Houseplant Check Up
Houseplants make great gifts and you may have received some over Christmas. You need to ensure your houseplants continue to give you the best displays by keep them away from radiators and checking regularly for water. All plants need watering, but often mixed arrangements are given as gifts which contain plants with differing needs so check these carefully to ensure you do not over or under water. Flowering houseplants should be picked over and any faded flowers removed to encourage new flowers to be produced. A liquid feed given every two weeks will help to encourage new growth and flowers and misting the foliage with water will help keep the leaves from browning at the tips.
Bring Life to Your Home
After the Christmas tree has been disposed of, your home can seem a little empty without the dash of greenery so January is an ideal time to fill the void with a large foliage houseplant such as a kentia palm or Dracena. Houseplants help to clean the air and are a relaxing influence in the home so why not treat your self today?
Outdoor Bulbs
Spring is the time for flowering bulbs to start making an appearance. If you didn’t have chance to buy some spring flowering bulbs in the Autumn, then you will find many varieties are available now in pots which can be planted out straight away in pots, tubs or in a garden border. Spring bulbs such as snowdrops are often the first flowers to appear and are a welcome sign of the warmer weather to come and the nodding heads of large flowered daffodils look great planted in groups and bring a cheery dash of colour to your garden.
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Colourful Christmas Houseplants
During December there is an assorted array of colourful houseplants available such as Poinsettias, Cyclamen and Azaleas. Poinsettias offer a traditional Christmas feel to your room but require a little extra care to keep them looking good. Nowadays you can pick up Poinsettias in different colours rather than just the traditional red such as red, salmon and cream and even bi-colours. Poinsettias require a warm room away from cold draughts and do not like being to dry or wet. Many people make the mistake of putting houseplants on a windowsill and closing the curtains during the evening leaving the plant trapped in a cold zone. Cyclamen are much easier to keep and will thrive in a cooler room ideal for hallways and windows sills along with Azalea plants that will do just as well in the colder rooms of the house. Just remember to keep a check on the watering as the extra heat from radiators and fires will soon dry out the plants.
Don’t forget! Houseplants make great presents at Christmas.
December Tips and Snips
Outdoor Lighting
Solar lighting has become very popular for marking paths and border edges and you can even use easy to install low voltage sets. Lights are available in assortment of styles to match you garden from traditional carriage style designs to modern looking stainless steel sets. Why not add a set to you Christmas list?
Garden Tools
Clear crisp days in December are ideal for cleaning out the junk in the shed and cleaning and repairing any broken or damaged tools. If you are lucky enough to own some old fashioned gardening tools new handles are easy to replace if the old one are snapped. Unfortunately many of the newer styles have none replaceable parts so will need to be thrown away. Why not ask for some new tools for Christmas such as a good pair of Secateurs or stainless steel spade.
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Protect Tender Plants
Tender plants such as Mediterranean plants like Olives and Abutilon will suffer if they are left out during the winter. If they can’t be moved into an unheated greenhouse or conservatory, cover with fleece and place a thick layer of bark mulch or garden compost around the base of the plant to protect the roots from the cold. For more information on protecting your plants against the cold weather this winter, check out our ‘How to protect your plants from the frost this winter’ guide.
Mahonia Media Charity Shrub for November Colour
Plant Bare-rooted Hedging
From November through to early spring you can buy ‘Bare root hedging’ plants, these are hedging plants which have been grown in fields and dug up when grown to the required size meaning the growing cost is much reduced making the hedging cheaper for you. Bare root hedging plants are delivered in bundles and should be planted as soon as possible before the roots dry out. To find out more information about bare-root hedging, have a look at our Guide to bare-root hedging and the Advantages of Bare-root Hedging.
Houseplants
Ideal houseplants for November are flowering Azalea and Cyclamen which besides being easy to grow, will flower right up till Christmas if kept in a cool room. Feed your plants with a flowering houseplant fertilizer and keep the compost moist, but ensuring you don’t over water them.
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Your Hedging Plants
Your Hedging plants are supplied as fresh as they can be, as we dig them to order from our own nursery. The majority of plants are delivered in black and white co-extruded plastic bags as recommended by the Forestry Commission or in our specially designed plant boxes to keep them secure throughout their journey to you.
Hedging Plants Tips and Snips
Storing your Hedging Plants
On the plants arrival if you are not going to be planting them straight away they can be stored for up to two weeks without detriment in a barn or shed, although the quicker they are planted the better. For storage beyond two weeks, you will need to ensure that their roots remain moist; it is recommended you put them in a trench and cover the roots with soil to help preserve them.
If you have removed your plants from the plastic bags when they arrived, you will need to wrap the roots up again either back in the same packaging or bin bags to keep the roots well protected. You can store your plants standing upright or on their sides.
If the weather is freezing please do not move you plants if they are frozen. Although roots can survive when completely frozen, it does mean they can easily become broken and snapped, so moving your plants around in this weather can be damaging, so leave them where they are.
Please ensure you do not:
-Store them in a warm and/or sunny place
-Stand the roots in bucket of water as that will drown them!
-Stack your plants on top of one another or put weight on them as this could damage the roots.
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What is the difference?
Bare-root plants are only delivered in the winter season when they are dormant, between November and March. Potted plants can be delivered and planted all year round (except in frozen ground).
Pot Grown Trees on Our Nursery
Advantages of Bare-root plants:
• Bare root plants are cheaper plants when compared with pot grown plants of the same size.
•There is often less maintenance once planted for the first few months as they require less watering than pot grown plants.
•They often require fewer fertilisers & fungicides, less water and fuel compared to pot grown plants.
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Keeping Summer Bedding Plants
During October you may be able to pot up into larger pots some of those cuttings of half-hardy bedding plants you took during august. If you planted your cuttings into trays now is the time to select the best and pot them into individual pots, throw away any that are not doing as well. It may seem wasteful but these weaker plants are likely to underperform next year. Use good quality compost in clean plant pots usually 9cm pots should be fine for these. Don’t forget to cover with fleece for protection in the cold weather.
Larger half-hardy plants such as Fuchsia, Geraniums and Osteospermums should be lifted, potted up and placed into the greenhouse for winter where with a little protection may make it through the winter. Plants should be trimmed back and any flowers and soft growth removed and cuttings can be taken.
October 2011 Tips and Snips
Treat Poorly Trees and Shrubs
October is an ideal time to spray deciduous trees and shrubs with a winter wash if they have had pest and disease problems during the year. This is especially useful if you are growing fruit trees such as apples and pears. Clear up any fallen leaves that may harbour pests and diseases and if your trees have had problem during the year it is best to put the diseased leaves on the bonfire.
Most pests will have become dormant now for winter but check your plants over for any signs of over wintering bugs or where eggs may be lurking and treat them now before they become a problem.
Plan for Next Year
After the rush of the season has finished but everything is still fresh in your mind it is an ideal time to be thinking ahead and planning the garden for next year. Think about which plants did well, which ought to be moved and which plants simply need getting rid of. You can still plant new plants now which will establish roots over the winter and grow quickly in spring time.
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Ideal Plants for this Autumn
Autumn is a great time in the garden; the natural time for planting trees, shrubs, herbaceous, perennials, roses and climbers. To help them off to a good start in your garden, dig in plenty of compost or other soil improver, not forgetting to add a slow release fertiliser such as bonemeal which will encourage healthy root growth for lively and flourishing plants this autumn.
Liquidamber Autumn Colours
Autumn Bulbs Season
September is now the time to buy spring flowering bulbs such as Daffodils, Tulips and Crocus. Buying your bulbs now ensures you get the best possible choice while we still have plenty in stock for you to choose from and also the best quality, as old bulbs can deteriorate causing them to not flower in spring or worse, rot away over winter. As with shrubs and other plants, bulbs will appreciate a slow release fertiliser too, so when spring arrives they are well established and bring plenty of colours to your garden.
Bulbs Display for Christmas
Prepared hyacinths and indoor Narcissus should be planted now for great indoor displays for Christmas. Plant prepared hyacinths in shallow pots or bowls leaving the neck of the bulb above the compost. Place the bowl in a dark and cool place such as a garden shed or outbuilding for 10-14 weeks. Once they have started to grow flower buds they can then be moved into the house where they will flower in time for Christmas (cooler rooms allows the flowers to last longer).
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Roses
Remember to check roses regularly for pests and blackspot and other diseases, and spray if necessary with a recommended fungicide and/or insecticide such as Rose Clear Ultra. And if your garden is in need of some flower power, roses are the perfect solution.
Hydrangea Sheila
Garden Games
If your family is already getting bored of the summer holidays, entertain them in the safety of your own garden. You can find lots of excellent garden games and other equipment to turn parts of your garden into a fun playground. Such as giant garden dominoes or even a Badminton set.
Pruning
Many summer-flowering plants that have finished flowering can be cut back now and may produce further flushes of flowers. After pruning give the plants a quick pick-me-up by watering on a high potash liquid feed or sprinkle Fish Blood and Bone around the base of the plant. You can find a great range of gardening tools online such as Fiskars pruners which are ideal for the average gardener.
Ericaceous Plants
Rhododendrons, camellias and azaleas will be setting their flower buds for next year, so it’s important that they never go short of water at this time of year or the flower buds may fail next spring. Feeding with a liquid ericaceous feed will also produce more and better flowers. Mulching with bark or similar products will help maintain soil moisture levels and insulate the roots from damaging high temperatures.
Watering
Make sure your plants produce a display to be proud of by giving them just the right amount of water they need. Well-established plants may not need regular watering but newly planted ones, bedding plants and plants in containers will need regular watering. There are many new products that will make your watering quick and easy this summer, such as the Hozelock auto reel, which automatically rolls back up when you have finished watering.
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Cuttings
Ceanothus Concha flower close up
Now’s the time to take semi-ripe cuttings from some of your favourite shrubs like Hebe’s, Rosemary, Weigela, Ceanothus and Hydrangeas. Take the cuttings from the current year’s growth just below a leaf, remove the leaves from the lower half of the cutting and dip the end in rooting hormone. Then insert the cuttings in pots of cuttings compost. Cover the pots with a polythene bag or put them in a propagator and place somewhere warm and sheltered but out of strong, direct sunlight. They should be ready to pot on in a few weeks. Don’t forget to pick up everything you need when shopping to ensure perfect cuttings including pots, cuttings compost, dibbers, rooting hormone, labels and propagators.
Wisteria Pruning
To get the most from wisteria it’s important to build up a good framework of permanent branches to cover the support, so make sure you tie in stems as they grow. And now’s the time to give your wisteria its summer prune. Cut back all this year’s leafy side shoots to five to seven leaflets. After pruning feed with a potash-rich granular feed such as a rose fertiliser. And if you were jealous of everyone else’s wisterias earlier this year then get buying and planting today, wisterias can take many years to flower so the longer you leave it the longer you are without beautiful wisteria blooms. Remember they need a spot in full sun and a sturdy trellis or similar for support.
Weeds
Weeds can soon take over the garden and not only do they look unsightly, but they can smother your prized plants, steal valuable water and nutrients from the soil and become hosts to pests and diseases. Now’s the time for an all-out assault on them using a hoe for annuals and small weeds, mulches and planting membranes to keep beds and borders permanently weed free and weedkillers to stop even the most persistent weeds taking over. Use a weedkiller based on Glyphosate for persistent, deep-rooted perennials.
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Summer Bedding
June is the month to plant out your bedding and other half-hardy plants. These plants can’t tolerate cold weather, so ask our staff for help and advice – and have some fleece handy to provide extra protection. If you’ve grown your own, make sure they’re hardened off first – that is, acclimatised to the cooler outdoor conditions – again, using fleece will help. And water the plants well before and after planting out. Remember to feed regularly for a summer display to be proud of. Take a look at our superb range of bedding, patio and container plants to ensure your garden is a riot of colour this summer in store. And don’t forget that larger plants will provide instant impact.
Rosa designer sunset patio
Pond Care
Green ‘pea soup’ water in ponds is often caused by a lack of aquatic plants. Make sure your pond is stocked with plenty of oxygenating plants and marginal’s, and cover at least a third of the water surface with floating plants – including water lilies. Adding barley-straw or an algaecide to the water or installing a pump and filter might also help. Ask our experts if you need any advice – we’re here to help.
Furniture, BBQs
If you haven’t seen your garden furniture or barbecue since last summer, now’s a good time to rescue them from the back of the shed and give them a good spruce up ready for plenty of outdoor entertaining. We stock a wide range of cleaning and renovating products. And if your furniture and barbecue are past their best then this is a good time to replace them.
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