Monthly Tips & Tasks – October

Monthly Tips & Tasks – October

Fruit & Vegetables, Garden Life, Lawns, Monthly Tips & Tasks, Spring Gardening

This Spring is bringing the usual mixture of warm and cold weather  – potentially a problem for the garden as we start to get ready for the planting and sowing time. To get the most from our plants we should really wait until conditions are consistent for the soil and the weather settles down. The Spring bulbs are in full bloom and will benefit from a fertiliser to build up the bulb for next season; removing spent flowers will also help. Spring flowering trees and shrubs should be pruned straight after flowering to ensure good growth for the next season’s flowers. Read more

Monthly Tips & Tasks – September

Monthly Tips & Tasks – September

Fruit & Vegetables, Lawns, Monthly Tips & Tasks, Spring Gardening, The Flower Garden, This Month in the Garden

September is the month in which Spring growth really gets going. The Spring bulbs are in full bloom and deciduous plants come into life.

The weather is still very changeable and there is always the danger of frosts that can damage new growth; this makes for a very busy time in the garden.

Ground preparation for sowing seeds and transplanting seedlings should be completed, old Winter crops removed to make way for Summer plantings and the last of Winter pruning completed.

Monthly Tips & Tasks – August

Monthly Tips & Tasks – August

Fruit & Vegetables, Lawns, Monthly Tips & Tasks, Winter Gardening

We have now had some good frosts that have cut back many plants in the garden so it is a good idea to lift some of them to overwinter. Plants that benefit are dahlias, begonias (tuberous and fibrous types) and some perennials.The pruning of fruit trees and roses may now be completed and they can also be given their Winter sprays. These tasks are best done on a fine sunny day.Green houses should be washed, disinfected and any repairs completed in readiness for the start of Spring.All crop residue should now be removed from the garden or green house and either composted or disposed of.Prunings from the garden I shred up and add to the compost heap. My heap is protected from the wet and cold and turned over two or three times to ensure good quality compost is available for digging in later.New season fruit trees are now arriving in the garden centres. Make sure you get in early for the best trees.Strawberries and cane fruits can be planted now. It’s a good idea to try and get cultivars that will fruit at different times to achieve a longer harvest time ( ie. early, mid season and late types).Spring bulbs will be starting to emerge through the ground so be careful when weeding not to damage the shoots.If you have a heat bench or pad you can start sowing some early seeds to be ready for early plantings. Do remember the days are still short though and even with additional heat plants will take longer to grow now than in the Springtime.Early potatoes can now be sprouted (chitted) ready to plant in a few weeks in a well protected part of the garden.New season roses are also becoming available, make sure you get in early as some of the new introductions sell out very fast.

Monthly Tips & Tasks – July

Monthly Tips & Tasks – July

Fruit & Vegetables, Garden Life, Monthly Tips & Tasks, Winter Gardening

We have now had some good frosts that have cut back many plants in the garden so it is a good idea to lift some of them to overwinter. Plants that benefit are dahlias, begonias (tuberous and fibrous types) and some perennials.The pruning of fruit trees and roses may now be completed and they can also be given their Winter sprays. These tasks are best done on a fine sunny day.Green houses should be washed, disinfected and any repairs completed in readiness for the start of Spring.All crop residue should now be removed from the garden or green house and either composted or disposed of.Prunings from the garden I shred up and add to the compost heap. My heap is protected from the wet and cold and turned over two or three times to ensure good quality compost is available for digging in later.New season fruit trees are now arriving in the garden centres. Make sure you get in early for the best trees.Strawberries and cane fruits can be planted now. It’s a good idea to try and get cultivars that will fruit at different times to achieve a longer harvest time ( ie. early, mid season and late types).Spring bulbs will be starting to emerge through the ground so be careful when weeding not to damage the shoots.If you have a heat bench or pad you can start sowing some early seeds to be ready for early plantings. Do remember the days are still short though and even with additional heat plants will take longer to grow now than in the Springtime.Early potatoes can now be sprouted (chitted) ready to plant in a few weeks in a well protected part of the garden.New season roses are also becoming available, make sure you get in early as some of the new introductions sell out very fast.

Monthly Tips & Tasks – June

Monthly Tips & Tasks – June

Fruit & Vegetables, Garden Life, Monthly Tips & Tasks, Plant Forum, This Month in the Garden, Winter Gardening

June brings the end of the growing season with the shortest day about the 20th of the month. We know also that the coldest time of the year will be with us for the next two months.So there is not a lot of gardening to be done other than pruning and cleaning up plus maintenance of the hard landscape areas.We all find that in our seed storage there will be plenty of used seeds that have passed their use by date or have lost labels. Now is the time to go through the seeds and get rid of any unwanted ones, and make a list of those we will be needing in the Spring.

Monthly Tips & Tasks – March

Monthly Tips & Tasks – March

Fruit & Vegetables, Garden Life, Monthly Tips & Tasks, Summer Gardening, The Flower Garden

We are now in Summer with plenty of hot weather and the usual periods of wind and little rain, all of which puts stress on plants and gives us the problem of keeping them growing and healthy.

Most of the berry fruits are finishing and the stone fruits are reaching their main production now, then to follow is the pip fruit.

The fruit crops that we are harvesting now are the results of the cultivation that we gave them over the last Winter and Spring so if the results are not up to expectations then review what was done to identify what needs to be done to improve the next crop.

Although winter is still a long way off we do need to be prepared. Spring bulbs will soon be in the garden centres but it is still too soon to plant most of them so choose the best quality bulbs and keep them until the time is right in the Autumn.

Most of the tasks around the garden at this time of the year is what I call maintenance gardening; weeding, watering, pest and disease control and of course, harvesting.

Monthly Tips & Tasks – February

Monthly Tips & Tasks – February

Fruit & Vegetables, Lawns, Monthly Tips & Tasks, Summer Gardening, The Flower Garden

We are now in Summer with plenty of hot weather and the usual periods of wind and little rain, all of which puts stress on plants and gives us the problem of keeping them growing and healthy.

Most of the berry fruits are finishing and the stone fruits are reaching their main production now, then to follow is the pip fruit.

The fruit crops that we are harvesting now are the results of the cultivation that we gave them over the last Winter and Spring so if the results are not up to expectations then review what was done to identify what needs to be done to improve the next crop.

Although winter is still a long way off we do need to be prepared. Spring bulbs will soon be in the garden centres but it is still too soon to plant most of them so choose the best quality bulbs and keep them until the time is right in the Autumn.

Most of the tasks around the garden at this time of the year is what I call maintenance gardening; weeding, watering, pest and disease control and of course, harvesting.