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| MAY Plant your container-grown fruit trees now, but keep well watered. Prune Spring flowering trees late this month or in June. Your bedding plants and outdoor Chrysanthemums can be put out mid month removing tips to encourage bushy growth. Dahlia tubers should planted 6in deep, but dahlia plants are best held in the greenhouse until frost free. Hanging Baskets can now be made up. Line your basket with moss ( or a substitute liner), putting a circle of polythene on the bottom, to help water retention. Part fill with. a mixture of peat and vermiculite and place three or four trailing lobelia or ivyleafed geraniums through the sides. Continue filling with peat and place a zonal pelargonium or bush Fuchsia in the centre, surrounding with petunia surfina, bizzy liz, trailing Fuchsia or any number of plants from the'hanging basket' section in your garden Weed. perennial borders on a regular basis and stake tall plants such as Delphiniums. Sow. Biennials such as wallflowers, forget-me-nots and sweet williams for next Spring. Roses. Spray regularly with a systemic insecticide and with a fungicide to protect against mildew and black spot. Apply rose fertilizer. Remove any suckers. Slugs, slugs, slugs. are very partial to new shoots on any plant, especially Hostas. Scatter slug pellets around any susceptible plants. Vegetables. Tomato plants can be put out towards the end of the month after hardening off in a cool greenhouse. Pick side shoots out regularly soon as they get I in. in length. Feed with a good liquid fertilizers soon as the first truss has set. Sow some lettuces, carrots, peas, cabbages, spinach and runner beans every three weeks to ensure a continuous crop. Any marrow, cucumber or courgette plants can now be put outside and given liquid manure after two weeks. Fruit. Protect strawberry plants and soft fruit bushes against birds by covering with netting. Bulbs. Can be lifted, if space is needed, after flowering. Deadhead others. Lawns should be raked, aerated and dressed with a selective weedkiller/mosskiller prior to rain. Mow every week in May and June if possible. Lay turf, but keep well watered. Ponds. Fish should be fed daily now that temperatures are above 50F. Promptly scoop off any algae/blanket weed that appears on the surface and add the appropriate chemical preparation to the water, to avoid the pea soup effect (available from most Garden Centres). Plant aquatics and marginal plants from now until July, deep-water plants until September. | JUNE Hanging Baskets can now be made up. Line your basket with moss ( or a substitute liner), putting a circle of polythene on the bottom, to help water retention. Part fill with. a mixture of peat and vermiculite and place three or four trailing lobelia or ivyleafed geraniums through the sides. Continue filling with peat and place a zonal pelargonium or bush Fuchsia in the centre, surrounding with petunia surfina, bizzy liz, trailing Fuchsia or any number of plants from the'hanging basket' section in your garden centre. Keep well watered!. Plant your container-grown fruit trees now, but keep well watered. Prune Spring flowering trees. Your bedding plants and outdoor Chrysanthemums can be put out mid month removing growing tip to encourage bushy growth. Dahlia tubers should planted 6in deep, dahlia plants can be put out if frost free. Weed. perennial borders and rose beds on a regular basis. Stake tall plants such as Delphiniums. Sow. Biennials such as waIlflowers, forget-me-nots and sweet williams for next Spring. Divide primroses. Roses. Spray regularly with a systemic insecticide and with a fungicide to protect against rnildew and black spot. Apply rose fertilizer. Remove any suckers. Burn any fallen leaves infected by blackspot. Slugs, slugs, slugs. are very partial to new shoots on any plant, especially Hostas and Dahlias. Scatter slug pellets around any susceptible plants. Vegetables. Tomato plants can be put out after hardening off in a cool greenhouse. Pick side shoots out regularly soon as they get l in. in length. Feed with a good liquid fertilizers soon as the first truss has set. Continue sowing some lettuces, carrots, peas, cabbages, spinach and runner beans every three weeks to ensure a continuous crop. Any marrow, cucumber or courgette plants can now be put outside and given liquid manure after two weeks. Earth up potatoes to the neck of plants to ensure tubers do not turn green. Pruning clematis differ according to variety. In general those flowering before June only need a general tidy up. For those after, cut right back to 12 inches. For an excellent container clematis choose'Josephine'which will flower May- September and each bloom can last for five weeks. Fruit. Protect strawberry plants and soft fruit bushes against birds by covering with netting. Bulbs. Can be lifted, if space is needed, after flowering. Deadhead others. Do not cut leaves until dead. Lawns should be raked, aerated and dressed with a selective weedkiller/mosskiller prior to rain. Mow every week if possible. Lay turf, but keep well watered. Ponds. Fish should be fed regularly now that it is warmer. Promptly scoop off any algae/blanket weed that appears on the surface, and add appropriate chemical preparation to the water, to avoid the pea soup effect (available from most Garden Centres). Plant aquatics and marginal plants now until July, deep-water plants until September. | |||||
| Derek Parkhouse Email:gardeners@aol.com Copyright © Derek Parkhouse 2008 | ||||||
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