Flowers
- Keep baskets and patio pots watered and fed. I know, with all this rain you might still need to water!
- Spray roses to protect them from pests and diseases
- Cut the foliage of daffodils and tulips down to the ground
- You can add gravel on top of where they have flowered to remind you not to dig!
- Trim box topiary and formal edging to keep it neat and tidy
- Take cuttings of non-flowering new shoots from shrubs and pot them up in gritty compost
- Rub greenfly off rose buds, or apply a soap-based spray. (Stergene is pure soap)
- Lightly trim broom and genista after flowering to keep plants in shape
- Water newly planted trees and shrubs if conditions turn hot and dry
- Tidy up rock gardens, trimming off faded blooms, digging out weeds and replenishing mulches of grit
- Keep a few bedding plants in reserve to plug gaps where disasters strike
Fruit and Veg Garden
- Spread mulch around beans and other crops to help conserve soil moisture
- Net developing soft fruits to protect them from birds
- Spray apple trees showing signs of powdery mildew or scab
- Water onions and other crops to keep them growing strongly
- Stop cutting asparagus by the end of June to allow the ferns to form
- Thin out heavy gooseberry crops by removing the smallest fruits, and use these for cooking
- Make successional sowings of salad leaves and radishes
- Sow seeds of herbs like coriander and parsley
- Sow veg seeds now. Try rocket, spinach, beetroot, carrots, calabrese, mini-cauliflowers, spinach, chicory, endive, kohl rabi, peas, spinach beet, swede and turnips
The Greenhouse
- Tie greenhouse tomatoes to their supportsas they grow
- Feed plants with full-strength fertiliser solution once a week, or apply a more diluted feed every few days
- Apply shading paint or put up shade netting or blinds
- Open doors and vents daily, and damp down the floor every morning
- Be on the lookout for pests, including whitefly and red spider mite, and treat at once with a suitable spray or biological control
- Pot up rooted cuttings
- Pinch out the tips of cucumber sideshoots two leaves beyond a female flower
- Check potted plants every day, watering if required
- Pinch out sideshoots of tomato plants
Have a great gardening week!
Andrew
