'Garden Column - June 2008'

Time to start plant out bedding schemes.

Now that the threat of any ground frost has gone � bedding plant lovers up and down the country will be placing their plants into their resting places.
Keen gardeners will raise their own plants and will have their schemes planned out.
For those of you whom are less fortunate there are plenty of plants and ideas which can be found at the garden centre.
Choose plants which are going to do well in the positions you have chosen.
Another thing is to ensure the area is well prepared.
Turning the soil over with a border fork and as you are doing this dig in some Clavering Horse Manure Compost and make sure that you break up any large lumps especially if you are on a heavy soil.
Once the area has been turned over it should then be raked - it can be worth adding some slow release fertiliser like Phostrogen Slow Release Plant Food Granules. This will encourage your bedding plants to establish and will also save you time later in the season feeding your plants. Once this has been scattered over the area and the area has been raked into a fine tilth then it is ready to plant.
Whatever you decide to plant in the way of bedding remember to keep removing the dead flower heads. This will encourage more flower and growth enabling you to enjoy you plants throughout the summer and into the early autumn.

Keep the greenhouse constructive.

As plants and crops work their way out of the safety of the greenhouse and into their resting places for the coming summer - the greenhouse that seemed a hive of activity can now become a desolate void especially if you aren�t growing any indoor vegetables or fruit.
Do not despair as there are wide range of jobs which can be started.
Cuttings can now be taken on a wide variety of hardy plants like shrubs, conifers and alpines.
These cuttings need to be prepared and then placed into trays.
On a majority of shrubs and conifers 9cm (3�) cuttings are ideal. Remove the growth from the parent plant preferably from the young growth at the top of the plant. Strip off some foliage then make a fresh cut at a 45� angle just below a leaf joint. Then place this prepared end into some hormone rooting powder or liquid then place into a 50% mixture of Vitax Irish Moss Peat & J.A. Bowers Perlite.
This light and airy medium will allow the cutting to produce some healthy roots. Try and not use any compost which contains any nutrients as the feed can hinder the development of the roots by burning them off.
Place into a propagator and air every two to three days to allow access moisture to evaporate until they have rooted.
Once the cuttings have shown signs of growth pot on into individual pots and slowly grow them on.

Feed & deadhead roses to keep them blooming lovely.

With roses in the garden coming into flower now it can be worth top dressing with some fertiliser.
Using a handful of fertiliser like Bayer Garden Top Rose per rose and then lightly hoed into the surface soil will encourage your prize bushes to bloom all summer long. Another job which also needs to be done is to keep deadheading which will also entice more blooms. This is done when once the flower has finished, remove the browning flower and pick up any dropped petals.
Where to trim back is always one question I get asked. Trim down the stem at a point just above the first set of five leaves. This bud will slowly develop and hopefully produce another flower. On floribunda varieties remove each flower as it finishes then prune back.