These tips may seem commonsense but they are always worth repeating.

Tips For Good Hanging Baskets.

• Water early in the day ‘and or’ in the evening. Give plants a good drink regularly.
• After 4 weeks in the same compost the nutrients will be reduced and you should add liquid feed. I use half strength fertilizer with every watering.
• Many hanging basket plants will self deadhead but if you have zonal geraniums in the basket they will benefit from nipping the deadheads off.
• Turn the basket round, if one side near a wall for example, is growing less well.
• Look out for aphids on the soft lush growth.
• If you get unexpected gaps in leaf or bloom you can still  put in new plants.

Hanging Basket Holidays

• If you go on holiday you need to think about care of your baskets whilst away, even just for a weekend. Read the rest of this entry »

Think about the plants you are going to grow. Fruit and shrubs will be long term investments. Bedding and vegetables will need different treatment or nutrients.

Prepare Your Soil

• Eradicate nasty perennial weeds such as Dandelions, Bindweed, Couch grass and Ground Elder.
• Cover with thick black polythene for at least a year to smother the weeds or use a Glyphosphate based weedkiller like Roundup.
• Dig the soil 2 spits deep (2 spade depths or 20″). If the sub soil is very poor go one spit deep and create a raised bed to lift the height.
• Incorporate as much organic matter as you can. Use garden compost, rotted manure, spent mushroom compost and even council recycled and composted waste.
• Do not worry about a few stones but remove builders debris.

Good Fertilizers

• Dress the soil with a general purpose fertilizer that releases nutrients slowly. Rake into the top 4″ a week or so before planting.
• Growmore, fish blood and bone or just bone meal may increase overall fertility.
• Remember NPK stands for Nitrogen to help green leaf growth. Phosphor for strong roots and bulbs, and K for Potassium for fruit and flowers.
• Proprietary feeds can be expensive and I would only use them once the plants are growing in situ.

Planting and the Hole

• You may have heard about a £10 hole for a £5 plant. Well, dig a good size hole, break up the soil in the bottom, place the plant in the hole at the same level it was grown at and firm the soil around the root ball or roots.
• Stamp around the plant to firm it in again and use a cane or stake as needed for support and protection from wind rock.
• Plant into moist soil, soak container grown plants before planting and water in after planting.
• Mulch around the plant (but not touching the stem) to conserve moisture.

Read the rest of this entry »

I may be behind the times but here are three new ideas to enhance your garden pond this summer.

Pond Liners

Now you can cover black PVC liners with a stone coating. This makes the black edge of a pond look natural with a pebble or stone finish. Sold in various widths it could be used to finish off a butyl lined pond or as a run off into your garden proper. The brand I have seen is Oase Stone Liner

Islandscapes and Floating Planters

‘The Next Big Wave In Ponds’ (Oh please) ‘enhance the beauty and biological health of ponds, providing innovative filtration and a lush growing environment for terrestrial plants. lslandscapes offer food and fun for fish, frogs and other wildlife’ according to the blurb on Freedomponds.com
Velda do several floating planters made in covered styrofoam.

Ecopond Tadpole Food

I have to admit to never thinking of feeding tadpoles but if I did here is the answer. Ecopond Tadpole Food provides the nutrition that tadpoles need up to the point where they develop back legs (4-6 weeks after free swimming begins).

All these products are available from the links above or Bradshaws of York
See also frogspawn tips on Gardeners Tips

Spring spraying of apple and pear trees is essential to avoid various troubles. Leaf, blossom and fruit problems need tackling with controlled spraying at the right time. It is a mistake to wait until you see signs of attack because it will be too late to remedy the problem, prevention is better than cure.

The first spray against scab and fungal problems should be made around mid-April. Traditionally Lime sulphur was used to control fungi, bacteria and insects living or dormant on the surface of the bark. That tends to burns leaves so it is not used on evergreen plants. Modern methods spray with Copper Sulphate, Bordeaux mixture or a fruit tree recommended systemic fungicide such as Dithane.Start spraying in April, again after petal fall and at the end of June, failing that read the instructions on the bottle.

To control fruit tree pests such as sawfly and caterpillars spray with an insecticide like ‘Bug Clear for Fruit & Vegetables’ This controls by contact greenfly, whitefly, blackfly and other aphids, scale insects, mealy bugs, red spider mites caterpillars and other common pests.
Spray at bud burst then wait for pollination. Then spray when the petals have fallen.

Available from Amazon

A new portable sprayer operated by pumped compression such as the Killaspray will hold 7 litres of solution enough for several fruit trees with some left over for Roses.

Series of well ventilated cold frames.

Cold Frames are an excellent low cost method for developing and growing young seedlings. Cold frames make a good alternative to the the cost and size of conventional greenhouses.
To some extent you can make your own cheap cold frames. See this post – Home Made Cold Frames

This cold frame from Focus DIY is good value at under £100.

A good cold frame needs to have an easy mechanism for allowing air in. The cold frame can then be closed at night to protect seedlings against frost. This wooden variety helps keep the heat in. For best results keep at a south facing wall. The wood also makes quite an attractive feature for the garden.

The only problem with cold frames, is that  once you realise how useful they are, it soon becomes full and you start wanting a greenhouse! Of course, a cold frame can be an excellent choice for those who find the greenhouse overflowing at this time of the year.

Cheapest Cold Frames

Some of the cheapest cold frames can be bought for under £50. This Gardmen cold frame holds 6 seeds trays (1000mm *650mm) and can be bought for less than £50. Cold Frames at Amazon.co.uk

The smallest Greenhouses (6ft * 6ft) will come in at over £200. Greenhouses

Watering can be the key to  success in the garden and with your houseplants. Not surprisingly plants without water die !  Plants can drown with too much H²O so watering is a skill worth learning.

Conserving Water in the Garden

• Dig in bulky organic matter to increase the water carrying capacity of your soil.
• Keep the surface mulched to avoid evaporation.
• Keep soil weed free. Weeds compete for moisture and evaporate through their leaves.
• Wind increases evaporation so build wind breaks.
• On sloping land sow across the slope reducing run off and soil errosion problems.
• Plant water hungry plants together where rainfall will be highest. Do not bother to water lawns they will recover from most drought conditions when it rains.

How to Water Garden Plants

• Concentrate watering on special plants in critical periods do not just water generally.
• Only cultivate shallowly in hot drying weather so the dusty top soil can act as a mulch for the wetter deeper soil.
• Water with a fine spray, large dropplets damage plants and soil structure.
• Water deeply so water penetrates to the roots. Direct water to the base of plants. Watering through a sunken clay pot can allow water to reach roots.
• Water in the evening to reduce evaporation.
• Plants grown close together make heavy demands on water, plan your spacing.
• Too much water can encourage lush growth at the expense of strong roots and can lead to rotting so ration the amount.
• Water slowly and throughly.

Watering Houseplants

1. There are two main ways to water either method is suitable. The most favored being watering from the bottom by immersing the pot in standing water until it is absorbed and the soil is damp to the touch.
2. Contrary to popular belief  you can water most houseplants  from the top but I believe it offers less control and can damage bulbs and plant prone to rotting. You also  have to be sure not to splash water on the leaves, or soak the crown of the plant.
3. Use tepid water and   water when the plant shows signs of needing moisture such as  slightly wilted leaves or very dry soil. Some plants thrive best in humid conditions so use hortag or clay granules under pots but do not allow houseplants to stand in a puddle.

Watering Equipment

Read the rest of this entry »

This ‘double glazing for plants’ is getting these early onions off to a good start at the beginning of March.

Each plant has its own baseless pop bottle for individual cover. Then there is the glass sheet that will keep off the snow and the sink sides to keep out some frost. Intensive care for plants that can be treated as individuals may be worth the effort when our local vegetable show comes around (no wonder I have lost to this neighbour before.)

This is another of the local money free protection schemes where the Leeks are grown in lengths of drain pipe. I guess this helps with blanching  but more importantly extends the cropping season. Talking of Leeks, yesterday I bought some seed of Swiss Giant Zermatt to pick from July as baby leeks and some Blue Green Autumn Neptune for resistance to Leek rust disease.

I have always wanted a new way to kill the slugs in my garden and now I have discovered how. The ‘old mangle trick’ seems to be the one for me, put the slug between the rollers and give the handle a good old turn.
Environmentally friendly (if not in the slugs mind) this mangle uses no chemicals and causes no CO2 emissions. Slug juice can be caught in the green urn and bits removed with a pointy stick provided.

If you are squeamish or squashist then you will have to resort to the blue pill (I mean pellet). Available from slug lovers Amazon

You have grown some bush fruit in an organic garden and as the berries ripen all the birds you have fed through winter decide to feast on your well grown crops. What a good job you protected them in a fruit cage!

If you do not have a fruit cage yet, you can buy a Two Wests Standard 6′ High Fruit Cage 6′ x 12′ Cage from Amazon.

Blackcurrant and Jostaberry
Blackcurrants prefer a cool, clay-loam soil which is not too acidic pH 6.5.
They are gross feeders and like a rich fertile soil.
Blackcurrants are shallow rooting and require irrigation or good watering when dry.
Protection from frost may be needed for early flowering varieties.

Redcurrant and Whitecurrant
A potash rich, moist, well drained soil with a pH 6.0 is optimum
Redcurrants will tolerate some shade but they prefer a sheltered, sunny site.
Early flowering varieties may need frost protection

Blueberry
Soil pH 3.5-5.5 in a free draining acidic light soil is optimum.
Blueberry will not tolerate heavy or alkaline soils.
Blueberries are shallow rooting and require irrigation or good watering when dry.
Mulch with acidic humus like composted bracken.
A frost free site in full sun is needed for best crops.

Gooseberry and Worcesterberry
Gooseberries prefer an open position with good air circulation.
Very light soils are unsuitable and a potash rich soil with pH 6.0 is optimum.
Gooseberries are the first soft fruit to flower so beware of frost.

Fruit nets are available from Thomson Morgan

from Thompson Morgan

Solve the problem of seedlings ‘damping off’ by watering your compost before sowing seeds with Cheshunts Compound a soluble fungicide. Damping Off is a fungal disease that attacks seedlings causing them to suddenly wilt, keel over and die. Damping Off is a particular problem when sowing seed indoors or under glass.

Damping Off can affect most seedlings, particularly under levels of high humidity, poor air circulation, low light and temperature that makes seedlings grow slowly and if seed is sown to thick.

Preventing Damping Off

* Raise seedlings in commercial growing compost, which is usually free of the key fungi.
* Ideally, use new pots and trays whenever raising seedlings. If they must be re-used, wash them thoroughly and treat them with a disinfectant such as Jeyes Fluid.
* Never reuse pots and trays in which damping off has been a problem.
* Sow seedlings thinly to avoid crowding.
* Use mains water when irrigating seedlings grown in pots and trays. If using rainwater, ensure that the water butt is covered to prevent the entry of leaves and other organic debris that could harbour some of the damping off fungi.
* Keep seedlings well ventilated to reduce humidity. Do not over-water.

Cheshunts Compound

* Can be used on all seedlings whether edible or non-edible.
* Easy to use, dilute and water the solution onto compost before sowing and repeat after the emergence of the seedlings.
* For transplanting, water seedlings with the solution before and after the transplanting.
* Suitable for organic gardening.
* Cheshunts Compound uses inorganic salts copper sulphate and ammonium carbonate so it is the same type of copper-based fungicide as Bordeaux mixture.

Available from Thompson Morgan