Monthly Gardening Tips

Make Leafmould Yourself We keep harping on about things like garden hygiene. After a day such as this spent raking up leaves blown off our hedging by the unseasonably high winds last week, we try another tack and suggest a leaf rake, a still autumnal day and a few calories worth of energy e...

What is the ‘June drop’? Simple - Lots of apple or pear fruitlets on the ground under your precious fruit trees in June long before they are ripe. While the June Drop can look frightening, there’s usually no need to worry about it. In midsummer, most fruit trees shed some...

How to Scarify and Rejuvenate your Lawn Scarify your lawn in the Autumn every two to three years to get rid of any old grass and moss. This will enable the air and water back into the growth of the lawn, ready for spring. You can also apply a feed either now, or in the spring.  Give i...

JANUARY IN YOUR GARDEN The weather can be so fickle at this time of year - warm one day, wet another and freezing the next day, January can be pretty sharp when it chooses. So preparing for the worst is just sensible. Also please note that ALL pruning advice assumes the work is done on a day w...

FEBRUARY IN YOUR GARDEN  Hedging This is a tip that will be repeated several times here and next month. The best months for planting most bareroot hedging, if you did not get it in in November, are February and March. Spring kicks the plants into growth and they do not spend too lo...

MARCH IN YOUR GARDEN  Hedging  Hopefully you have mulched well around your newly planted - and even established - hedge plants but if you have not, weeds start to emerge this month and next stealing food and water just when young hedge plants need them most. It is easiest to get rid...

Hazel catkins, the little lambs' tails heralds of spring - the longer they are, the closer the spring. Plant it now for next year. Narcissus 'Cheerfulness' for its powerful scent and the double flowers are utterly charming. Plant them in the Autumn (we’ll remind you!) Prunu...

APRIL IN YOUR GARDEN  Hedging  Our cold store is now crammed with bareroot hedging for planting over the next four weeks. As long as you can water them, any hedge plants will do well planted now and this is now probably the best time of all to plant beech hedging. However...

Our monthly round up of the current stars in the garden. These are plants that you absolutely should NOT BUY NOW. April is the worst possible month to plant them as they are putting all their energies into flowering. Much better to admire them - for real if possible - and then put them on your p...

MAY IN YOUR GARDEN  Hedging   Formal evergreen hedging such as Yew responds well to a light trim in May, even if it has not reached its final desired height (in which case trim the sides, but NOT the tops). You are then encouraging the plant to grow more bushy, but (hopefu...