What's New

How to lay a new lawn page added to the projects section.

Removing large branches.

Our plant photograph database is starting to take shape.

• Sink pots of compost amongs strawberry plants and root runners.
• Hydrangea flowers will fade quickly in the sun, if you are growing them in pots move them to a shady area of the garden.
• If the your grass has grown long while you have been on holiday, give it a cut with the blade set quite high and then lower a few days later, this reduces the chance of the grass going into shock and allowing weeds to get established
• Cut back the sideshoots by half of any trained fruit trees.
• Continue to earth up potatoes, to stop the tubers being exposed to light, turning green.
• If you are going on holiday either get a neighbour to water your house plants, hanging baskets and patio planters, alternatively put all of your plants including house plants on the patio or lawn, put the lawn sprinkler between them and connect the hose to an outside tap using a water timer (set the timer to come on twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening - 10 minutes each time should be sufficient). Test the settings before you go away.
• Flag Iris leaves will start to droop now that they have finished flowering. Lift and divide the clumps.
• Check shrubs reguraly for aphids, treat with a soap or chemical spray.
• Pick strawberries as soon as they are ripe, left on the plant they will over ripen, rot and encourage pests and diseases.
• Summer prune apple trees to encourage swelling of the fruit.
• Burn old strawberry plants before planting with new stock, preventing disease and viruses from spreading.
• Feed tomato plants fornightly with a liquid fertiliser (this must be diluted in water to prevent burning the plants)
• Pond fish will eat more in the summer, feed them little and often, once or twice a day. If the food has not been eaten within 15 minutes, remove and dispose of the excess.
• Apple and pear trees will shed some fruit, this is known as the 'June drop'. This is quite natural, it's the trees way of restricting the amount of fruit that develop.
• Ensure that soil in hanging baskets and patio planters is kept moist. Remove fading and dead flower heads from plants, this will encourage new flowers. Feed hanging baskets and planters weekly with liquid fertiliser if a slow release fertiliser was not added when planting the basket.
• Move houseplants outside for some summer sunshine.
• Continually nip out side shoots from upright tomato plants. These reduce the amount of food available to fruit baring branches. Nip out the growing tip after the plant has produced 4-5 fruiting trusses.
• Check the ties on climbers, flower stems and standard roses - the tops of plants can get very heavy when in full bloom or when wet.
• Take soft wood cuttings from thyme. Thyme cuttings take easily, so they can be stuck in the soil or in pots. Remember that thyme likes full sun and hates to be grown in the shade.
• Protect plants from slugs and snails with slug pellets, course grit or traps. Alternatively try to encourage birds, hedgehogs and frogs to your garden - all prey on slugs and snails.
• Regularly water trees and shrubs that were planted last autumn and winter. Their roots won't have had a chance to fully develop yet.
• Cut grass weekly, long grass takes more nutrients out of the soil. It is also harder to cut and may leave yellow patches in the lawn.
• Apply a weed and feed to established lawns. Water in with a hose after a few days if it hasn't rained.
• Lift, divide and replant chives.