Flower garden

• Cutting back growth in hanging baskets can encourage new flowers and foliage and will revive the display. Make sure you that feed your baskets well after doing this.
• Keep dead-heading bedding plants and perennial plants to stop them self-seeding and to encourage further flowering.
• Keep an eye out for pests on plants, early treatment is best.
• Now is a good time to spray ground elder, bindweed and other persistent weeds with a glyphosate-based weed killer as the plants now have lots of leaf surface area with which to absorb it. If you are an organic gardener, continue to remove them which should help to weaken them over time.
• Move plants in pots to shadier spots to prevent heat stress during the hottest periods.
• Pick your sweet pea plants as often as you can. If a flower is left on the plant it will rapidly develop into a seed pod, which will stop growth.

Vegetable garden

• Plant second cropping potatoes now to give you new potatoes for Christmas. Plant your Christmas potatoes in pots or bags which can be brought under cover before the first frosts.
• Pinch out tomato side shoots each week. Cut off any leaves growing below the lowest ripening fruit trusses to improve air circulation and prevent diseases.
• Boost your tomato crop by regularly feeding them with dilute tomato fertiliser once a week. If leaves look pale and yellow feed more regularly.
• Don’t forget to stop cordon tomatoes by removing the main shoot. Look for the leaf that’s above the fourth truss (set of developing fruit) and cut it off here. This should ensure that all the fruits ripen by the end of the season. Bush tomatoes can be left to their own devices. If you are growing a grafted variety and you have the height, five or six trusses are ok.
• Pick your courgettes while they are young. Regular picking encourages more fruit.
• Resist the temptation to harvest more rhubarb This allows the plant to build up reserves for next year.
• Pick runner beans regularly to prevent them becoming stringy and to make room for developing pods. Leaving mature pods on the plant can prevent further flowers forming and reduce your crop.
• Use grass clippings as a mulch around potato plants to stop tubers near the surface from turning green. Alternatively earth up your potato plants as they grow. If you’re growing potatoes in bags, gradually add more compost until the bag is full.
• Tackle blackfly on broad beans by pinching off any affected growing tips.
• Check for cabbage white butterfly eggs under brassica leaves and squash any that you find.

Fruit garden

• Thin out the fruits on your fruit trees to produce good sized crops. Complete final thinning of apples. One or two fruits every 4-6 inches. 
• Check the leaves of gooseberry bushes for sawfly larvae, which can completely strip the foliage in a matter of days. Jet them off with water or pick them off by hand.
• Peg down runners on your strawberry plants to create more plants for next year. If you don’t need more plants simply remove the strawberry runners completely.

Greenhouse

• Check plants daily. Water first thing in the morning or in the evening to reduce water loss through evaporation.
• Damp down your greenhouse on hot days to increase humidity and deter red spider mites.
• Open vents and doors daily to provide adequate ventilation.
• Use blinds or apply shade paint to prevent the greenhouse from over-heating in sunny weather.
• Try hanging sticky traps to catch flying pests and help determine which pest control is needed.

Other jobs about the garden

• Keep bird baths topped up in hot weather.
• Keep an eye out for powdery mildew on plants. Remove any affected parts and spray with a fungicide to prevent further spread.
• Look after your aphid eaters – ladybirds, hoverflies and lacewings feast on greenfly and blackfly so it is worth protecting them.
• Keep an eye out for scarlet lily beetles on your lilies – remove and crush any you see. Also check for the sticky brown larvae on the underside of leaves.
• Be water-wise – use grey water from washing up & bath water. Use within 24 hours and water ornamental plants rather than edibles. Don’t waste water on the lawn.

Chorley Gardening Society – July 18th – The Work of the Woodland Trust – speaker to be announced. St Mary’s Church Hall, Wigan Road, Euxton – 7.30pm

Visitors Welcome

Weather & Watering

• The weather is getting warmer and possibly drier so remember that all shrubs and bedding plants which were planted out last month will need regular watering. They have not had time to grow their roots out of the compost that they have been growing in, so if left un-watered they will soon deteriorate.
• Watering is the most important task in all gardens. It is essential to give all plants a good soaking in the evening after the sun has set so that the water will not evaporate away. If the surface soil is only moistened it will encourage plants to make surface roots, which are more liable to suffer from drought.
• ‘A good hoe is as good as a watering can’… loosening the soil will not only keep weeds down but help prevent cracks appearing in the soil, as this is where moisture will evaporate from.
• Watering a garden can be tedious. You can cut down on watering (and your bills) by mulching. Mulching is putting a layer of material on the surface of the soil, around the plants…make sure the soil is wet before applying. This layer helps to stop water evaporating from the soil’s surface and, if you mulch with an organic product, you’ll add back nutrients to the soil as the mulch slowly decomposes.
• Mulching also has the great advantage of cutting down the need to weed. The mulch layer, if thick enough (minimum of about an inch) will help suppress weeds.
• Another group of mulches are the Non-biodegradable type. These do not boost the fertility or structure of the soil, but they do suppress weeds, conserve moisture and some have the added advantage of looking decorative. Slate, shingle, pebbles, gravel, stone chippings are often used as a mulch across beds, and are particularly effective in containers.

Bedding Plants

• The full range of bedding plants can be safely planted outside without any fear of frost damage, there is also a full range hanging basket and container plants available, by the middle of the month supplies of pack bedding will be coming to an end, then a larger range of pot bedding plants will be available.
• Remember to keep all these young plants well watered and weekly feeds with liquid fertilizers will help them develop a strong root system to feed the plants and provide beautiful flowers until the autumn. If the plant has only one single flower in the centre, it is best to remove this to encourage the plant to branch out.

Vegetable Garden

• Plant out tomatoes if this has not already been done. Train them up canes or string, and remove sideshoots from cordon tomatoes.
• Water tomatoes and peppers regularly to prevent blossom end rot – a symptom of calcium deficiency due to erratic water supply.
• Once first truss has set, feed with high potash feed, such as Tomorite. Marrows, courgettes, cucumbers & sweet corn can also be planted outside now.
• Leafy salad crops may do better when sown in partially shady sites since hot dry weather can lead to bitter tasting leaves.
• Gaps between winter brassica plants can be used for quick-maturing catch crops, perhaps radishes or gem lettuces.
• Strawberry plants start to deteriorate after 3 to 4 years. During the first 2 or 3 years all runners should be removed. To get free replacement plants some runners can be allowed to set themselves in soil. Once rooted they can be cut from the parent plant.

Fertilisers

Most fertilisers are based on the three major plant nutrients:
Nitrogen (N): For green leafy growth
Phosphorus (P): For healthy root and shoot growth
Potassium (K): For flowering, fruiting and general hardiness

All fertilisers should quote their N:P:K ratio on the product packaging. For example, a ratio of 20:20:20 indicates a balanced fertiliser, but a ratio of 18:24:6 would indicate a high phosphorus fertiliser.

How to use fertiliser

There are many ways to apply fertilisers, and the method you choose will greatly depend on the product you are using. These are some of the most common methods of application, along with examples of when you would use this method.

Top dressing: This is the application of quick-acting fertilisers to the soil surface around plants to stimulate growth, and is usually carried out in spring at the start of the growing season.

Slow release: This is the incorporation of fertiliser into the soil or potting compost before sowing or planting which releases nutrients gradually through the season.

Watering on: Liquid fertilisers or soluble powders and granules can be dissolved or diluted and watered onto plant roots during the growing season to give them an instant boost. They are mainly used for feeding glasshouse crops, pot plants and bedding. The nutrients in liquid fertilisers are instantly available.

Foliar feeding: This is the application of a dilute solution of fertiliser to the leaves of plants, useful as an emergency treatment for correcting nutrient deficiencies or for providing quick supplementary feeding.

Chorley Gardening Society – Around the World in 80 Plants
talk by Simon Gulliver

St Mary’s Church Hall, Wigan Road, Euxton – June 20th 7.30pm

Visitors Welcome