Now that September is here I think that we can finally say that the drought is over. The much needed rain that we have had in the last few weeks has done the world of good in our part of Hertfordshire. The grass is starting to green up and once again plants are spurting into growth.

1. Dead head the lavender if you haven’t already done so. Trim the flower stalks to an inch into the new growth. Garden shears are best for this.

2. Watch out for diseases. The weather has started to turn very humid which means that certain fungal diseases such as black spot on roses and potato and tomato blight will start to become more prevalent. Pick off infected leaves as soon as you see them, try to increase ventilation, avoid watering at night and try to only water the soil and not the foliage.

3. Make some notes on the position of your herbaceous perennials in your borders. Now is a good time to think about where to move them to later on in the autumn if you are not happy with their current position or height in the border etc. It is always a good idea to mark them with a stick as they die down so that you don’t dig them up by accident in the spring.

4. Lift and shift. Towards the end of the month you can lift those perennials, divide them and then move them somewhere else.

5. Start thinking about buying and planting spring bulbs. Daffodills are best planted towards the end of the month and tulips are best planted in November.

6. Cut summer fruiting raspberry canes down to the ground once they have finished fruiting if you didn’t do so last month. The new canes which will still be green will provide fruit for next year so leave these and tie in for next year. Pick autumn flowering raspberries.

7. Continue to collect seed from perennials and annuals once the seed pods have dried out to either give to friends or re-sow yourself.

8. Don’t be tempted to forget about your hanging baskets and pots; keep watering, feeding and deadheading to prolong flowering. Most will flower quite happily until the first frosts.

9. If you are thinking about re-turfing your garden or re-seeding your lawn, now is a good time to do it as the soil is still reasonably warm and there tends to be more rainfall. 

10. Continue to harvest your veg, potatoes, sweetcorn, runner beans and tomatoes. If, god forbid, there are any light frosts at the end of the month, cover your outdoor tomatoes with fleece for protection and don’t forget to keep feeding them with tomato feed. Don’t forget keep picking runner beans, ideally when they are young and not stringy, to keep encouraging continued cropping.

Top 10 Tips for Coping with the Dry Spell

1. Recycle bath and washing water – Grey water – best if use organic environmentally friendly natural products for washing hands etc so doesn’t harm plants when reuse it.

2. Water at the right time of day – morning/evening to reduce evaporation.

3. Collect rain water with water buts- some plants prefer it such as rhododendrons and camelias

4. Group pots together in shade, and take hanging baskets down and stick in the shade in heat of the sun

5. Stand Pots in saucers, doesn’t dry out so quick

6. Don’t worry too much about lawns, they will green up again in the autumn. Unless it is newly laid turf

7. Water the base of the plants, not the foliage – goes straight to soil where its needed. Make a puddle around each plant

8. Choose plants that tolerate dry conditions

Dry and Sunny-

Perennials

 Generally, plants with a tough, silvery leaf such as cistus, lavender, lamb’s ears (Stachys byzantina), Russian sage (Perovskia), dianthus, phlomis, rosemary and thyme will all do well in the sun and many will give the added bonus of a fabulous scent. They originate from the Mediterranean and they all are used basking in the sun. Other plants that will do well are iris germanica, alliums, thrift, coreopsis, agapanthus and gaillardia.

Bedding Plants

Geraniums and osteospernums and petunias are the most draught tolerant of the summer bedding plants.

Dry and Shadey -

Bit more tricky. But it is not impossible to overcome. Top of the list is the Epimedium rubrum, a great little plant with a pinky purple flower, and then there is Mahonia aquifolium or Oregon Grape which is an evergreen shrub with fragrant yellow flowers in late spring.  Periwinkles (Vinca), elephant’s ears, liriope and butcher’s broom (Ruscus) will also do O.K. For foliage colour go for the many euonymus varieties such as ‘Emerald and Gold’ or ‘Silver Queen’ or try the Geranium macrorrhizum ‘Album’ which has a great white flower and will do well in dry shade.

9. To try to reduce the need for watering in the first place get the secateurs out and cut back the excess foliage on your perennials, this will keep them bushy and reduce the watering burden.

10. Keep the weeds down as much as possible as they can be nutrient and moisture robbers, taking away much needed water from your cherished perennials.

Well, August already, where does the time go. We always find August a bit depressing as autumn is on the way and all those darker evenings aren’t far behind. Combine harvesters come out, herbaceous perennials are starting to die back and leaves are starting to loose their lovely verdant green colour. But don’t despair we can still get a lot of out of our gardens, the michelmas daisies are looking at their best and echinaceas, dahlias and chrysanths are bursting with colour. Here are a few jobs to think about.

1. August is a good month to summer prune wisterias. We normally trim back the wispy spurs by about a third or to about 5 or 6 buds from the main stem. To help flowering next year feed with tomato feed to give it a boast. The main pruning time for wisterias is the middle of winter (Jan / Feb) when you trim the spurs back to 2 or 3 buds from the main stem.
2. Continue to deadhead roses and other perennials to prolong flowering.
3. If you want to save seed from your perennials for growing on next year, now is a good time to do so. Cut heads of hardy geraniums, aquilegias and poppys for drying out. Collect the seed in paper bags or envelopes and keep somewhere cool and dry.
4. Identify and mark gaps in your borders now for planting of autumn bulbs before the perennials die down.
5. Once this year’s raspberry canes have finished fruiting cut canes down to the ground and tie in the new canes. Pin strawberry runners into pots of compost to create new plants.
6. Put stakes around autumn flowering perennials such as dahlias, chrysanthemums and michaelmas daisys to keep them supported.
7. As soon as lavender has finished flowering take the shears to it and reduce it back to about ½ inch into the new growth but no lower. Keep the seed heads for their fragrance and use indoors.
8. Continue to feed and water tubs and baskets.
9. Make sure houseplants aren’t left on windowsills in the summer sunshine as they can scorch in direct sunlight.
10. Trim back leggy annuals to give them a new lease of life such as petunias, nicotianas and nemesia.

Phew what a scorcher! At last we have a summer to speak of. Although great for us, these soaring temperatures are not great for our gardens. Already the grass verges are turning brown and I’m struggling to keep my pots watered ! I’ve got a fabulous Elecampane (Inula helenium), a large moisture loving wild flower, and as I’ve been re-organising my garden recently it’s ended up in a pot. Big mistake! It absolutely guzzles water and if I miss a day with the watering can it lets me know.

1. As the weather has been so warm and dry our main advice this month is to keep your pots, baskets and containers watered; once a day for your containers and pots, and twice a day for hanging baskets. Don’t forget to feed your bedding plants and baskets every fortnight to ensure they last through the season. Tomato feed or ‘Miracle-Gro’ is ideal for this. You may have to get the hose pipe out to give your borders a good soaking. If you are growing runner beans in pots it is especially important not to let them dry out.
2. Cut back the spent flower stems of perennials that have gone over such as lupins, delphiniums and aquilegias if you don’t want them to seed everywhere.
3. Keep an eye out for pests, especially caterpillars and aphids and either pick them off or treat them with something such as ‘Provardo’ (Based on thiacloprid) or try out biological control if there aren’t that many of them such as nematodes (for caterpillars) or parasitic wasps (for aphids and whitefly).
4. Keep dead heading your plants to ensure continued flowering, e.g. roses, valerian and pelargoniums.
5. Fill gaps in your borders with bedding plants. Red geraniums really lift your borders and give a touch of the Mediterranean.
6. Divide bearded irises now that they have finished flowering.
7. Tidy up trees that have started to send out suckers by cutting them back to the base of the trunk. Also cut back rose suckers and parts of variegated plants such as elaeagnus that may have started to revert, i.e. turn back to green and loose their varigation.
8. Keep a look out for blight on your potatoes and tomatoes. There is a forecasting system for blight called a ‘Smith Period’ – this is defined as 2 consecutive days starting at 9am in the morning where temperatures are over 10 degrees C for at least 11 hours and the relative humidity is over 90%, in other words blight will spread when it is warm and wet. You will start to see brown patches on the leaves (potatoes and tomatoes) and tomato stems may develop black patches. Prevention is better than cure, avoid growing potatoes and tomatoes in the same spot, try not to water with sprinklers as spores can develop on wet leaves. Grow resistant varieties and grow early potatoes so you can harvest before blight takes hold. On potatoes it is a good idea to remove the haulm or foliage if blight arrives late in the season so that the tubers do not get infected as blight will spread from the leaves down to the tubers by rain splash. The only sure fire way to keep tomatoes and potatoes free from blight is to spray the leaves with a protectant fungicide before blight appears and then spray regularly to keep it away.
9. Give your lawn a summer feed if it didn’t receive a spring treatment and keep it well watered to ensure that it stays green as we haven’t had enough rain this month.
10.  Top up your ponds and water features now that the weather is warming up as water is being lost to evaporation.

WELL here we are in June, Chelsea has come and gone and we are now looking forward to Hampton Court and Tatton Park. Although we have had the odd shower, we could still do with some proper rain as the grass is drying out and in our part of Hertfordshire the soil is still very dry. The gardens are continuing to grow apace this month and delphiums and peonies are starting to look glorious. Here’s a few jobs to think about:

1. Pull up your dead daffodil, tulip and bluebell foliage now that they have died down enough.
2. Now is a good time to plant up your hanging baskets and containers if you haven’t already done so. Remember that they will need watering twice a day and feeding once a fortnight. If you can it’s a good idea to use special hanging basket compost as it tends to have water retaining granules to reduce the need for watering.
3. Now that the birds have flown their nests now is a good time to get your hedges cut and trimmed. We always try to resist the temptation to do it earlier so we don’t disturb them.
4. It’s also a good time of year to trim your box hedging into shape. Traditionally, people say Derby Day is the time to do it. Make sure you choose a cloudy day so that the tender shoots don’t get scorched by the sun.
5. Prune back Forsythia, lilacs and Choisyas now that they have finished flowering. You can also trim back Kerria, and towards the end of the month ceanothus and Spirea arguta.
6. Keep an eye out for pests.
7. As blooms start to fade towards the end of the month keep dead heading (roses, Scabious etc.) to prolong flowering.
8. Cut back oriental poppies once they have finished flowering, they will produce new green growth which will look more attractive than dying leaves. Also cut Geranium phaem and Geranium sylvaticum right back; they will re-shoot in no time and you will get some more flowers if you are lucky. You can do the same with Brunneras.
9. Continue to sow out your veg including tomatoes, runner beans, sweetcorn and courgettes. If grown in pots remember to keep them well watered especially runner beans. Thin out earlier sowings so they have plenty of room to develop.
10. Some early potatoes should be ready for lifting this month. Wait until the first flowers start to open and then do a test dig to see if they are ready.
11. Support larger herbaceous perennials such as paeonies, so that they don’t flop when in rains. I use hawthorn or hazel twigs as they look more natural than plastic or bamboo canes.
12. Feed tomatoes and bedding plants once a week with tomato feed to keep them happy.
13. It’s a good time of year to take softwood cuttings on shrubs such as Hydrangea, Deutzia, Philadelphus and Spirea. (see propagation tips).
14. Keep mowing your lawn regularly, at least 5-7 days (or less), if you want it to look neat and you can cut a bit lower now. Remember to get the sprinkler out if it starts to dry out.
15. Keep on top of the weeds.
16. If you do have gaps in your border fill them with colourful bedding plants– think geraniums, dianthus and petunias for sun and busy lizzies and begonias for shade.

Marvellous, marvellous May. It’s our favourite month in the garden. Plants are growing so quickly that you can almost see them and hear them. Add to that the special fresh ‘May smell’ in the air, a mixture of heady scents from lilacs, wildflowers and grass clippings and you get something truly spectacular. Top of our list of jobs to do this month is to go and see a bluebell wood; a real natural wonder of the world. We say this every year but it has to be done. If you are not sure where your nearest one is ask around. Favourites near us are Pyror’s Wood, near Stevenage, Chilham in Kent and Norsey Wood in South Essex.

Other jobs we should be thinking about; 

1. Plant the last of your potatoes if you haven’t already done so and start to earth up when the growth gets to about 15cm. This will stop greening.
2. Continue to keep an eye out for pests. Check for the red lily beetles, aphids and slugs and dispose of them. Viburnum beetle can be a pain on Viburnum tinus, V.opulus and V.lantana. As can sawfly on Soloman’s Seal. Nip them in the bud before they spread with a good systemic insecticide.
3. With any luck the frost threat is over so start to think about planting out some summer bedding from the end of the month. All the garden centres are awash with fabulous bedding for your pots and hanging baskets. Now is the time to plug any gaps that have appeared in your borders.
4. Keep an eye on the weather forecasts. In the unlikely event of late frosts, be prepared to cover your tender plants with a double layer of horticultural fleece. The weather does seem a bit changeable and the forecast (for our part of Hertfordshire at least) for the first part of May is a bit disappointing, cooler temperatures again until the middle of the month; thought it was a bit good to be true.
5. Pull up or hoe off weeds. Don’t forget on a cool day when the soil is wet some weeds can re-root once hoed off so either remember to put them straight onto the compost heap or hoe on a sunny dry day so that the weeds desiccate and quickly die.
6. You can sow runner beans, squashes, pumpkins and courgettes directly into prepared soil from the end of May.
7. Start mowing your lawn weekly now.
8. Dead head tulips and daffodils and trim back Pulmonarias and Doronicums to encourage new verdant growth once the flowers have gone over. Don’t be tempted to cut down your daffs just yet. You should wait 6 weeks after flowering to make sure all the goodness goes back into the bulb to ensure a good flower display next year.
9. Brussels sprouts can be transplanted from their seed bed into their final positions and spacings at the end of May.
10. Continue to keep your pots and hanging baskets well watered to ensure that they don’t dry out.
11. Prune out any frost affected shoots of evergreen shrubs.
12. Prune back camellias after flowering. They do respond well to quite severe pruning if required.
13. Take softwood cutting of deciduous shrubs such as Forsythia, Hydrangea, Fuchsia, Spiraea and Philadelphus. (See propagation section for advice on how to do it).
14. Towards the end of the month think about introducing certain houseplants into the garden such as Christmas cacti, potted azaleas and orchids. All will enjoy a summer holiday but take them out gradually and don’t put them into direct sunlight straight away or they will scorch. In fact, the Victorians used to plant up flower beds for the summer using rubber plants, palms and mother-in-laws tongue.
15. Support your perennials now so that they don’t flop later on.

Remember to take time to sit and enjoy your garden. Get a glass of wine or a gin and tonic and really take in the beauty of the plants around you. After all that’s why we do it!

WELL spring has finally arrived. The daffodils are looking glorious, the leaves are starting to appear on the hawthorns and willows, herbaceous perennials are starting to push through in the borders and the grass is starting to shake off its depressing winter yellow colour. This is a wonderful, invigorating time of year for a gardener and now that the clocks have changed we also get an extra hour in the garden!  Lots to do this month;

 1.      Plant evergreen trees and shrubs now that the soil is starting to warm up. It’s a good time to plant other flowering plants such as roses, climbers and herbaceous perennials.

2.      If you haven’t pruned your roses by now, make sure you finish this month. It’s also a good idea to feed them with a granular rose fertiliser.

3.      Hard prune the forsythia after flowering.

4.      Start hoeing to keep weeds down between your plants. Take care not to cut the tops off hostas, lilies and other plants that have tender shoots.

5.      Keep a look out for pests, especially slugs and snails if the weather turns wet and take speedy action. If you don’t want to use sprays then pick off as many as you can. Try using the organic slug pellet based on ferric phosphate. Keep an eye out for the dreaded lily beetle as the lilies start to push through. We are hoping that the cold weather has reduced their numbers.

6.      Continue sowing selected vegetables outside such as carrots, radishes, beetroot, cabbages, Brussels sprouts and lettuce. Brussels and cabbages do better if they are sown in a seed bed first then transplanted into their final positions in May / June.

7.      Plant second early potatoes (such as Maris Peer, International Kidney & Charlotte) from early to mid April (ready July/August) and main crop towards the end of the month (ready September/October). First early potatoes are usually planted late March but it doesn’t matter if they run into April

8.      Sow pumpkins, squashes and tomatoes inside with protection. When it has warmed up in May and frost risk has gone then they can be planted outside.

9.      Don’t be tempted to fill in the gaps in your borders just yet; some plants are still coming through.

10.  Start your spring lawn treatments to keep them in tiptop condition. Continue to aerate, scarify, feed and weed. There are a number of all-in-one weed and feed granules available at your local DIY store or garden centre and it is worth using them.

11.  It is also a good time to start turfing or seeding new lawns.

12.  If you have winter bedding such as pansies continue to deadhead them to extend their flowering season, and keep containers and hanging baskets well watered. They should start to look their best from this month onwards.

13.  Take basal root cuttings from things like delphiniums, dahlias, phlox and chrysanthemums. These are created from the little tiny shoots coming from the base of last years old stems. Try to remove from as near as possible to the main root and before they are 2 or 3 inches tall and root in nice sandy, gritty compost.

14.  Take soft wood cuttings from fuchsias and geraniums.

15.  Hoe in slow release fertiliser between your plants to get them going.

16.  If you want dramatic leaves on some shrubs and are happy not to get the  flowers you can cut back hard on catalpas, acer negundo and pawlonias

17.  Carefully remove dead and damaged fronds from ferns. Take care not to damage the new, unfurling fronds in the crown of the plant as they are very brittle.

18.  Be patient with perennials that may look as though they have been killed by the frost such as salvias and verbenas. There is a  good chance that they may re-shoot from below ground level.

19.  Start watering your house plants regularly. Pop them in the bath and give them a blast with the shower head to get rid of dust and cobwebs. You will find that this will invigorate them and help them to photosynthesise properly.

20.  It’s a good time to start planting summer flowering bulbs such as gladiolis, fresias, ixias, sparaxis and lilies.

Hoorah! No rain for the last couple of weeks which means that the soil is starting to dry out and we can finally get onto the borders to do some gardening. As with last year we are coming to the end of one of the coldest winters for the last 20 years some things may be a few weeks late or may run in to April. The spring bulbs are running 3-4 weeks and to date we have only seen a few clumps of daffodils in flower. Not many bunches for Mothers Day this year I’m afraid. Sorry mum x. 

1. Prune your roses. Now’s the time to prune your rose bushes if you haven’t already done so. Don’t get too stressed about the technical side. What you should do is prune back to an outward facing bud, taking the bush down to about half to a third of its height. You should also prune away any dead or diseased stems and burn them and prune away any stems that cross each other. You are aiming for a good open bush. This isn’t something to worry about too much – I know of at least one rose grower who does his rose pruning with a hedge trimmer and it doesn’t affect the flowering one bit.
2. Tidy up frost and snow damaged plants. Prune out the dead bits from tender shrubs and climbers such as choisyas and solanums. Cut out bent leaves from phormiums and take out the dead brown leaves.
3. Prune buddleias and dogwoods. Ideal time  for cutting back Buddleia davidii to encourage flowering. Some plants that have got out of hand may need to have quite a bit taken off. Cut back the colourful stemmed dogwoods such as the red Cornus Alba. If you cut the stems back almost to the ground (15cm) it will ensure a new lot of colourful stems for next winter.
4. Trim your grasses. We always give our ornamental grasses a haircut this time of year, ready for the new verdant growth to push through. Don’t cut too low only down to about 15cm. Good time for trimming back pampas grasses; we take a hedge trimmer to it or if you are in an appropriate location set light to it to take it to take off the dead bits and encourage new growth.
5. Lift and shift your perennials. Good time for dividing and moving herbaceous perennials such as Phlox, Asters, Rudbeckia and Alchemila
6. If you want to transplant Snowdrops, a good time to do this is after they have flowered when they are still ‘in the green’.
7. Get out and dig over your bare soil now that the conditions are right if you haven’t already done so. For most vegetables you want to aim for a consistancy of coarse breadcrumbs before you sow.
8. Start to sow some veg seed outside such as lettuce, raddish and cabbage
9. Onion sets can be planted out now.
10. Chitting Potatoes – To get your potatoes growing away better, you should chit them to encourage sprouting. To do this place in a tray or egg box and keep somewhere bright and cool for a couple of weeks. Put them ‘rose-end’ up (The end with the dormant eyes upwards). Earlies you can think about planting out at the end of the month. Remember to add some Grow More fertiliser as you plant.
11. Get the mower out and make sure it works. You may also want to think about a spring lawn treatment for next month.
12. Plant lily bulbs ready for the summer.

With the weather being so ghastly at the moment, nothing is so urgent that it can’t wait until March, but if you do have itchy feet then there are a few things you can do.  

1.  Make a start pruning your roses but don’t get too hung up about the technicalities, it often doesn’t make too much difference to the number of flowers you get. With bush roses, reduce them down by about a third, just above an outward facing bud, cutting out any dead bits or crossing stems.  

 Whilst you’ve got your secateurs out, don’t be tempted to get too trigger happy. If you can’t remember what a plant is, it’s probably best not to cut it back as you might be cutting off this year’s flowers. As a general rule if a shrub flowers before the end of June cut it back after it has flowered (such as forsythia, lilac, mahonia, viburnum bodnantense etc.) but if it flowers after the end of June cut it back in the autumn (such as spireas, potentillas and hypericums).

 2. Tidy up any dead herbaceous perennials, if not already done so, and dig-in any well rotted garden compost that you made last year. 

 3. It’s also the ideal time to prune your wisterias to give you maximum flowers in the spring. You can be quite harsh, cutting those whippy stems right back to two buds away from the main stem and cut away any dead wood.

 4.  As it is quiet in the garden right now, take the opportunity to give your greenhouse a thorough good clean (if it is empty). Scrub the frame and glass to get rid of any fungal spores or any over-wintering pests and clean and disinfect any seed trays and pots to give your seedlings a clean and healthy start.  

 5. If you have been storing bulbs or any other types of tubers, now’s a good time to check them over to ensure that no rots have set in.

 6. Remember to get your gardening equipment serviced early. Take it out of the shed now to make sure it all still works. Don’t’ wait until March or April to take your mower in for a service; we know from experience that if you leave it too late to take your mower in, you might have to wait weeks to get it back, just at the time when you need it the most. Everyone else leaves it to the last minute.

 7. Get ahead of yourself now by digging over any bare soil and breaking-up any clods to give you a fine crumbly seed bed in preparation for sowing. It’s still too early to sow most things outside but you could have a go at planting a few radishes, leeks or parsnips if you are really keen. Inside, you can start sowing a few tomatoes on your window sills to get an early start.

 8. One last thing I would recommend to do this month is to try to find a snowdrop walk and enjoy them before they go over. It will really lift your spirits and get you in the mood for gardening when it does warm up. Anglesey Abbey, near Cambridge, has a great winter walk that goes on until the last week in February.

What a month its been, snow, snow and more snow. Although, a covering of snow does make the landscape look beautiful and  romantic it isn’t great for the garden and certainly isn’t great for gardeners. But at least the days are starting to draw out slowly and there are signs of life in the borders as the spring bulbs start to push through. Some early snowdrops are already out and some daffodils are well on their way. Here’s a few jobs to do if you can get out.

 1. Shake any snow off hedges and shrubs so stop them being weighed down and damaged.

 2. Keep the surface of ponds ice free by placing footballs on the surface or melting holes with the bottom of a pan containing hot water.

 3. Keep feeding the birds and make sure delicate plants have a thick coat of fleece around them.

 4. During any milder spells don’t be tempted to cut back any frost damaged plants, leave them be until the warmth of spring arrives. Leave dead or desiccated herbaceous plants as they are, should the cold weather return as it’s supposed to, they’ll provide snug havens for birds as well as providing seed and berries for food.

 5. Continue to remove leaves and debris from lawns but avoiding walking on them when they’re frozen or saturated and when spreading salt on garden paths be sure to avoid any adjoining grass, the salt will kill it outright!

 6. If and when you can, scrub decking and patio areas with a stiff brush to remove slime and prevent them from being slippery; use a propriety patio cleaner or a weak bleach solution.

 7. Make sure greenhouse heaters are set at the right level and working correctly to prevent your most precious plants from freezing to death and turning to mush. Some areas have had power cuts so it’s worth checking that they’re functioning correctly. Use bubble wrap on the inside of the glass for extra insulation and keep your plants on the dry side, many plants will cope with cold and dry but cold and wet spells death for many.

 8. On beds and borders if the weather does allow then continue to dig in organic material, but avoid doing this if the ground is wet and heavy, you’ll cause more harm than good as it will compact the soil forcing out the air and making it more prone to waterlogging.

 9. If you are snowed in then now is the time to peruse those seed and plant catalogues and consider what you’d love to grow this year, perhaps a brand new introduction, a challenging delicate plant, new varieties of potato or perhaps flowers to cut for the house.

 10. Keep an eye on your house plants this time of year, provide maximum light, keep them on the dry side, except for azaleas that love to sit in water, keep them away from cold draughts and hot radiators and make sure the more delicate ones aren’t trapped in a pool of cold air behind curtains during the night.