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News - Page 91

Take care when watering tomatoes

Take care when watering tomatoes as it's quite a science, and the single most critical factor in whether you harvest a bumper crop of sweet juicy fruit, or a disappointing handful plagued with problems like split skins and blossom end rot.

Aim to keep the amount of water in the soil as even as possible - just moist but not wet. Letting the soil dry out before soaking it liberally means ripening fruits are drying out one minute and then flooding with wat...

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Sow biennials now

Sow biennials now to enjoy a superb display next year from some of our all-time favourite garden flowers. Biennials spend their first year making big clumps of foliage before flowering in their second year – so you need to be ahead of the game and sow your seeds now to benefit.

Biennials include lots of must-haves for the cottage garden, such as pretty perfumed wallflowers, forget-me-nots and sweet williams. Add the dramatic spires of foxgloves, hollyho...

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Plant a row of chives

Plant a row of chives not only for their deliciously spicy green leaves, but also for their peppery edible flowers – gorgeous scattered over fresh summer salads.

You'll find chives by the generous potful on sale in our garden centre right now. Make sure you buy several, as they're one of those plants you can't have enough of as they're tremendously versatile in the garden: use them as a pretty edge for veg and flower beds, or dot them among your flowers...

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No Garden - No worries

If you don't have a garden you can still enjoy a wide range of plants. Whether you have a balcony, roof top garden or even a few pots outside your door you can enjoy the pleasure of having plants. 

Balcony garden

Depending on the size of the balcony, you can have quite a few plants. Try using a balcony box, herbs and salads are a great thing to have in there, which will also help you in your kitchen. Maybe try a climber in a...

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RHS Tatton Park Flower Show

Enjoy the colourful spectacle of the RHS Tatton Park Flower Show which opens its gates this week in Cheshire. You'll find tons of inspiration, from specialist nurseries showing off the latest new plants to spectacular show gardens packed with good ideas.

This year the Back to Back Gardens return, a must-see for small garden owners for their innovative designs and space-saving ideas. The much-loved National Flower Bed Competition is packed with colour an...

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Turn your compost bins

Turn your compost bins to get the rotting process going strong so you can be barrowing lovely, rich crumbly mulch onto your garden as soon as possible.

Making compost is a lot like cooking: you have to mix everything thoroughly to make sure the end product is blended to the perfect texture. All you need is a fork, a spade and some muscle power. It helps if your compost bins are side by side, as it's easiest to fork the compost straight over the side int...

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The plant of the month for July is the salvia

The plant of the month for July is the salvia, a truly versatile group of plants well worth getting to know. They deliver so much to the garden: there's culinary sage, lending a smoky flavour to your cooking, and pretty and eyecatching annual clary for a flash of instant colour. And don't forget sturdy, hardy perennial sages, delivering months of vivid blue-purple colour with little maintenance required. You couldn't ask for more.

Sage hails from Mexico...

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What to do in the garden in July:

We love July for its bowlfuls of new potatoes to enjoy with a dab of melted butter, sweet new broad beans and vases full of scented sweetpeas. It's a good life – so get out in the garden and enjoy!

General tasks:

  • Keep bird baths topped up when the weather is dry and clean regularly to keep disease at bay.
  • Hoe borders weekly to chop off the heads of annual weeds before they can flower and set seed.


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Hang yellow sticky traps among greenhouse plants

Hang yellow sticky traps among greenhouse plants to act as an early warning system alerting you when flying pests are about including thrips, aphids, and particularly whitefly.

Whitefly are such a nuisance if they get established in the greenhouse. They enthusiastically suck the sap of tomato plants, reducing performance and harvests; and every time you go in the greenhouse you have to run the gauntlet of flies in your hair, eyes and nose.

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The Hampton Court Flower Show celebrates its 25th birthday this week

The Hampton Court Flower Show celebrates its 25th birthday this week with a real extravaganza of a show, packed as always with inspirational show gardens and overflowing with perfect plants.

To mark the 25th anniversary there's a special maze, made from 300m of hedge and peppered with surprises from smoke machines and hidden tunnels, as well as a giant floral birthday cake made of bedding plants. Meanwhile urban greening expert Nigel Dunnett has created...

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Cut back geraniums which have finished flowering

Cut back geraniums which have finished flowering to boost your chances of a second flush of bloom later this year. Many hardy geraniums have done their thing for some weeks now and the best of the display is over: after this they can look a little scrappy, as long-spent flower stems collapse and swamp neighbouring plants.

Take a pair of shears to them now, though, and you'll find the plants respond with a flourish of fresh green foliage, plus a few week...

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Set up an automatic watering system

Set up an automatic watering system as the summer heats up so you save yourself the worry of keeping container plants happy as well as sparing yourself the slog of trips back and forth with watering cans.

Both greenhouse plants and pots need a thorough soaking every day in the height of summer – more in a heatwave. But automatic watering systems lift much of the burden from your aching shoulders and greatly reduce the risk of drought-related ailments li...

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