Gardening

Edition Twenty eight - July 2008

Whatever happened to the old fashioned gardens which were places to relax in, and which might include flower borders, fruit trees, a lawn, a patio area and, if you're lucky, a vegetable patch?

We seem to fill our gardens with all sorts of fashionable 'must have' accessories these days, so the overall effect is that of lots of mini theme parks. From hot tubs to trampolines, they've become a blot on the landscape..

And there is absolutely nowhere in these overcrowded playpens to relax..

Our vegetable garden is currently under attack from pigeons, chafer bugs and blackfly.. It is easy to spray against aphids and remove beetles but the pigeons are very resourceful and quickly get used to scarecrows, CDs on string, strips of tin foil etc. We don't mind them having the odd strawberry for a snack but object to the whole crop going their way. So we have built cages to go over the fruit bushes and have netted over the young brassica plants. That'll teach 'em!

The snails and slugs are out in force in the borders too and I have had to resort to slug pellets scattered in the borders. As a pet owner, this is not something I like doing, but my dog seems particularly uninterested in the pellets which are very sparsely scattered around.

I am thinking of trying Nemaslug or Defenders Slug control because so far I have only caught snails and I know the slugs live hidden away in the soil.

Jobs for the month - July

July is a lazy month for gardeners if they so wish, with easy jobs to do, such as dead-heading flowers, watering and weeding. All your house plants can stay outside for a few weeks for a breath of fresh air and a misting with tepid water...

Houseplants

Look for aphid damage, red spider mite, mealy bug and any other unwanted visitors, and spray immediately. Don`t forget to make provision for your houseplants if you are going away. There are several types of capillary matting in the garden centres that you can stand the plants on, or even soaked newspaper in a bucket. Failing all else, put your well watered houseplants in the coolest room in the house and draw the curtains or blinds and they will easily cope for a couple of weeks

Bulbs.

Lift and dry off any tulip bulbs still in the borders or tubs, and you can order now for Autumn planting from your early bulb catalogues.  Place pots of lilies in dull parts of borders for added colour while waiting for the bedding plants to flower.

Lawns

New lawns turfed or sown in the spring may now have a dose of weak weedkiller. Keep the cutter blades of your lawn mower set to medium in a dry spell, because if you cut the lawn too short it will soon go brown and look unsightly.

Greenhouse

Make sure that plants in the greenhouse have adequate ventilation and are shaded from too much sun. Maintain humidity to avoid red spider mite by damping down with the hosepipe. Shade cucumbers from hot sun. Apart from the usual tomatoes, cucumbers and pepper plant, we are growing a Golden Berry or Cape Gooseberry plant we found in a local nursery, which seems to be a prolific fruiter. We also planted several seeds from a honeydew melon which germinated within three days and are now growing into very big plants. It's fun experimenting..

Hedges

Continue spraying rose hedges this month against black spot, mildew and aphids. You can still trim other types of hedge if they are growing quickly. Laurel and other large leaved hedges should ideally be cut with secateurs or bigger pruners to avoid ugly cuts in the leaves from electric hedge trimmers or garden shears.

Fruit

You will still need to watch out for bugs in fruit bushes and trees and eliminate them with an appropriate spray. This is a time of year to begin pruning and training some young fruit trees. You should consult a gardening book for this procedure. Our first year plum, apple and pear trees have had their fruit stripped out to allow for a year of good growth, at the expense of the fruit.

Flowers for cutting

Train sweet peas up their supports. Keep cutting flowers for the house and at the same time dead-head any faded blooms to encourage new flowers. Spray against aphids and stake any flowers that are getting tall. I have lovely dahlias out already (see left)

Herbaceous plants

Feed plants fortnightly now. I use Miracle-Gro with the dispenser that attaches to the hose pipe so everything in the garden gets fed...and watch out for aphids on your plants. Keep the borders weed free and mulched. Stake taller plants against strong winds and even the weight of their own flowers

Ponds and water features

This is fish-spawning time so take care that your pond is not starved of oxygen. If you have tadpoles which by now have developed their legs, try to keep them apart from your fish because they will eat them. Provide a ramp for the tadpoles to leave the pond when the time comes. (I know it's daft, but it's great to watch!) If you want to really help the tiny frogs then spray the flower beds or grass where they will be living with a fine mist of water for a few days if the weather is hot...

Wildlife

Our hedgehogs are back from their winter hibernation and doing a good job of eating insects. The Pipistrelle bats that fly around at dusk are busy as usual, and young fledgling birds are running the gauntlet with next doors cat. The only downside to the wildlife in our garden at the moment is the increase in numbers of the huge woodpigeons which make a mess and eat our produce.. The squirrel families have increased their numbers too, but are not nearly as destructive as the pigeons.