News - Page 62
Nicky Kyle is a dedicated organic gardener and has kindly shared some Organic Gardening Tips with us. Read on!
We often never appreciate things until they are gone. G.K.Chesterton once said - "If you want to know how to value something - imagine losing it." So true! The last couple of years of very bad weather have had a catastrophic effect on food supplies for vitally important and increasingly rare insects like bee...
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Bring orchids back into growth following their rest period in winter, to encourage them to start putting out fresh leaves and flower spikes for the new year.
Tropical indoor orchids such as moth orchids (Phalaenopsis) and Cymbidium need a quiet time over winter to gather their reserves for the season to come. Move them to a cool but frost-free place and reduce water and feeding to a minimum.
Now though it's time to return watering back to normal, makin...
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Train climbing roses as they start to grow, so you end up with a lovely even screen of foliage and flowers across your wall.
Roses flower most prolifically when their stems are held horizontal, as that encourages them to send out lots of smaller flower-bearing sideshoots. So aim for a series of branches arching out on each side from the main stem, tied in to their supports at regular intervals up the wall.
If you're growing your roses up a pillar or ob...
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April's plant of the month is the lavender, one of the best-known and best-loved of all the herbs. It's got it all: fragrant, well-behaved, and versatile enough to grow in borders, as a hedge or to edge a path in a romantic cottage garden. The beautifully scented violet-blue flowers, adored by bees, can be dried for pot pourris and scented lavender bags, or baked into fragrant cookies.
Most varieties grow to about 75cm tall, making bushy, evergreen shrubs wit...
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Divide clumps of snowdrops while they're still 'in the green' that is, while they still have their leaves. It's by far the best time to do it as they're still growing actively, putting down roots before they die down for the summer.
Choose the place you're going to plant them carefully: they're woodlanders, so prefer dappled shade (they're happiest planted in carpets around the feet of trees or shrubs). Clear any weeds, and dig in a good few forkfuls of well...
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Start sowing vegetables this week as long as the weather is good: it's the ideal time to get most hardy crops into the ground. If it's cold or the weather is wet, though, hold off another week: later sowings will catch up quickly, and it's better not to risk losing your seeds to damp or frost.
You'll find seed for lots of crops you can sow direct now in your favourite garden centre, including carrots, lettuce, beetroot and turnips. Look out for early varietie...
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Cut back dogwoods hard this week to encourage those wonderful brilliantly coloured young stems which shine out so beautifully in a winter border. If you haven't got them in your garden already, you'll find a great choice in your favourite garden centre: Cornus alba 'Sibirica' is the one to choose if you want the richest scarlets, or for a clear limey yellow go for Cornus sericea 'Flaviramea'. The two make a lovely contrasting pair planted together.
Pruning th...
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The plant of the month for March is Vinca, better known as the periwinkle and a fantastic choice for covering the ground with a carpet of sky blue, star-shaped flowers from spring onwards. Even better, its attractive glossy foliage is evergreen, spreading into a handsome year-round backdrop for other plants and at the same time suppressing weeds and locking moisture in the ground.
There are two main types. Vinca major is a very vigorous, rapid-spreading groun...
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Prune summer-flowering shrubs this month to make sure they put on their best display later this season. Some spectacular garden performers come into this category, including the butterfly bush, Buddleja davidii, hardy fuchsias, and musk mallows (Lavatera), all available from your favourite garden centre.
All these shrubs bear flowers on growth produced this year, so you're aiming to encourage them to make as many fresh new shoots as possible. This means quite...
Have you ever tried and failed to grow wonderful potatoes in the past? Maybe you've never tried and fancy giving it a go, but are a bit bewlidered about the technique? We have put together a simple guide for you and are always available to advise if you get stuck!