Tips Hints and Ideas Ideas, Tips & Guides

Strawberry plants are cheap and easy to grow. Strawberries can be picked from spring to autumn if you choose the right varieties.

Get it right and you can grow bumper crops on straw bales.  It is clean, cheap and environmentally friendly. The principle is that decaying straw generates heat to form a ‘hot bed’encouraging healthy roots.

Growing good roses is not difficult and plants are reasonable and long lasting. Plant them in good soil feed and care for them and they will reward you with magnificent blooms, scent, cut flowers and a great summer show. As a guide to growing roses there is a list on monthly tips and actions to help get the best from your plants.

Spring will be sprung on you as soon as the snow and frost disappears. But first we need less rain. There isn’t much you can do at the moment but hope that any bulbs and hardy plants like these primroses are quietly getting ready to burst forth. If you are keen to begin then your first job should be planning and organising.

Not all violets are violet coloured at least not African Violets.

Gardening is one of the most popular pastimes; everyone knows we are supposed to enjoy our garden but do we enjoy gardening or at times does it just feel like hard work? Is it similar to the Joy of Sex or 50 Shades of grey-green?

There are many families, species and varieties of grass suitable for ornamental purposes. Wether you want a prairie grass-scape, a potted plant or a focal point in a formal garden then there is a grass to suit. Grasses are well suited to a range of landscaping projects.

Summer is another tough season for small garden ponds. The warmer weather can spoil the balance between the amount of vegetation and the levels of sunlight.

You don’t need global warming to get a warm glow in your garden if you plant some Canna. The fiery hot flowers and leaves on some Cannas are hard to beat and are worth a place in any passionate garden.

Now part of this garden is down to crazy paving the Qualcast grass box is needed less and can be put to a different use.  It looks like a ‘unibarrow’  has got in on the act to make a feature planter for these pansies.

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Flower spikes can reach over 6 foot and when massed together at the back of the border look really special. Delphinium are worth the effort to grow successfully and here are some tips to help.

A rock garden is a grand place to display your alpine plants. You can shade them with rocks, provide deep root runs and provide rain cover with perspex roofs

More plants drown than die of thirst but Azalea houseplants do need damp soil.

Climbers can look really great if you do some preparation. Select an appropriate wall to train your Climbers against or use a free standing structure like this metal frame for the blue Clematis.

I am no great fan of large leaved hostas probably due to lack of space in my garden where I prefer to grow other plants. However the dwarf varieties are easy to get on with.

Late winter and unseasonal snow has left many garden soils cold and inhospitable. Spring is the time for new root growth and annual plants and vegetables need the best start possible. Vegetables and ornamental plants need a bit of warmth to get established and growing away. Clay soils is traditionally slow to warm through as they hold a bulk of water.

My perennial Phlox have been a good stalwart flower for cutting and filling a vase this last few weeks. I found the pink colours had more scent but all the Phlox seemed to drink copious amounts of water (I wondered if water and scent were related). The Penstemon in the same vase as the Phlox was not as successful as they had a far shorter life. Another successful long lasting cut flower is the Alstromeria. The Reds performed better than the yellows but both lasted over a week.

Penstemon’s have been an excellent, low maintenance plant for me. They can start flowering in June and still be flowering 4 months later in October. They mostly require well drained soil and protection from heavy frosts. Dead heading is advisable as it will encourage new flowers.

Regal Pelargoniums or exotic Geraniums are getting more fancy and colourful. This pink frilled flower is called Reba Regal. I grow Regal pelargoniums for in house but they can go outside after the last frost although some flowers are a bit susceptible to rain damage.

Grafting in the 19th century was a significant method of increasing stock of trees and plants as the photograph of East Anglian life by PH Emerson shows.  The objects of Grafting are to bring a bush or tree into an earlier fruiting than it would do naturally; to produce good fruit from an inferior plant; or to save space by putting dwarf scions on to rampant growing trees. The stock or subject is the base tree and the scion or graft is the portion of the branch to be imported.

This Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum) houseplant is being killed with kindness by the family waterer.

If gardeners have left wet leather gloves or shoes in a mild garage since summer they may now be covered in a white dusty substance that is powdery mildew. Powdery Mildew can affect many garden plants and it is especially vexatious on Gooseberries, Roses and Peas. The greying of leaves leads to yellowing, distortion and falling, it is unsightly and damages crops. For help understanding mildew read these tips.

Combining plants in different ways is one of the joys of successful gardening. Different shapes and textures or bold colour schemes may be the trigger to make a combination work and there are companion plants that encourage growth in others.

Read Japanese Maple root and branch review

This summer flowering perennial has good disease and pest resistance. The plumes of flowers stand above fine foliage

Lots of materials are suitable for a compost heap. Pile in a mix of green and brown organic materials to help them heat up, when biological activity will then be at the highest. Organic material includes plants and most items that have been growing. Avoid droppings from carnivores such as dogs but other manures are fine.Type of Material

Now is a good time to think of planting some more daffodils for cutting or naturalising.

Late Sown Peas

Get sowing for some winter greens and veg like Beetroot, Spring Cabbages, Lettuces, Spring Onions, Chicory, Fennel and Rocket.

Kids can have fun in the garden and on a windowsill. It can give them an understanding of food and green issues in a fun environment. Help them grow plants that are easy, reliable and develop quickly to maintain interest. Give them good soil, a sunny location and help so they are not put off  gardening in the future. Kids can be turned into enthusiastic gardeners from an early age and with luck it will stay with them for life

Gardening is an area where there are many ways of saving money or reducing costs. A thrifty approach to gardening is not only possible it is highly desirable particularly in the early stages of gardening. It would be easy to buy the most expensive and decorative plants in the garden centre only to find that you didn’t know what you were letting yourself in for. The plant may die or fail in some other way because you didn’t understand its needs and the care required to look after it. So ask for advice.

Lavender will not sprout willingly from old wood. So when pruning make certain some green wood remains. Lavenders bloom on the stems that grew that year. Pruning is designed to encourage more flowering branches and give plants a longer life.

Lawns give us many years of loyal service and ask for very little in return. We cut them to within an inch of their lives and walk all over them without a care.