How to take care of your fruit trees and bushes
Feed and mulch fruit trees and bushes to send them into the season primed and ready to give of their best. Fruit trees and bushes are big, generous plants that need plenty of goodness in the soil to produce their bumper crops each year. You can do your bit to boost nutrient levels by scattering slow-release fertiliser in spring. You’ll find [...]
Garden Re-Leaf Day
Mark your calendar next Friday as it’s Garden Re-Leaf Day, when garden centres pull out all the stops and raise thousands of pounds for charity. There are loads going on at garden centres all over the country, with special events to look out for right here at our garden centre. The annual fundraising event is in aid of the Greenfingers charity, [...]
Sowing annuals from seed
Sow annual flowers from seed under cover or outdoors from this month onwards for a brilliant display of summer colour that lasts right through the year. Half-hardy annuals include some real beauties like golden yellow rudbeckia, delicate nicotiana, feathery-leaved cosmos and zingy zinnias. They won’t tolerate frost, so you can’t sow them outside just yet. Instead, sow them in trays or [...]
What to do in the garden in March 5
Your gardening year starts here! There’s so much to do this month it’s hard to know where to start – there are seeds to sow, plants to get in the ground, and of course all those gorgeous spring blossoms to enjoy. Here are this month’s jobs to get you started... General tasks: Get your slug defences in place now to protect [...]
A normal spring!
Britain is likely to have a ‘normal spring’ this year according to the National Trust following their annual Valentine’s Day flower count. Garden teams from 34 gardens counted 2,287 plants in bloom during this year’s count, the 13thsuccessive year the charity has recorded what is flowering in its gardens in mid-February. The figure is a third up on last year’s [...]
Plant of the week: Prunus
Flowering cherries all belong to the Prunus family and offer such staggering variety you’ll find one for every spot in the garden. All offer a long season of interest, with spring blossom and yellowy-orange autumn colour. Some are even at their best in winter, such as copper-barked Tibetan cherry (P. serrula) and P. x subhirtella ‘Autumnalis’, which flowers from November [...]
The top plants for wildlife
Buddleja, pulmonaria and heather are among the top plants for wildlife according to a new survey carried out by the Wildlife Gardening Forum. Top plants for wildlife The group asked volunteers around the country to score a wide range of garden plants. They found that butterflies were drawn to buddleja before anything else, justifying its common name of ‘butterfly bush’. [...]
It’s the perfect time to lay new lawns right now
It’s the perfect time to lay new lawns right now as the soil starts to warm up and new grass bursts into growth. Whether you choose seed mix or turf, select a mix which is suitable for the site. Think about the amount of light reaching the area, and how much wear it is likely to get, as well as [...]