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May 2007 >>>
As the summer approaches it's now time for everyone to prepare their garden so that it uses water in the most efficient way, with as little waste as possible. Using water wisely is only sensible. It's an expensive and precious resource that is naturally in short supply. But if we are to continue to grow traditional British gardens with traditional British plants then we need to garden in a water-wise way. That means storing rainwater from roofs in butts; digging in soil conditioners to improve water-holding capacities; adding an attractive mulch to soils to reduce surface evaporation and using the best compost in containers that hold more water compared to ordinary Multi-Purpose composts. Throughout this Diary you will find details of how to use water wisely and how at the same time Save our Great British gardens.
Patio Gardening
A beautiful flower filled patio is an essential part of most homes. But plants in pots, tubs and hanging baskets rely on you completely to provide all their needs in terms of water, nutrients and care. That's why it is important to prepare your containers appropriately and use the best compost that is available.
Perk up plants in existing pots with tablets of a slow release plant food applied early in spring. They provide vital nutrients so that your established plants will soon be growing strongly and overflowing with flowers. Use Miracle-Gro or Osmocote Controlled Release Plant Food Tablets as they go on feeding the whole summer through!
For a real sizzling display, plant up fresh tubs full of flowering plants such as fuchsias, geraniums and petunia. Empty your pots of last year's compost and scrub out the inside. Line absorbent terracotta pots with sheets of plastic to reduce water loss through the porous sides. Now fill your containers with fresh potting compost that is rich in nutrients. For optimum results forget multi-purpose composts and instead use either Miracle-Gro All Purpose Compost or Levington Container & Hanging Basket Compost. These contain many more nutrients and special wetting agents to absorb more water. As a planting idea pick your favourite bush fuchsia for a centre piece and surround the edges with trailing ivy-leaved geraniums or petunias.
Hanging baskets need regular watering to thrive and depend on you completely for their care. To make your job as easy as possible you should plant with Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Compost. This premium potting compost contains enough nutrients to feed your hanging basket plants for the rest of the season and is specially improved so that it holds twice as much water as ordinary multi-purpose composts.
Line the basket with either moss or a special liner and then add a layer of compost. Make holes through the side of the basket and position the roots of some trailing plants onto the compost layer. Wrapping the roots in a cone of newspaper will help to protect the delicate root system while it's pushed through the holes. Add another layer of compost and add more trailing plants around the edge of the basket. Plant the centre of the basket with an upright plant to give height and stature. Water the basket thoroughly and protect from frost until the middle of May.
If you prefer to plant up in your favourite compost you can still add some water retaining crystals to ordinary growing compost so that it absorbs more water and releases it to plant roots whenever required. Scotts has launched a new one this year that's called Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Gel. It can be quickly mixed into ordinary composts before you plant up this year's bedding plants or dug into the compost of permanently planted shrubs and trees growing in pots around the patio. The gel crystals absorb four hundred times their own weight in water thereby reducing how many times the compost needs to be watered and the effort of watering. The benefit that plants receive is that they have a reservoir of water to draw on, whenever the roots need it.
Topical Tip
Ensure every pot on the patio is fitted with a drip tray large enough to hold any excess water that drains through. Over the next hour, most of this water that would be otherwise wasted will be drawn up by the compost in the pot.
Flower Borders
Tulips will now be in full bloom with spring bedding such as forget-me-not and pansies making great background interest. The only dilemma gardeners have is when to clear the areas ready to plant up summer bedding. This is when pre-planning comes into its own. For if you planted your tulips in cages you can lift out the growing plants easily and replant them, roots and all, in another part of the garden where they can continue their growing to make flower buds in the bulbs ready for next year's display.
Before planting up your bedding plants in garden soil improve its water-holding capacity to the maximum possible. You can do your bit to reduce the amount of extra watering needed in several ways. You can dig in organic matter to the soil which holds more water and nutrients at root level. You can use well-rotted home-made material from your compost heap although the stuff produced in most gardens is usually riddled with weed seeds. Or you can buy bags of material that provide a rich source of organic matter that holds more water and contains added nutrients to feed your plants at the same time. There are several bags to choose from. The traditionalist may prefer Levington Farmyard Manure as a 100% organic soil conditioner that adds humus and plant foods to the soil to naturally increase plant size and crop yield. Or there is Levington Organic Choice Soil Conditioner which is totally peat-free composted materials which improve soil structure of clay soils and the water holding capacity of light sandy soils. For an all-round winner then Miracle-Gro Eco-Sense Soil Improver improves soil structure and water-holding capacity plus it enriches soil with twice as many Miracle-Gro nutrients that feed your plants for up to three months.
Once you have cleared the weeds with a fast-acting weedkiller such as Weedol 2 or the ready-to-use Weedol Gun! then it's time for planting up the flowering bedding plants that will add vibrant colour to your garden all summer. The choice of height, hue and form are up to you. Your nursery or garden centre will be full of every manner of plants including the traditional bedding from aster to zinnia to the exotics of Acacia to Zantedeschia.
Before planting out in the garden, water your pots or trays of bedding plants with a soluble plant food. It's a simple job to dilute some Miracle-Gro All Purpose Liquid Plant Food in a watering can to ensure the compost is thoroughly wet to prepare them for transplantation. For a quick and easy way to feed and water your garden, the new Miracle-Gro Liquafeed system is ideal while there are no hose pipe watering restrictions in place. Simply connect to a hose, screw in a bottle of Liquafeed Plant Food and away you go. Feeding is as easy as watering. There's an easy twist control to turn from Off to Feeding or simply Plain Water, so you're in total control.
After planting out your bedding cover any bare soil with a decorative mulch. This will help retain moisture at root level and reduce evaporation from the surface. For great results use Levington Water Saving Decorative Bark. Spread about 5cm (2in) deep, this will provide an interesting bark texture instead of grey soil while reducing the emergence of weeds and reducing moisture evaporation from the surface. If you want to use every drop of water wisely then a bark mulch is an essential garden extra that will save lots of time and effort while rewarding you with better garden plants.
Topical Tip
Larger pots have a relatively larger compost capacity and therefore hold much more water than small containers. A mulch layer of gravel or bark on the compost surface will work as well in a pot as it does on the garden soil. Avoid lots of small pots and group them in a shadier spot to reduce water loss.
The Lawn
The lawn is the heart of a great looking garden. As a foil to colourful beds and borders it needs to look thick and green to make a visual statement. Your lawn, if it is cut regularly; and fed and watered occasionally, will provide a versatile, hard-wearing area of your garden that will be the envy of visitors. Here are some hints and tips to ensure your lawn is the envy of the neighbourhood.
Cut as often as you are able, ideally once a week, but don't give the grass a close shave. That just weakens the plants and provides light and space for weeds to pop up.
For a hard-wearing lawn cut the grass to around 4cm (1 ½") in spring and reduce this to 3cm (1") in summer.
Apply a lawn food in spring for a thicker, greener lawn and you'll be amazed at the results. It takes about ten minutes to treat the average sized lawn of 100m2 with the unique hand-held spreader that holds the EverGreen "I want Complete lawn care" granules. Just walk up and down the lawn to evenly spread the material to get triple-action benefits. One application in May gives fast-acting and long-lasting greener grass whilst controlling a wide range of broad-leaved weeds and any unsightly patches of moss.
After mowing the grass, trim around the edges of the lawn to provide a sharp contrast against the soil or mulch of your flower borders. A pair of long-handled lawn shears will allow you to do the job standing up. Alternatively you can fit edging strips around the lawn to reduce the sideways creep of the grass into the borders. If a summer drought threatens, water the lawn thoroughly before a hose-pipe ban prevents any extra watering. Water deeply or not at all. If you have a sprinkler check that the grass receives at least an inch of moisture so that it gets down to the grass roots. If you just wet the surface you encourage shallow roots that will be more vulnerable to drought. You will find that water pressure is higher early in the morning, rather than in the evening when most other people will be watering their gardens.
Fruit and Vegetables
Feed and water strawberries with Miracle-Gro Liquafeed wetting the foliage and the soil beneath to encourage flowering and fruiting. Early in May frosts may be forecast and these low temperatures will affect the flowers so that fruits do not form. When frost is predicted by the weatherman, cover the plants with a couple of sheets of newspaper - this is usually sufficient protection to prevent damage.
It's time to sow seeds of runner beans, French beans, sweet corn, marrows, cucumbers and courgettes ready to plant out seedlings when frosts have finished. These large seeds are best sown in individual pots of Levington Multi-Purpose Compost so that you can plant out with the minimum of root disturbance. While you are waiting for these seedlings to appear, prepare the ground where these vegetables are going to grow to maturity. They all have a high demand for soil moisture so dig in well-rotted garden compost and bags of Soil Conditioner previously recommended into the soil. Runner beans are a deep rooted crop and they deserve the benefit of a trench that has plenty of organic matter dug about 60cm (2ft) down. Traditional allotment gardeners will tell you that anything that holds water is fine for enriching this trench including soaked newspapers, farmyard manure, and unrotted vegetable peelings from potatoes and carrots. My preference is for plenty of Miracle-Gro Eco Sense Soil Improver because it not only holds a lot of moisture but it contains enough Miracle-Gro nutrients to feed for up to 3 months. This material will also be useful for enriching the soil to grow sweet corn, marrow, cucumbers and courgettes.
In the garden clear soil of annual weeds and sow seeds of carrots, cabbage, peas and spinach in shallow drills. Ensure the rows are kept watered before and after germination as dry weather on the surface can reduce seedling growth.
Watch out for blackfly and other aphids on broad beans and caterpillars on the cabbage family. Spray the plants as soon as you see pests with BugClear Gun! to clear them quickly. If you are growing as naturally as possible then select a control spray such as Nature's Answer Natural Bug Killer that contains pyrethrins, natural organic compounds.
Topical Tip
After rain showers slugs and snails will be ready to venture onto plants for a bumper feed on fresh shoots and leaves. Sprinkle SlugClear Advanced Pellets around vulnerable plants or the damage could be fatal.
ALWAYS READ THE LABEL: USE PESTICIDES SAFELY
Information supplied by the Scotts Miracle Gro Company UK Ltd
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