Amateur Gardening 13-Jul-2019

IULY is the start of the UK’s peak holiday season, but whatever time of year you choose to take a break, you still need to make sure your plants are catered for in your absence. You may be fortunate enough to have a family member or neighbour who is happy to do the watering for you. If not, forward-planning is key to keeping your plants alive, productive and colourful while you are away. Houseplants are easy to sort for your average week or fortnight-long holiday. Feed and water them before you go, and leave seedlings and young plants in a cool room where they are less likely to dry out. In our house the bathroom is the best place, so I tend to cluster them there, even standing plants in the bath with…

1 Cluster pots together somewhere sheltered and shady to reduce the rate of water evaporation and cut up old towels for a ‘wick’ system. 2 Weed well before you go, so you don’t come home to a thicket of unwanted greenery stealing your plants’ water and food. 3 Returning from holiday is bad enough without finding a garden of dead blooms. Cut off flowers before you go to encourage new buds and blooms. 4 If you can, lay a soaker hose through your most important beds. Set it on a timer, and it will then slowly release water in your absence.…

Summer weather can turn on a sixpence, so always make sure your garden is prepared to withstand the worst eventualities. Make sure young trees are securely staked, and that there is no danger of long branches splintering and snapping under the weight of too much fruit. Also ensure that if they were to break and fall they won’t cause injury to anyone or structural damage to nearby property. Tall, whippy plants and those with delicate stems, such as delphiniums, should also be staked to avoid upsetting breakages. Containers should be stood squarely on pot feet so they don’t wobble and topple, which allows excess rainfall from summer squalls to drain away quickly.…

TIMED irrigation systems, which are supplied by many leading garden brands, take the stress out of watering the garden, whether you’re at home or away. They comprise thin lengths of flexible hosepipe that can be cut to the required length and attached to small drippers. You thread them around the pots, growbags and borders that need the most watering. This system is linked to a timer attached to an outside tap. You set the timer to release water when needed. Some timers can be linked to a smartphone and will keep you updated with the weather back home, allowing you to alter irrigation timings from your poolside sun-lounger! You can also buy porous soaker hoses (which slowly release drops of water along their length) to attach to a timer.…

THE summer may have been disappointing compared with last year, and some flowers were a little slow in getting going, but tender perennials such as pelargoniums, penstemons, fuchsias and gazanias are flourishing now. This is an excellent time to use some of their non-flowering stems for softwood cuttings. When this year’s wood starts to harden from its base as summer progresses into early autumn, you can still use it for cuttings but they are known as ‘semi-ripe’. The cuttings will be an ‘insurance’ policy against any tender plants lost in winter. You can also use them to replace old, unproductive and woody plants. I use clay pots when striking cuttings because they are slightly porous, reducing the risk of waterlogging and letting the developing roots breathe. Once potted up, they start to grow when…

Euphorbias are a stylish and shapely addition to the garden in spring and summer, though they can become unruly. They all have different growing habits and need pruning accordingly. Some evergreen varieties simply need a light trim when their bracts have turned brown. Snip them back to the first ring of leaves. Herbaceous perennial varieties should be deadheaded after flowering and then cut to the ground before the first frosts. Biennial euphorbias such as E. characias flower on last year’s stems, and these should be cut back to leave this year’s growth standing. Always wear gloves and clean secateurs blades after cutting as the plants’ thick milky sap is a skin irritant.…