Garden Checklist ...

Good Morning!
Here's a few things that you can be getting on with over the weekend in the garden ...

1. Seedlings  - If you're sowing plants from scratch, once they have germinated and developed their true leaves it's time to pot them on. When doing so always make sure that you handle the seedlings via their leaves and not the stems. Pot them on into either small pots or plug trays, multi purpose compost is fine. Once pricked out place them somewhere light and warm but out of direct sunlight for the first 3 or 4 days to prevent the seedlings being scorched by the sun.




Marigold 'Vanilla Cream'

2. Protect - New shoots of Delphiniums and Lupins will be pushing through the ground and they need a little bit of protection from slugs as they have a particular fondness for them! A simple way of protecting them is by using copper rings around the young plants as slugs won't climb over them.

3. Spring Bulbs - Spring bulbs such as daffodils will be coming to the end of their flowering. Once the blooms have faded they need dead heading so that the plants energy can go back into the bulb. Dead-head daffodils by snapping the heads off between your fingers on the green part of the flower stem about 1cm below the brown part that you can see below. 

4. Root Prune - If you are growing permanent pots, such as Tree's or large shrubs in containers and haven't checked them for the past couple of years now is the time to do so. 

Once you have removed the plant from it's container, start by scraping away the top layer of compost and ease the plant out gently (this may take 2 people depending on the plant size) and check the root growth. If the roots have completely filled the container and you don't have any pots larger than the one it's in you can prune some of the roots off with secateurs. 

This won't damage the plant. 

Add some fresh compost into the bottom of the container so that the plant has something to grow into and re pot. To avoid air gaps you may need to use a stake to push the compost down the sides and make sure that you plant to the same soil level as before. Finish with a mulch of gravel.

5. Support - Large growing Perennials will be putting on good growth in the coming weeks and some need support to prevent them falling over later in the season. Position your supports now so that the new growth can grow into the the supports giving them a more natural look, Plants with supports placed after heavy rainfall and winds have already done their damage never look as good as those with supports that have been there all along! Once the plants have grown the supports will no longer be visible so if your not a fan of how they look don't worry, you won't have to look at the supports for long.

Thanks for stopping by, don't forget you can find all the previous Checklists on the page tab above.

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

Out In The Garden ...

Good Morning!

Today's post is a little mish mash of things to share with you all, pretty much a catch up of how things are going.
With all the sunny weather we've had recently, the temperature during the day in my GH has risen immensely! It was time to take the buble-wrap down from the roof. I will be taking the rest down from the sides too but I am saving that job until the weekend as it'l require quite some time due to having to move things around a bit! Aslong as I can open the windows before I go to work it shouldn't get too hot inside.

One advantage to the sunny weather is that my over-wintering Alstroemeria has bushed up rather nicely and even started blooming which is a treat to see when you walk in.

My potted Alliums (Purple Sensations) have started budding up outside which is adding to the anticipation of them flowering in hopefully just a few weeks time!

The 'Honesty' plant I grew from seed and planted out last Autumn has also decided to start doing something in the past few weeks, but I have to say that although the flowers are pretty, I'm not too sure whether I actually like it. So it may have to find another home but I shall have a think.

One of my potted Azaleas has started showing some red buds and I really hope it flowers soon as it was a beauty last year.

I almost forgot that I also had another cheeky little addition to my garden last Saturday when I went shopping. I couldn't resist buying this Acer and it is sat waiting patiently to be potted up!

Meanwhile my Veg seedlings are looking healthy (Spring Onion, Leeks & Lettuce) so I have been hardening them off all week in anticipation to planting them in the raised bed at the weekend. Along with sowing direct some other vegetable seeds, of course when this happens I shall let you all know.

Yet more pricking out and potting on has been done in regards to bedding plants ...

... and that was only some of it! 

I shall be out in the garden on Saturday so no doubt I shall have some more bits and pieces to share with you all.

Please feel free to let me know what any of you are up to this week in the garden, it's always nice to hear how others are doing. 

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

Something A Little Different ...

Good Morning!

I decided to make something a little different on Sunday with some hedging plants I'd had since last Autumn. First off it was time to seperate the smaller pieces into their own pots.

I had two larger pieces that I wanted to do something a little different with and here is the result! 

Over in the GH there was yet more pricking out to do and this time it was the turn of my Comsos seedlings and Sunflower Vanilla Ice seedlings.

The Cucumber - Gherkin I sowed a couple of weeks ago has also made an appearance over the past few days along with some other seeds I'd sown.

 

Thanks for stopping by,

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

General Maintenance ...

Good Morning!

Just another quick post for you all today of yet some more Pricking Out / Potting On that got done over the last week. I thought I would share it with you seeing as I shared these plants from the very start with you all when I sowed the seeds! Since taking these photo's the Didiscus which hadn't germinated in the photographs has finally started making an appearance! 

Zinnia 'Envy'

Calendula 'Sunset Buff'

Tomato 'Golden Sunrise'

Due to the fact that my Autumn sown Sweet Pea's are more than ready to go outside, but can't due to having nowhere to go just yet, I have just re-potted them into larger pots and tied them to stakes using twine to help support them.

TIP - Keep a close eye on your seedlings, I have found quite a few aphids on mine in my GH in the past couple of weeks! The best thing to do is to squish them straight away otherwise they'l have a good munch on your precious plants!

My Dahlia seedlings 'Yankee Doodle Dandy' were also ready to be pricked out and you can see that some are larger than others.

The Tomato seedlings I saved from work were also ready to go into their own individual pots.

Along with the Cornflower seedlings...

Outside I did a bit of sprucing up by cutting down the Penstemons and Phygelius. April is one of the best times to cut these plants down as fingers crossed the chances of a frost are much lower. It is best the keep the stems tall throughout the Winter as it helps to protect the plant.

When pruning cut the plants down to where you can see the fresh new growth appearing at the base.

It's also pretty hard to miss the self sown viola in the 'after' picture!

The other thing I did was remove all the leaves affected with black spot on my Hellebores.

Thanks for stopping by, hopefully this weather will improve soon so I can share some more things with you!

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

New Arrivals ...

Good Morning!

There has been some more new arrivals this week in the GH and not just the leftovers that I've saved from work! Another part of my Thompson&Morgan order was waiting for me when I got home home on Thursday and this time it was some 'Lisianthus' plug plants! As you can see the blooms are rose like which is what drew me to them in the first place.

As explained in a previous post I made sure I pricked them out right away to give them the best chance of success!

The other new arrival which arrived on the same day was the pair of Secateurs I won with my photograph. It was definitely worthwhile sending it in don't you think!

You may also have predicted that I did indeed bring home some more seedlings from work, including some Lobelia, Petunia's and Mimulus. I need to make sure that I don't bring home anymore unless absolutely needed as I don't really have the space! lol

Also do you remember those little Cornflower seedlings? Well this is how they are looking now!

I hope you all have a good weekend planned.

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX