News - Page 134
Give hedges a last trim so they go into the winter with a crisp outline, setting off your garden perfectly and looking particularly handsome just rimed with frost.
Hedges are invaluable in the garden. As well as drawing the boundaries between you and your neighbours, they create protective windbreaks to keep the worst of the weather off your precious plants. Plant mixed hedges with native shrubs like hawthorn, beech, wild rose and blackthorn and you'll...
September's plant of the month is the Japanese anemone, a real star of the border at this time of year. You usually associate woodland plants which enjoy shade with the spring - but Japanese anemones come into their own in early autumn, just as other more summery plants are beginning to fade and just as you need a new injection of colour.
There are two main types: tall, willowy Anemone x hybrida and the shorter and daintier A. hupehensis which has semi...
What to do in the garden in September:
Time to rev up again: this is one of the busiest months in the year, so arm yourself with secateurs and a trowl - it's time to go gardening! Here are a few of the jobs you can be getting on with:
General tasks:
Plant, plant, plant! Early autumn is by far the best time to establish new shrubs, trees and perennials.
Give your lawn some TLC after its hard summer as a football...
Prune rambling roses as soon as they've flowered. You can tell the difference between these and climbing types because rambling roses produce multiple whippy stems from the base: climbing roses, on the other hand, form a woody framework from which flowering shoots grow through the year.
Start by removing any obviously dead or dying shoots right back to the ground. Then cut out the shoots which have flowered, removing them as close to the ground as possi...
Dry bunches of herbs to use through winter so you make the most of the summer's plenty and enjoy home-grown herbs even through the coldest months of the year.
Most shrubby herbs dry readily to preserve the essential oils that make them so fragrant and flavoursome to use in your cooking. Rosemary, bay, thyme, lavender, marjoram and sage are all easily stored in this way.
Try to cut your herbs early in the morning, while those essential oils...
Plant autumn crocus corms now for a spectacular display of 'naked' flowers rising as if by magic from the ground. These lovely flowers have the unusual habit of producing their leaves after they bloom – so you can appreciate their subtle, delicate beauty in splendid isolation, without any distractions.
The name is somewhat misleading as they aren't true crocus at all, but colchicums – more closely related to lilies. Their large yet delicate flowers are...
Sow spring cabbages to grow through winter for delicious and nutritious greens from next March onwards.
These hearty greens are a welcome treat in spring, when there's little else around – try them shredded and steamed gently in butter, salt and pepper for a really scrummy treat. You'll find a good choice of seed in our garden centre right now: 'Durham Early' is a tried-and-tested heritage variety which forms pointed hearts, while 'Spring Hero' is a bal...
Start a square foot veg garden as the perfect way to squeeze a lot of veg into the tiniest of gardens. When you're short of space, packing variety into your patch becomes incredibly important. But with square foot gardening, you can harvest nine or ten different vegetables from a bed just a metre square.
The idea is that you divide your space into small, manageable proportions, ideally 30cm (1ft) square. Add plenty of well-rotted manure to the soil, as...
Prune pyracantha just after flowering to make the most of the fabulous display of berries you can expect from next month onwards.
You'll find a great selection of this truly year-round shrub in our garden centre here in Lymington, with berries in a traffic light range of colours. Among the best scarlet-berried pyracantha are 'Saphyr Rouge'. If you prefer orange berries, look out for 'Saphyr Orange' or 'Orange Glow', and there are also pyracantha with be...
The lazy, hazy days of summer are with us at last, and it's a great time to kick back and enjoy the rewards of your hard work. But don't take it too easy: there are still a few things to be getting on with!
General tasks:
Feed containers and hanging baskets once a week with high-nitrogen liquid fertiliser to maintain a really good display.
Raise the height of mower blades in hot, dry weather – if grass is left a little longe...