Archive for August, 2009
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
It is (almost) not too late to:
Make sure you prune your early-summer flowering shrubs and (once-flowering) old shrub roses, cutting out old flowering shoots to reveal the new growth that will flower next year. Older bushes may need a major stem cut out from ground level to encourage the whole framework to renew itself. You can also give June-clipped box hedges that look a bit shaggy a neatening trim – in fact this is a good time to cut other evergreen hedges too.
Cut back and feed June/July-flowering perennials (even delphiniums) with a soluble fertilizer (wormery fluid, comfrey or sea weed, for example). Some perennials will come back and flower again this summer – but make sure you take the opportunity to renew slug defences. Alchemilla mollis and cat mint will come back from severe shearing, while borders generally benefit from the removal of excess, tired foliage, which can all be composted. Keep on deadheading all plants – except those plants that carry good-looking bird-friendly seed heads.
It is all systems go in the vegetable patch this month. Garden hygiene is important in order to minimize pests and diseases. But when clearing up and composting the debris of old crops, remember to leave the roots of legumes (peas and beans) in the soil for a few more weeks. This insures that they introduce all their nitrogen back into the soil – valuable fertiliser for next season’s leafy crops.
Tags: Autumn, Garden, Helen Yemm, Watering
Posted in Helen's Blog | No Comments »
Sunday, August 2nd, 2009
Well, there was great excitement in the garden this month. I was clearing away the peas in the vegetable patch and I discovered a little toad snuggled into a small burrow that it had made. Unfortunately I had destroyed his home by removing the wigwam of peas. So I quickly dashed to my potting shed to get an old crock to make a little toad house. I am pleased to say that he is still there and hopefully eating all the slimy creatures that have come his way. Talking of nature we have so many Bees and Butterflies in the EcoCharlie garden at the moment Bumble Bees, Honey Bees, Peacocks, Cabbage Whites, Tortoiseshell and a pretty brown one. I must remember to look in my butterfly book to identify it. The Bee Attract is obviously working very well. The down side is that we also have a large amount of caterpillars emerging especially on the cabbages. I do pick them off the leaves by hand but I am going to leave them now as there is just too many.
Toad in the EcoCharlie Garden!
I am afraid I was a bit slow in netting them this year and the cabbages now look like colanders! Never mind there is always next year.
We are very pleased with our newly seeded patch of lawn. Normally growing new grass seed would be a job for September onwards, while the days are still warm and we have more chance of rain but July has been such a wash out, weather wise that the grass seed has germinated and looks lush. If September is a dry month the patch is small enough to keep watered. Another job we have accomplished again because of the wet weather is mulching the large shrub beds with a layer of permeable membrane and then laying a thick layer of bark chippings. Normally this would have had to wait until the soil was wetter in the Autumn but because of our damp July we have been able to conserve the water and suppress the weeds.
The Raspberries have started to ripen thick and fast. I seem to picking them on a daily basis and using them for with breakfast cereals and in sauces for ice cream and desserts. I am cutting lots of flowers which perfumes the house with smells of lilies and sweat peas, lovely.
Tags: Pests, Slugs, Summer, Vegetable Patch, Watering
Posted in Suzanne's Blog | No Comments »
