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.

Herb of the Month – Ginkgo Biloba

Herb of the Month – Ginkgo Biloba

Herb of the Month

This beautiful Autumn golden deciduous tree is the one remaining species of the Ginkgoaceae family and was around before the dinosaurs, when there were ferns but no true flowering plants. Charles Darwin referred to it as “A living fossil”.

Herb of the Month – Red Henna

Herb of the Month – Red Henna

Herb of the Month, Plant Forum

Many of us know henna as a colour long used in art, tattoos, hair dye, paints, textiles, silk, leather and rug dyes. But, have we thought about what it is? The Herb Society was privileged to have a guest speaker from Iran to tell us.

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.

Herb of the Month – Five Season Herb

Herb of the Month – Five Season Herb

Herb of the Month

Five Season Herb Plectranthus (Coleus) ambionicus  – family lamiaceae (mint) A member of the well known, ornamental Coleus, widely grown as a decorative garden plant for its attractive variegated red leaves. Cream bordered This plant is becoming popular and sought after. There have recently been several enquiries about it. There are two varieties now available … Read More

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.