Gardening

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Below we have some monthly jobs for the garden:

March Gardening Tips

- Plant summer-flowering bulbs.

- Add fresh compost to plant containers.

- If you have to transfer evergreen shrubs or conifers, now is an ideal time.

- Sprinkle a general fertiliser around trees and shrubs.

- Paint fences before climbers encroach.

- Sow tomato seeds indoors.

- Sow lettuce, parsley and radish.

- To help reduce the chances of black spot, rake up leaves and debris from around roses after pruning, and apply a thick layer of compost.

April Gardening Tips

- Use a weed and feed treatment on the lawn.

- If you are planning a new lawn this year, you should now prepare the ground for sowing seed or laying turf.

- If you haven't done it already, the lawn is likely to need its first mow of the year. Before cutting the grass, rake with a wire rake. This will raise any buttercup or clover runners and reduce their spread.

- Repot houseplants.

- Complete the pruning, support and tie in climbers. Loosen or renew any tree ties that may be digging in to the bark.

- Weed the flower beds and apply a mulch which will improve soil fertility and help to control the weeds.

- Slugs and snails will start to make an appearance, so sprinkle grit or egg shells around vulnerable plants, which slugs don't like crawling across. Careful use of slug pellets would also help, although bear in mind that some wildlife rely on slugs and snails for their food source, so keep this in mind. Hide slug pellets under stones so that other animals can't eat them.

- Strawberry plants can be planted.

- Plant summer flowering bulbs.

- Plant your tomatoes in the greenhouse.

- Plant out second early potatoes.

May Gardening Tips

- Sow any remaining hardy annual seeds you have.

- Sow any peas.

- Begin to feed houseplants using a liquid fertiliser

- Lift and divide daffodils.

- Lift any early potatoes.

- At the end of the month, plant out summer bedding plants.

- Mow the lawn regularly. For the best lawn, be sure to remove the cuttings, and regularly apply a lawn feed. If you have a problem with weeds, apply a selective weed and moss killer.

- Clear any weeds from around fruit bushes and strawberries to allow movement of air.

June Gardening Jobs

Watering is essential this month, and the best time to do it is in the early evening when it is cooler and less evaporation will occur.

The lawn will need mowing every week. Don't add the grass cuttings to your compost heap if you have used chemicals such as weed killer on your lawn.

If your compost heap is dry, damp down with water, which will speed up the composting

Shade greenhouses to prevent plants scorching and in hot weather open the vents and dampen the floor to cool and humidify. To control white fly in the greenhouse, grow extra basil in pots, and once well covered with the pest, remove and dispose of the plant.

Prune and deadhead any spring flowering bulbs

Dead head rhododendrons once they have finished flowering, being careful not to damage the shoots either side of the dead flower, which will become next year's flowers.

Plant out all your bedding plants, preparing the beds by digging over and adding manure. Plant out your half hardy annuals. Mid month, feed bedding annuals with a liquid feed.

Roses start to come into flower. Feed with a good granular fertilizer. Spray if you see Blackspot.

Lay straw around strawberries to improve the fruit quality. Feed them with a high pot ash food and give them plenty of water during dry spells.

In the vegetable garden it's your last chance to plant cucumbers and squash. Pinch out the side shoots of tomatoes.

Plant extra bulbs now for extra colour when early flowers fade. Try dahlia, crocosmia, or tuberous begonia.

July Gardening Advice

Lawn:

Mow once a week. In late summer, lawn growth slows down, so raise the cutting height slightly to allow your lawn to resist wear better.

Feeding your lawn with fertiliser will help to keep it in good condition. Treat any weeds, remembering not to compost any of the grass cuttings if you have recently applied weed killer.

For a green lawn, use a sprinkler once a week during dry weather. When watering the lawn, soak it to get the water down under the roots.

July is the best time to start your composting for the next growing year.

Roses:

Roses should be deadheaded.

When the first flush of roses is over, lightly prune back and apply fertiliser to encourage a second flush.

Look out for black spot.

Flowers and Shrubs:

Deadhead the flower border regularly to improve appearance and prolong flowering.

Cut back perennials that have flowered to help encourage a second flush.

Tie in the long growths of climbing roses, honeysuckles and vines.

Containers and hanging baskets will need regular thorough watering - make sure the compost is thoroughly soaked.

Shrubs that flowered in June should be pruned by removing the flowering wood down to strong new shoots. These shoots should provide flowers next year. For rhododendrons and azaleas, only remove the spent flower heads.

Lift your tulip bulbs and store them.

Administer a general-purpose liquid feed every two or three weeks.

Fruit and Vegetables:

Keep tomatoes, cucumbers and courgettes well-watered. Apply a liquid feed if soil fertility is poor.

Pick beans regularly and keep them well-watered.

Continue to earth up potatoes to ensure a heavy crop.

Sow spring cabbages - make a small nursery bed in which to sow them.

Plant leeks for winter.

Plant your spring crops of cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower (brassicas).

Harvest shallots and garlic as the tops yellow and leave them in the sun for a day to ripen.

Gather your herbs for drying or freezing.

Spread straw around strawberries to keep them clear of the ground. Cover the strawberry bed with a net to protect from birds.

Prune plum and cherry trees and remove fading blossoms.

Prune apple and pear trees to allow more light to the ripening fruit and encourage new growth.

August Gardening Advice

Lawn

Mow frequently, leaving the cuttings on the lawn to provide a protective moisture-retentive mulch. Raise the blades on fine lawns to help prevent lawn scorching.

Roses

Deadhead roses to prolong the display into autumn. Cut off just above the uppermost leaf on the stem.

Feed roses with a specialist rose fertilizer.

Plants, Shrubs and Trees

Deadhead plants such as Dahlia to maintain their displays into autumn.

Keep containerised plants well-watered throughout summer.

Plant bulbs for spring flowering. Give priority to daffodils as they begin their root growth early.

Order your spring-flowering bulbs reading for autumn planting.

Take cuttings of fuchsias and pelargoniums which will root quickly at this time of year and will successfully overwinter indoors.

Prune wisteria.

Clip evergreen hedges now so as to give them time to grow new leaves before winter.

Fruit and Vegetables

Vegetables which can be sown: spring cabbage, Chinese cabbage, turnips, winter spinach, overwintering onions.

Lift onions, shallots and garlic when ready.

Regularly pick fast maturing vegetables such as runner beans, corgettes and cucumbers to prevent toughness and encourage further yield.

Pinch out tomato sideshoots. Make the sure the leading shoot is tied to its support.

Pick any remaining raspberries then then prune the stems down to soil level. Tie in new shoots and remove excess ones.

Peg down strawberry runners.

Greenhouses

Damp down greenhouses on hot days to increase humidity. This helps the plants greatly and also helps to control red spider mite.

Pest Control

Apply controls for vine weevil.