Hanging Basket Time Is Here!
THE VILLAGE GARDENER
Hanging Basket Time Is Here!
Summer is here and the gardens should be full of colour. To keep the flowering going we will be succession planting by removing late spring flowers and planting summer bedding. Deadheading of the roses has started along with the calendula, these annuals will flower all summer with a bit of care. Add hoeing of the weeds to this and we’ll be well on the way to a lovely garden. Plants such as Aster, Phlox and penstemon can have the Chelsea chop if they’re a bit leggy or you wish to delay their flowering. This will give you a bushier plant with more blooms. Cut the plants down by as much as half and water well after.
Hanging basket time is here! Things started off slowly but I’m now having to reduce stems on the trailing fuchsias to bush them out. Baskets are a lot of work but done properly they add so much to a garden. Heather Thomson at the top of Gwenfo Drive has the best display of hanging baskets I’ve seen. Summer months in the garden can give so much pleasure and make all the hard work worthwhile. Another garden on Gwenfo Drive is the home of Sid & Lyn Cottle which always looks well cared for.
Are you growing veg? If not, why not? It doesn’t take much space, and nothing tastes like home grown. No greenhouse – no problem, at this time of year tomatoes and cucumbers can be grown outside in a sunny position and will taste all the better for it. Runner beans give a good floral display before providing you with a deliciously flavoured vegetable. Sow some garden peas, they are nicest when picked and eaten straight off the bush. Nicola at the allotments is so knowledgeable and loves sharing her skills on gardening and her love of wildlife is well known. Barry Oliver on the other hand, although knowing a great deal about growing food stuff, will only pass on his knowhow if you cross his palm with silver or tell him a tale of old Wenvoe he hasn’t heard, which will be a feat in itself. Alex Cooper is your go to fellow if you want to feel like a gardening expert, as he knows little on this subject and will make you feel like a horticulturist.
Take care and happy gardening