Garden Tips – August 2023

In August we’ll be balancing our efforts between enjoying the here and now and preparing plants to be in the best possible shape for next year.

For next year, this is an ideal time to prune shrubs and trees that have already flowered. Wisteria, hebes, lavenders, apples and pears (especially restricted forms such as cordons and espaliers) can all be pruned now to promote the production of flowering wood for next year. In similar vein Camellias and Rhododendrons are setting next year’s flower buds now, so if we get a hot dry spell; it could be worth watering them to ensure the production of healthy buds.

With the soil now nice and warm, it is the perfect time to apply nematodes for slug control. Remember that nematodes for slugs tend to have little effect on snails as the nematodes live below ground whilst snails are surface dwellers.

It is also a good time to apply nematodes for vine weevil control. The notched edges to leaves that are a sure sign of vine weevils are not that damaging, but the grubs that are living underground can have a devastating effect on roots, especially for container plants.  For a full story on vine weevils have a look at the RHS web site.

In August there is plenty to enjoy in the flower borders, many of the Asteraceae (daisy) family are at their peak and regular cutting of Dahlias, Gazanias, Sunflowers Argyranthemums, Tagetes and Zinnias will keep them flowering well into the autumn.  Our Dahlia bed on the allotment is coming into full bloom and will give us cut flowers for the house right through the summer and early autumn.

Dahlia Bed

Dahlia Bed

In the kitchen garden, the main job is to keep picking and eating. Courgettes, beans, and salad leaves will all benefit from regular cropping. Some produce is ideal for simple freezing (e.g. beans just need blanching and dividing up into portions).  Others like tomatoes are best cooked and then frozen to give a taste of summer in the dark winter months.  Given a blight free summer we’d hope to have many boxes of ratatouille, roast tomatoes and pasta sauces in the freezer by the end of September.

Garden Tips – July 2023

Overall, July tends to be a month for building on earlier work, rather than setting out on major new efforts. For example, with the hot, dry summers of recent years, we’d certainly recommend holding back on new planting until the autumn.  Not only is planting in to hard and dry ground hard work, a lot of additional watering is likely to be required to see new plants through the summer.  It is much better to wait until the autumn, when the greater likelihood of rain will make both planting and aftercare that much easier.

Dead-heading will keep flowers like roses, sweet peas and dahlias blooming and regular harvesting will keep summer crops like peas, beans and strawberries coming.

Dahlias

Dahlias, cosmos and heuchera flowers

If the weather turns warm and dry again then mowers can be parked up, coming out only occasionally with the blades set high to tidy up grass seed heads, but not put the main grass stems under stress. We don’t usually recommend watering lawns as grass is generally robust enough to survive until rains return. The best time to repair any patches that are lost is in the early autumn, when the soil is still warm, but the chances of rainfall are high.

In other parts of the garden, you may need to think about watering. Generally established trees and shrubs should not need additional watering, but those planted within the last year or so are likely to need a bit of extra attention. Putting in a watering point when you plant makes it easier to make sure that water gets down to the roots where it is needed.  You can use a piece of drainpipe, a plant pot or a plastic drinks bottle, anything that will allow water to penetrate to the root area rather than merely wetting the surface of the ground..

We use a similar approach with fast-growing edible crops, which tend to be quite thirsty. The “Rolls-Royce” option is probably using Gro-Pots, but simply sinking a 2-litre flowerpot into the ground next to a tomato, squash or courgette will help to get plenty of water straight down to the developing root system.

Squash in a Gro-Pot

Squash in a Gro-Pot

For crops which are planted together rather than singly, such as sweet corn, we’ll use a network of pots “planted” amongst the seedlings.

Watering pots in sweet corn bed

Watering pots in sweet corn bed

Garden Tips – June 2023

With the summer solstice this month, we will be enjoying long hours of daylight throughout the month. Our tip this month is to make the most of all this light to enjoy any outdoor space that you have. If you’ve spent time sowing, weeding, pruning, mowing and planting for the first few months of the year, take some time to step back and enjoy the fruits of your labours.  While past performance is no guarantee, June has been quite a warm month in the past couple of years, so this month may be more suited to a bit of R&R than heavy labour.

If we get a spell of decent weather many people’s thoughts will turn to outdoor eating, which often means barbecues in the afternoon or long light evenings. However, a lovely treat in high summer is an outdoor breakfast. With sunrise well before 5:00 a.m. this month the temperature rises quickly and can already be very pleasant by the time that most of us are thinking about surfacing. An early breakfast outdoors, before too much traffic is on the road can give you the chance to catch up with birdsong before the wider noises of life intrude too much.  We’ve been known to pack a flask of tea and a couple of croissants for an early morning breakfast on the allotment.

Breakfast on the allotment

Breakfast on the allotment

If the weather isn’t so good, June is also a good month for bringing a bit of the outdoors inside. Depending on what you grow, you may be able to bring cut flowers such as roses, peonies, irises, philadelphus and star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) inside. These will all give fabulous scent as well as splashes of colour.

Roses and Peony in full bloom

Roses and Peony in full bloom

If you are a kitchen gardener, you may be eating your first early potatoes, the new season’s peas, early strawberries, blackcurrants and the first baby carrots this month, all seasonal treats that are worth sitting down to enjoy.

New Potatoes 9 June

New Potatoes June 2015

Home grown strawberries

Home grown strawberries

Of course, if you get a bit restless, the long days will leave a fair amount of time for further weeding, pruning, mowing and planting if you fancy.

Garden Tips – May 2023

May is one of our favourite months in the garden. The days are now getting much longer and distinctly warmer and the increased light and temperature are stimulating lots of growth. Seeds that were planted in the dark days of winter have now grown into healthy young plants that are ready for planting out, herbaceous perennials have sprung back into life and brought with them the promise of summer colour and the buds have burst on deciduous trees revealing new leaves and late spring blossom. This month we’ll focus on the last of these.

The vibrant fresh green of new leaves is at its best at this time of year and if you’re lucky enough to have a view across mixed woodland you can enjoy the subtle variations of colour before the heat of summer starts to wash out some of the more vivid colours. In the garden, trees provide structure, shade and habitat as well as ornamental properties, so it is always worth thinking about putting in a tree. You don’t need a huge space too, as there are many options of naturally smaller trees including Acers, Amelanchiers, crab apples, Sorbus (rowan), some Magnolias and dwarfing fruit trees. You can also keep a more vigorous tree pruned to fit the space you have.

Amelanchier in full blossom

Amelanchier in full blossom

This crab apple has been kept tightly pruned to give a centrepiece to our small front garden.

Crab Apple in Blossom

Crab Apple in Blossom

We inherited this dwarf Acer from a client who was moving, it was in a pot, but the roots had burst through the drainage holes and into the ground.  Extricating it was quite a job, but after a couple of years it has settled down after the trauma.

Leaves bursting on Acer

Leaves bursting on Acer

Smaller trees tend to be quite slow growing and therefore expensive if you buy a mature specimen. If you want to have something that reaches the size you want a bit more quickly then buying a vigorous shrub and pruning it to shape as either a single or multi-stemmed “small tree” is a good value option. Viburnums, Camellias and Hollies are all evergreens that are suitable for this treatment.  This is a Camellia that we’ve been training for a couple of years after moving it.

Multi-stem Camellia

Multi-stem Camellia

Garden Tips – April 2023

After a few months of largely indoor activity, April should see gardeners getting properly active outside again. Even though spring should be here by now, remember that cold snaps are still possible, so be prepared if frosts are forecast.

You’ll probably notice the effect of the warmer and longer days on the growth of grass and weeds. April is a great month to work on lawns to get them ready for the outdoor season. Scarify to remove thatch and improve aeration, feed and apply weed and moss treatments (if required).  Whether you are looking to have a traditional lawn or a wilder environment, increasing the amount of light and air available and removing unwanted plants will help to achieve the look you want.  Remember a weed is simply a plant in the wrong place.  This may be dandelions in a lawn, but could equally be a dominant grass in a wildflower meadow.

We have a very small front lawn, with the whole of the back garden set to planting and providing habitats for wildlife, so we try to keep the small lawn neat.  At this time of year we scarify, gently, before each cut.

Raked Lawn

Raked Lawn

If soft ground has kept you off the borders, then by April you ought to be able to get back on to them. Give everything a thorough weeding. Small annual and ephemeral weeds spread at a surprisingly fast rate and the perennials like bindweed, ground elder and dandelions are all starting to show themselves at this time of year so it is the perfect time to get ahead of the weeds. After weeding, feed and mulch ornamental plants and get supports in for plants now so that they are already in place by the time that the plants need them.

A Peony growing into its support.

A Peony growing into its support.

As the spring bulbs begin to fade, remove the flowers so that the bulb’s energy is not spent on seed production. Leave the foliage for 6 weeks to die back naturally, feeding the bulb for next year, before tidying it up.

Now is a good time to cut back some early flowering shrubs such as Forsythia and Chaenomeles. These will be getting past their peak, so now is the perfect time to prune them. Next year’s Forsythia flowers will come on this year’s growth, so you can take it back quite a long way if desired.

Finally, be wary of nesting birds if you are tempted to trim your hedges.  It is against the law to intentionally damage or destroy a nest and for many birds it is also illegal to do this, or to disturb the birds, accidentally if your actions are deemed reckless.

Garden Tips – March 2023

March usually sees us pulling the first rhubarb of the year – always a treat; and this got us to thinking about perennial edible crops. March can be a good time of year to get these in the ground. An investment in initial ground preparation and a modest amount of ongoing maintenance gives crops for many years. There are two types of perennial edibles, woody ones like fruit bushes and herbaceous ones like asparagus.

You don’t need much space for some perennial crops.  If you have room for a new shrub, then you have room for a fruit bush, equally a rhubarb plot of less than a metre squared can give large crops for a long time.

Currants and gooseberries are classic fruit bushes and are relatively easy to look after. They need light and airflow, so pruning is simply a matter of keeping the centre open and removing the oldest growth to maintain vigour. Ground preparation and planting is the same as for ornamental shrubs. Dig a wide, but not too deep planting hole in well weeded ground.  You’re aiming to have a square hole about three times the size of the existing root ball and that will allow you to plant the bush at the same depth as it has been already. We don’t enrich the planting area as we want the roots to be pushing out looking for nutrients.  Add a bit of mycorrhizal fungi on the roots and ensure regular watering for the first year.

Pruned blackcurrants in early spring

Pruned blackcurrants in early spring

Rhubarb prefers a shady spot that is either naturally moist or can be kept watered as rhubarb is a marginal bog plant. Unlike for woody bushes, we add plenty of bulky organic matter to the planting area for rhubarb to aid moisture retention.  We suggest allowing a full year’s growth before starting to pull the stems. We don’t take too much in year two, but thereafter rhubarb will give large crops for years.

Newly planted rhubarb

Newly planted rhubarb

Mature rhubarb

Mature rhubarb

Asparagus is a bigger investment of time. It is generally three years before you get your first crops, but once you’ve started cropping then you’ll never want shop-bought asparagus again.

 

Emerging asparagus spears in late April

Emerging asparagus spears in late April

You can plant new crowns in either the autumn or the spring, but we have had most success with spring planting.  Dig a trench and at the bottom create a mound over which you spread the roots of the asparagus crowns. Light, free draining soil is preferred. Keep the bed well-watered in the first year and make sure that you keep on top of the weeds as the first ferns are quite small and are easily out-competed. Once properly established the crowns spread and you’ll soon have an abundance of delicious produce.