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 [...]
The plant of the month for July
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 [...]
Jobs for July 2
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. [...]
August’s plant of the month 2
August's plant of the month is the hydrangea, one of our all-time favourite shrubs for its gorgeous showy flowers, easy-going nature and superb versatility. You may not realise, for example, that you can have a hydrangea flowering every day from early July through till the first frosts if you choose well. That's because there are an amazing 23 species, all [...]
Water tomatoes with care
Water tomatoes with care this month as they'll struggle to perform at their best unless everything is just right. The heaviest crops and most flawless fruits come from plants kept at an even temperature, good light levels, and above all, constantly moist soil. Tomatoes like the soil to hold the same amount of water at all times: neither too wet [...]
Plait your garlic
Plait your garlic after harvesting and hang in the kitchen to dry for a practical and good-looking way of storing the bulbs through winter. Once dry, garlic bulbs keep for months and will see you well into next spring. There are two types of garlic, so make sure you've got the right one. Softneck garlics such as 'Solent Wight' store [...]