According to a number of weather watchers, it looks as though February is going to get a bit iffy. The biting wind from the east, good for neither man nor beast, is going to make temperatures tumble and there’s a good chance of snow; winter’s not yet over. On the plus side, the first snowdrops are out and we can now work until 5!

 As far as gardening jobs for February, there’s not an awful lot to do that won’t wait until March so unless we get some good sunny days and you want to get stuck in, keep warm and stay inside.

Banana stem fleeced with extra compost protecting the base

 Remember to feed the birds. Nuts and fat are better than bread. Putting out bread just encourages rats. Remember to clean your feeders regularly to stop any build up of bacteria.

1. Give your roses a boost with a specialist rose feed to encourage more flowers and get some manure on the beds
2. Cut back perennials to keep them tidy
3. If the weather does take a turn for the worst remember to fleece any tender plants or bring them inside if you can.
4. Continue planting bare-rooted roses, trees, shrubs and hedging plants.
5. Start thinking about which varieties of potato you are going to grow this year. You can soon start chitting them (encouraging them to grow shoots). Put them in a warm light spot inside and they will soon sprout allowing them a better start when you do plant them outside.
6. Service your petrol lawn mowers and check your other tools are all in working order.
7. General hygiene – Clean out your greenhouse (if you are not using it) and give any pots or seed trays a good clean and disinfect if you are going you reuse them
8. 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.
9. 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.

We had quite a few questions on looking after orchids and poinsettias on our Radio Show on Sunday so here’s a few tips on caring for them post-Christmas.

 Moth Orchids (Phalenopsis spp.)

These are probably the most common and widely available orchids that you can buy and they aren’t all that difficult to look after so there’s no need to panic. They need bright, but not harsh sunlight and do best if placed on an east or west facing windowsill. Like most houseplants keep them away from draughts and radiators and don’t put them on top of the telly.

 Don’t worry about the strange ‘white wormy things’ coming out of the top of the pot, these are just the aerial roots of the plant and are perfectly normal.  In the wild, Phalenopsis orchids are epiphytes, which means that they cling to trees and rocks rather than growing in the soil so they don’t need a lot of compost.

 Regularly check the compost and when it starts to feel dry, run tepid water through the pot until it runs out of the bottom. Don’t overwater it as the leaves will fall off and it will rot. Too little water will lead to the leaves withering and turning yellow. You can get specialist orchid feed from garden centres and DIY sheds and feed from April to September to encourage growth.  Sometimes misting the leaves, but not the flowers, to increase humidity can also help with plant growth.

 The flowers are spectacular and can last for up to 12 weeks. Once they have gone over, cut the flower spike off just above the second joint below the spent flowers and if you’re lucky another flowering side shoot will develop.

 Poinsettias (Euphorbia pulcherrima)

I always have a love hate relationship with poinsettias. It probably goes back to my DEFRA days when I spent days on my hands and knees inspecting thousands and thousands of individual plants looking for Tobacco Whitefly.

 Poinsettias are native to Mexico and so love lots of light. Don’t panic if you do get some yellowing and leaf drop, this is normal and due to our reduced light levels in the UK. They can be quite tricky to look after.

 Keep them in a well lit location but not in direct sunlight and keep them away from draughts. Don’t let the temperatures fall below 13 degrees C. Water thoroughly but wait until the compost is dry before watering again. Overwatering is the most common cause of death for poinsettias.

 Poinsettias are cheap enough in the shops. We saw some on sale for £1 over Christmas so it’s really not worth keeping them once they’ve gone over and trying to get them to bloom again for next Christmas unless you want a challenge. But if you want to have a go here’s what you do;

1.  In early spring cut back the stems to 10cm, keep the compost dry and place somewhere shady

     2.     In May, water and re-pot the plant

     3.   Next is the tricky bit. You need to carefully control the amount of light it gets. In Sept/Oct cover the plant with a black plastic bag from early evening until the next morning so that the plant is in total darkness for 14 hours. Continue daily for eight weeks. Then hopefully it will flower again.So remember 14 hours of darkness for 8 weeks

 If you really can’t be bothered with all this kerfuffle just pick another one up next Christmas.

 (One thing to remember, poinsettias can cause a skin reaction to some people so better wear gloves if you touch them)

Well another January, but thankfully not like last year. The strong winds have been a bit of an issue but at least it’s still reasonably mild.  The days are starting to draw out slowly and its getting a touch warmer. There are also some signs of life in the borders as the spring bulbs are starting to push through.  Here are a few jobs to get on with if you get a nice dry day.

 1.  Prune Wisterias. The middle of winter is the ideal time to give wisterias their main prune (they are also lightly pruned in August). All you need to do is to shorten the lateral spurs (those whippy shoots growing from the main plant) to 2 buds away from where they meet the main stem. This will encourage a good display of flowers in May.

 2. Prune Apple and Pear Trees : The main aims of pruning are to open up the tree to let in more light, remove dead and diseased branches and generally increase vigour so that the tree produces more fruiting spurs and then consequently fruits better for you. Start by cutting back any dead or diseased branches. Then cut back any crossing branches, low growing branches or any that are growing downwards. The aim is to keep the tree open enough for a pigeon to be able to fly through it without its wings touching the branches.   All this general thinning and tidying will stimulate new growth and regeneration of the tree.

 3. 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.

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

 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 don’t fancy going out into the garden 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. Give the leaves a good dust as well as this will improve photosynthesis.

One of our favourite horticultural jobs at this time of year must be choosing our Christmas tree. Real trees don’t suit everyone but for the people who do want one, you generally have a choice of Spruces (such as the traditional Norway Spruce) or Firs (such as the Nordman Fir or Douglas Fir). They each have their own pros and cons; the spruces tend to be cheaper but the firs don’t drop their needles so readily. What ever you go for, just remember to treat the tree like a cut flower, cut the bottom couple of inches off and make sure it has plenty of water. Don’t put it next to a radiator and keep it outside in a bucket of water until you are ready to bring it in.

1. Clear the remainder of the leaves, most would have come down already. Last to come down are normally weeping willow leaves followed by the alders.
2. As with last month make sure your tender plants are protected, either fleeced or brought indoors.
3. You shouldn’t need to do any hoeing but if you do get the urge be careful not to hoe off any emerging bulbs. It’s easily done, I did it twice last week !
4. Continue planting deciduous trees and shrubs. It’s a good time for planting both fruit trees and fruit bushes. You can still just about get away with planting any bulbs if you didn’t get time last month.
5. This time of year is traditionally the best time to prune your apples and pears. Cut off any dead or diseased branches and any crossing branches to keep an open shape. With apple trees I was always told that they should be nice and open so that a pigeon could fly right throw the tree without knocking into any branches. Remember don’t prune cherries, plums and peaches until the spring/ early summer.
6. Don’t be tempted to feed your plants at this time of year. Most are not actively growing so they don’t need it. Any soft growth that may be promoted could get hammered by the cooler temperatures.
7. Give your compost heap a good stir to ensure that it gets mixed thoroughly.
8. Caring for Poinsettias. If you get a poinsettia for Christmas, make sure you keep it well lit, away from draughts and don’t let the temperatures fall below 13 degrees. Don’t over water and let the compost dry out between waterings. To get it to colour up again for next Christmas, cut the stems back to about 10cm in the early spring and then  re-pot and water in May. At the start of October cover the plant from the early evening so that it gets 14 hours of darkness. Do this for 8 weeks and then the bracts should turn red. Remember, the key is 14 hours of darkness for 8 weeks.
9. Clear away any dead anuuals, runner beans, bedding, sweet peas etc.

10. Dig over vacant areas; the winter frosts should help to break down the soil ready for working in the spring.

SOMETIMES autumn can feel a bit depressing but walking around Kew Gardens last Saturday we saw a really uplifting sight. This wonderful Gingko biloba really shorn. Also known as the ‘Maidenhair tree’, it can grow quite tall (up to 20 metres); it prefers full sun but is also quite happy in partial shade. If you have the room it’s well worth including in your own garden. You really can’t match it for autumn colour!

 HERE in the East and South East we can’t believe it’s November.  The temperatures remain unseasonably high, there’s been hardly any rain and there’s still no sign of frost.  Who knows what’s round the corner; last year we had snow by the end of the month.

1. Keep on top of the leaves. It’s a laborious job but it is worth while. Keep raking them up, especially if they are on your grass or on your patio and paths; wet leaves on hard surfaces can be dangerous, but don’t worry too much on your herbaceous borders as they will eventually rot down and improve the soil (Unless they are trapped around plants as they can be a hiding place for slugs).Diseased leaves such as black spot infected rose leaves should be disposed of by burning to prevent carry over of infection. The rest stick on the compost heap.
2. Keep cutting back herbaceous perennials once they go over and turn yellow.
3. Keep an eye on the weather forecasts. If frost is predicted, bring in any tender plants or wrap them in several layers of fleece.
4. Take hardwood cuttings (shrubs and trees such as Forsythia, Buddleia and Photinia) and root cuttings (Oriental poppies, Chaenomoles, Acanthus, Crambe, Dicentra, Eryngium). See Propagation section for instructions on how to do it.
5. Not too late to plant bulbs. November is ideal for planting tulips.
6. Depending on where you are in the country, you may need to lift your dahlias and store them over winter. If you are in a mild area just leave them in and mulch the crown to protect it. If not, cut the stem right down to just above ground level, dig up the tuber and wash off the soil. Let it dry and then store in sand, newspaper or dry compost. Keep them cool and dry but frost free.
7. Normally, we would expect to put the lawn mower away at this time of year, but if it continues to stay mild you might get another grass cut before Christmas especially if it’s dry. Don’t forget grass can still grow even at 5 degrees. If you are finished with it, give it a good clean before you put it away.
8. If you are really bored and looking for something to do, you can always clean and oil your hand tools such as spades, hoes and forks – not my favourite job I must say.  
9. Take a few moments to do a bit of garden planning. Look back at your gardening successes and gardening failures and start to plan next year’s projects. There may be beds to dig over or new areas to plant.
10. In the veg plot, clear away any dead or dying plants such as tomatoes and runner beans, dig over any bare areas and mulch with manure.

What a fabulous start to the month. The last few sunny days have been a real treat. You can almost forget that the most depressing tome of the year is on the way. The leaves are already starting to turn colour and drop off and the mornings are getting colder. Welcome to autumn. Don’t despair, we don’t have to abandon our gardens just yet, there are still plenty of autumn colours and great looking plants. Here are a few jobs to think about to keep the garden looking great.

1. Now is a fab time to buy bare-rooted plants. These arrive ‘dug-up’  and ‘nursery fresh’ straight from the grower. You can get some great bargains on roses, trees and hedging plants. Not only are they cheaper than pot-grown plants they are also often stronger and hardier. Try ordering online, mail order or through television shopping channels such as Ideal World.
2. Now is a good time to start thinking about giving your lawns some TLC with an autumn lawn treatment. Rake out any thatch of dead brown grass and improve drainage by spiking or aerating. On heavy soils brush sand into the holes to improve drainage and on light sandy soils brush in compost or top soil to improve the moisture retention. If the weather permits you can keep mowing for a few weeks to keep the lawns sharp.
3.  Try to keep on top of the leaves if you can, especially if they are on the lawn as they can turn the grass yellow if left to rot. Don’t get too worried about leaves on your flower beds as these will eventually rot down or you can dig them in giving extra nutrients. Diseased leaves should be burnt to stop any infection from carrying over to next year.
4.  We try to give roses a light autumn prune, just to put them to bed before Christmas. If you prune down by a third it will stop wind rock which can reduce the rigour of the plant. Rake up and burn old rose leaves, especially if infected with black spot.
5.  Tidy up Buddleias now that they have finished flowering. Cut back by a third, just above a pair of leaves. You can cut them back hard in March.
6.  Keep lifting and dividing perennials such as Michaelmas Daisies, Alchemila, Campanula and Phlox if required.
7.  As deciduous trees are now becoming dormant you can start planting new fruit trees and ornamentals. Peaches and nectarines always do better if planted in the early autumn when the soil is still reasonably warm, apples and pears aren’t so fussy.
8. The summer bedding is starting to look a bit tatty so pull it up and get rid of it. Think about planting autumn / winter bedding such as Violas and pansies, Bellis, Cyclamen and wall flowers. Pansies and Violas always do better if planted early autumn and I always prefer Violas to pansies as they flower better, look neater and don’t need so much dead heading. A lot of the cyclamen sold in garden centres and DIY stores aren’t as hardy as we think and soon turn to mush after a couple of frosts, so don’t expect too much from them if it turns cold.

   

   Nature’s smiling faces – vibrant violas

   

9.  Raise your pots up with pot feet to stop them sitting in water over the winter and give some of your more tender plants a bit of protection. If we get some harsh frosts remember that you need to properly fleece your plants; one layer of fleece is not enough you need several layers and cover the pot itself as well.
10.  Keep planting spring bulbs. Try some of the species tulips for a bit of interest such as Tulipa praestans ‘Fusillier’ (red), Tulipa clusiana  ‘Sheila’ (Orange / yellow) although the hybrids varieties always perform well. I’m trying ‘China Pink’ for the first time.
11.  In the veg garden, harvest your pumpkins and squashes. Once cut you will help storage if you leave them in the sun for a couple of days to let the skins  harden before storing somewhere cool, dark and dry.

 If your tomatoes are still refusing to turn red, try pulling them up and hanging them up side down in the greenhouse or somewhere bright. It should help them to ripen.

Well September is here and so is autumn. Ughh! The leaves on the trees are already starting to change colour and the evenings are drawing in. But it’s not all gloom and doom. There’s still a lot of interest in the garden. We been to some great gardens this week that still look terrific. Just take a look:

Merriments Garden - Near Rye,Kent

The Secret Garden - Sandwich, Kent

 Jobs for September 2011

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 pest 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.

1. Think about what you want and what you like and don’t like. Do you like contemporary or traditional gardens? To some extent this will depend on the type of house you have. A cottage garden may look out of place next to an ultra modern house.

2. Who will use the garden, children, pets etc? Do you want a big lawn for playing with the kids, a large patio for entertaining or somewhere to grow your own veggies?

3 Think about how much time you have to look after it and what your budget is.

4. Measure up the garden as accurately as possible, to scale if you can using graph paper. This helps you to get things in proportion and helps you organise what you have.

5. Play around with shapes and features on the paper. Maybe increasing the size of a flower bed, adding a new gravel path or a different shaped lawn.  Generally, gardens are designed using a combination of rectangles and squares or circles and curves as a theme. If you already have a very angular house then a formal recti-linear design might work. If you have a house in a rural setting then informal curves might look better. Go with your gut instinct.

6. Use shapes to give the impression that the garden is bigger then it actually is. Curves, zigzags or diagonal paths can make the garden appear longer or wider. Horizontal lines make a garden look wider, whilst vertical lines make a garden look longer. If for example you have a long narrow garden, then plan a curved or zigzag path, a straight path down the middle will make your garden look longer and narrower.

7. You will need to follow a few plant rules such as aspect (sun and shade) and soil type (light and free-draining or heavy clay) and pH. But other than that grow whatever you want to grow; it’s your garden so you have what you want

8. If you have a small garden, don’t include too many varieties of plants. It can look over fussy. Group a number of the same variety of plants together (this includes bulb). We try to plant in groups of 1,3,5,7 & 9. Single plants of mixed colours can confuse the eye. But don’t worry about colours clashing in the garden, remember they don’t clash in nature.

9. When choosing your plants remember that red and oranges can make the garden look smaller whereas softer colours can lengthen the garden. You can create a false perspective by planting vibrant colours near to the house and muted tones at the end of the garden.

10. Give the garden different views and vistas with trees, benches or statues. This will give the impression that the garden is larger than it actually is and give you plenty of interest.

11. Don’t forget wildlife and ensure there is room for birds and butterflies as well as for you.

12. Use reclaimed materials such as old bricks or paving they have more character. Try to use natural stone if you can and if your budget allows for it. It looks fabulous wet, which is most of the time in our British climate.

13. Keep your design simple. Over-designed complicated designs can look too fussy. Don’t get put off, everybody is capable of designing a garden, you just need passion and enthusiasm. The more you put into your garden the more it will suit you and the more soul it will have. A garden should be felt not just seen.

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.

To be seen in conjunction with July’s tips.

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.