Seeds to sow now:

Indoors or in a heated greenhouse

Cress

Lettuce

Ornamental pepper

Outside

Ageratum

Alpine poppy

Alyssum

Antwerp hollyhock, Fig-leaved hollyhock, Hollyhock

Aubretia, Rock cress, Aubrieta, Aubrietia

Bristly hollyhock

Brussels sprout

Cabbage

Carrot

Cauliflower

Common hollyhock

Cress

Floss flower, Ageratum

Hollyhock

Larkspur

Lettuce

Normandy sorrel

Onion

Radish

Spinach

Spring onion

Swiss chard, Ruby chard, Rhubard chard

Turnip

Outside under cover

Cauliflower

Lettuce

Shows and events:

I have checked the events listed below and have added comments where necessary. Please check the show website before travelling, as some events are very popular and the venues may have put restrictions in place, others might have to be cancelled at the last minute.

All event details have been entered as accurately as possible, but please check with the event organisers before travelling to avoid disappointment.

The UKGardening web site has been running since 1998. The idea behind the site has always been to provide what we think will be interesting and useful information for the novice gardener.

Jobs to do in the garden this week.

• To reduce the chance of introducing infection when pruning or deadheading, wipe the blades of secateurs, loppers and snips with a rag soaked with a garden disinfectant, such as Jeyes fluid, which can also be used to wipe down garden tables and chairs.
• Ensure that soil in hanging baskets and patio planters is kept moist, watering daily in dry weather or where baskets and containers are close to the house and may be in a 'rain shadow'. Removing fading and dead flower heads from plants will encourage new flowers to form and bloom. Feed plants in containers weekly with a liquid fertiliser, particularly if a slow release fertiliser wasn't mixed with the potting compost when planting up the baskets and containers.
• Feed houseplants with liquid seaweed or a general fertilizer.
• Continually nip out side shoots from upright (cordon) tomato plants. These reduce the amount of food available to fruit baring branches. If growing plants in the greenhouse, nip out the growing tip after the plant has produced 4-5 fruiting trusses, reduce this to 3-4 if growing tomatoes outside. See here for more information : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFBgCBaFSnk&ab_channel=UKGardening
• Take cuttings of shrubs: senecio, lavender, sage, rosemary, fuchsia, hebe, daphne, cistus, choisya and azalea.
• Prune wisteria by shortening the whippy lateral shoots to about six buds from the main stems.
• Tie tomato stems to canes or stakes to prevent the weight of the fruit breaking the plant.
• Propagate hibiscus, lavender and rhododendron plants by taking semi-ripe cuttings.
• Propagate celamatis, honeysuckle and wisteria plants by layering.
• Lift, divide and replant chives.
• Move houseplants outside for some summer sunshine.
• 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
• If you are going away on holiday, prepare your garden a few days before you leave. Water all shrubs well, including roses and climbers, and lay a 50-75mm (2-3in) thick mulch around the base of the stems, to keep the roots cool.
  
  If you are fortunate enough to have a neighbour willing to water your baskets, greenhouse and borders, make the task easier by unravelling and connecting up the hose and leaving filled watering cans in accessible places around the garden.
  
  If you don't want your neighbour to come into your house, whilst you are away, move any houseplants outside so they can be watered, any orchids, cacti or succulents should be fine left indoors without water for a couple of weeks.
  
  If you don't have anyone to check on your plants, put all of your pots (including house plants), containers and hanging baskets (to stop them tipping over, sit them on large, empty flower pots) on the patio or lawn. Put the lawn sprinkler or sled sprinkler bar between them, 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 to 15 minutes each time should suffice). Test the settings and batteries before you go away.
• Grass will need less frequent mowing in prolonged dry weather. If very dry, remove the grass collecting box and let the cuttings stay on the ground to conserve soil moisture.
• Make sure that ponds are topped up, if you need to top up your pond check the PH and nitrogen levels of the water afterwards.
• 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.
• Feed tomato plants fornightly with a liquid fertiliser (this must be diluted in water to prevent burning the plants)
• Sweet corn should be ripe enough to harvest. Pick when they are a pale creamy colour. However corn on the cob deteriorates quickly, so it should be used as soon as possible after picking.
• Gather seeds of alliums, poppies, aquilegias and salvias. Label and lay out to dry before storing.
• Azaleas, rhododendrons and camellias set their buds now. If they are being grown in pots or containers, make sure they get plenty of water using rainwater at least once a week.
• If your tomato plants have been affected by blight, clear the plants and burn them, adding them to the compost heap will not kill the spores.
• Wild flowers only need to be cut down once a year. Wait until they have finished flowering and the seed heads have ripened, adjust the lawnmower wheels to their highest setting, remove the grass collection box and run the mower over them, or if you fancy a lot of exercise, try a scythe. Leave the cuttings on the ground for a few days to allow any seed heads to dry and for the seeds to fall. Collect up the remaining stems and put them in the compost heap.
• Lift marrows, pumpkins and squashes off the ground with straw or upturned plastic flower pots, in order to help them ripen in the last of the sun, keep them from sitting on damp soil and reduce slug damage.
• Tidy and cut back perennials.
• Take cuttings of tender perennials and shrubs. Including salvias, penstemon, lavender and rosemary.
• Collect and dispose of wind-fall fruit. Leaving them on the ground encourages pests and can damage your lawn.
• Continue to collect and store seeds from plants, for sowing next year. Store any collected seed in paper envelopes or bags, then put them in an air-tight container.

• Spring flowering bulbs should be available in your local garden centre. Plan where you are going to plant them before you go and buy accordingly, it's great fun filling up those brown bags with bulbs, but can be expensive.

  Bulbs are lifted by commercial growers in late summer/early autumn. The bulbs are full of moisture and sugars, but the longer they are out of the ground the more they will start to dehydrate and use stored sugars, smaller bulbs are especially vulnerable so get them into pots or in the ground as soon as possible after purchasing.

  If you have a small garden, or are planting bulbs in pots, think about using smaller varieties of bulbs. Miniature daffodils ('Tete-a-tete' or 'Topolino'), dwarf tulips and crocuses.

  Plant bulbs of one variety together for effect. If the soil in your garden is wet and sticky in winter/spring, plant the bulbs in pots and containers, otherwise they'll tend to sit and rot. Plant bulbs 2 to 3 times deeper than their size. If you are growing in large containers, plant the bulbs in layers sometimes called the lasagne method. Put larger bulbs like tulip and daffodil in first, medium sized bulbs next, finishing off with the smallest bulbs or corms.

  Tulip bulbs are planted in the first two weeks of November, which is slightly later than other spring-flowering bulbs.

• Autumn or late winter are the best times to lay a new lawn, as it's damper and cooler, allowing the turf to bed in without you having to worry too much about regular watering. See here: laying a new lawn for further information.

Recent articles:

• Creating a compost heap
• How to lay a new lawn
• UKGardening YouTube Channel
• Tweets by UKGardening.
• Removing large branches
• Updated photo gallery