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February 3, 2011

Buying the right wheelbarrow

You don’t need to garden for long to find out that moving bulky materials, such as compost, sand and manure, around your plot can be very hard work. Fortunately, the logistics is made a great…

Pinch out sweet peas

Remove the growing tips from young sweet pea plants by pinching between finger and thumb just above a leaf joint. This will encourage them to produce several sideshoots that will all produce flowers through the summer. Plant out new plants towards the end of this month.

Shade seedlings

Protect delicate seedlings from direct sun which can scorch their leaves. Either place them in a shaded spot within the greenhouse or put up proprietary shading fabric or a apply a shade wash to the glass.

Feed houseplants

Permanent houseplants will be growing strongly by now and will require regular feeding throughout the spring and summer months. You can achieve this either by pushing special slow-release fertiliser tabs into the compost surface or by adding liquid feed when watering every fortnight. Do not feed recently repotted or new plants for about six weeks after potting.

Remove faded flowers

Larger flowered early blooming, shrubs such as rhododendrons and camellias, can be tidied now by carefully removing the shriveled brown blooms. It is still worth deadheading bulbs such as daffodils and tulips – removing the flower complete with seedpod, but leaving the foliage to die down naturally.