Gardening Articles

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Over the years I have planted a number of early and late flowering Clematis below my established shrubs which has meant that when you least expect it wonderfully coloured flowers emerge from the shrubs foliage.

Gardening is also a great way to provide healthy food for you and your loved ones. There is nothing quite like presenting a salad to your family that came exclusively from your garden worked by your own two hands.

You can eat your produce immediately or keep it to eat throughout the autumn and winter or you can dress them up and hand them to friends for Christmas presents.

Mulching is the application of organic matter on any exposed soil between plants, shrubs and trees and should be carried out while the soil is warm and moist.

According to the RHS the following are the top ten garden pests in the UK.

If you love to grow gooseberrys you will know the frustration of the gooseberry sawfly whose larvae can strip the leaves of gooseberry bushes.

Now in early July the bed is full of colour. Orange, yellow and pink californian poppies and blue and white cornflowers and there are still lots of plants not yet in flower.

Wisteria is a wonderful, colourful climber which is very easy to grow and has hanging, fragrant clusters of flowers during May and June

Not all shrubs require pruning but you may want to consider it in order to shape the plant, to encourage vigorous growth, flowering or fruit production or to remove dead, damaged or diseased material. Following pruning; feed and mulch to encourage strong, healthy growth.

A lush, well manicured, green lawn is most people’s idea of the perfect lawn but if you are looking for something a little easier to maintain or just fancy something a bit different then why not sow a wildflower or chamomile lawn? Creating a colourful wildflower area in your garden is extremely easy and your garden will soon become a natural haven for beneficial insects as well as various species of butterflies.

Even after following a strict maintenance programme you may find your lawn occasionally requires additional work or succumbs to pests or diseases.

Growing grass from seed costs a lot less than using turf but you can only really sow a lawn during April-May or September-early October. It takes 4-6 months before you have a usable lawn so it is usually best to sow during the Autumn.

Turf is pre-grown grass, which is cut from the ground ready for you to use as an instant lawn. There are two types of turf available, Cultivated and Meadow. Cultivated turf if the most expensive but it gives a good quality lawn. Meadow turf is cheaper but it may have weeds or bare patches so will require more initial maintenance.

Not everyone has the time to spend on a full year-round lawn maintenance routine, if this applies to you then here are a few easy jobs you can carry out which will make a difference to your lawn in a short space of time.

Find out how to look after your lawn month by month

The UK doesn’t often have long periods of hot weather but when it does, and when hose pipe bans are iminent, our lawns can soon begin looking dry or even dead.

To get the most out of your garden you need to be able to shelter your plants from cold weather during the winter and early spring. A cold frame is a relatively inexpensive and simple structure providing the ideal environment for sheltering plants and for growing cool-weather crops.

Cleaning and maintaining hardwood decking isn’t hard and will ensure that the structure will remain in great condition for years to come despite the elements. In fact, provided care and maintenance is preserved, hardwood decking could easily exceed 30 years.

There are four types of pond plants: deep-water aquatics, marginals, submerged oxygenators and free-floaters. For your pond to remain healthy you will need a few plants from each type except free-floaters.