Monthly Garden Diary - June 2008

Introduction

The potential for frosts is now over and everyone will now be planting out tender vegetables such as tomatoes and courgettes plus the non-hardy flowers including geraniums and petunias. With suitable soil preparation and regular feeding these plants will be a riot of flowering or fruiting colour in no time at all.

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Ornamental Gardening

It’s time to plant out tender bedding plants such as geraniums. fuchsias, petunias and marigolds either into garden beds, into patio tubs and pots and into hanging baskets.

To clean up the flower bed before planting, kill new seedling weeds with Weedol MAX or the ready-to-use Weedol Gun! MAX. There is no delay to planting - simply spray the weed leaves and wait until the weedkilling liquid has dried on the weed leaf. You can then plant out your new plantlets and seedlings immediately. This fast-acting weedkiller contains an active ingredient derived from nature, and it won’t present any unwanted hazards to children and pets as they can play in the treated areas immediately after the liquid has dried. Best of all, on a warm sunny day you will notice that the weeds begin to wilt and die in only a few hours. Any weeds not treated will soon become patently obvious.

To achieve a great looking display in the minimum of time these plants need to be fed with optimum nutrients so they have the potential to grow fast and flower profusely. Before planting out these flower seedlings, dress the soil with a balanced plant food such as Miracle-Gro Organic Choice All Purpose Plant Food and rake this into the soil surface. This will steadily feed plant roots over the next 6 weeks to get them growing fast and strong.

Improving the soil where these fast-growing plants are to grow is amazingly beneficial. By digging in organic matter you not only help to break down solid clumps of soil, but also provide tiny pockets of water and nutrient reserves that encourage good strong root growth. Home-made well rotted compost from your garden is good for this job although it will contain plenty of weed seeds.

To avoid introducing plenty of weed-seeds simply buy a bag or two of Miracle-Gro Eco Sense Soil Improver or Levington Organic Blend Farmyard Manure and dig this in all over the flower bed. These bags of organic matter are long-lasting and consistent in quality. If supplies are limited use a handful or two mixed in the bottom of the planting hole and the same amount in the soil that is used to fill the hole.

Slugs and snails will have a feast day on these lush new leaves, so protect them with SlugClear Advanced Pellets or water on SlugClear immediately after planting.

While slugs are champing away at leaves, so greenfly and blackfly will be breeding at a phenomenal rate now that temperatures are high. These aphids, also called plant lice, are sap-sucking pests that cause stems to twist and leaves to roll. Aphids not only disfigure the plant, but they also transmit virus diseases and make the plant weak. They absorb the goodness from the sap and the plant is therefore not able to produce so many flowers or such strong growth. Different types of aphids have their particular favourite plants so it’s worth keeping an eye on the ones that are most susceptible to attack. Roses, nasturtiums and fuchsias are good indicators of aphid activity and when these plants have a visible pest population then it’s time to get out the sprayer.

There are plenty of sprays to control aphids, but it’s worth treating them as soon as you see the pests because they reproduce so prolifically. New this year is a systemic treatment that gets inside the sap stream of decorative plants and makes the whole plant pest proof for up to 3 weeks. If you have your own pressure sprayer use the concentrate version called BugClear Ultra or if you prefer to buy a ready-to-use hand sprayer that needs no measuring or mixing then pick the BugClear Ultra Gun!

Roses should be in full bloom during June, although at this time of year they are especially susceptible to powdery mildew disease as well as greenfly attack. To protect roses and other flowering plants such as chrysanthemum, verbena, hollyhock and antirrhinum that are susceptible powdery mildew, spray with RoseClear 3 or RoseClear 3 Gun! This combined insecticide and fungicide product kills the aphids and gives systemic control of powdery mildew, rust and blackspot from inside the leaves of ornamental plants.

Patio Gardening

It’s time to plant up patio containers and hanging baskets with flowering plants ready for their Summer display. Trailing fuchsias, geraniums and new varieties of verbena, such as the Donalena and Rapunzel strains, make a great show. Ensure your pots are a good size as the smaller the pot the more quickly it will dry out. Add a drainage layer of broken crocks or gravel to improve the drainage and line absorbent terracotta pots with plastic to reduce water loss through the walls of the pot. Fill the pot with a good quality compost such as Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Compost or Levington Container & Hanging Basket Compost. Cram in as many plants as possible using a colour theme for the best display. Most successful planting will have the tallest plant in the centre, medium ones next and edged with trailing material.

To feed your potted plants for six months push Miracle-Gro Controlled Release Plant Food Tablets below the surface of the compost. Use two or three in a 20-25cm pot and four to six in pots over 30cm.

Hanging baskets are just as easy. Line the basket with polythene, fibre liner or moss and place a saucer in the bottom of the basket to stop water draining straight through. Half fill the basket with the same quality compost. Tape the chain to a stick in the centre of the basket to keep it out of the way while planting.

Slip trailing plants through the sides of the basket. To do this without damaging the roots or stems roll the plant up in a tube of paper or plastic - just like a sausage roll. Plant up the top of the basket making sure you’ve got plenty of trailing plants around the edge.

Finally, push in some Miracle-Gro Controlled Release Plant Food Tablets below the compost surface. Use four in a standard 12 inch basket, five in a 14 in. and six in anything larger.

For tomatoes, bell peppers, strawberries and other salad crops growing in a sunny spot on the patio, buy one or two Levington Organic Blend Giant Vegetable Planters or Miracle-Gro Organic Choice Peat Free Giant Planters. These huge pillows of compost make vegetable growing much easier than traditional sized Gro-bags because they contain much more compost. This extra volume of quality compost absorbs much more water so the chance of plants wilting between watering is much less likely. The extra volume of compost also encourages a much bigger root system so the plant can absorb more nutrients and therefore grow a much bigger crop of tasty fruits.

Pick the Levington Tomorite Giant Planter with Seaweed for three tomato plants and the Levington Organic Blend Giant Vegetable Planters for all other crops. For those people who prefer to grow their vegetables in an organic way then the new Miracle-Gro Organic Choice Peat Free Giant Planters offers a quality compost from recycled wood-waste materials. It’s enriched with nutrients obtained from natural resources and is 100% chemical free.

The Lawn

Summer sunshine and leisure weekends mean that the garden needs to look at its best just now, especially if you are entertaining. Your guests at barbecues and patio parties will be taking note of the overall look and for most gardens the lawn will make the biggest impact.

Keeping the grass green and weed-free is never a problem if you treat your lawn every couple of months with EverGreen Complete. As a bonus for regular feeding the lawn becomes thicker and lusher so that weeds have very little room to get a foothold. But if your lawn is rarely fed or weeded then there is sure to be a big job to do to have just grass and no weeds. The most successful way to rid any lawn area of weeds is to treat it in June with Verdone Extra. This special lawn weedkiller that kills weeds without damaging the grass contains three selective weedkillers that get rid of the weeds with bigger leaves such as plantains, dandelions and daisies plus clears the smaller-leaved weeds such as lesser trefoil, black meddick and common mouse-ear.

For best results spray 3 days after mowing so the weed leaves are big enough to absorb a good dose of the weedkillers in Verdone Extra. Then leave another three days before mowing again so that it can penetrate right down to the roots.

In the Greenhouse

When growing really fast, tomatoes do need a good supply of magnesium or the leaves develop a yellowing between the veins called chlorosis. This can be avoided if the plants are treated to regular doses of a special fertilizer such as Levington Tomorite that contains a good quantity of this nutrient. Tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers and aubergines will also need feeding to ensure they produce a good tasty crop. Add Levington Tomorite to the water every couple of weeks to encourage good strong growth to the plant and plenty of flavour to the fruits.

Summer is the time for whitefly to breed prolifically under glass. To get id of them without reducing the harvest potential spray the plants thoroughly with BugClear for Fruit & Veg. This new insecticide contains rape seed oil so is safe to use on all edible crops.

If you have the same pest problem on decorative plants growing in containers there is a new treatment called BugClear Ultra for Pots. These solid plant food spikes contain nutrients and a new systemic insecticide called acetamiprid. Both are released slowly to feed the plants and to release the insecticide into the compost where it is absorbed by the plant roots. Once inside the plant it travels around the sap stream to kill all sap-sucking insects including whitefly, greenfly, blackfly, scale insects, mealy bugs and also gives useful control of thrips for 2-3 months.

Fruit and Vegetables

Seeds for lettuce and Summer salads need to be sown every couple of weeks to provide young fresh leaves. The loose leaf varieties such as Red Salad Bowl, Lollo Rosso and Bijou are tolerant to hot weather and seem to do better at this time of the year than the cabbage head types which can annoyingly run to seed. Tender herbs such as sweet basil can be sown now or you can buy plants from your local garden centre.

Sow marrows, courgettes and squashes outdoors in soil which has been well improved with organic matter such as well rotted garden compost or Levington Organic Blend Farmyard Manure. They appreciate a deep root run which holds plenty of moisture.

Pick broad beans as the pods swell. If blackfly are a problem on the growing tips pinch these out and spray the rest of the plant with BugClear Gun! for Fruit & Veg. This insecticide has a 1 day harvest interval and this will allow picking and eating of the crop on the day after treatment.

With all these tender seedlings coming up, remember to protect them from slug attack with SlugClear Advanced Pellets. You will need to use the same protection in and around any strawberry bed before you protect the fruit from mud splashes with straw or a protective mat.