Saturday 20 February 2016

Garden Checklist ...

Good Morning!
Here's a few things that you can be getting on with in the garden over the coming week ...

1. Hydrangeas  -If you have some Mophead or Lacecap Hydrangeas in the garden and you left the flower heads on over winter as recommended you can now cut these off and prune back to a pair of buds.
Along with this you can also remove any faded / dead flower stems left on perennials over winter such as Sedums that you have forgotten to do!

2. Pot Displays  - Why not create a decorative feature using an item that could be up-cycled as a plant pot this weekend! 
Here you can see that I have used an old vase my Father found for me. Make sure you drill some holes into the bottom for drainage if your container doesn't have any. I added a layer of grit at the bottom to improve this even more and potted up some Snowdrops into John Innes compost, topped off with a layer of grit.


3. Seeds - Thinking of growing some Tomatoes this year? If you have a heated Propagator you can get them started today! Fill a seed tray with some seed sowing compost or Multi-Purpose, place into a gravel tray of water and leave until you can feel that the water has soaked into the surface of the soil. Sprinkle the Tomato seeds over the surface then add a layer of compost on top. Place into a Propagator with a base heat of 20-24c and the seeds should germinate within 10-14 days.

Along with tomatoes you can also start your Sweet Peas off this weekend. 
Sow these into deep 9cm pots (3 seeds to each) or in root-trainers using multi-purpose compost. Simply sit these in a warm sunny position on a windowsill, in a GH or heated propagator (at around 15c) and these too will germinate over the coming days. 

These are the Tomato seeds that I have chosen to grow this year - 'Sungold' and 'Gardeners Delight' which are old reliables for taste and size along with a new variety 'Tigerella' purely for the decorative aspect!

4. Weeds  -It's not the nicest of jobs for some but now is the time to make a start on the weeding! Remove any weeds as soon as you spot them, if left they can soon take over and will compete with the plants that you do want around for the nutrients in the soil. 

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

2 comments:

  1. Hi Natalie, I have been joining you, I started my toms last week, did a bit of pruning yesterday, love the idea of a pot displays, loving this blog too. xx

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