News - Page 147
Two of the biggest names in gardening join forces this week as BBC Gardeners' World and the Royal Horticultural Society host one of the most popular gardening shows of the year.
BBC Gardeners' World Live, held at the NEC Birmingham from Wednesday till Sunday, is celebrating its 21st birthday this year, and you can look forward to some cracking new features. There's a whole new category of show garden, with Outdoor Living Gardens showing you what you can do ev...
Read more...
What to do in the garden in June:
There's no better place to be in June than in your garden. The veg garden is packed to overflowing: your flowers are a riot of colour and perfume. Keep the show dazzling with this month's key jobs.
General tasks:
Top up mulches to keep weeds under control: a 5cm layer of well-rotted stable manure feeds your plants as it rots....
Clematis are one of the most spectacular climbing plants available. They come in a wide variety of colours, and look absolutely stunning at this time of year.
There are quite a few gardening tips we can give you to make sure you get the very best from them, and we have a fantastic selection to choose from. Some will flower ealry, others much later, and with many you can encourage further flushes of flowering to extend the season.
Clem...
Read more...
June's plant of the month is the rose, and this elegant and much-loved beauty needs little introduction: it's well known for being Britain's favourite flower, and 49% of our gardens have at least one.
What's less widely known is how versatile they can be. There's a rose for every situation and every type of garden. If you like gardening for wildlife, there are simple, natural-looking roses like Rosa spinosissima or the sweetbriars like Eglanteria.
Rose...
Read more...
Canny vegetable gardeners start thinking about what to grow next winter as soon as the last one is finished. Take time out from the spring rush to think about what you'll grow in the coldest months of the year and you'll reap the rewards in fat cabbages, nutty Brussels sprouts and kale when there's little else around to pick.
The range of veg you can enjoy in winter is extraordinary, and from late spring onwards you'll...
Read more...
Give your perennials the Chelsea chop this week to double their flower power and help them grow stocky and strong.
This handy technique gets its name from the timing: it's traditionally carried out in the week after the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. It works on any clump-forming perennial, but you'll find it's particularly useful on those which are otherwise a little prone to flopping, like Sedum spectabile, Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm' and Helenium 'Moorheim Beauty'.
...Read more...
Thin out spring-sown seedlings to give them plenty of room to spread out and grow tall and strong. Whether it's annual flower seeds sown in your border, or carrots, beetroot and lettuce in the veg garden, however sparingly you sprinkle it's likely a few too many seedlings will come up, and the rows get a little crowded.
That's mostly a good thing, as it allows for a few casualties to slugs or poor germination. But there comes a time when they start competing...
Read more...
Most people agree that a garden wouldn’t be a garden without a rose or three!
And of course they don't have to be rose bushes - they can be climbers, ramblers, ground-hugging roses and miniatures that can stay in pots all year round.
Many of the traditional problems with roses have been addressed by rose breeders and experts in recent years, and there are many varieties now that have been bred specifically for resistance against some of the common pest...
Read more...
The RHS Chelsea Flower Show celebrates its 100th birthday this week with a more-than-usually dazzling display of perfect blooms and breathtakingly beautiful show gardens.
Highlights of the show this year include a public vote to choose the Plant of the Centenary, the best plant to emerge from the last 100 years. It's a tough choice: among the finalists are spectacularly colourful Russell lupins, 'yak' rhododendrons and the ever-popular 'Iceberg' rose. Once yo...
Read more...
Beautiful, versatile and available in a variety of different colours, 'New Guinea Imps' are available now and add extra height to a bedding scheme compared with traditional Busy Lizzes - but are still as versatile in tubs, pots, baskets (perhaps as the centrepiece) and anywhere else there is a hole in the garden!
Read more...