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LONGIS BAY GARDEN CENTRE Telephone: 01481 824086 |
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May gardening - a busy month in gardening With warmer and better weather ahead, fuchsias, geraniums and summer bedding plants can now be planted outside. As wallflowers and spring flowering plants finish, these should be pulled out to make way for the summer display. Incorporate peat or compost into the beds to help retain moisture, with a little fertiliser; Growmore or fish, blood and bone is ideal. Hanging baskets can now be made up in a sheltered place to establish, before putting in their desired position. As plants establish, as weekly liquid feeding should be given to promote and prolong flowering. Bulbs should be dead-headed, and if necessary lifted and divided. Primulas, too, if overcrowded, can be lifted and divided after flowering, they are best planted where soil is fairly moist and in partial shade. Pruning of early flowering shrubs, such as forsythia, ribes (flowering currant) and prunus tricoba (flowering almond) can be carried out after flowering. Overgrown Montana clematis should also be pruned soon after flowering. Sweetcorn, French and runner beans can all be sown outdoors now, as well as sprouts and brassicas. Early potatoes should be ‘earthed-up’ regularly with a little fertiliser sprinkled between rows. Sweet peas will benefit with a mulch of manure or garden compost. Check for peach-leaf curl on nectarines, peaches and apricots. Pinch off affected leaves immediately and tie in new growth. Remember to water well now and throughout the summer. Roses, shrubs, fruit trees and all round should be regularly checked for pests and diseases. Check for whitefly and greenfly, especially in the greenhouse. A routine spraying is beneficial. Check roses for blackspot and greenfly and treat accordingly, also check perennials for slug, snails and woodlice. Caterpillars can cause extensive defoliation and damage. The winter moth caterpillar causes damage to fruit and other trees up to late Spring. Watch out for gooseberry saw fly which can devastate gooseberry bushes. Other ones to watch out for are the Solomon’s Seal saw fly and the Lackey Moth. Spray as soon as pests are visible or use a systemic insecticide. Now is the best time to eradicate weeds in the lawn and also the right time to apply a spring and summer fertiliser. A lawn fertiliser containing selective weed killers will do both jobs in one. Keep up the good work! Plants in flower this month: Ceanothus (Californian Lilacs), Weigela, Philadelphus, Berberris. Climbers such as Montana Clematis, Wisteria and many varieties of large flowered hybrid clematis. Perennials – Lupins, Campanula, Iris. Erridge’s Tip of the month: MINT
Happy gardening
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Longis Bay Garden Centre, Longis, Alderney GY9 3YB. Tel: 01481 824086 Website designed and hosted by Alderney Web & IT Services |