News - Page 88
Train grapevines as they grow to keep them from taking over your greenhouse or house wall, and to make sure they stay productive and healthy. It’s a little late in the season to be planting a new grapevine now, but if you’ve missed out, make a note to pop into the garden centre here in Stocksfield and select a vine to plant this autumn. You can choose from dessert or wine varieties, red or white: feel free to ask our knowledgeable staff for advice o...
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Repair damaged lawns as bare patches become more visible – often the legacy of a punishing, soggy winter. Lawn seed sown now germinates quickly as the weather warms, so it’s a great time to put things right.
Damaged lawn
Skim off the damaged patches of turf, then fork over the area to a depth of about 8cm. Break up and clods with the back of a fork until the soil has a fine, even texture. Improve the soil by adding some compost, then...
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If you ever made a daisy chain as a child, you’ll already be familiar with the charms of our favourite wildflower, Bellis perennis. Daisies are the ultimate low-maintenance plant, easy to grow from seed and often treated as weeds – especially when they pop up in the middle of your lawn. But they are invaluable in any wildlife-friendly garden as they’re great favourites with pollinating insects like bees, butterflies and hoverflies which love their nectar-rich, open...
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There are few better months to be in the garden than May, when blossoms are bursting, bees are buzzing and it’s good to be alive. Here are a few of the jobs to get on with this month:
General tasks:
Mow the lawn regularly removing clippings and adding them to the compost bin. In dry weather let short clippings stay on the lawn to reduce drought damage.
Install water butts to make the most of r...
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The Flower of the Year for 2017 is the zinnia, a glowingly colourful Mexican beauty that lights up your garden right through the summer. Sow from seed, or just drop by the garden centre here in Stocksfield and pick up young plants to grow on and plant out in your garden.
Zinnia flowers
Zinnias are real head-turners, in shades from cream to magenta, scarlet and gold. Butterflies adore them, so they’re ideal for adding a splash of colo...
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Create a plant ‘theatre’ to show off your collections of choice seasonal treasures at their best.
Creating a plant theatre
Plant theatres became popular in Victorian times, often to show off the spectacular markings of dainty auricula primulas, but you can create a plant theatre out of any special plant from alpine bulbs and herbs to pelargoniums, violas and bonsai trees.
Raise your plant collection on shelves and you can bett...
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Wallflowers (Erysimum) usher in the early summer with a flourish of brilliant colour and, often, rich, spicy scent. They are often treated as spring bedding and make a perfect partner for tulips – choose contrasting colours to add zing and excitement, or match the colours more closely for a more harmonious combination..
They’ll keep flowering long after the tulips are gone, though, and even into a second year if you give them a haircut after flowering. Or you...
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Fill grow bags with salads right now for a steady supply of delicious leaves throughout the summer. It’s easy to grow the freshest salad leaves yourself even if all you have is a patio: all you need is a grow bag or two from the garden centre here in Stocksfield plus a selection of your favourite salad seeds. Ideal crops for growing bags include lettuce, rocket and radishes but also more unusual salad ingredients like beetroot, chard, coriander and...
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Mowing the grass could be on the way out after a survey showed the public is overwhelmingly in favour of leaving grass longer in parks and roadside verges to allow wildflowers to grow and help Britain’s beleaguered bees.
Should local councils reduce grass cutting?
Over 80% of the public agreed that councils should reduce grass-cutting to encourage nectar-rich flowers to grow, with over 90% in favour of planting more wildflowers and o...
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Dainty-looking yet tough, and smothered with flowers over a long season, there are few climbers to beat a clematis. Grow them over pergolas, walls and fences; train them up a tree; cover an eyesore or provide a pretty partner for climbing roses.
There’s one in flower every month of the year, from the blue bells of alpine clematis in spring to the big, look-at-me flowers of the summer belles and deceptively delicate-looking evergreen clematis, fl...
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Now is the perfect time to sow French, climbing and runner beans into pots under cover. It’s a great year to do it, as 2017 has been declared Year of the Bean, so there are loads of new varieties to try plus old heritage favourites returning to our shelves too!
Sow runner beans
Most climbing beans are frost tender, so it’s worth waiting till late spring to sow as the risk of late frost is much lower. Sow about 5cm deep in small pots...
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Create a bed of hardy annuals for a splash of colour that costs pennies. It’s a great way to fill a patch of spare ground quickly and cheaply, as annuals grow quickly from seed, flower enthusiastically all summer then die out – leaving the space free for a redesign next year.
Hardy annuals
The bed can be any shape or size, but find a sunny spot to maximise flower power. Weed thoroughly, then fork over the soil and rake to create a le...
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