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14th October 2017
This week I've been dividing up herbaceous perennials, including the over crowded Astilbes, Hostas, Lupins, Delphiniums and some of the grasses. When divided in autumn herbaceous perennials (those which die down to ground level at the end of each year) should establish a new root system over the next few months while the soil is still warm.
10th August 2017
Now is the perfect time of year to begin the propagation of semi ripe cuttings. They sound complicated, but they are not really. They can be taken from any plant (normally a shrub) which has produced some growth this year which has started to harden at the base. Examples include Lavender, Box, Berberis, Potentilla and Fuchsia.
4th July 2017
This week I’m giving the Wisteria on the front of the house its summer prune. Removing the long whippy growths back to 5 buds will mean that in February when I reduce these same stems back to 2 buds, I should get plenty of flowers next May. As the plant is relatively newly planted, there are not that many to remove, and I have tied most of them in to the wires to establish a good framework.
31st May 2017
This week’s tool is the shovel. There’s not much I can really say about it as it’s just a piece of equipment for moving materials from one place to another … isn’t it? Well essentially yes, but so many people don’t understand the difference between a shovel and a spade.
16th May 2017
Before I go to Chelsea, there's just time to build up my propagation house, perfect for protecting and growing on seedlings and cuttings.
28th April 2016
This week I have been taking it easy for the double bank holiday period and doing some light pruning in between relaxing and a bit of light hoeing.