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July 2007 >>>
Holiday time and garden plants that have expanded to their maximum in height and width to provide a great opportunity to decide on what needs changing in your plot. It's a good excuse to move a comfy chair around the garden so that you can contemplate the different views and to provide a mental check list of the good, the bad and the ugly. With this in mind make some notes on bare areas that need filling, trees that need lopping or taking out and plants that you find need replacing.
With a long term plan in mind, plant purchases are easier and garden activity more targeted. Even without changes in mind, the warm summer weather will encourage weeds to pop up everywhere and the lawn to keep growing at a good rate. Keep everywhere spick and span ready for a sunny spell when you will want to fill the garden with friends and family for alfresco entertaining.
THE PATIO GARDEN
Your patio pots and hanging baskets should be full of flower by now and will need daily attention to check if they need watering. Modern composts such as Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Compost will absorb more water than ordinary products, and help to reduce the frequency of watering.
Perk up plants in existing pots with weekly applications of Miracle-Gro Plant Food. If you have a box of traditional blue crystals in your garden shed then it's an easy job to dilute a tablespoonful in a watering can to feed and water the traditional way. For best results apply in the evening when the sun is low so that you can safely wet the leaves of your plants as well as the compost. The foliar feeding benefit of Miracle-Gro helps to feed almost instantly.
Nowadays, the quickest and easiest way of feeding your hanging baskets and patio pots is with a hose-end applicator that feeds as easily as it waters. The new LiquaFeed system has been demonstrated and advertised on television this spring to high acclaim. You can find a starter kit at your local garden centre or supermarket where a spend of £9.99 provides a great new tool that will make your gardening a joy.
Miracle-Gro LiquaFeed is really simple to use. Just connect to your garden hose and twist in a bottle of liquid feed and away you go. There's a circular adjustment of the spray pattern from jet to shower to a flat stream and a separate control that adjusts the flow from plain water to ready dissolved liquid plant food. There's no mixing, no measuring and no mess. With LiquaFeed plants get the right balance of water and feed so they can grow twice as big as unfed plants. If you want to learn more before you buy then use the internet to see a demonstation on www.miraclegro.eu
Plants in pots are planted close together and are therefore more prone to a quick spread of pests. Keep a ready to use insecticide handy so that you can treat any pests early. Try BugClear Gun!, or if you prefer a natural insecticide use Nature's Answer Natural Fungus & Bug Killer.
TOPICAL TIP
As the summer sun heats patios and paths, so ants start to multiply. To protect your kitchen and patio, position an Ant Stop Bait Station along the ant runs. This enclosed container holds an attractive ant killer that the workers carry back to the nest to kill the whole colony.
THE LAWN
Vary the height of cut of your mower depending on the weather. If the soil becomes dry let the grass grow a little longer. If it's really hot and dry then you could also remove the grass box so that the grass cuttings act as a moisture retaining mulch to the lawn.
Feeding the grass during mid-summer is beneficial to see the lawn through until the autumn rains. At this time of the year you may have to water in ordinary granules of lawn treatments to avoid the potential for scorch damage. The alternative is to use a modern formula lawn food that has an improved drought-tolerant formulation that doesn't need to be watered in. Called EverGreen "I want to feed my lawn after cutting" it will make your grass visibly greener in just 3 days and continues to feed for up to six weeks. A week or so after applying this lawn feed is the optimum time to get rid of any weeds that have sprung up in the grass. The lawn feed will encourage strong growth that helps the weed move selective weedkillers much more quickly around the plant so they are controlled much more easily.
To get the best effect from a lawn weedkiller treatment, apply it mid-way between mowings. This gives a few days for the weed leaves to re-grow after mowing and gives them a few days after treatment for any weed-killing element to move down to the roots. The best treatment on the market today is Verdone Extra. It contains three different weedkillers and will get rid of the small leaved weeds such as black medick and yellow flowered clover as well as the bigger weeds such as dandelions, plantains and white clover. If you have a largish lawn then you can buy a bottle of concentrate that you can dilute in a pressure sprayer or in a watering can fitted with a fine rose. If you just can't be bothered to mix up your own solution you can buy a ready diluted spray in a hand gun for spot treatment or a large 3 litre container for treating a larger lawn. With these ready to use formulations don't be tempted to try to make the weed leaves dripping wet. The best treatment is a light, but thorough spray that just gently covers each leaf.
TOPICAL TIP
Use long-handled shears regularly to trim the edges of the lawn into a sharp line or curve. A definite contrast between the edge of the lawn and the surrounding soil or flowers gives a great look that shows you really care.
THE ORNAMENTAL GARDEN
Dead-heading roses, bedding plants and herbaceous perennials will encourage the development of new flower buds. The main purpose of any plant is to produce seeds that will continue the genes for another generation. If gardeners delay that purpose until late in the season they will encourage many more flowers to be produced during summer.
Simply remove all faded flowers without removing any foliage.
In warm weather roses and other flowers are often attacked by greenfly. Zap them with a suitable insecticide at the earliest opportunity. If you are treating roses it's a good idea to use a product that will control diseases at the same time. If you have a sprayer that's Roseclear 3 and if you want a ready-to-use product then try the RoseClear 3 Gun! For aphids on other ornamentals use BugClear diluted in a pressure sprayer or BugClear Gun! if you prefer a ready-to-use product.
During summer many gardeners assume that when their roses drop their leaves this is due to drought. Well, in most cases, this is not the reason. Instead, blackspot disease, which is rampant around the country, is the culprit. So if you notice premature leaf drop this year make sure your roses are protected by spraying with a systemic fungicide such as Roseclear 3 now and again next spring. Plant such as Michaelmas daisies that are susceptible to mildew attack should be protected from disease attack with a spray of FungusClear Gun! at monthly intervals.
Feeding is as important as the dead-heading of faded blooms. When carried out together these two actions will encourage fresh growth and many more beautiful blooms.
Summer flower shrubs such as philadelphus, jasmine and weigela will benefit if you cut back flowering shoots to strong new growth immediately after all the flowers have faded. Encouraging new growth like this will ensure the plant carries flowers all over the plant instead of just at the top. To give these shrubs the energy to produce plenty of flower bearing stems, dress around the roots with Miracle-Gro Shake & Feed. This contains a controlled release plant food that will supply all the major nutrients over the next three months to ensure good sturdy growth. After feeding apply a mulch layer of chipped bark around the root area using Levington Water Saving Bark. This will not only prevent unnecessary loss of moisture by evaporation, but will also help to prevent germination of weeds.
TOPICAL TIP
Keep weeds under control between flowers and shrubs with Weedol 2 or the ready for use Weedol Gun!.
THE VEGETABLE GARDEN
Wet weather during summer is beneficial to most vegetables, but can herald the start of blight disease that infects the foliage of maincrop potatoes and tomatoes. If the weather is at all showery keep an eye out for the first signs of infection on potatoes and tomatoes. If you notice brown areas on the edges of leaves spray the crop with Murphy Traditional Copper Fungicide now and repeat every two weeks to keep the disease under control.
Plant out leek seedlings in good rich soil. Make a hole about 10 cm (6 inches) deep, drop in the seedling and water in. Don't worry if you can't find room to grow the plants in rows, they are quite happy growing between flowers and shrubs where they get the occasional feed. The foliage is no more obtrusive than decorative alliums and allows you to grow a hardy vegetable that is useful throughout the winter in stews, quiches and casseroles.
Water runner beans and peas regularly and feed them weekly with Miracle-Gro Water Soluble Plant Food so the growth remains vigorous. Pick all beans and peas when they are young and tender. All your vegetable crops will appreciate feeding with this liquid plant food so that they can produce the best crop.
TOPICAL TIP
Feed tomatoes in the greenhouse and outdoors with a special fertilizer such as Tomorite that is rich in potash and contains extra magnesium and seaweed extract.
THE FRUIT GARDEN
It's time for picking, protecting and feeding the fruit in your garden.
Start picking gooseberries now taking one or two here and there, leaving smaller fruits to grow and be harvested later. If you are training your gooseberry as a cordon shape pinch out the tips of lateral shoots at about five leaves.
Protect strawberries, raspberries and redcurrants from attention by birds using suitable netting. The strawberries will also need protection from slugs and a light sprinkle of SlugClear Advanced Pellets around plants will help.
After fruiting has finished, peg down strawberry runners so that you can have new plants for next year's crop. To make the transplanting job easier, sink pots of fresh Levington Multi-Purpose Compost where the plantlets have formed and peg these down with wire staples. Only use runners from healthy plants, dig up and burn any plants that show signs of yellowing or rolling and crinkling of the leaves.
TOPICAL TIP
Watch out for greenfly, blackfly, whitefly and caterpillars on fruit. Whenever you see these pests spray them with a suitable insecticide such as Nature's Answer Natural Bug Killer.
ALWAYS READ THE LABEL: USE PESTICIDES SAFELY
Information supplied by the Scotts Miracle Gro Company UK Ltd
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