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What to do in the garden – First Week of August

Generaly

The slugs and snails are still active and on last weeks Gardeners World we saw a couple who grew Hostas by the thousands!  My first reaction was ” what about all those slugs and snails” Their method for dealing with them was as they first appeared in spring was a dosing of the blue pellets then a spray of garlic water!

Take one whole bulb of garlic, put it into a small polythne bag and squash it down to a pulp. Next put the garlic into a litre of water. Bring to let boil, let it cool down. Strain water and put into fridge.

When you need to use it put a table spoon of the concentrate into a litre of water and spray over your plants. Apparently the garlic disturbs the slugs and snails nervous sytems so the “go away”!  Give it a try and don’t forget to do my “poll” on your method of getting rid of  the little beasts! Or if you want to read about Pippa Greenwood’s article on Slugs and snails click here. I’ll let you know how I get on!

In The Flower Garden

  • Dead head pelargoniums and other summer bedding plants
  • Summer prune wisteria, cutting back whippy sideshoots to about 20cm
  • Water plants in pots and baskets
  • Take cuttings from shrubs choosing non-flowering shoots
  • Collect seed from flowers that you want to propagate including aquilegia, polemonium and foxgloves
  • Identify rose problems and pick off diseased leaves
  • Prune philadelphus, weigela and other early summer-flowering shrubs
  • Propagate lily bulbs by taking off a few outer scales and putting them in bags of compost and perlite, or by potting up bulbils formed on their stems
  • Cut back lady’s mantle before it sets seed
  • Prune pleached trees

The Fruit and Vegetable Garden

  • Check sweetcorn to see if it’s ripe and ready to pick.  This is when the tassels start to go brown
  • Pick beans and water crops regularly
  • Lift onions once their tops die down
  • Pick plums as they ripen
  • Use netting to protect blackberries, autumn raspberries and other berries from birds
  • Cut out fruited canes of raspberries
  • Pile up the earth around trench varieties of celery for whiter stems
  • Pick ‘Discovery’ and other early ripening apples
  • Prune blackcurrants after fruiting, removing about a quarter of the oldest stems
  • Transplant well-rooted strawberry runners

In The Greenhouse

  • Buy pansies and other winter bedding plug plants to grow on under cover
  • Damp down the greenhouse floor every morning on hot days
  • Water plants in pots and growing bags every morning, and again at night if necessary
  • Add liquid feed to at least one watering a week to keep plants growing strongly
  • Be vigilant for pests like red spider mite and take action against any right away
  • Buy narcissus, hyacinths and lachenalias to plant for indoor displays
  • Sow poor man’s orchid (schizanthus) to produce flowering houseplants
  • Thin bunches of dessert grapes and spray vines to ward off diseases

Around The Garden

  • Sow green manure crops to fill bare soil
  • Remove pond weeds
  • Hoe and hand weed borders
  • Feed plants such as roses, shrubs and hedges
  • Prepare soil ready for sowing a lawn or laying turf during September and October
  • Send off for mail-order bulb catalogues
  • Treat lawn weeds
  • Remove suckers growing around or on stems of roses, trees and shrubs
  • Trim box topiary and hedging

What to do in the garden – First Week of August

Generaly

The slugs and snails are still active and on last weeks Gardeners World we saw a couple who grew Hostas by the thousands!  My first reaction was ” what about all those slugs and snails” Their method for dealing with them was as they first appeared in spring was a dosing of the blue pellets then a spray of garlic water!

Take one whole bulb of garlic, put it into a small polythne bag and squash it down to a pulp. Next put the garlic into a litre of water. Bring to let boil, let it cool down. Strain water and put into fridge.

When you need to use it put a table spoon of the concentrate into a litre of water and spray over your plants. Apparently the garlic disturbs the slugs and snails nervous sytems so the “go away”!  Give it a try and don’t forget to do my “poll” on your method of getting rid of  the little beasts! Or if you want to read about Pippa Greenwood’s article on Slugs and snails click here. I’ll let you know how I get on!

In The Flower Garden

  • Dead head pelargoniums and other summer bedding plants
  • Summer prune wisteria, cutting back whippy sideshoots to about 20cm
  • Water plants in pots and baskets
  • Take cuttings from shrubs choosing non-flowering shoots
  • Collect seed from flowers that you want to propagate including aquilegia, polemonium and foxgloves
  • Identify rose problems and pick off diseased leaves
  • Prune philadelphus, weigela and other early summer-flowering shrubs
  • Propagate lily bulbs by taking off a few outer scales and putting them in bags of compost and perlite, or by potting up bulbils formed on their stems
  • Cut back lady’s mantle before it sets seed
  • Prune pleached trees

The Fruit and Vegetable Garden

  • Check sweetcorn to see if it’s ripe and ready to pick.  This is when the tassels start to go brown
  • Pick beans and water crops regularly
  • Lift onions once their tops die down
  • Pick plums as they ripen
  • Use netting to protect blackberries, autumn raspberries and other berries from birds
  • Cut out fruited canes of raspberries
  • Pile up the earth around trench varieties of celery for whiter stems
  • Pick ‘Discovery’ and other early ripening apples
  • Prune blackcurrants after fruiting, removing about a quarter of the oldest stems
  • Transplant well-rooted strawberry runners

In The Greenhouse

  • Buy pansies and other winter bedding plug plants to grow on under cover
  • Damp down the greenhouse floor every morning on hot days
  • Water plants in pots and growing bags every morning, and again at night if necessary
  • Add liquid feed to at least one watering a week to keep plants growing strongly
  • Be vigilant for pests like red spider mite and take action against any right away
  • Buy narcissus, hyacinths and lachenalias to plant for indoor displays
  • Sow poor man’s orchid (schizanthus) to produce flowering houseplants
  • Thin bunches of dessert grapes and spray vines to ward off diseases

Around The Garden

  • Sow green manure crops to fill bare soil
  • Remove pond weeds
  • Hoe and hand weed borders
  • Feed plants such as roses, shrubs and hedges
  • Prepare soil ready for sowing a lawn or laying turf during September and October
  • Send off for mail-order bulb catalogues
  • Treat lawn weeds
  • Remove suckers growing around or on stems of roses, trees and shrubs
  • Trim box topiary and hedging

What to do in the garden – First Week of August

Generaly

The slugs and snails are still active and on last weeks Gardeners World we saw a couple who grew Hostas by the thousands!  My first reaction was ” what about all those slugs and snails” Their method for dealing with them was as they first appeared in spring was a dosing of the blue pellets then a spray of garlic water!

Take one whole bulb of garlic, put it into a small polythne bag and squash it down to a pulp. Next put the garlic into a litre of water. Bring to let boil, let it cool down. Strain water and put into fridge.

When you need to use it put a table spoon of the concentrate into a litre of water and spray over your plants. Apparently the garlic disturbs the slugs and snails nervous sytems so the “go away”!  Give it a try and don’t forget to do my “poll” on your method of getting rid of  the little beasts! Or if you want to read about Pippa Greenwood’s article on Slugs and snails click here. I’ll let you know how I get on!

In The Flower Garden

  • Dead head pelargoniums and other summer bedding plants
  • Summer prune wisteria, cutting back whippy sideshoots to about 20cm
  • Water plants in pots and baskets
  • Take cuttings from shrubs choosing non-flowering shoots
  • Collect seed from flowers that you want to propagate including aquilegia, polemonium and foxgloves
  • Identify rose problems and pick off diseased leaves
  • Prune philadelphus, weigela and other early summer-flowering shrubs
  • Propagate lily bulbs by taking off a few outer scales and putting them in bags of compost and perlite, or by potting up bulbils formed on their stems
  • Cut back lady’s mantle before it sets seed
  • Prune pleached trees

The Fruit and Vegetable Garden

  • Check sweetcorn to see if it’s ripe and ready to pick.  This is when the tassels start to go brown
  • Pick beans and water crops regularly
  • Lift onions once their tops die down
  • Pick plums as they ripen
  • Use netting to protect blackberries, autumn raspberries and other berries from birds
  • Cut out fruited canes of raspberries
  • Pile up the earth around trench varieties of celery for whiter stems
  • Pick ‘Discovery’ and other early ripening apples
  • Prune blackcurrants after fruiting, removing about a quarter of the oldest stems
  • Transplant well-rooted strawberry runners

In The Greenhouse

  • Buy pansies and other winter bedding plug plants to grow on under cover
  • Damp down the greenhouse floor every morning on hot days
  • Water plants in pots and growing bags every morning, and again at night if necessary
  • Add liquid feed to at least one watering a week to keep plants growing strongly
  • Be vigilant for pests like red spider mite and take action against any right away
  • Buy narcissus, hyacinths and lachenalias to plant for indoor displays
  • Sow poor man’s orchid (schizanthus) to produce flowering houseplants
  • Thin bunches of dessert grapes and spray vines to ward off diseases

Around The Garden

  • Sow green manure crops to fill bare soil
  • Remove pond weeds
  • Hoe and hand weed borders
  • Feed plants such as roses, shrubs and hedges
  • Prepare soil ready for sowing a lawn or laying turf during September and October
  • Send off for mail-order bulb catalogues
  • Treat lawn weeds
  • Remove suckers growing around or on stems of roses, trees and shrubs
  • Trim box topiary and hedging

What to do in the garden – First Week of August

Generaly

The slugs and snails are still active and on last weeks Gardeners World we saw a couple who grew Hostas by the thousands!  My first reaction was ” what about all those slugs and snails” Their method for dealing with them was as they first appeared in spring was a dosing of the blue pellets then a spray of garlic water!

Take one whole bulb of garlic, put it into a small polythne bag and squash it down to a pulp. Next put the garlic into a litre of water. Bring to let boil, let it cool down. Strain water and put into fridge.

When you need to use it put a table spoon of the concentrate into a litre of water and spray over your plants. Apparently the garlic disturbs the slugs and snails nervous sytems so the “go away”!  Give it a try and don’t forget to do my “poll” on your method of getting rid of  the little beasts! Or if you want to read about Pippa Greenwood’s article on Slugs and snails click here. I’ll let you know how I get on!

In The Flower Garden

  • Dead head pelargoniums and other summer bedding plants
  • Summer prune wisteria, cutting back whippy sideshoots to about 20cm
  • Water plants in pots and baskets
  • Take cuttings from shrubs choosing non-flowering shoots
  • Collect seed from flowers that you want to propagate including aquilegia, polemonium and foxgloves
  • Identify rose problems and pick off diseased leaves
  • Prune philadelphus, weigela and other early summer-flowering shrubs
  • Propagate lily bulbs by taking off a few outer scales and putting them in bags of compost and perlite, or by potting up bulbils formed on their stems
  • Cut back lady’s mantle before it sets seed
  • Prune pleached trees

The Fruit and Vegetable Garden

  • Check sweetcorn to see if it’s ripe and ready to pick.  This is when the tassels start to go brown
  • Pick beans and water crops regularly
  • Lift onions once their tops die down
  • Pick plums as they ripen
  • Use netting to protect blackberries, autumn raspberries and other berries from birds
  • Cut out fruited canes of raspberries
  • Pile up the earth around trench varieties of celery for whiter stems
  • Pick ‘Discovery’ and other early ripening apples
  • Prune blackcurrants after fruiting, removing about a quarter of the oldest stems
  • Transplant well-rooted strawberry runners

In The Greenhouse

  • Buy pansies and other winter bedding plug plants to grow on under cover
  • Damp down the greenhouse floor every morning on hot days
  • Water plants in pots and growing bags every morning, and again at night if necessary
  • Add liquid feed to at least one watering a week to keep plants growing strongly
  • Be vigilant for pests like red spider mite and take action against any right away
  • Buy narcissus, hyacinths and lachenalias to plant for indoor displays
  • Sow poor man’s orchid (schizanthus) to produce flowering houseplants
  • Thin bunches of dessert grapes and spray vines to ward off diseases

Around The Garden

  • Sow green manure crops to fill bare soil
  • Remove pond weeds
  • Hoe and hand weed borders
  • Feed plants such as roses, shrubs and hedges
  • Prepare soil ready for sowing a lawn or laying turf during September and October
  • Send off for mail-order bulb catalogues
  • Treat lawn weeds
  • Remove suckers growing around or on stems of roses, trees and shrubs
  • Trim box topiary and hedging
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