his Master of Horticulture qualification in 1971 as I say he's worked for Tameside for 17 years but he's also worked for commercial nurseries in the UK and Holland as well as with a number of local authorities in England so again welcome Stuart.
Applause
On my right, Mark Porter, Operations Supervisor for Tameside, always had a interest in all things green he tells us. In May 1974 he started work as an apprentice in Stamford Park and he's worked himself up through the ranks within there to still be with Tameside and he works, he looks after Stamford Park, Cheetham's Park in Stalybridge, Dukinfield Park and I think you work in Dukinfield Cemetery as well. He's also a major roll in the Tameside in Bloom team, one of Mark's major jobs at the moment is actually helping develop the Heritage Lottery Bid for the complete restoration of Stamford Park, so welcome Mark.
Applause
And on my far right is Peter Hadfield, Operations Manager of all the District Assemblies in Tameside, started work in horticulture in 1968, attended horticultural college 74 to 78, has worked in Tameside every since 1974. Peter modestly mentioned himself as part of the award winning Tameside in Bloom team, he's helped to coordinate two winning regional bids and a very successful second place in the national bid for Britain in Bloom. I say modestly because I think Peter is a major driving force in designing and getting together and making Tameside in Bloom work and having said that I think we should just qualify that second place in the national competition for Britain in Bloom, because the finals were held in Scotland in Firth in Scotland the winner was Aberdeen, Tameside came a very, very close second, more close than a normal second would be it had a special merit on top of that second so without doubt we are the best in England.
Applause
And when you think you've put up against cities like the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and Bournemouth and Oxford you realise just how well we've done and how we've come on this last few years. So welcome panel, I've got a bucket full of questions here so I'm just going to take them out from the top and see how we get on in the time situation.
First one is from Jo Farnworth from St James' Community Garden is Jo anywhere?
Question
We're in the very early stages of creating a community garden near St James Church and School in Ashton and we're including many of the different ideas that the local communities have asked for. A lot of the children have asked for a place to grow vegetables and we would like some ideas of vegetables that meet these requirements; they'll withstand enthusiastic little fingers as they grow, they need low maintenance because when people loose a bit of enthusiasm, that will also then crop reliable and frenetically so that the children have enough to take home and taste, any ideas please?
Councillor Whitehead
That sounds like one for Frank to start with.
Frank Ashton
You do need something to give results and one of the things, is it affected by school holidays this by the way?
Member of Audience
No.
Frank Ashton
Oh that's good news because it's quite difficult at schools because of the 5 or 6 weeks gap and getting people to look after it then. I would always encourage them with maybe pumpkins and marrows because once they've established themselves they will cover a lot of ground and be very easy to look after and give them something rather spectacular at the end. The other end of the scale something quick like radish and some of the small lettuce, for instance little gem, there are lots of huge lettuce but the little gem lettuce that are quite expensive and popular in the supermarkets, 3, 4 inches apart you can squeeze those in, in a very small space, peas, usually reliable and about 12 weeks you should be getting a crop and one trick with these I don't know what the soils like or anything but one trick with peas is to actually get them to sow them in seed trays and then plant them out from there and that usually stops either mice or birds causing damage okay.
Councillor Whitehead
Anything else to that?
Ken Harrop
I would be tempted to incorporate runner beans, runner beans, big seeds, children can get hold of them, they can feel them, you get a, well more than reasonable germination rate, they come up quite quickly, they look like little triffids when they're pushing their way through the pots and you start them off in pots before hand, they grow very fast and I think runner beans will give you the highest percentage volume of crop off the area that they take up in the garden and they will grow to 7 or 8 foot and if children are looking at them closely they'll notice that they only climb anticlockwise I think, is it anticlockwise Frank, if your in Australia they'll climb clockwise. That is true that.
Stuart Mollison
A couple of other things I was going to say I think is an excellent and radish of course but French beans are so easy as well, you haven't got any supports to put in but just changing it slightly I put some alpine strawberries in, now they not vegetables but they're easy to grow and I think they'd love them, easy to pick, delicious.
Councillor Whitehead
You're planning to go out there Jo, okay, the next question is from Graham Brown from Friends of Gorse Hall.
Question
About 5 years ago we hardly had snails in the garden, most of them were slugs but now it's all snails, they seem to appear early summer in vast numbers, where are they coming from and how can I control them?
Councillor Whitehead
Gorse Hall, maybe Peter had better start with that.
Peter Hadfield
Everybody's new friend now snails and slugs, I've got a massive amount myself but they start to emerge at the moment now, they like the dark, they like shade, they like the dampness, garden hygiene is one thing I try to, I keep in place but I like to think my garden's reasonably clean but mine are increasing and I am using trade slugs and snail repellants, the secret is I start early with them, start now, but only put a few down on each occasions, don't go putting whacking handfuls even though you've got a lot and then I'm afraid you've got to pick them up in the morning. I can tell you a little tale about four years ago I was having a painting job done on the house with a drain pipe and I had a snail about ten feet up that the painter painted bright blue on its shell, he picked it off and I threw it about 2 gardens down the road because there was nobody in and in three days it was back in the same place, I've often thought since then I should have kept hold of my snail and thrown the painter over I would have got a quicker job done. It's just a case of little and often and put your pellets down and then remove them a day after, keep your soil light and get sharp sand in there a little bit will help as well.
Councillor Whitehead
Thanks Peter for that, it wasn't painted sky blue was it that snail.
Peter Hadfield
No, no, no,
Councillor Whitehead
'Cause we've just seen it down at the City of Manchester Stadium. Anyone else want to add some?
Paul Tyler
Just to come in quickly about slugs and slug pellets I've got this theory about slug pellets, that in fact they attract slugs so the last thing you want to be doing is putting them down in your own garden, you want to be buying the slug pellets for your next door neighbour and encouraging them to put them down in their garden.
Mark Porter
An option is to control slugs, if you put crushed egg shells in the garden it attracts a lot of birds because they get calcium from the egg shell and they'll also pick off the slugs when the slugs have been attracted to the egg shells so it's a way of getting shot of them.
Councillor Whitehead
Sounds useful.
Frank Ashton
For years and years when we didn't have snails we had song thrushes and song thrushes seem to have gone down the pan all over the country, why they've gone down the pan in this area I don't know but we have started seeing the odd one on the allotments again in Stalybridge and being as that that is the number one snail eater it actually picks them up and smashes them on a stone and if those can revive that might be a big help because they'll certainly have plenty of food, there's a lot around.
Councillor Whitehead
Thanks Frank, the next question I've got is from Mrs M Fletcher, where's Mrs Fletcher, there we are.
Question
Last year I saved the seeds of my winter flowering pansies and sowed them and they've germinated and made quite sizable plants which I've put outside in tubs can I expect them to flower.
Councillor Whitehead
Ken would you like to start this one.
Ken Harrop
If you'd bought winter flowering pansies the previous year you've probably bought them off somebody like Paul at the garden centre its more than likely they were probably F1 hybrids yes they will flower but because they've been specifically bred for sale as an F1 hybrid any seed taken off them are not guaranteed to colour of the parent that you took them off and they won't possibly have the same quality of flower, they will degenerate in terms of the quality but they will still have flowers on basically because every plant grows not to just satisfy us with nice colourful flowers but the intention of every plant is to produce seeds who replicate itself in future years so every plant will produce a flower but they might not be as good and the flowers off the plants that you bought off Paul this year, you may seem some deterioration in the quality of flower and the clarity of colour within the flower but they will flower for you I don't know if Paul's got anything to add on that.
Paul Tyler
It's not advisable sometime to grow your own seed it encourage people to collect seeds not just pansies and other things you can quite happily do it but the varieties as you say is not going to be as vigorous and you will get variations on them some plants are poorer than others and flowers will vary. As a matter of fact there's a lot of plants people do collect seed and you should encourage people to collect seed as well not just from these bedding plants as well so its always a good thing to look at and it's a good way to cut cost to collect your own seeds, you wouldn't collect them from vegetables you wouldn't get the same uniformity but you can actually flowering plants nowadays you know but they will flower. keep them well watered, keep them fed, dead head them, but I wouldn't bother keeping seeds from these third generations.
Councillor Whitehead
Thank you Paul. The next question I've got is from Vincent Robinson.
Question
My gardening knowledge is very limited I know like poppies are red and daffodils are yellow and I struggle a little bit after that, but I love roses and I've always had rosebushes in the garden. Years ago we used to have 20 or 30 of them all in a great block and I used to prune them in the spring, then everyone jumped on and told me it was stupid and I should prune them in the autumn, September, October, okay I've done it both ways but more people tell me to do it in the autumn than the spring but I have roses in the garden at Christmas if I do them in the autumn, so when is the correct time to prune rosebushes.
Councillor Whitehead
Mark?
Mark Porter
The main time you prune is about now, there's an old saying when I first started working at Stamford Park we used to prune the roses on St Patrick's Day which is right in the middle of the month, March and that was a spring prune, but in the south you could probably be pruning them now I would imagine but with climate change everybody knows that's changing all the time, you will prune them in autumn but you only take them back by a third and that stops them in the winter when the winds rocking them about out the soil. Okay.
Councillor Whitehead
Stuart?
Stuart Mollinson
Just by adding to what Mark said its quite an interesting subject because rose pruning, there's books, there's all theories about rose pruning but over the years have been it would have been well written up and all the debate about when you should prune them and how you should prune them and what have you but a few years ago the Royal National Rose Society carried out a trial of different types of pruning, different methods of pruning and you get different types of rose bush and rose plant as well, but the outcome of this trial one of the methods of pruning that they use was just to get a commercial strimmer and just to run it over the bushes, they grew these plants or they allowed them to grow in fact it really threw the rose world into a state of turmoil because all this theory about how you should prune and prune them down, the bushes that came out and flowered the best were the ones you just ran over with the strimmer, now I'm not necessary advocating that you go out and do that but it is quite interesting and some of the more modern bush and shrub varieties of rose you can treat in a way that all the theory doesn't matter quite so much and as Mark said with the climate change at one time if you prune in the autumn period and the plant puts on a lot of growth particularly early in the spring they could get affected and frosted but of course that certainly hasn't happened this year, we've only had about 2 nights of frost this year so its thrown all that into chaos as well.
Councillor Alan Whitehead
Susan Lomas, Droylsden Swimming Club, Gardening Club I'm sorry I'll put my glasses on this time (laughter).
Question
Good evening, my lawn's quite waterlogged after all the torrential rain we've had. I just wondered what the best way to do to treat it to aid it to full recovery again. Is there any particular way?
Councillor Whitehead
Peter?
Peter Hadfield
Well I think firstly it depends by the size of your lawn on what you've got to deal with. If it's a smallish lawn and you can manage by hand fork and put the fork to about four to six inches wheedling it and do it about four inches apart to get some of the surface water away but really you should be looking at improving the actual soil structure of your lawn. So if you can get some sharp sand again and brush it in and improve it over a period of time you will get better results. If it's really waterlogged then it may be that you've got to put some drainage into it. If you've got floating water on it and I have at the bottom end of mine now because of a broken drain but I'm going to have to put some new drains because with just a fork in it it's not going to be adequate enough. You've got to work at it over a period of your time if you can keep adding like you know grit it or sand it will improve it.
Stuart Mollison
Don't use builders' sand (laughter).
Councillor Whitehead
Same club from Droylsden Gardening Club, Betty Whitworth.
Question
In November I planted out some small cyclamen and I've enjoyed a good showing. I haven't the space to leave them in situ what advice please to carry out to next winter.
Councillor Whitehead
Stuart?
Stuart Mollison
If anyone has ever seen these you see the cyclamen the pot plant I don't know if you've seen the hardy cyclamen they're absolutely beautiful they're only about sort of five six inches high and they have a carpet of green leaves and depending on the particular variety some of them the leaves the marbling on the leaves they're worth just growing for the leaves on their own. But they flower literally again depending on the variety from November right the way through till about this time of year but they are not that easy to grow in this country not always that easy to get established and I think if you've grown them and you've got them established I'd try and find room for them and try and keep them where they are. If you can't do that in the summer early summer period once the foliage has died down and the corms are fairly dormant that's the time of year that I would use to transplant them and to move them to another location but as I say if you've got them established I'd leave them where they are. I think they're beautiful plants and not that easy to grow. Sometimes in Cyprus you get them growing wild and they're almost like a weed over there and they are absolutely beautiful and it's one of my favourite plants in fact so yes you've done well.
Councillor Whitehead
The next question is Marjorie Veitch is it? Veitch? Sat down there on the left can you ask your question?
Question
I've got a tree peony a Chinese tree peony isn't it? I want to know if it's possible as it's got very straggly to cut it back to dormant buds at the bottom of the stem.
Paul Tyler
It's quite acceptable to prune it back hard down to the dormant buds. Be careful to do it yet, we're talking about the weather and climate change what'll happen is once you cut that top growth off it's going to grow fairly quickly and if we do have a snap in the weather and it goes very cold it may affect the new growth so what I'd be tempted to do is to leave it about until after Easter and then prune it so it's well into April then once it grows it'll grow away. The problem is though you're not going to get any flowers on it this year but prune the rest of it away and getting a new bottom to it. It's always very good to prune things sometimes hard and that'll give new growth from the bottom.
Councillor Whitehead
Okay thanks, we've got a question here I don't know who it's from it's; we have a new garden and manmade, planted climbers for Spring, Summer and Winter but after two and a half years we've had no flowers only foliage. What are we doing wrong? Who is it who asked that? Lady there.
Question
We've put clematis, honeysuckle in spring, summer and winter so that it's growing up a stone wall they've got a lot of foliage but we've never had any flowers and we just wonder where we're going wrong. But it is a manmade garden.
Councillor Whitehead
Anybody help with that?
Ken Harrop
Go on then I'll start it off then I'm sure everybody's going to have a viewpoint on it. I don't know how you've grown them or whether you actually prune them or not but one of the main reasons why people don't get flowers on shrubs is that shrubs don't tend to grow to a set size or a set shape and they're given quite a bit of assistance by the secateurs and the shears and sometimes people actually cut off the flowering wood of the shrubs before they've actually got chance to flower. Now you mentioned clematis, I don't know which clematis it is you've got but if you're cutting anything off clematis it may well be that you're cutting off the wood which is going to produce your flowers that you're actually pruning them off and tying them up and taking the flowers off on the wood. Honeysuckle sometimes takes a couple of years to get established and again will only flower on the previous year's growth.
It doesn't tend to flower on this year's growth. The buds come off the hard wood on short shoots and then that's where you get your honeysuckle and your flowers and your perfume that comes off them.
Frank Ashton
If you think of last June and July in contrast to what we've had since which has been rain, rain, rain, rain there's a lot of mildew about and clematis are prone to it. In terms of pruning there's basically three types of pruning for clematis. If they flower July through to September and maybe into October they're the easiest because all you do is really cut them very well the whole lot then it's a fresh start each year. If it's the May June period then you just do it very lightly which you've probably been doing and if it's the Montanas which flower in Spring if you're going to do any pruning then do it when the flowering has finished and please yourself what you do basically because the Montana will literally take over. If you've got it on a shed or a garage it might follow you to work one day. I mean they are extremely vigorous.
Councillor Whitehead
Anybody else want to come in on that one?
Stuart Mollison
It reminded me of a story. I had the first house I had, the first garden, really that was the thing that I was interested in at the time, not so much the house, and I planted this honeysuckle outside of the back door and I finished all my training at that time to get really into the theory of horticulture I was putting this into practice and I couldn't work out why this particular honeysuckle was not flowering and I noticed it'd got broken down and damaged and I had a Springer Spaniel at the time a very boisterous dog that I thought was the culprit for this. I was sitting there looking at this particular plant further down the garden and I suddenly saw this hand appear out from the back door with the door mat banging the door mat on the wall just where the plant was. That was the pruning that that honeysuckle was receiving at that time didn't do it any good at all.
It solved the mystery (laughter). The other thing I'd say is that the clematis, one of the clematis, one of the ones that we cut down very hard you often see these very large flowered clematis which are spectacular but some of the smaller flowered ones are particularly very, very nice and there's a group of clematis Viticella clematis that are very, very nice indeed, small flowers, masses and masses of them and very unusual colours as well sort of very dark velvet colours. So no you persevere with the climbers because I think they're the best of all plants. I just wouldn't – don't prune them let them grow they look after themselves yeah they'll come into masses of flower I'm sure.
Councillor Whitehead
Mrs Donnelly is she about? (laughter) Is that Mr Donnelly?
Question
Is there anything you can do to stop being invaded by midgets? Midges (laughter) midges.
Councillor Whitehead
Putting horse muck in your shoes I thought wasn't it? Right well what's the advice you could give us give her on that and I was wondering if it's anything to do with any conifers which we've got near.
Frank Ashton
No I don't think it is because we've got midges all the time I mean they are a mosquito relative and they breed wherever there's water spend the first part of their life cycle in water and then they emerge and even on the mild day in winter you can see them dancing about in the air. I don't know why they do it but there they are they're doing it but they aren't usually annoying at that time it's later on and by the way if you do get visits the females, it's only the females that cause the trouble.
Member of Audience
Oh well I'll tell her to keep out of the garden then (laughter). The next question she's put down is why have all my buds gone off my camellia? Where have they all gone?
Frank Ashton
Do you know where the camellia is, is it in a pot?
Member of Audience
They are in pots Frank yeah.
Frank Ashton
Right that's always the most likely problem at some stage they'll have got too dry.
Member of Audience
That answers that.
Frank Ashton
Yeah because just briefly if they're in the ground in decent soil and particularly with the rain we've had the buds form in Autumn and they are now starting to open and they rarely fall off. If they're in a pot and I'm as bad as anybody on this you do forget to water it and it's no use thinking well it's rained I don't need to water it because that pot is very quickly full of roots and the stress on the plant eventually causes it to get rid of the buds it's a safety mechanism.
Ken Harrop
You'll never eradicate them with insecticide or whatever they will always be there but I found that when I was younger I was repeatedly got at in the garden by the things usually in the evening and if you're working during the day that's the only time you can do your gardening is in the evening and that's when we're combating everything that's in the garden but you've got these things flying round your head and biting you and I've found that lavender or lavender oil is something which that for some reason they don't like and they will keep away. I mean you won't get a hundred percent but you know it's better than going totally unprotected either lavender oil or a few sprigs of lavender if you grow lavender in the garden.
Stuart Mollison
Just to back that up we go walking in Scotland and we're plagued by midges you can't believe how many millions of the things there are out there. Anyone who's been up there knows it, but I tried all these proprietary brands of midge repellent and if you read the instructions and you read the ingredients to them you think you'd rather die of the midge bites than put that stuff on you. What they use in Scotland in fact it's like I forget the name of the product but it's a scent it's Elizabeth Arden or something like that scent and it works it really does, it's meant to be an attractive smell but it keeps the midges away.
Councillor Whitehead
Not citronella is it?
Stuart Mollison
Citronella, no it isn't citronella. Burn candles. Smells terrible.
Councillor Whitehead
Okay thanks on that one. Eric Wright?
Question
My daughter lives in Grotton and she bought a house that had a view from the back garden, a view of Saddleworth hills and now a builder has built a housing estate and blocked that view off. Could you recommend any type of decorative-type tree that they could plant now so that they could screen the houses and give some sort of pleasure from the house?
Stuart Mollison
Well I can tell you the last thing that she wants to do is to plant a line of conifers or something like that, it's the worst thing. What it does is it draws your eyes to the fact that there's something behind it. What she should do really is plant a mixture of some evergreen trees maybe holly and maybe a few conifers but mix it with some deciduous tree planting as well and try and go for something that's going to give a combination of flower, berries and autumn foliage and some of the Mountain Ashes there's a whole range of them that are particularly attractive. There's some white berried ones, there's some Columna ones as well that grow very tall and thin that are very, very attractive, superb Autumn foliage as well. I think it's also worth trying to go for some unusual trees, something like a Handkerchief Tree. If you've ever seen that, it's like a lime tree but in June, July period it has these large white almost like handkerchiefs in the tree and they look spectacular and for early flowering some of the magnolias as well you go for there's one called Magnolia Kobus which gets into quite a tall tree but is smothered in flowers once it gets established. So go for a framework of evergreen and deciduous material and get a mixture of different sizes and different types of tree.
Councillor Whitehead
Thanks Stuart, next Kath Rathmill if you want to ask your question.
Question
I might be being a bit selfish but I have an Acacia tree that's over twelve years old and now is over twenty foot high. I'm just wondering how much more it's going to grow. The first original one died off and this is a shoot off it. At the moment it is just coming into flower but it is getting rather tall. I don't know if anybody's got any experience of these trees it's like a mimosa.
Paul Tyler
It's growing outside?
Member of Audience
Yes it's growing outside.
Paul Tyler
In a very sheltered spot?
Member of Audience
Well it's not it's down the road from here.
Paul Tyler
Normally they're not that hardy.
Member of Audience
I know (laughs).
Paul Tyler
It must be in a very sheltered spot, it will grow into forty, fifty feet high.
Member of Audience
Oh no (laughs).
Paul Tyler
It's an Australian tree it will grow very big. The fact is what you'll have to do is eventually you'll have to prune it. The thing to do now is manage it and prune it.
Member of Audience
Yes, yes.
Paul Tyler
And being a plant of that sort of legume type it's problem is if you start cutting it hard. Sometimes you can get die-back in it as well so but I think you want to start considering doing some pruning now rather than leave it another few years and then get to the point where it's too big and you have to remove it completely. Remember that when you do prune don't go too hard at it and don't start taking big limbs out of it, prune it back slowly and steadily.
Member of Audience
I think I'd better get an expert in thank you!
Paul Tyler
I don't think you'll find many experts in actually that type of tree round here (laughter).
Ken Harrop
Look on the positive points you've got an Australian tree there. In the south of England parakeets are now becoming endemic. When they move up north they're going to hit your trees first so you're going to have you know your prospect of possibly in a lifetime you might have a flock of parakeets in your back garden as well so could be a first for Ashton that.
Frank Ashton
I mean this is different round here now. When you went to say Torquay, Devon, Cornwall, hedges of fuschias, the hardy fuschia and they could keep them as hedges because they wouldn't be killed in winter. Here they'll always knock back at winter so every spring you have to give them a short back and sides, get rid of all the old stuff and then they grew four foot high again because the root stock was still undamaged and a lot of these other tender plants will actually survive providing the drainage is good because they can stand an amount of cold as long as they're not standing with their feet in water and this is one of the problems you know the wetter it is the less chance of survival so I presume that's good drainage where you are.
Member of Audience
I've got a pond at the bottom of the garden.
Frank Ashton
For the flow?
Member of Audience
To drain yes
Frank Ashton
Yeah yeah so that's helping you.
Councillor Whitehead
Thank you for that. Terry Beech now, left hand side there.
Question
My Brussels sprouts for the last two years have been a normal size but the sprouts have been absolutely diabolical. They've sprouted okay but they've sprouted the size of lettuces and the sprouts have not formed at all. Is it possibly over-composting or is it climate change?
Frank Ashton
Well it's either I think they benefit from a rich soil. What's the variety by the way do you know?
Member of Audience
This year was Evesham.
Frank Ashton
Is that an F1?
Member of Audience
Yes.
Frank Ashton
In that case that should have been okay because I was going to say some of the old varieties the Bedford types were very prone to you know bursting out to like small lettuce or cabbage type things but I think one of the most important things is the ground must be firm and very firm. I'm not a great advocate of jumping all around the plant you know and really firming in but I think it's worth it with sprouts and the other thing I do and I think it helps I remember a few years ago having two rows of sprouts that looked like four because by the time of picking them they were going that way, that way and all over the place and I actually plant them seven inches deep now and really firm them in hard. Leave a hollow round them and gradually fill it in when the hoeing's done because the more they rock around the looser the sprouts will be you know they want to be tight ground really firmed in as hard as you can when they're planted and even once they start growing make sure the ground immediately around is kept firm you can really hold the surface but as long as it's firmed in and I think that should help. Is it light soil or not?
Member of Audience
Yeah the soil is very, very light, light sandy soil but I have been firming it and also I've been growing these for the last twenty years. It's only the last two years where I've had this problem.
Frank Ashton
It is strange and as I say for an F1 hybrid they're usually more reliable than the old pollinated types but do try, sandy soil isn't as easy to firm of course as a heavier soil but do you know don't be frightened of really treading them down and maybe planting them a bit deeper.
It should help to stop them rocking about. I mean you could even stake them but they're quite difficult to tie up even to a four foot cane.
Member of Audience
Well this year I've had four foot steel.
Frank Ashton
Oh right.
Member of Audience
Tying them up but unfortunately they're still sending out sprouts the size of lettuces. Anyway thank you.
Frank Ashton
Okay.
Councillor Whitehead
And the next question, J Newton? Do you want to ask your question?
Question
What I'd like to find out is last week watching the gardening programme on telly they were talking about sowing seeds in conjunction with the moon whether it's waxing or waning and I'm just wondering, it's very interesting actually, if any of the panel have done things like that or heard about it and what's their opinion?
Mark Porter
The moon has a property of putting flesh on us because we're all made of water and plant material or living material it's influenced by the moon but I don't know anything else about it (laughs). I know it's a phase of the moon because a lot of us have got beards and you know things happen.
Member of Audience
They did say that if you planted seeds when the moon was waxing you would get a better crop than if you'd planted them when the moon was waning and I'm just it was interesting and I was wondering whether anybody had ever done it or you know written about it.
Frank Ashton
At least that was the thought because it was a student's project at Kew wasn't it, but she wasn't quite so happy about the beetroot because that seemed to go the other way around. Then she found out there was a snag with the watering system. But there you are John there's a project for you this year.
Member of Audience
Yeah.
Frank Ashton
Mottram Road allotments new astronomical officer is in front of you. We will come back and check up John later on (laughter).
Stuart Mollison
It's about beetroot, I didn't hear the programme but...She sowed the seeds when the moon was waxing and then she sowed the other side when it was waning and she got a far better crop of carrots, beetroot, all kinds of root vegetables you know and I thought well that's amazing so I've just wondered you know with all the knowledge we've got on the table if anybody had ever heard of it before.
Ken Harrop
I think there's a very close correlation between phases of the moon and phases of weather. If you get weather that comes in on a new moon it usually sticks around for a fortnight. Now I've read and seen articles of growers sometimes exhibition growers who are growing exhibition subjects from seeds and they will wait until there is a given time of their sowing in January to when it is a new moon. Unfortunately, we only get the questions tonight so I didn't get the chance to read up about it but it would be an interesting thing to read up about and been able to give you possibly a more competent answer than what we have done but there's I think there's definitely something in it, it's also to do with magnetic fields around the earth as well because that is also tied in with the moon but whether there's a correlation between good germination and magnetic fields or not I don't know. With our chrysants we take cuttings so I'm not particularly bothered it's only passing interest that.
Councillor Whitehead
Thanks Ken for that that's, we've just exhausted three quarters of an hour now of the formal questions believe it and it's I think we've had a fair spread of throughout the field as well haven't we on the vegetables and flowers and trees so thank everybody for the questions. Thank the panel for answering them in the knowledgeable way that they have. Now please remember the panel's still here, stay around, have a lot at the nice pictures around you so they give you some insight into some of the work that's gone on round the "In Bloom' project. People are around to talk about any aspect of that. All the panel will be here along with as well Councillor David Sweeton the project head who actually helps to deliver the "In Bloom' thing so he'll be here as well if you want to chat about that and again thank you very much.
Applause
General chatter
Doris Sowerbutts
The whole thing was extremely good to say that it'd been you know brought together at the last minute and I thought the panel were very, very good.
Mark Porter
I thought it went very well really.
Question
How did it feel being on the panel?
Mark Porter
Nerve-wracking at first but once I settled down it was okay.
Question
Can you tell us how you thought tonight went?
Robert Frost
I think it's been a fantastic success and I don't think anybody could have beaten what they've done tonight. I think it's been absolutely tremendous, the comments from all the people who've been in there have been absolutely fabulous and were very responsive to the panel and were I thought experts in their field.
Cllr Oldham
Clearly as the Leader of the Council I have great problems and pressures on me, but to come to this public house The Broadoak this evening and to listen to the questions and the answers, relaxed me immensely. I just felt quite elated about it all to the point where clearly there's so much interest in this situation that we will do this annually now. The Broadoak public house will be the recipient on a year to year Gardeners' Question Time which I'm sure will draw quite a lot of people and give them immense enjoyment and satisfaction as I have achieved and enjoyed tonight.
Member of Audience
Considering it was done as a last stop thing you know to keep it going absolutely superb as Tameside always do anyway.
Ken Harrop
Yes I've enjoyed both from the panel side and the working side tonight and I think the spontaneity of the questions and the panel of experts that you've got covered the full range of gardening and vegetables to shrubs and everything in-between and from answering the questions point of view very interesting.
Question
Cllr Roy Oldham says he wants to make an annual thing of this would you be willing to come back if you were asked?
Ken Harrop
Just depends whether he offers me a contract (laughs). Yes of course I will do yes anything that's in the gardening line I'm usually involved with in Denton and beyond. Always keen to show an interest and be a part of it.
Question
And will you be back next year to do another one?
Member of Audience
Of course no question about it yes I will.