Environment team tips for July
THE VILLAGE GARDENER
Environment team tips for July.
- Start saving seeds as we may have a shortage again next year.
- Make watering the roots of plants a priority. Watering the foliage is a waste.
- Keep a diary of what grows well and where.
- Always buy british grown plants. This will keep pests and diseases at a manageable level.
- Start your own compost heap.
Allotment holders tips.
- The more productive you are, the less space for weeds.
- Neat and tidy equals less disease.
- Remember it’s always colder at the allotment than down in the village.
- Use fruit bushes as a windbreak.
- Grow some comfrey, it’s free fertilizer.
There were some great front gardens to be seen in June. If you venture into Orchard Close you will see lovely gardens brimming with colour facing you. They belong to Mr & Mrs Green and Mr & Mrs Thomas. On Old Port Road Mr & Mrs McDonald have done a brilliant job on their garden since coming to Wenvoe. With restriction on movement still in place, a short walk around Wenvoe looking at people’s gardens will soon brighten your day.
July is another good month for pests and diseases in the garden. Aphids will try to ruin your runner bean crop. However you can treat these with insecticide or by squashing between your fingers; it’s a good way to shorten their lifespan. Powdery mildew, rust and clematis wilt are just some of the diseases that will affect your plants at this time of year. Cut out the infected areas as soon as you see it, then give the plants a feed to help them recover. Keep clearing up leaves and debris around plants, especially roses as this can harbour a lot of disease. It is a boring job but a garden vacuum will make this job easy.
Cut the spent stems off lupin, hollyhock and delphiniums down to a bud, then give them a liquid feed and you should have a second flush of colour. Once herbaceous geraniums have flowered, cut the whole plant back to about 10cms, it will then go into overdrive and give you another display, albeit not as good as before.
Deadheading is so important when trying to keep plants flowering, as once they have set seed their job is done. With your runner beans, you have to keep picking the young beans otherwise they will stop cropping. If you’re growing courgettes, you will need to pick them before they become marrows. Take off the leaves below set trusses of tomatoes, to allow air and light to get to the fruit.
Be on the lookout for any Ash or Sycamore seedling that have escaped your gaze. If they become established you will have a devil of a job removing them when they grow amongst your plants.
Take care and happy gardening