News - Page 154
Many hanging baskets are just beginning to look at their very best - although it's not too late to plant your own up now if you still want to. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes from traditional wire baskets lined with moss to wicker horns and terracotta spheres - there seems to be almost as much choice as there are plants to put in them!
You may want to stick with traditional Fuchsias, Geraniums and trailing Lobelia but before you decide take a look...
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Time to prune your vines while they're completely dormant, as once the sap starts rising – from as early as January in southern areas – any cuts made to the plant bleed copious sap, weakening future growth.
There's a great variety of grapevines to choose from in our garden centre, from ornamental Vitis coignetiae with huge leaves turning brilliant purple and scarlet in autumn, to productive V. vinifera heavily laden with sweet wine or dessert grapes. 'Black H...
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June is really a very generous and abundant month, however along with our much-cherished favorites at their best, nature also provides us with the odd unwelcome garden visitor – the weed.
For some, an afternoon weeding and digging will be a lot more satisfying than using a weed killer - but not for everyone!
If you have a serious weed problem then you may need to use both resources, spend as much time as you can now weeding out young weeds before they...
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Last chance to get the garlic in: Garlic needs a good period of frost to get those fat cloves to divide into nice plump bulbs, so plant now to give them winter outdoors for really good results next year.
Don't be tempted to plant garlic from the supermarket: it's possibly carrying viruses, and is probably from somewhere much warmer than the UK so it'll suffer in our climate. Instead, buy good-quality bulbs such as those you'll find in our garden centre. There...
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It's National Tree Week next week so get ready to mark it by treating yourself to a new tree for your garden from the great range in our garden centre.
Everyone can grow a tree: even if all you've got is a balcony you can enjoy container-grown 'Minarette' apple or cherry trees, just a few feet tall but incredibly productive. In small gardens, go for trees that stay compact yet really earn their keep with a long season of interest. Snowy mespilus (Amelanchier...
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It's tulip time! November is by far the best time of year to plant tulips – a little later than most bulbs, to avoid the nasty fungal disease tulip fire causing brown spots and distorted leaves.
There's a dazzling array of tulips in our garden centre, and your choice is likely to be very personal to you. Some like planting in blocks of single colour for maximum impact: others pair two varieties with contrasting colours. Deep purple 'Queen of Night' with pure...
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Start looking after your feathered friends from this month: as the nights draw in and the temperatures drop, they'll need all the help they can get. Birds are your natural pest control in the garden, stripping aphids off roses and devouring caterpillars, slugs and snails – so look after them and they'll look after you.
The best way of feeding birds through winter is also the easiest: they adore berries, especially red ones, so plant lots of berrying shrubs to...
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Happy Halloween! It's the witching hour, and that means just one thing: giant pumpkins! They're super-easy to grow yourself to hollow out and carve into a Hallowe'en lantern to scare all those ghosties and ghoulies away from your doorstep.
We've got plenty of record-breaking varieties you can try in our garden centre. 'Atlantic Giant' is the big daddy, and regularly produces pumpkins over 200 kg in weight, but if that sounds a bit large for your doorstep, you...
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The Met Office is forecasting the first cold snap of the year arriving this week, with Arctic air sending temperatures plunging well below zero, so get ready to batten down the hatches and protect your tender plants now, before the chill arrives.
Many borderline-hardy plants like salvias will survive a couple of degrees below zero, though they'll get through the winter much more comfortably if you lay a thick mulch of dry autumn leaves over their roots.
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The wonderful 'Smoke Tree' - Cotinus 'Royal Purple' - makes a great addition to the garden, with it's deep red/purple leaf, and subtle white flower which forms to give the impression of smoke floating through the plant.
Cotinus has no special requirements, and will grow well in most positions, but if unchecked can get quite large in time (12ft). However, it can be trimmed to keep a good shape and a restricted size.
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