Talk about blowing hot and cold! This Spring has been so changeable, that it has made planning crops or splitting clumps of perennials very difficult to do successfully.
In spite of last Summer’s drought, rhododendrons and azaleas are performing well in my garden, apart from the victims of salty spray from the road during the snow.
There are still jobs that must be done in hope of kind weather continuing… here are some suggestions:
Ornamental garden
- Gently remove spent flowers from Camellia and rhododendrons to make room for the leaf buds emerging behind. You can also trim back overgrown shoots to make the shrubs more compact;
June roses
next year’s flower buds will form on the new growth of side shoots that this stimulates.
- Divide bearded irises after flowering; plant with the rhizomes facing south.
- Sow biennials like sweet William, viola and wallflowers
- Divide spring-flowering bulbs.
- Remove spent flower heads of Euphorbia by cutting flowered stems to ground level. Wear gloves for this, the sap causes skin irritation.
Lawns
- Mow regularly but, if it is hot and dry, raise the cutting height.
- Apply a high-nitrogen lawn feed (again not when dry)
- Add clippings to the compost heap in small amounts; mix them with dry material to stop it all going slimy.
Kitchen garden
- Pinch out side shoots of cordon tomatoes
- Plant out pumpkins, squashes, courgettes and beans. You could direct sow both these and sweetcorn.
- Because sweetcorn is wind pollinated, do not plant them in a row but in a block, so the pollen gets to the stigmas of neighbouring plants.
- Harvest early potatoes when they begin flowering
- Sow autumn carrots.
- Net Strawberries and brassicas against birds.
- Sorry! But stop cutting asparagus and feed it so the crowns are ready for next year
- It looks as if apples and pears have set well in my garden. If yours have too, wait until after the June drop to thin fruit out! (bitter experience on my part here)
Greenhouse
- Damp down the greenhouse floor to increase humidity and discourage red spider mite
- Feed tomatoes with a high-potassium fertiliser
Gardens open for charity
1st & 2nd June: Froyle Gardens; Maple Cottage, Searles Lane, Hook.RG27 9EQ
5th: Beechenwood farm, Hillside, Odiham, RG29 1JA
9th: Tylney Hall Hotel, Rotherwick RG27 9AZ
2nd and 16th: Dipley Mill, Hartley Wintney RG27 8JP
15th,16th & 17th: East Worldham Manor and ‘Selborne’, Caker Lane, East Worldham, Alton GU34 3AX
Refer to www.ngs.org.uk for details of other gardens open.
For your diary
July 13th & 14th: The Ewshot show
July 27th: Crondall Produce and Craft Show