Green Fingers: April showers in June
There is a regular routine to follow during the summer months and that is weeding, watering, feeding and, in many cases, removing faded flowers from your summer plants.
While our memories can fade faster than we would like to admit, we do recall the mild warm spring of a few months ago when we were able to enjoy an early summer.
Growth did slow down and with this train of thought we might be almost glad of the rainy days we have had so far.
High levels of moisture coupled with warm temperatures results in rampant growth and it gives us an idea of what it must be like in those far off tropical forests.
It is a busy time in the plant nursery and our garden is a bit like the expression of the cobblers shoes, where weeds have taken over as we cannot manage to spend time there but cutting the grass has helped make it look sort of respectable and if anyone asks we can always say we are leaving our garden grow to help wildlife!
I suppose from time to time I will again refer to pruning and, in this respect, if you see plants already heading out of shape, why not prune as and when you see the need, and in that way you will not let the plant waste its energy growing just for you to prune it away later in the year.
In the last few weeks I have been pruning back the spring flowering clematis, magnolia, mahonia and brooms, to name a few plant types.
Hardy plants can grow well in containers. They just need some regular watering when required and then a feed from spring until the autumn. After a number of years they may become very pot bound and will need to be potted into a larger sized container, or alternatively they can have their roots trimmed back and pot them back in the same size pot using some fresh compost.
By the way, the same treatment can be undertaken with any of your house plants too.
One fruit that has become hugely popular is the blueberry and, of course, many people want to grow them and produce their own home-grown fruit.
They were always a more tricky fruit to grow but as they are planted in large numbers I sometimes wonder if they give the results that people expect from them. They do need an acid soil or compost and this makes it impossible in limey or alkaline soils. The only solution then is to grow them in containers with acid soil, water them with rainwater and feed them with an acid food during the summer months.
After that, as with many other fruit, the birds will devour them if they are not protected by netting during the harvesting time.
Some people have been enjoying their early potatoes already. If you are unsure if they are mature enough, just dig up one plant and see if there is a decent crop there. When the plants have flowered and start to turn yellow there will be almost no further growth so you might as well continue to harvest those as and when you need them for a meal.
Also, do keep an eye out for blight, which is around. If any leaves become infected, they can be cut down immediately and the disease will not infect the tubers underground.
If you wish to grow a few potatoes for Christmas then you can use some of the potatoes or old ones and start growing them in old pots or containers.
Every growing year is different, otherwise gardening could become boring, but there is a regular routine to follow during the summer months and that is weeding, watering, feeding and, in many cases, removing faded flowers from your summer plants.
None of these will take time so the nice thing is that you can relax and enjoy the garden more during the summer.
If you have any queries or comments you are welcome to share them with me on 051-384273 or orchardstowngardencentre@hotmail.com and if of general interest I will include it in a future article.
