Monthly Garden Diary - May 2006

Introduction

Gardens and garden centres are full of fresh new growth and plenty of promise for a flower filled Summer. May is a really busy time for planting up hanging baskets, pots, tubs and window boxes with Summer bedding plants. Don’t forget that weeds will be springing up everywhere and need to be kept under control before they swamp the vegetables and flowers planted in beds and borders.

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Ornamental Gardening

Your local garden centre will be full of plants that promise to provide a Summer display of beautiful blooms. You will find individual varieties of fuchsias and geraniums together with a plethora of exotic plants to decorate your patio. Go check out the best for your garden. Unfortunately night frosts are still possible in most areas of the country throughout May, so if you buy these tender plants early in the month you may need to provide some protection, even if it’s a layer of newspaper or growing fleece thrown over the tops. When you get the plants home give them a good feed with diluted Miracle-Gro Plant Food and find a protected place where they can continue growing.

Just a little care and attention on planting will give them the best start in life. All you then need to do is keep them fed and watered so they can produce their beautiful best. When planting out in the garden enrich the soil with as much organic matter as you can muster. Not only does this improve the soil structure and plant root activity, but it also holds reservoirs of water, nutrients and microbes that help you grow bigger, better plants. If you have well-rotted garden compost or the contents of last year’s growing bags use this or buy bags of blended organic material. Levington Farmyard Manure is a 100% organic soil conditioner that adds humus and plant foods to naturally increase yields and improve the vitality of roses, shrubs, flowers, fruit and vegetables. Similarly Levington Organic Blend Soil Conditioner is a blend of 100% peat-free composted materials that does a similar job.

Open up your planting hole and dig some organic matter into the bottom. Position the plant so the top of the compost is at soil level and fill in with soil that has been enriched with organic matter and a slow release fertiliser such as Miracle-Gro Controlled Release Plant Food.

Protect your new planting from slug attack with a light sprinkling of SlugClear Advanced Pellets. If you have pets playing in the garden and prefer not to have pellets lying around then wet your decorative plants and the surrounding soil with a liquid concentrate slug killer, such as Slug Clear. This will kill even the slugs and snails that are hiding underground.

Watch the new growth of roses for the first signs of greenfly breeding happily away on buds and under tender new leaves. They are almost impossible to remove physically, so get spraying with either BugClear Gun! or RoseClear 3 Gun! as soon as you see these sap-sucking pests.

If you want to get kids involved in gardening then give them the opportunity to grow something that gives spectacular results. Giant Sunflowers are always a good bet as they appreciate being fed and watered throughout the Summer. Sow one seed per pot of good quality compost such as Miracle-Gro All Purpose Growing Compost and keep well watered.

Azaleas and Rhododendrons

This cold Winter means that flowering of rhododendrons and azaleas will be delayed by at least a fortnight this season, so don’t expect a great display much before May in most parts of the country.

Whenever these plants get their act together they will appreciate feeding with a soluble plant food that provides extra energy for leaf growth and some chelated iron to keep those new leaves dark green. When planted in most gardens that are not naturally blessed with an acid soil, this addition of special iron will help to avert any problems of yellowing of the leaves between the veins. For best results feed with Miracle-Gro Ericaceous Plant Food every fortnight from flowering through until the end of Summer.

Patio Gardening

It is time to plant up hanging baskets and patio pots ready for early displays. Be generous with your planting and generous with your compost. If you try to buy the biggest bag of Multi-Purpose compost for the cheapest price, you are sure to condemn your expensive plants to a short and mediocre life. Instead, buy the best potting compost you can afford. Premium brands such as Levington Hanging Basket and Container Compost and Miracle-Gro All Purpose Growing Compost are extra rich in nutrients to get roots and stems growing fast.

For hanging baskets that need the maximum water holding capacity and nutrient reserves then Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Compost is ideal. It is formulated with Miracle-Gro Slow Release Plant Food so it feeds plants for up to 6 months and it contains Aquacoir to hold extra water that roots can absorb as needed.

Line hanging baskets with moss or special fibre liners and place your chosen compost in the bottom. Start planting half way up the sides of the basket, pushing holes in the liner and feeding plant roots through into the compost. Top up with compost and then plant around the edges of the basket. Finally add the taller plants in the centre. Make sure there is a generous gap between the final level of the compost and the top of the liner so that watering will be quick and easy.

The Lawn

You can keep your lawn a cut above the rest with just a little care and attention. The secret of a thick, green lawn is to cut it often and keep it well fed.

A great looking lawn, the heart of every beautiful garden, is not difficult to create or maintain. Getting the height of cut right is a key factor to success. If in doubt leave it longer than you think. The average utility lawn that has been laid for several years will certainly contain plenty of hard-wearing ryegrasses and should be around 25mm (1 inch) long after its been cut. On a lawn that has been recently sown with a luxury fine grass seed mixture of Fescue and Bents the length can be shortened to 12mm (half an inch) during the Summer without weakening the grass.

With the height of cut set get mowing as often as you are able. A quick whiz over the lawn every week which takes off a small amount of grass clippings is the way to encourage thicker growth. So too is the application of a lawn feed. For the truly dedicated lawn lover the best lawn feed on the market is the new EverGreen Lawn Builder Summer Long Lawn Food.

It contains enough grass greening energy in a unique slow release format to keep the lawn lush, green and healthy for up to six months from one application. Your grass plants will think they’ve been transplanted to heaven - the food is rich and it’s released throughout the Summer.

If weeds or moss are problem on your lawn then the more traditional triple-action lawn treatment is best. An application of EverGreen Complete is quick and easy through the hand held spreader it comes in or through a wheeled spreader such as the EverGreen Rotary which treats the larger lawn accurately and efficiently. EverGreen Complete contains two selective weedkillers that will get rid of common broad-leaved weeds such as daisies, dandelions and white clover and a moss killer that turns this problem growth brown in just a few days.

Fruit and Vegetables

Sow dwarf French beans outdoors during May. If you have no special area for vegetables, then find room to sow between your flowers or use a large decorative pot filled with Miracle-Gro All Purpose Growing Compost. Runner beans are more delicate and need to be sown individually in pots of Levington Seed & Cutting Compost and kept under cover or indoors on the window sill so that they make sturdy plants ready for planting in the garden at the beginning of June.

If you have the time, prepare the planting area of your wigwam or straight trench for your runner beans. Take out a spade’s depth of soil where the plants are to grow either in a circle or straight line and dig in plenty of organic matter into the bottom of this trench. All organic matter is good. Use up any well-rotted garden compost, or buy fresh bags of Levington Farmyard Manure or Levington Organic Blend Soil Conditioner. Burying the organic matter around 30 cm (1ft) down will encourage a good deep root system that will hold water and nutrients.

Other crops to sow now include carrots and leeks for a bumper crop - Early Nantes is a tasty carrot variety that is reliable. Before you sow anything, make sure you kill all existing weeds or they will rob the seedlings of light, moisture, nutrients and the space in which to grow. The quick and soil-safe way to clear the seed bed is to wet the area with Weedol 2 or the ready-to-use Weedol Gun! Just ten minutes on the weed leaf is all it needs, even if there is a rain shower just after.

In the Greenhouse

Traditionally you need a greenhouse to grow a great crop of tomatoes, but as global warming provides more Summer heat you can get a tasty crop if you plant in growing bags on a sunny patio. Either way you need to plant a variety that satisfies the taste buds of your family. For mine they like Alicante for a red, slicing fruit; Gardeners Delight for cherry red salad variety and Sun Gold for an orange coloured, but very sweet alternative.

Whatever variety you choose, invest in the best growing bag you can afford. Levington’s Original Gro Bag takes some beating, as most amateur tomato growers will agree. But this year the same company has come up with an even bigger and better planter that promises even better results. It’s called the Levington Tomorite Giant Planter and contains twice as much compost as a normal growing bag.

As a result it holds more water, encourages a bigger root system and promises to grow a bigger and better crop. Best of all it doesn’t dry out quite as quickly as a normal growing bag. So the days when you water your growing bag in the morning and it’s dry by the time you get home from work are numbered. And that’s not only a benefit for you, it also means your tomatoes aren’t subject to yo-yoing between swamp and desert which can so often encourage the fruits to develop a nasty brown discolouration called Blossom End Rot that makes them inedible.

These Tomorite Giant Planters may not be the cheapest on the market - they will cost you around £3.99 - but they do contain twice as much compost and promise some spectacular results. If you are a lapsed tomato grower why not give them another chance. You may be surprised at your success.