Monthly Tips & Tasks – July

Monthly Tips & Tasks – July

Fruit & Vegetables, Garden Life, Monthly Tips & Tasks, Winter Gardening

We have now had some good frosts that have cut back many plants in the garden so it is a good idea to lift some of them to overwinter. Plants that benefit are dahlias, begonias (tuberous and fibrous types) and some perennials.The pruning of fruit trees and roses may now be completed and they can also be given their Winter sprays. These tasks are best done on a fine sunny day.Green houses should be washed, disinfected and any repairs completed in readiness for the start of Spring.All crop residue should now be removed from the garden or green house and either composted or disposed of.Prunings from the garden I shred up and add to the compost heap. My heap is protected from the wet and cold and turned over two or three times to ensure good quality compost is available for digging in later.New season fruit trees are now arriving in the garden centres. Make sure you get in early for the best trees.Strawberries and cane fruits can be planted now. It’s a good idea to try and get cultivars that will fruit at different times to achieve a longer harvest time ( ie. early, mid season and late types).Spring bulbs will be starting to emerge through the ground so be careful when weeding not to damage the shoots.If you have a heat bench or pad you can start sowing some early seeds to be ready for early plantings. Do remember the days are still short though and even with additional heat plants will take longer to grow now than in the Springtime.Early potatoes can now be sprouted (chitted) ready to plant in a few weeks in a well protected part of the garden.New season roses are also becoming available, make sure you get in early as some of the new introductions sell out very fast.

Monthly Tips & Tasks – June

Monthly Tips & Tasks – June

Fruit & Vegetables, Garden Life, Monthly Tips & Tasks, Plant Forum, This Month in the Garden, Winter Gardening

June brings the end of the growing season with the shortest day about the 20th of the month. We know also that the coldest time of the year will be with us for the next two months.So there is not a lot of gardening to be done other than pruning and cleaning up plus maintenance of the hard landscape areas.We all find that in our seed storage there will be plenty of used seeds that have passed their use by date or have lost labels. Now is the time to go through the seeds and get rid of any unwanted ones, and make a list of those we will be needing in the Spring.

Monthly Tips & Tasks – July

Monthly Tips & Tasks – July

Fruit & Vegetables, Lawns, Monthly Tips & Tasks, Winter Gardening

June has been a very frustrating month in the garden with little sun and plenty of rain and drizzle. Because of these conditions I have done little in the outside garden but have spent time in the greenhouses doing maintenance and sorting out plants that are past their best.

This weather pattern looks as though it may continue for some time so we will have to wait until we get some good sunny days for that outside work. There is no need to worry as there is still plenty of Winter to come to get those outside tasks completed.

Monthly Tips & Tasks – August

Monthly Tips & Tasks – August

Fruit & Vegetables, Monthly Tips & Tasks, Winter Gardening

August is the last month of Winter or the start of Spring? This is my annual quandary because it is a bit of both; cold and wet at the start then becoming milder as the first signs of growth and flowers appear. This is the time when we should complete Winter pruning and spray programmes on fruit trees and plant new fruit trees, and berry fruits.

Monthly Tips & Tasks – July

Monthly Tips & Tasks – July

Fruit & Vegetables, The Flower Garden, This Month in the Garden, Winter Gardening

Winter has arrived and the weather is its usual mixture of wet, cold and windy. The sunshine hours are below the average for this time of the year too, making it feel much colder and wetter than it really is. Strong winds have caused damage to the trees and other plants in the garden. Its important to repair this damage as soon as possible, do this by pruning out the broken branches to healthy wood.