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March can be a busy time in the garden, as Spring begins you will notice the busy activity of bird in your garden building their nests. To help them out tie up bunches of tiny twigs, moss and stringy plant material around your garden.

Hedgehogs and frogs begin to come out of hibernation this month, make sure there is availability of water and food for them.

Lift and divide overgrown clumps of herbaceous perennials that were not split in the Autumn. [Read more…] about March Gardening Tips by Wellie

Wellie’s gardening tips are written a month in advance and the weather outside at the moment is extremely wet and windy, but also very mild. It will be interesting to see which plants, especially the more temperate plants that will survive after the minus temperatures we had in December. In the 20 odd years that I have been working as a gardener, 2022 was the first year that the leaves (especially some of the oaks) had not all fallen by Christmas. The suggestions below are just that – suggestions, and are all dependent on the weather.

[Read more…] about February Gardening Tips by Wellie

Plant bare-root roses, shrubs, hedging and ornamental trees, as long as the ground isn’t frozen. Remove and bin hellebore foliage marked with black blotches, to limit the spread of leaf spot disease. Deadhead winter pansies and other bedding regularly, and remove any foliage affected by downy mildew. Check for rot on stored bulbs and tubers, and ensure dahlia and canna tubers haven’t totally dried out. Continue pruning climbing roses, while they are dormant.

[Read more…] about January Gardening Tips by Wellie

Aerate your lawn now before winter sets in. Either use a lawn aerator or simply insert a garden fork at regular intervals and lean it back slightly to let air in. Continue to clear fallen leaves off the lawn to keep it healthy using a light rake. Set your lawn mower to a higher cut-height for winter. Prevent containers becoming waterlogged by raising them off the ground for the winter using bricks or ‘pot feet’. Encourage hungry birds into your garden by investing in bird baths and bird feeders. Our feathered friends will keep garden pest numbers down and bring joy on a bleak winter’s day.

Some Broad beans and pea varieties (such as Aquadulce Claudia and Pea ‘Douce Provence’) can be sown now for an earlier crop next year, along with spring cabbages and spinach (which might need to be covered from frosts).
Onions and garlic can also be planted now for harvesting next year. There is still time to sow some salad crops such as winter lettuce mixes and mizuna, and why not put in a row or two of radishes as they are quick to mature.

[Read more…] about September Gardening Tips by Wellie

Watering is key this month, particularly container-grown plants and border plantings not yet established. Keep Camellias and Rhododendrons well-watered now to ensure good flower bud formation next spring. Top up ponds and bird baths regularly. Stake tall or top-heavy dahlias and lilies to prevent wind and rain damage.

Regular feeding and dead heading keeps the garden looking its best until autumn, dead-head lilies for a better flower display next year. Dead-head annual bedding plants and perennials to encourage them to flower into the autumn and stop them self-seeding, but it’s a good idea to leave some to form seedheads, providing a nutritious food source for birds. [Read more…] about August Gardening Tips by Wellie

Divide congested clumps of bearded iris after flowering. Dead head bedding plants, roses and herbaceous plants to encourage more flowers. Trim evergreen hedges, including conifers. Feed dahlias and cannas every two weeks with a high potassium fertilizer, such as tomato feed. Prune early-summer flowering shrubs, such as Philadelphus, once they have finished flowering. Cut back flowered growth to a strong lower shoot and thin out up to a fifth of old, woody stems.

20th June is the longest day this year bringing extra sunlight hours (and perhaps warmer weather).

Gardens will be full of flowers and the veg gardens producing lots to harvest, but the weeds will be having a merry time as well and need to be kept in check.

[Read more…] about June Gardening Tips by Wellie