The Beechgrove Garden episode 17 2020

The Beechgrove Garden episode 17 2020

The Beechgrove Garden episode 17 2020: In this episode, George provides a greenhouse update and shows the benefits of late-sown cucumbers, while Carole deals with that most persistent of garden pests – the vine weevil. Meanwhile, Brian is cooking up compost at his family garden in Scone.


 

 



Beechgrove is a hardy annual TV gardening series which sets out to deal with, glory in and celebrate Scottish horticulture and growing conditions. Beechgrove is and always has been a firmly practical, get-your-hands-dirty gardening programme which delights in success but also learns from failures in the garden and never takes itself too seriously.

 

The Beechgrove Garden episode 17 2020

 

How to grow cucumbers

You can grow cucumbers in the ground, pots or in growing bags. Home-grown cucumbers taste fabulous. Choose the type that’s right for you – some can be grown outside, some indoors. Outdoor cucumbers can be sown directly into the soil in late May and early June – or you can buy small plants from the garden centre.

Start cucumbers off by sowing seeds from mid-February to mid-March if you have a heated greenhouse or similar environment, or in April if you have an unheated greenhouse. Sow seeds on their side, 1cm (½in) deep in pots.

Transfer young plants to 25cm (10in) pots of good potting compost in late March (heated greenhouse), late May (unheated greenhouse). Keep the compost evenly moist – little and often is the best way. You can also use growing-bags but plants will need to be carefully watered and looked after.

Train the main stem up a vertical wire or cane. Pinch out the growing point when it reaches the roof. Keep the humidity high by watering the floor and, once planted out, feed every 10-14 days with a balanced liquid fertiliser. Pinch out the tips of sideshoots two leaves beyond a female flower (recognisable by tiny fruits behind flower). Pinch out the tips of flowerless sideshoots once they reach 60cm (2ft) long.

Vine weevil

Vine weevil is an insect that can feed on a wide range of ornamental plants and fruits, especially those grown in containers. Adult vine weevils eat leaves and the grubs eat roots. Vine weevil is a beetle that attacks a wide range of plants, both indoors and outdoors, but is especially damaging to plants grown in containers.

It is one of the most widespread, common and devastating garden problems. The adult weevils eat leaves during spring and summer, but it is the grubs that can cause the most damage over autumn and winter when they feed on plant roots. This damage can result in wilting and plant death.

Plants growing in pots and containers, outdoors or under cover, are most likely to be severely damaged by vine weevil grubs. Plants growing in the open ground are less likely to be damaged, although heavy infestations of grubs can occur on strawberries, Primula, polyanthus, Sedum, Heuchera and young yew plants.

The adult beetles feed on the foliage of many herbaceous plants and shrubs, especially Rhododendron, evergreen Euonymus, Hydrangea, Epimedium, Bergenia, Primula and strawberry. Adults rarely cause enough damage to affect the vigour of plants.

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