Archive | July, 2009

Yahoo Yellow’s a Yowser

By on July 23, 2009 in Flowers and Plants, Garden Design

Yellow can be a difficult colour in the garden and I know of one keen gardener that tries to avoid all Yellow flowers. However this Potentilla or cinqufoil grabbed my attention hence the yowser headline. No wonder the Potentilla is also known as the Buttercup shrub as the strong yellow is reminiscent of the field [...]

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Ornamental Vegetable Gardening

By on July 22, 2009 in Flowers and Plants

Runner Beans offer a great combination of delicate flowers and tasty runner beans Runner Bean

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Build Your Regal Geranium Collection

By on July 22, 2009 in Flowers and Plants

If you want to be a collector and build a Geranium or Regal Pelargonium collection to be proud off then start now for next year. First Thoughts Join the new Pelargonium and Geranium Society formed by the merging of the British Pelargonium and Geranium Society and the British and European Geranium Society on 1st January [...]

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Top Tomato Tips

By on July 21, 2009 in Fruit, Vegetables & Herbs, Pests, Problems and Health

Watering is key to growing a successful Tomato. If a Tomato dries out the skin quickly thickens. If you water inconsitantly the skin splits. Irregular watering can stop the uptake of Calcium which causes Blossom-end rot making the bottom of the fruit brown and inedible. Feeding Tomatoes will increase the yield. All that rapid growth [...]

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Pruning Flowering Shrubs the Easy Way

By on July 20, 2009 in Gardening, Tips Hints and Ideas, Trees and Shrubs

Spring Flowering Shrubs that have finished flowering can be pruned in early summer. My Spirea were trimmed of flower heads and pruned of about one third of the old wood down to the ground this weekend. Hopefully also taking out weak growth and crossing branches will provide space for strong new stems to flower next [...]

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You Can Grow Three Bean Types

By on July 19, 2009 in Fruit, Vegetables & Herbs

Broad Beans are ready to pick from early sowings in March. These flowers on the later sowing of Witkiem Manita variety will soon be podding up and be ready to pick. Runner Beans are now 4 -5 feet up the support canes and the lower flower trusses are in bloom. Roll on the first picking [...]

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Avoid too Much Water and Wet Gardens

By on July 19, 2009 in Garden Design, Gardening

You can have too much of a good thing in the garden and this also applies to water. After prolonged rain some rose buds fail to open and the outer petals start to rot, creating a soggy mess (prune them off if it happens). Water Excess It is no accident that many if not most [...]

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The Secret of Geranium Cuttings

By on July 18, 2009 in Flowers and Plants, Gardening, Tips Hints and Ideas

I couldn’t resist this double pink rose bud Pelargonium ‘Something Special’ which is looking really good at the moment. I intend taking some early cuttings of this plant next month and growing them on for 2010 specimen plants. August to October are good months for taking cuttings to flower the following year. Tips on Geranium [...]

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Uncommon Weeds

By on July 18, 2009 in Gardening

‘A weed is a plant that is growing in the wrong place.’ ‘A weed has little virtue and lots of drawbacks!’ Weed Problems Some weeds grow in the expense of your cultivated plants taking nourishment, sun and space from more needy subjects. Nettles and brambles not only invade but get their retaliation in first by [...]

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Growing Courgettes

By on July 16, 2009 in Fruit, Vegetables & Herbs

Growing Courgettes is easy if you follow a few simple tips. Keep Courgettes well watered and fed, they grow quickly and are the main constituent is water. Feed twice a week with a liquid  feed such as Tomorite or Phostrogen Keep them slug free or the fruit will be eaten first. The spiny leaves will [...]

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