Monthly Garden Diary - May 2008

Introduction

It’s time to plant up beds, borders, hanging baskets and patio containers with tender bedding plants that will turn gardens into a riot of colour this Summer. Watch the weather for cold frosty nights that could damage these tender plants and cover with newspaper if the weatherman predicts sub-zero temperatures. Make sure the lawn is looking good - a lush weed-free playing area makes a vital foil to this profusion of vibrant colour.

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Ornamental Gardening

When planting out bedding give the plants a thorough watering in the trays or pots the night before planting so they have had a good drink ready for root disturbance and the trauma of new surroundings. Select your plants for the conditions your garden offers. In shady spots buzy lizzies and fibrous rooted begonias will thrive without too much direct sun. So too will pansies, Canterbury Bells, lobelia and coleus. In hot, sunny spots plant geraniums, petunias, zinnia and eschscholzia (Californian poppy) as they are more tolerant of hot, dry conditions.

Plant your selection into moist soil and firm down with the fingertips leaving a slight depression around the stem of the plant so that subsequent watering is held close to the plant. The initial watering in of these new plants is best done with a solution of Miracle-Gro All Purpose Soluble Plant Food or other soluble plant food so you can feed and water at the same time. By applying the plant food over the leaves and around the roots you will quickly help the plant get over the root disturbance and shock of transplantation. The nutrients that are absorbed in the first week will help the plant send out new roots into your garden soil or compost so that it gets established quickly.

Many gardeners prefer to feed their plants on a regular basis so they know they are receiving nutrients through the leaves and the roots whenever they are treated. In this case the traditional method is to dilute the blue crystals of Miracle-Gro All Purpose Soluble Plant Food into a watering can to provide a full strength plant food direct to each plant. For those gardeners who haven’t the time for lugging watering cans around then the Miracle-Gro LiquaFeed system is the one for you. Simply screw a bottle of Miracle-Gro LiquaFeed Plant Food into the feeder and connect to the garden hose. You can then either water the garden through the sprayer head or deliver ready-diluted plant food automatically. You can feed all your flowering plants in just a few minutes without measuring, mixing or carrying watering cans.

Plant out dahlia tubers at a good depth after enriching the bottom of the planting hole with plenty of organic matter such as Levington Organic Blend Farmyard Manure or Miracle-Gro Eco Sense Soil Improver. Dahlias are thirsty and hungry plants, so a moist root run enriched with a controlled release plant food, such as Osmocote Controlled Release Plant Food or Miracle-Gro Controlled Release Plant Food will provide a steady supply of food and water to encourage an abundance of well coloured flowers.

Lily beetles used to be only a problem of Southern England but have now spread as far north as Yorkshire and Lancashire. In Spring, holes will start to appear in the leaves of lily and fritillary plants as the brown grub stage of the pest (called larvae) feed on the foliage. You won’t notice them immediately as they are brilliantly disguised and hidden by their own excrement, so all you see is a mucky lump of black goo slowly moving across your plants. This stage of growth and the scarlet adults that will emerge later in Summer will eventually cause severe defoliation that reduces the size of the bulbs and can reduce flowering.

This year there is a new control on the market for the Scarlet Lily Beetle and its grubs called BugClear Ultra Gun!. When you see the first signs of the larvae spray the plants thoroughly to give long-term protection. This product contains a systemic insecticide that gets inside the leaf so that leaf-feeding pests are eliminated straight away and any that emerge in the next couple of weeks will also be controlled. To ensure that any grubs that emerge from previously laid eggs are controlled a second spray three weeks later will ensure your lily plants are free of this nasty pest. Remember though that the lily beetle adult is a winged insect and can fly from garden to garden without problems to lay more eggs. So keep an eye out for late Summer invasion of adults and spray whenever you see them again.

Patio Gardening

May is the month for planting up hanging baskets, tubs, window boxes and patio planters to decorate our homes and patio areas. For a full look mix bushy forms with trailing specimens so that the whole container is soon full of beautiful flowers.

Fuchsias, geraniums, verbena and petunia are the traditional choice, and new varieties are continuously introduced that provide special flower colours and forms to fascinate your visitors. Petunias now have many different choices. The new Shockwave series promises a riot of colour for massed displays, whereas new double form of Petunia Grandiflora Pirouette Orchid Mist or Petunia Tumbelina Clara provide some really attractive double flowers that are individually very beautiful. For masses of smaller petunia-like blooms look to Calibrachoa Cabaret Apricot or Million Bells series in various colours including Trailing Pink and Fuschia.

To get the most from these super plants you need to use the best compost that you can find. Forget anything that is labelled ‘multi-purpose’, as it won’t contain enough nutrients to give long term feeding. Instead look to a premium growing compost such as Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Compost. This provides plenty of extra benefits including enough slow release nutrients to feed your potted plants for up to 6 months and a special water-holding formulation that absorbs twice as much water as ordinary multi-purpose composts. When used in hanging baskets this ability to hold more water will ensure that there is 50% less watering needed. If you can’t find this product look for either Levington Container & Hanging Basket Compost or Miracle-Gro All Purpose Growing Compost. Both provide 40% more nutrients than ordinary multi-purpose mixes and a special water-retaining agent to help to stop plants drying out and makes watering easier.

The Lawn

Regular mowing, at least once a week, is vital to encourage fine grasses in the lawn to become thicker and to discourage the thick leafed varieties such as Yorkshire Fog that form clumps of unsightly pale green grass. If you change the direction of cut each time you mow this will also help to catch any of the longer stems carrying seed heads and give a smoother look. Don’t cut too short - this will only produce bare patches and put the grass under stress. It’s much better to cut to a length of 2 or 3 cm (half to one inch) than to scalp the surface.

Providing the lawn with enough nutrients to match the spurt of growth that warm Spring weather encourages will see that the grass remains a good colour. This year the natural reserves of nitrogen in the soil are likely to be low and a dressing with a good lawn treatment will reap dividends. As Spring has produced more than its fair share of rain, most lawns have produced a good crop of moss, especially in the shaded areas next to hedges and along walls.

To feed your lawn and control moss at the same time, see that your lawn treatment contains ferrous sulphate. You can find several excellent treatments from your gardening retailer including Scotts Lawn Builder Lawn Food plus Moss Control and EverGreen Complete. The last mentioned is a triple-action product with slow release nitrogen and two selective weedkillers that also give control of most broad-leaved weeds including daisies, dandelions and white clover.

Roses, Trees and Shrubs

May is usually peak blossom time for a wide variety of shrubs including Ceanothus, Spirea, Viburnum, Weigela, Tamarisk and Choisya. Ornamental crab apples, cherry trees, laburnum and lilac bushes will also be producing masses of colour. Check to see if your garden is blooming up to scratch and if not plant up some of these species.

Keep an eye on the newly developing stems of roses and shrubs for the first signs of aphid attack. Clusters of greenfly and blackfly will normally show on growing tips and on the underside of new leaves. Unfortunately these colonies can quickly breed and spread throughout the garden if left to their own devices. Stop them in their tracks spray with a new systemic insecticide called BugClear Ultra. Just one thorough spray with a solution of the material will kill the aphids and many other common pests that are sheltering on the flowering shrubs.

Fruit and Vegetables

Many people are this year turning to growing there own fruit and vegetables at home for the first time. Here are some tips on getting started in May.

Sowing of French beans and runner beans can be made about the middle of the month. Planting the seed directly in the soil where they are to crop is possible, although you get quicker and more reliable germination if you sow into pots or trays of a good quality compost such as Levington Multi Purpose Compost or Miracle-Gro All Purpose Growing Compost.

Prepare the trench for runner beans with plenty of well-rotted garden compost, Levington Organic Blend Farmyard Manure or other water and nutrient retaining media.

Successional sowings of beetroot, carrots, lettuce, radish, peas and turnips will give you plenty of tasty Summer vegetables. Swede and leeks sown at the end of May will be ready for Winter harvest from November onwards. Keep the soil between rows of vegetables clear of weeds to reduce competition. Many people find that Weedol Gun! or Weedol Gun! MAX does a quick and effective job without hours of backbreaking hand weeding. Earth up potatoes as the foliage pops through the soil surface to protect it from frost damage.

After petal fall of apples and pears spray trees with BugClear for Fruit & Veg to control aphids and red spider mite that are present. Spray in the evening when bees and other pollinators are less likely to be on the wing.

Put clean straw or suitable plant mats under strawberry plants to protect fruit from mud splashes. A dressing of SlugClear Advanced Pellets on the soil before you add this layer will help to protect your fruit from slug and snail attack.

Control the weeds around blackcurrant bushes and raspberry canes. Hoeing is not a good idea around these shallow rooted plants because it causes too much damage, although the use of Weedol MAX, or Weedol 2 will kill the weeds without soil disturbance or damage to fruit bush roots.