Gardening
Gardening posts
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June Top 10 Tasks for the Garden
Summer is well and truly here. It is time to get outside and enjoy the garden. Sit out with friends, hold a barbecue and most importantly admire all your gorgeous plants. You still need to find time for a few jobs to keep it all looking beautiful. Here are my top 10 jobs for June. 1) Prune summer flowering shrubs Any shrubs that have already flowered in the spring can now be pruned to keep them in shape and encourage bushy growth. Examples of spring flowering shrubs are philadelphus and lilac. It is also worth noting that if your clematis have already flowered then they can also be pruned.…
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Planting up hanging baskets and pots for summer
This post is all about planting up your hanging baskets and pots with summer bedding for glorious summer displays. I will share how I do mine and any tips that I have. So, find your plants and favourite pots and let’s go! You will need: Plant pot or hanging basket multi-purpose compost plant food water storing granules (optional) plants water Tutorial 1) Setting up Set up your work area with you pot or basket and a supply of compost. I am currently using a mix of multi-purpose compost and peat free multi purpose compost. I am trying to go peat free but I am having mixed results so…
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May Top 5 Tasks for the Garden
May is a really busy time in the garden and it is looking fantastic. The variety of greens is spectacular and there are many flowers to enjoy. So get outside and enjoy it! My top five jobs to do this month are: This page contains affiliate links meaning I earn a commission if you use those links at no cost to you. I only recommend brands I use and trust. 1) Plant hanging baskets and pots in May May is the time to plant up your hanging baskets and pots if you are doing your own. If you are anything like me you have lots of tender summer plants waiting to…
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Tasks for April in the garden
Top 8 jobs to do in April in your garden to maximise your enjoyment throughout the summer. April is a busy and exciting time in the garden. So, weather permitting, get out there and enjoy it. 1) Weeding Yes, weeding is number one as it is the most important. The weeds are just getting going really well. As the weather warms up and all our favourite plants start to grow so do the weeds. At the moment they are small and come up easily as the ground is wet. Also, they have not had time to flower and seed (and multiply). It is not a very exciting task but you…
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Tasks for the garden in late March
Late March is when it starts to get busy in the garden. It is not obvious when you look but I am very busy. I have been making pots, planting on seedlings/plug plants, moving snowdrops and tidying up a bit. Biodegradable Plant pots Firstly, I have been busy making newspaper plant pots which I have explained in detail in an earlier post. They are great for seedlings as the plant’s roots do not get disturbed when they get planted out into the garden. I plant the whole thing out. Summer Bedding During the week the first of my plug plants arrived by post. I was expecting them by the end…
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Free Biodegradable Plant Pots from old newspapers
Free biodegradable plant pots sound good but is it too much effort? I don’t think so and I will show you how to make them and I will convince you of their merits. If you have concerns about you local newspapers and their ‘green credentials’ then consider reading this article by permaculture news. If you are still concerned contact your local newspaper to ask about their dyes and bleaching agents. This page contains affiliate links meaning I earn a small commission if you use those links at no cost to you. I only recommend brands I use and trust. It is that time of year when we all need lots of…
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Top 5 Early Spring Garden Flowers
In my opinion these are the top 5 early spring garden flowers in the UK. I will explain why I have included each flower. Daffodil Who could fail to love daffodils? Daffodils are so bright and cheerful and so early in the year. They cheer up many a dark corner in spring where nothing else will flower this early in the year. They look beautiful planted ‘en mass’ on a banking or in a flower bed but they can look just as beautiful in a small clump. I particularly like the dwarf varieties as in my own garden the full size varieties often suffer a lot of wind damage and…
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Spring in the garden – yes, officially
Yes, it is officially spring so it must be in the garden too. In case you are not convinced Gardener’s World is back on the BBC on a Friday evening. These are a few photos from my garden this week. There are a few more flowers than there were in February so spring must really be here. I have included the hyacinth as I really think it represents the beauty to come. It is not much to look at now but you know that it promises great colour and fragrance later in spring. This week I happened to be in Aldi when…
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Start of March – sowing sweet-peas
There really is not a lot to report in the garden this week. Firstly it was snowy and then everywhere was frozen. This was followed by a lot of heavy rain, definitely not conditions for gardening. So, I have been doing something indoors that is sort of gardening. I absolutely adore sweet-peas. In the summer, I love cutting some for the house and enjoying the scent. I have planted some sweet-peas that I found in a kit form in Home Bargains. I have included a link to their website but I bought the kit in an actual store rather than online so it may only be useful in finding your…
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Gardening in February – updated for 2019
February is well underway and I want to keep you up to date with what I am doing this month. Not a lot is the short answer! It has been far too cold and rather wet for being out there. I have managed one day out there just cutting off old growth from last year and generally tidying up. However, I have been enjoying the glorious spring bulbs and flowers, mainly from the window. These pictures show some miniature daffodils with snowdrops, a striking red hellebore and a pink camellia. These are from 2018. …