Age-Net Gardening column

This month in the separate Spotlight section I have looked in depth at greenhouses, summerhouses, ponds and decking..

July - and it is high summer, which brings so many rewards to the gardener, but can also be a busy time, with endless jobs to do.. There are hedges to trim and lawns to be cut once or twice weekly, vegetables to be kept weed-free, and hanging baskets and tubs to be watered daily. This is the gardening season in top gear, but don`t forget to take some time out for relaxing and visiting gardening events. Why not join the National Trust, visit some of their stately homes and gardens and see how the other half used to live.

*Did you know that the National Trust hire some of their houses out as holiday cottages, many of them in the centre of walled gardens, all great starting points for a UK holiday. Of course you could just stay put and revel in the peace and quiet of the garden.

July can be a busy month, for banishing weeds, keeping your hungry plants fed, watered and dead-headed, and for gathering some early crops from the vegetable garden. Many house plants can stay outside for a few weeks for a breath of fresh air and a misting with tepid water..

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.

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.

New lawns turfed or sown in the spring may now have a dose of weak weedkiller. Take great care with lawn spot weedkillers. I remember once a helpful friend did the job for me and several days later our lawn was a mass of little brown circles. A grass weedkiller for patios had been used instead of a weedkiller for lawns!

Make sure that any 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.

Continue spraying rose hedges this month against black spot, mildew and aphids. You can still trim other types of hedge. There is a spray on the market that supposedly retards the growth of privet hedges. I haven`t tried it myself...

You will still need to watch out for nasty little 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

Continue training 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.

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

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, for they will eat them. Provide a ramp for the small frogs to leave the pond when the time comes. If you want to really help the tiny frogs then spray the flower beds or grass where they will be living with water for a few days if the weather is hot...

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 the dogs, but I just put them gently in the safety of a bush and hope for the best.

Hampton Court Palace Flower Show

4 - 9 July 2006

The Hampton Court Palace and surrounding parkland provide an idyllic setting for the world’s largest horticultural show.

RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park

19 - 23 July 2006

Set in over 20 acres of magnificent parkland, this flower show offers a wealth of gardening opportunities for all gardeners.

The living theatre of plants and people
The Eden Project is a gateway into the world of plants and people. A meeting place for all to discover how we depend on plants and how we can help to manage and conserve them for our mutual survival.

Gardening is an important part of many people's lives. You don't have to give up gardening because of accident or illness, the onset of disability or the problems associated with growing older. The information on their website is designed to provide you with the information to Carry on Gardening. Carry on Gardening was initiated by the horticultural charity Thrive and is funded by the National Lottery Charities Board. It brings together information on easy ways of gardening gathered over 23 years by Thrive and research carried out since the early 1970s by Mary Marlborough Centre, Oxford, on tools and equipment for disabled and older people.

Alan Titchmarsh MBE, TV gardener, writer, broadcaster and thoroughly nice person. Just a few choice words to describe the peoples` favourite TV gardener. See his website....

Thompson and Morgan

A growing resource for gardeners worldwide. The site includes the international online seed catalogues, the young plants catalogue (UK only), the wholesale seeds catalogue, together with the award winning Germination Times and a host of other useful information.

And some reading material:-

"The Yellow Book 2006" contains information of all Gardens of England and Wales open for charity, from National Gardens Scheme and is available from all good bookstores throughout the UK priced £7.99. http://www.ngs.org.uk/yellow_book.htm