Generally

The rain on Thursday was very welcome however we still need more! The promised rain in the SE did not appear!

With the rain on Thursday came cooler weather but also strong winds. These winds will dry out the ground and your pot plants so keep watering and feeding.

And just when you think it’s cool and rainy so summer must be here when an Autumn bulb catalogue arrives! De Jagers retail catalogue arrived through the door. 1,100 different bulbs 288 new or rediscovered varieties. And did you know that Hippiastrums are one of the top ten favourite house plants? A new variety that has orchid like flowers looks great but at £20 a bulb I might just wait for the price to reduce. You can still get old favourites at a reasonable price!

Just as you think it cannot get any better when the June edition of “Gardening Which” arrives and there on page I am always singing the praises of community gardening. The project Naomi is involved in is no exception. Visit her website on www.outofmyshed.co.uk

The Flower Garden

• Plant out tender summer-bedding plants, such as begonias. You know I have ben telling you this for weeks!
• Look out for aphids on lupins, and spray with a soap-based insecticide if infected
• Push canes into pots of tall-growing lilies and tie their stems to it for support
• Cut down pulmonarias and doronicum, then drench the soil around them with a liquid feed
• Lift and divide clumps of primulas, when they have finished flowering.
• Cut back the foliage of daffodils to clear beds for summer planting
• Trim leaves and faded flowers from oriental poppies to encourage new growth

Fruit and Vegetables

• Sow seeds of herbs in pots to grow on your kitchen windowsill, such as coriander, parsley and basil
• Look out for woolly aphid on fruit trees, and spray any with soapy water
• Thin out seedlings from earlier sowings to their final spacings
• Cover strawberries with netting to keep birds off the fruit
• Sow seeds of the following vegetables outside now: radish, runner beans, calabrese, pak choi, mizuna, marrows, courgettes, chicory, kohl rabi, lettuce, marrows, swede, turnip, French beans and endive

In The Greenhouse

• Water crops in growing bags and pots daily, adding a liquid feed once a week
• Introduce biological controls if you have discovered pests, such as whitefly and red spider mite
• Pinch out developing sideshoots on tomato stems
• Train cucumbers and tomatoes to supports
• Increase shading and ventilation to keep temperatures down on hot days
• Take cuttings from hydrangeas, fuchsias, pelargoniums, osteospermums, marguerites, coleus and verbena

See you next week. Join me on www.babicz.com

Andrew