Four great gardening tasks to tackle this weekend… If you’re looking for a few seasonal tasks to tackle in the garden this weekend, then how about these four? 1. Clean out nesting boxes and use boiling hot water to kill any over-wintering parasites. 2. Plant tulip bulbs. 3. Sow broad beans and peas. 4. Plant…
Tree planting Now is the perfect time to get new trees into the ground. They are best planted in the late autumn, especially bare rooted varieties. The soil in the autumn is warm and moist so gives trees the time they need to produce new roots and acclimatise before the onset of next summer’s heat.…
Tub-tastic! If you’ve cleared out your patio pots and tubs this month and removed your summer-flowering plants, then you can now replace them with biennials and bulbs for a gorgeous display of colour in the spring. Winter colour Ornamental cabbages are also good, with attractively shaped heads of white, green or purple foliage, if you’re…
How to plant an apple tree Now’s a great time to plant an apple tree. Choose your spot Choose an open, sunny but sheltered site in almost any soil, but make sure that the ground is neither prone to water logging nor has a high lime content (above pH7). The ideal soil for apples is…
Don’t let the garden go into hibernation this winter The winter months need not be dull in the garden. There’s plenty to add life and colour. Choose mixed planting in containers for added colour and life when everything else seems dull and grey. Flowering evergreens, clusters of berries and blossoming bulbs in containers and pots…
General gardening tasks for October There are a number of tasks that gardeners could consider doing during October. Trees, shrubs, roses and fruit bushes can be planted from the middle of the month onwards. Prepare the ground in advance by digging it over and mixing in lots of compost or well-rotted manure. Planting Add some…
Remember Hedgehogs this November! The British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) has issued top tips on how to reduce the risk of harming hedgehogs this November. Fay Vass, Chief Executive of BHPS said: “As the nation gears up for bonfire and firework season, we are asking people to #RememberHedgehogs and consider how our actions can harm…
Odd gardening jobs for September There’s lots of planning and preparation for the new season during September. Here’s a few things you can be getting on with: Now is a good time to put up new bird and bat boxes Start to provide a variety of foods such as left over fruits and seeds to…
Quick weekend gardening jobs for September If you’ve got an hour or so spare this weekend there are a couple of jobs you can be getting on with out in the garden. You can harvest remaining apples, pears, blackberries and blueberries. Destroy any apples with brown rot, which will spread to healthy ones. You can also lift…
Jobs to do in the garden in September part 2 – look after your lawn The days of luscious green lawns are quickly coming to an end. You can begin to mow the lawn less frequently now and give it a good autumn feed to help build up grass roots for the winter. You can…