A Complete Lawn Makeover

Have you always dreamed of having a rich green lawn that’s free of moss and weeds, but thought it was too difficult or time consuming for you to achieve? Well why not take our EverGreen Complete Challenge this May?

More people choose EverGreen Complete than any other lawn care product. It’s simple and quick to apply and takes less than 10 minutes to treat the average lawn of 100 sq m. All you have to do to achieve great triple action results is follow these simple instructions...

What’s the right product for your lawn size?

If your lawn is a fairly modest size (less than 40 sq m) we would recommend using EverGreen Complete Soluble and applying it using a watering can. For medium sized lawns (around 100 sq m) use a hand held spreader pack for easy application over the area. Larger lawns are best tackled using a wheeled lawn spreader and buying EverGreen Complete in tubs or bags.

Applying yourself

Whatever method of application you’re using it’s important that you apply the correct amount evenly. The applicators have been designed to make this easy-peasy, but always read the label before you get spreading to ensure the you get consistent results across the lawn.

What about the kids and my cat/dog?

Children can play on the grass, and animals can go back onto the treated areas once the product has been watered in and given sufficient time to dry. If rain is not forecasted then give it a good soak in with a hosepipe.

Cut regularly

After 3 days, mow your lawn as often as you’re able. This will encourage thicker growth, eliminate courser grasses and deter the flowering and seeding of new weeds.

Now put your feet up and let Evergreen Complete do all the hard work

Results are quick, after 7 days your lawn will become a richer, greener colour. You will see the moss blacken as it dies and this can simply be raked out after a couple of weeks. Over the next 3-5 weeks the weed control will take full effect and the broad-leafed weeds within the lawn will curl and die.

Long term great results

Once you’ve started getting a fab looking lawn you’re not going to want to stop. Just repeat the steps above after 6 weeks and you’ll be rewarded with fresh and healthy lawn all Summer long.

Tuck In Your Spuds

If you planted out your potatoes last month you should be seeing the new growth peeping above the soil. By now the new growth should be about 6 inches tall, but don’t panic if they are not that tall yet. The colder start this season may have slowed down the growing times a little... but they’ll soon catch up.

Earthing-up

This is the process where you simply drag up the soil surrounding your potato stems. This earthing-up will ensure the best yields, prevent frost damage and stop the potatoes turning green in sunlight.

Make sure you leave about 2 inches of the shoot showing so the plant has enough leaf to continue its growth. If you have planted in a compost bag, or container, top up the soil by about 4 inches, again just leaving 2 inches of new shoots showing above the soil.

Mids and lates

Don’t worry if didn’t manage to start your spud growing last month because now is the time to plant your mid-season and late potato tubers. Simply dig a trench about 4 inches deep, place tubers about a foot apart and cover with 3 inches of soil. If you are doing more than one trench allow about 2 feet between trenches.

Potato blight

Blight is a fungus disease that effects members of the potato and tomato family, so you’ll be wise to look out for the tell tale signs before it’s too late. This disease thrives in warm, moist conditions so we’re entering the time of year it loves.

The first sign of infection is leaves turning brown/yellow, then eventually black. As the leaf dies a white fungus will grow on it. This white mass will disperse spores into the tubers giving them dark spots on the surface. These spores will remain in tubers left in the ground and may contaminate the following years crop if grown in the same place.

Can you avoid the dreaded blight?

Nothing is guaranteed when blight is concerned, however, here’s some tips to reduce the chances of your potatoes getting it:

1. If infection is spotted remove all the top growth to avoid the spores spreading to the tuber
2. Earth up properly to protect the tuber
3. Avoid watering from above as this will wash the spores down into the tuber
4. Ensure all tubers are harvested and destroy any showing signs of infection
5. Use disease free seed potatoes or resistant varieties
6. Early varieties are usually harvested before the risk of infection becomes high

But what if it’s already there this season?

At the first signs of disease, treat the plants with Murphy Traditional Copper Fungicide and repeat this treatment at fortnightly intervals.

Don’t be a Gooseberry!

Now is the time to be on the lookout for a common garden pest called ‘gooseberry sawfly’ (Nematus ribesii). As its name suggests, it infests Gooseberry bushes, but it also has a taste for Red and White Currants.

What to look for?

Small green larvae that look a little like caterpillars with black heads and black spots. Usually there is a whole group of them devouring the leaves in one area, then moving on to a next cluster of healthy leaves until the whole plant is ‘naked’. A healthy plant can be stripped literally in hours!

How did they get here?

The female sawfly will lay her eggs on the underside of the leaf, low down on the plant towards the middle of the bush. As the young larvae hatch they start eating straight away, often not noticed until they start munching towards the outside of the plant.

What’s the Damage?

Plants with less healthy leaf growth will struggle to grow and produce little or no crop in the following year.

What can I do?

If you have the time simply pick off the larvae and squash them, this is by far the most satisfying method. Alternatively, as soon as you spot the larvae on your plants use a suitable bug spray. A good example is BugClear for Fruit & Veg and BugClear Gun! for Fruit & Veg. Repeat treatments may be required to maintain control so make sure you stay vigilant.

Start Time for Toms

Growing tasty tomatoes on patios, terraces and balconies is great fun for all ages. As the tomato plant is a tropical foreigner to these shores it’s worth remembering that they don’t like cold nights and are quickly killed by frosts, so it’s risky to plant them outside without protection before the end of May.

Get prepared

But you can get well prepared - visit your local nursery or garden centre now to buy small seedling plants. Nowadays, tomatoes come in all shapes, sizes and colours, for traditional sized fruit ‘Ferline’ or ‘Shirley’ are good varieties and ‘Incas’ is recommended for a plum type. If you prefer smaller bite-size toms then ‘Sungold’ is hard to beat for taste, although ‘Gardener’s Delight’ will produce more tomatoes per plant.

Growing on

Whatever variety you choose buy three plants for every growing bag you intend to use. These small seedlings can then be potted on into slightly bigger pots filled with a rich potting compost such as Levington Container & Hanging Basket Compost or Miracle-Gro All Purpose Growing Compost. Keep the compost moist on a sunny windowsill where they will grow big and strong in the next few weeks.

Planting out

Towards the end of May buy your growing bags and place in a sunny position where the tomato plants are going to grow for the rest of the Summer. For maximum crop and easier watering invest in a Levington Tomorite Giant Planter with Seaweed. They contain more compost than a traditional Gro-bag so the root system of the plants gets much bigger while the frequency of watering is reduced.

Bean Bonanza

Sowing seeds of French beans and runner-beans can be done this month. They’re easy to grow and can provide some of the biggest harvests in the garden.

Bean seedlings

If you have rich soil in a sheltered garden you can push the seed directly into the soil where they are to grow (about 2 inches deep and 8 inches apart). You will, however, get quicker and more reliable germination if you sow the seeds into individual pots of good quality compost such as Levington John Innes No.1 Compost or Levington Seed & Cutting Compost.

Water the compost thoroughly, using a fine rose, and store in a sheltered position protected from cold night temperatures. You should see germination in a mere week or two.

Planting out

Prepare the soil where you are to grow these beans by digging in plenty of well-rotted garden compost, Levington Organic Blend Farmyard Manure or other organic matter. For the best results, enrich the soil with Miracle-Gro Organic Choice Fruit & Vegetables Plant Food and plant out the seedling plants into this super improved soil. Ensure the plant roots are kept moist.

Bean sticks and pea poles

French beans will require support from short twigs or pea sticks to prevent them toppling over. Runner beans on the other hand are climbers and will need tall canes/strings to clamber up.

Harvest

In just a few weeks you will be picking tasty green beans for the kitchen. Make sure you pick regularly once the pods have reached a decent size, if they’re left too long they will begin to swell and become tough/stringy.

Believe it or not, it’s likely that the biggest problem you’ll have is too many beans! So keep plenty of freezer space to provide tasty homegrown beans all year.