A tip of the month from last years gardening calendar with selected additions from Gardeners tips.

1. Recycle your Christmas Tree by shredding it for mulching Rhododendrons
2. Put out fresh food and water for the birds through winter
3. Protect emerging shoots from Slugs from March
4. Plant strongly scented plants next to edible ones to deter pests
5. May is the prime planting Month for just about anything so don’t plan your holidays
6. When watering plants give them a long soak instead of a daily sprinkle
7. The old Chestnut, deadhead flowering plants to encourage new flowers
8. Take cuttings of Geraniums etc in late summer for rooting over winter
9. Plant plenty of bulbs in containers and gardens for lots of colour next year
10. Comprehensively weed at the end of October to reduce work in winter
11. If frost is predicted, cover tender plant and shrubs to ‘protect and serve’
12. Pick evergreen foliage like Holly for Christmas decoration.

Final tip

Make a record of what varieties you grow and how they do.
Keep a garden record of anything unusual in the garden and notes as a remind to yourself of the successes and failure for future years.

If you put costs and prices down for plants and sundries like compost you will see it is a relatively cheap hobby.