Posts Tagged ‘Summer’ < back
24th Apr:
It seems strange that in the middle of this incessant rain I am sat here writing a blog about what we can and can’t do with hoses over the next few months! On April 4th having taken a huge gamble, we finished laying 480m² of turf in one garden. Since then I don’t think it has stopped raining which is great for that lawn and the reservoirs but frustrating for all our other jobs.
I have been asked many times over the last couple of weeks what the general public are allowed to do in the garden so hopefully below are a few helpful guidelines.
- No hoses are allowed to water lawns or plants. However you can fill watering cans and water any lawns or plants. It will just take a lot longer.
- No cleaning of any walls, or windows, patios, paths, garden furniture or any other outdoor artificial surface using a hose.
- You are not allowed to fill or maintaining a domestic pond using a hosepipe (unless it has fish and their welfare is at stake – lucky fish!).
- You are not allowed to fill or maintaining an ornamental fountain.
- However you are allowed to use a hosepipe for cleaning purposes if health and safety is going to be an issue.
Ways to make the most of the situation.
- Plant any new trees, shrubs and plants in well-rotted, water-retaining compost and cover with a heavy layer of mulch (up to 4 inches) to retain moisture.
- While you are at it cover the rest of the beds in a thick layer of mulch.
- Deliver water directly to the base of plants through tree-root watering pipes or trickle/drip irrigation equipment.
- Install a trickle/drip irrigation system.
- Wherever possible, use timer devices to water early in the morning or late in the evening when evaporation is minimal.
- Don’t worry about lawns turning brown. This shows the grass has stopped growing, but most lawns will recover completely when the rain returns
- Install water butts to collect rainwater off greenhouse, shed, garage and house roofs
If anyone is unsure about anything or has any questions please feel free to give us a call and we will try to help in any way we can (legally!!).
Post holiday blues
23rd Aug:
Post holiday blues.
We are now at that time of year when most of us have returned from our long awaited summer holidays, the weather is awful (its’ raining as I write) and not only does it not feel like we have been on holiday, but sometimes it feels like we need another one.
The garden is probably overgrown and if the irrigation system has been working as it should, it is all looking very lush and the grass is about six inches long. I know you are all desperate to get out there and sort it all out but below are a couple of hints for you.
1. Even if the grass is very long don’t put your mower on a low setting and cut it right back. For the first cut having returned from holiday give the grass a small trim first and then a couple of days later reduce the height a bit more and cut again. This will stop the grass from going into shock and allowing weeds to get established.
2. After a long hot summer (we wish!) The ground will be quite hard and now would be a good idea to spike the ground (aerate) to allow water to penetrate further down to the deeper roots. Also give the grass a feed.
3. The latter part of the summer is also the best time to prune many midsummer-flowering shrubs to keep them vigorous and flowering well.
A lot of you may have been having problems with your Busy Lizzies (Impatiens) this year and are finding them either dying or struggling to survive. This is due to a disfiguring disease that has hit the whole of the UK. The disease is called Impatiens downy mildew and they reckon has been encouraged by our damp cool summer. At the moment there is not a lot we can do as the usual fungicides aren’t working.
On a more cheerful note, I hope you all have had a good summer and if there is anything we can help with, even if it is just some advice please feel free to give us a call.
Growing your own salad and herbs
17th May:
Now is a perfect time to think about growing your own herbs and salads.
There are so many different ways to plant your herbs and vegetables from pots, window boxes, canvas growing bags to substantial vegetable beds, one new and stylish way is a living wall styled planter, this can be installed inside and outside. For more information please do contact us.
Tender vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers and chilli will be fine now to plant outside; we have hopefully seen the last of the frost. If you still have your plants under cover remove the covers during the day but cover new, tender plants up at night in case they get crushed by the rain (if we have any).
Now is the time to sow Beetroot, Cabbage, Carrots, Lettuce and Peas or any other vegetables you want to see on your table during the summer.
To ensure you have salad all summer long we suggest you sow salad vegetables and radish every four weeks; this should give you a healthy continuous crop all summer long.
To make sure you get the most out of your herbs remove flowers, this intensifies the flavour of the leaves.
You can also grow plants that will help you enjoy summer drinking as well as eating.
Try growing a Borage plant, the flowers are edible and taste of cucumber which can be added to your salad or alternatively freeze the flowers in ice cubes and use them in your Pimms or Gin as a substitute for cucumber. They are tough plants and grow well and though a little old fashioned they are underrated.
If you enjoy a fresh mint tea after a meal out, why not grown you own mint for dinking at home, also try lemon balm as an alternative, both make delicious fresh teas.
If you would like any further ideas or help on creating your edible garden please contact us.
Gareth’s tips for March
14th Feb:
Jobs for the month of March
1. Prune! Prune, prune, prune… Roses, Wisteria, fruit trees, climbers, all deciduous shrubs. Nice and hard – the secret is to ‘treat them mean, keep them keen.’ Do not be hesitant or nervous, just give them a hard cutting back. If in doubt – then please get in touch with us, and we can carry out such work, or offer a professional consultancy and advice service, for pruning, and all horticultural matters. Leave the evergreens alone, unless necessary – definitely avoid Box at all costs; blight is rife when cut at this time of year.
2. Lawns – get those forks in! Spike where growth is poor, and drainage is an issue. Fill in holes with lawn sand. Also get your mower serviced now ready for the spring, and check any other tools that might need sharpening or mending.
3. Think about mulching – March is the optimal time. Applying a generous layer of organic mulch onto the soil in March, will benefit your garden for the entire year.
4. Now is the time to give your garden a good spring clean. Get everything cleared up now – all leaves and debris etc…
5. Plant any summer flowering bulbs before it is too late. March is really the last opportunity to get them in the ground.
6. Start protecting any new spring shoots from slugs by putting down any slug pellets etc now.
7. If you are thinking of transplanting any trees or shrubs do it now while they are still dormant and therefore less likely to go into shock.
8. Fertilise and trees and shrubs preferably with a slow release fertiliser.
9. Weeding your garden well now will save a lot of time later on in the year.
10. Fix any fencing or other structures before they become covered in plants again as it will make your life a lot easier and the job quicker.
Winter Gardening Tips
11th Jan:
Firstly, on behalf of the Harrington Porter team, let me wish you all a happy new year! I hope that 2010 is a flourishing year for your garden!
Although it is the middle of Winter, now is still a good time for maintenance, especially if your garden didn’t get a thorough Autumn tidy up last year. Now is the ideal time, before Spring, for pruning and training, especially Wisteria, Roses, Clematis and fruit trees. Also, if your garden is looking quite bare and dull at this time of year – it doesn’t need to and we can change that for you! Although certainly less abundant than Spring and Summer, there are a huge range of plants that provide Winter interest throughout the season, and not just in the form of flowers; there are ornamental stems, such as the striking red, orange or yellow stems of the ornamental Dogwoods (Cornus ssp.), or the haunting white stems of Rubus. Colour doesn’t have to be the main feature of ornamental and eye-catching stems as it does, take Corylus avenella ‘Contorta’ – the Corkscrew hazel – has a mass of twisting, gnarled stems that loop and bend in all directions, in fact this plant is at its most striking in Winter, when it has no leaves so the stems can be appreciated much more, plus it is adorned with bright yellow catkins towards the end of Winter. This is just one plant of many that really come into their own at this time of year. Contact us and we can advise on a huge range of plants to provide interest for this season, or any other, and even source the plants for you from reputable and professional suppliers to ensure the best quality.
Hopefully this recent bout of snow hasn’t been too damaging for your garden. As beautiful as snow is, it can be very destructive to tender plants, so I hope you got yours all wrapped up or sheltered before the onslaught. But, it’s not too late to protect tender plants – as long as they are still alive and not wiped out by the recent frosts, then get busy with the fleece, or drag them into a sheltered position. Not only is it the damage from frost that you should watch out for in your garden with this recent snow, but also the actual weight of the snow itself on branches and hedges can be a problem if it is left sitting there for too long. Some plants are fully hardy and will not be bothered at all by this; other plants however are hardy but they will still suffer frost-burn if left with snow on their leaves or crowns for too long. E.g. Cordylines are a good example of this, a hardly plant, but one that is quite susceptible to damage when its crown is wet and then we get regular hard frosts. When in doubt, please contact us and we can advise on particular plants and their susceptibility to frosts as well as suitable ways to protect them.
Although there’s nothing quite as fun as building a big snowman on the lawn with the children, do beware of walking on the lawn when there is snow on it, or indeed when there has been a frost and the ground is frozen. This can be very damaging to the grass which easily snaps and is damaged when frozen and then stepped on – that ‘crunchy’ sound that everyone likes to hear so much when walking on frozen lawns is actually hundreds of blades of grass snapping and breaking internally with each step. There, now, if that hasn’t guilt-tripped you into avoiding the mass slaughter of hapless grass strands then nothing will!
If you have any Winter bedding plants – i.e. in your window boxes or pots, then remember to ‘dead head’! Often people forget and this will quickly result in a plant ceasing to flower. Cyclamen, pansies, violas, primroses, all need to be dead headed before going to seed, this can keep them flowering for months as opposed to a few weeks. And, if you don’t have beautiful Winter or Spring bedding plants in your window boxes or pots – then come on and visit us! We can take care of that for you, and we pride ourselves on really eye-catching and tasteful planting schemes for such situations.
