Garden Checklist ...

Good Morning!
Here are a few things you can be getting on with over the next week in your garden.

1. Frozen Water - If you have any ponds then keep an eye out for them freezing over in these lower temperatures, if left frozen they can cause problems for any fish or plants under water and also wildlife looking for water If your pond does freeze over then gently break the ice as soon as you notice it, you can also float items such as a tennis ball or polystyrene on top which helps prevent the whole surface freezing and can easily be removed if it does to provide an area of open water.
TIP - Keep an eye on Birdbaths too for freezing over.

2. Leaves - Keep collecting leaves for Leaf Mould, even if you think you already have enough, you never do and it's not available to buy on the market.

3. Bare-root  - Aswell as transplanting and planting shrubs etc that I suggested last week now is also the time to start thinking about planting anything bare root. Plants such as Tree's and Roses are becoming available to buy bare root this season and they are often a cheaper option to buy instead of being containerised throughout the rest of the year.

TIP - When planting bare-root make sure you soak the roots in a bucket of tepid water for 24hours as plants may have been dug up hours, days or weeks before you have bought them. Dig a planting hole of a suitable depth and double the width of the plant. Make sure the plant isn't buried any lower than it's original planting depth, you can usually tell what this is as there will be a variation in colour on the main part of the plant.

4. Botrytis - Grey Mould can soon occur daily on areas of plants that were fine the day before, especially on plants under cover. Daily removing of affected areas is important to keep your plants healthy. With the lower temperatures you may not want to open your Greenhouse's but just an hour or 2 of fresh air a day can be extremely beneficial in reducing the risk of this disease spreading, and of course the plants will welcome the fresh air!

Thanks for stopping by, don't forget you can find all the previous Checklists on the page tab above.

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX