There are many different definitions to be found, but I think these explain the variations in quite simple terms:

Bulb – a central bud surrounded by a fleshy layer. The bulb serves as a store for nutrients as well as a reproductive structure.

Rhizome – a reproductive stem which grows horizontally underground, topped by shoots and with roots below. The stem also acts as a food store. Some rhizomes are edible, such as ginger, galangal and turmeric but common flowers are irises and various types of lily.

Tuber – a plump fleshy stem which divides for reproduction and stores food. Dahlias of all sorts of varieties are popular flowers but the humble potato is also a tuber.

Corm – A corm, as with the other types above, stores nutrients for the plant and also reproduces. It appears similar to a bulb but is usually smaller and harder in texture. Popular garden varieties are gladioli and crocuses.

You will see that all the different types of the generic “bulb” act as a food storage area for the plant and this is not only during the growing season but continues when the leaves die off and the plant becomes dormant. This is why all these perennials can be left in the ground as they all have their own survival system. Thus, when the weather conditions become suitable for growth, the plants reappear without human intervention. However, in order to maintain this annual reappearance, bulbs should be planted in well drained soil with plenty of moisture and, in most cases, sunshine. Soil that is too wet and retains a lot of moisture will cause the bulb to rot.

My experience of bulbs in Southern England is that snowdrops appear first, followed by crocuses then daffodils (in a sheltered spot) even while the weather is still frosty. Tulips, hyacinths and bluebells need more warmth so won’t usually appear until spring is well under way and dahlias and gladioli will flower in the summer.

Planting time varies, depending on climate but most spring bulbs and rhizomes should be planted in late autumn or winter and summer flowering varieties in the spring.

Most bulbs enjoy full sunshine but if they are normally woodland plants, such as bluebells and snowdrops, then dappled shade will be more suitable, such as under deciduous trees. Planters, pots and window boxes are all suitable for growing bulbs too, as long as there is approximately three times their own height in depth of soil beneath the bulb. If you have problems with squirrels digging up and eating your bulbs, try planting them in a wire cage.

When the spring flowers are over, the leaves should be left to die off naturally as they provide the nutrients for the bulb to store for the following year, so don’t cut them off or mow grass in which they are planted. If you want to reuse your tubs for summer bedding, you can, if you wish, dig up the bulbs complete and lay they out to dry in a warm dry place. When the leaves are quite dried up, they can be pulled off and the bulbs stored in a paper bag for replanting in the autumn. Unless your climate is very dry, tubers such as dahlias should be dug up when their foliage wilts with the first frosts as they are very prone to mould growth. Lay them out in seed trays or wooden boxes to dry and store in a dark dry place. The tubers will shrivel up, but don’t worry, just before you want to replant them, remove them from the dark, sprinkle with a little compost and water very sparingly. You will notice that the tubers become plumb again and green shoots start appearing and this is when you can plant them out again as long as the danger of frost is past.

There are lots of varieties of all the above-mentioned plants to be found in garden centres but if you want some really exotic and exciting types, mail order companies have done fantastic work developing some real beauties!

Liz Canham
Liz is a keen gardener who has exchanged the relative ease of gardening in Southern England for the trials of gardening on the Costa Blanca in Spain, where her garden is at a 45% angle on the side of a mountain. She is webmistress of Gardening for All.

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There’s nothing more rewarding than scattering a few seeds in a box and seeing them grow into real flowers or vegetables. In addition, it’s much less expensive to buy a few packets of seeds and some compost than to buy the equivalent number of plants from a garden centre. This is particularly true if you have a large garden and need plenty of plants to fill the spaces but if your garden is small, why not share a few different packets of seeds with a friend or two. If, say, three of you each grow one variety then you can all have three different types of flowers in your garden or window boxes.

So, to get down to essentials: it has to be the right time of year. Most annual flowers and summer vegetables such as tomatoes, salads, beans, cucumbers, etc. need to be planted in late winter or early spring but perennial plants and vegetables like spring onions should be planted in autumn so you must check the seed packet. You also need good quality seed compost. Don’t skimp on this; you really do get what you pay for and the cheaper varieties don’t contain the nutrients that growing seedlings need. You will also need some sort of container, usually a tray about 5cm deep by 22cm wide by 35cm long. Specialist seed trays from a garden centre are quite cheap and obviously designed for the purpose. Alternatively, you can buy strips of tiny pots, which are useful when you come to prick out your seedlings (more of that later) or for larger seeds, pellets which expand in water and which hold individual seeds.

Fill your seed tray with compost and lightly firm it down with your hand. Water with a fine rose or spray bottle and be sure not to soak the compost or the seeds will rot; it should be just damp to the touch.

The next step depends on the seed that you are planting. If they are tiny such as petunia seeds, check the instructions on the packet but normally you would need to sprinkle them over the whole surface of your prepared tray and cover with a very fine layer of compost. If the seeds are larger, for example nasturtium, then make individual holes in the compost using the end of a pencil or similar and insert your seeds and close the holes gently with your finger. For these larger seeds, planting in rows makes life easier later on. Again, read the packet, but some seeds need a damp atmosphere to germinate so cover your seed tray with transparent plastic or glass. Some need dark so cover with brown paper.

Once your seeds are planted, keep in a fairly warm place such as a south facing windowsill but preferably not in full sun. The seeds will probably not need watering if they are covered in plastic or sealed in a plastic bag – you will be able to tell by the condensation forming on the plastic (or not), but if the compost starts to look dry, water gently or spray from a bottle. Whatever you do, don’t overwater.

Keep an eye on your seeds and as soon as they are germinating, remove the covering and continue to water as before. When the plants are about 3cm tall and have developed two or four leaves, prick (thin) them out so that the remaining seedlings are about 2cm apart. You can replant the seedlings which you have removed in other seed trays at the same distance apart. Be careful when handling these, grasping them very gently by the stem, not the leaves. Alternatively, you can transplant the seedlings to individual pots about 5cm in diameter.

When the weather warms up, you can put the seedlings outside during the day and bring them in when darkness falls. This is called hardening off as it acclimatises the seedlings to outdoor life. As the plants get bigger, they can be watered with a normal watering can or fine hose.

When all fear of frost has past, you can leave your young plants out at night as well as during they day and after about a week, they will be ready to transplant to their permanent outdoor positions.

Before planting out, give the plants a good watering and include the ball of compost in their newly dug hole as this will continue to give them nourishment and will prevent too much disturbance of the roots.

Once in the ground, continue watering in accordance with your local weather conditions and you will be amazed how the plants flourish. Come summer, you can sit back and admire your flowers or veg with the additional satisfaction of knowing that you grew them yourself.

Liz Canham
Liz is a keen gardener who has exchanged the relative ease of gardening in Southern England for the trials of gardening on the Costa Blanca in Spain, where her garden is at a 45% angle on the side of a mountain. She is webmistress of Gardening for All.

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Start by looking for ideas in landscaping books where you’re sure to find something that you like or something which you can adapt to the practicalities of real life.  Often, these books show the gardens of stately homes and very few of us actually have a garden that big, but check out the planting or the hedging or the statues and you will soon get some ideas.  More practically, look at books on do it yourself landscaping.  These books will show step by step ways to build raised beds, to lay paving or decking and lots of other features which you may fancy in your garden.

If you want some sort of water feature, then you probably should start with that.  Choose a place for it; somewhere with dappled shade may be best if you plan to have fish in your water feature.  Make sure that it isn’t too big or it will dominate the whole garden but in any event, it will be the main point of focus, so create this first.

There are many ways of building a water feature; you can buy pre-formed ponds with built in waterfalls, you can buy a reservoir with a spout, which creates an interesting shape of the water and you can cover the reservoir with attractive rocks or pebbles; or you can use a liner.  Alternatively you can use the type of water feature which you attach to a wall with a trough beneath it to catch the water.

Apart from the latter, whichever you choose, you will have to dig a hole and or stream so it will be as well to know whether any main drains cross your garden!  Whether you’re using a liner or pre-cast pool, you will need attractive rocks or pebbles to surround it and if you plan to have plants surrounding your pool, then the rocks will need to be cemented in place to contain the earth or before long, your rock beds will be empty of soil and it will all be in your pond.

Whether or not you plan to keep fish, you will need a selection of plants to keep the water clear.  It’s best to go to a specialist water plant supplier as requirements vary depending on the position of the pond.  However, water lilies are a good start and look pretty.  You may also need to introduce some wildlife, which will also help to keep the water crystal clear.

Now you have your focal point, start to build the rest of the hard landscaping, such as paths, decking, steps, raised beds, etc.  While you are doing this, you may want to bury trunking containing electrical cable for lighting (and for the pond pump) as well as hose for a watering system.

Finally, you get to the interesting bit, which is choosing and placing your plants.  Don’t forget to consider the amount of sun or shade and water each plant needs.  Try to choose whatever is suitable for where you live; if your garden has a lot of wind from the sea, you will need quite different plants from an inland location.  If you live in semi-desert, don’t try to grow hydrangeas and the like or you will be watering them all day long.  You also need to consider which type of soil you have as some plants don’t like acid and some don’t like alkaline.  If you use pots, you can, of course, change the structure to suit whatever plants you have chosen, indeed you can do this in flower beds but you will need to carry on adding what you need to change the pH of the soil or it will revert to type.

As well as nutritional requirements, check what height and width your plants will reach.  The planting may look sparse to begin with but as plants grow and spread the gaps will be filled but if they start off too close together, they’ll end up squashed and the parts not getting light will die.  Don’t forget to put the tall plants at the back of a bed and graduate the rest towards the front.

When you’re happy with the position of your plants, lay out your watering system, with drippers for each plant; one for small to average plants and two or three or more in a ring for larger and thirstier plants.

Soon enough, it will start to look like a professionally landscaped garden and if you can’t do all of it in one year, divide it up and do what you can then start again the next year.

Happy landscaping!

Liz Canham
Liz is a keen gardener who has exchanged the relative ease of gardening in Southern England for the trials of gardening on the Costa Blanca in Spain, where her garden is at a 45% angle on the side of a mountain. She is webmistress of Gardening for All.

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Each variety is coded; e.g. “VF”, “VFFA”, “VFNT” but how on earth are we supposed to know what these acronyms mean?  How do we tell which variety is resistant to which disease?  That is where the coding comes in, which is fine if you know what each code means.

Below are the common designations, which should help you choose which variety of tomato plant is the one for you.

“A” means that the plant has resistance to the Alternaria alternata fungus which is a cause of Alternaria stem canker. The stems, leaves and fruit of the tomato are badly affected by cankers that vary in colour from dark brown to black. If the cankers are on the stem, there are often brownish streaks as well. Stem cankers can  cause the death of a tomato plant before you can harvest the fruit.

“F” or “FF” indicates that the plants are resistant to the Fusarium oxysporum fungi which induce Fusarium wilt. This is a critical disease which causes the drooping and yellowing of the leaves beginning at the bottom of the tomato plant.  Without treatment, Fusarium wilt can kill tomato plants well before the fruit can be picked. Some Fusarium fungi have become resistant themselves to the “F” resistance tomatoes, in which case, you need to choose plants with the “FF” coding.

“N”  signifies that the plants are resistant to parasitic round worms, which often lie inactive in the earth.  Effects of round worm infestation are root galls that are up to an inch in diameter. Afflicted plants are weak, do not react to fertilizer, and are inclined to droop when the weather is hot.

“St” specified tomatoes are not susceptible to  grey leaf spot (Stemphylium).  Affected tomatoes build up brown to black spots on older leaves. As the disease goes on, the spots become larger and the centres turn grey. The grey middles ultimately fall out, leaving behind small holes.

“T” indicates that the plants are resistant to the Tobacco Mosaic Virus. This results in a blotchy look to the  leaves and smaller fruit  and crop.  Occasionally immature tomatoes will go brown.

“TSWV” points to resistance to the Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus. Signs of infection differ considerably dependent upon the variety of tomato, but consist of yellow and brown rings and brown streaks on tomato stems, leaves which have dead spots and tips, and seriously inferior growth. The tomatoes themselves may have red and orange discolorations when they are fully grown.

“V” means the tomato is not susceptible to the fungi which cause Verticillium wilt, Verticillium dahliae and V. albo-atrum. Signs of Verticillium wilt disease do not ordinarily become apparent until the plant is  fruiting or it is not watered sufficiently. Signs include V-shaped gashes on the leaves.

Don’t forget that disease resistant tomatoes are not necessarily immune to disease but if they do become infected, they are less likely to sustain as much damage as those varieties which are not disease resistant.

As well as choosing the right variety of disease resistant tomatoes, remember that changing where you plant your tomatoes can help prevent disease but be sure to rotate them with other plants which are not susceptible to the disease you are trying to eradicate.

Make sure that your tomato plants are well watered, are in well drained soil and are mulched to retain moisture.  Spray with systemic insecticide or fungicide if you detect symptoms of disease (as long as you’re not growing organic crops) and generally keep your tomato plants in as good a condition as possible.

Before planting your tomatoes, try to identify whether your garden already is home to any pests or diseases.  Check the foliage and/or fruit of other plants in your garden and if you detect disease, take a sample to an expert to identify the cause.  You will then be in a position to choose the right disease resistant tomatoes to plant.

By following sensible gardening practices, you will soon be able to eradicate the pests and diseases and end up with a bumper crop of tomatoes.

Liz Canham
Liz is a keen gardener who has exchanged the relative ease of gardening in Southern England for the trials of gardening on the Costa Blanca in Spain, where her garden is at a 45% angle on the side of a mountain. She is webmistress of Gardening for All.

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