Pennells Garden Centres

With the hot weather we have been having recently you will need to be watering your hanging baskets and containers, as well as any new plants that you have planted this spring. Don't be tempted to water your plants in the heat of the day as you will find most of the water soon evaporates. The ideal time is in the evening just as its getting dusk.

In order to keep your tubs and baskets growing well its necessary to keep feeding them as the initial nutrients in the compost will soon get used up at this time of year.  Use Miracle Gro or All Purpose Soluble Plant Food.
Another beneficial action is to spread a mulch layer of organic matter such as decorative bark chips or soil conditioner over the soil surface. For best results use Westland Decorative Mini Bark. These long-lasting chips will help soil to retain moisture six times longer than ordinary garden soil.

Sweet peas will be producing new flowers every day and will need to be cut regularly to fill your home with delicious scents of summer. If you leave plants for a few days to set seed then they usually stop producing new buds and flowers. So keep those scissors handy and feed these plants over the foliage and around the roots with Miracle-Gro Liquafeed.

Watch for pests attacking new plant growth and treat them as soon as the first culprits are noticed. Red lily beetle adults and their grubs will be a summer nuisance. As soon as you see the first adult spray with BugClear Ultra Gun! - just one treatment will protect your lilies for up to three weeks. You can use the same spray on all your decorative flowers including roses, philadelphus, lupins and other plants that are susceptible to aphid (greenfly and blackfly) attack.
Roses may be showing the first signs of powdery mildew on new buds and leaves. If that's the case spray them with a systemic fungicide such as FungusClear Ultra or FungusClear 2 Gun!

If you allow weeds to take over the gaps between flowers, shrubs and annual bedding you will be encouraging competition that will rob these wanted plants of soil moisture, soil nutrients, space and light. To see off the weeds without back-breaking hard work spray them with Weedol Max Gun! or Weedol Rootkill Plus. Weedol Rootkill Plus is best for weeds that have deep or wandering roots such as bindweed, couch grass, dandelions and nettles. But if you've only got small annual weeds such as chickweed, groundsel and meadow grass then Weedol Max Gun! will give a fast-acting kill. In fact on a warm day you will see the weeds begin to wilt and die in just one hour.

 Don’t forget to protect soft fruit such currants and gooseberries from bird damage. Cover the plants with Gardman Garden Netting.

 Watch out for aphids (greenfly and blackfly) on roses, delphiniums, lupins, foxgloves and pansies. They can multiply with phenomenal speed, so a weekly check throughout the garden  is a good idea.  For decorative flowers use the BugClear Ultra Gun! – it’s systemic, so gets inside the plant’s sap stream to make it almost insect proof for several weeks. For edibles including herbs, vegetables and fruit use BugClear Gun! for Fruit & Veg.

 Plant up hanging baskets, patio pots with tender flowers such as fuchsias, geraniums, pelargoniums, busy lizzies, petunias and all manner of trailing plants such as begonia, lobelia, erigeron, helichrysum and verbena. For magnificent results plant in Britain’s best container compost-Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Compost. This unique Aquacoir formula stores and releases water when the plants need it.

 In May the grass is growing at its maximum rate, it will soon use up any energy reserves in the soil. The problem if this happens is that the grass will lose its vigour and turn pale and unloved in the process. If you have sorted out the moss and weeds earlier in spring and mow the grass regularly, all you will need to bring your lawn back to optimum condition is a balanced lawn food. EverGreen Mow it Less will give you a  green healthy lawn in just 3 days. Trials prove this special nutrient-rich formula feeds right down to the roots promoting slow, natural growth which means up to 50% less mowing than other lawn care products tested. Apply anytime for less mowing and more time for you.

 Plant out brassicas with a felt pad around each stem. These circular mats placed on the soil will help to prevent the cabbage root fly from laying their eggs beside the plant stems. Some that are impregnated with copper will also deter slugs from getting onto the plants.

 To avoid getting carrot fly this year follow these tips
·         Sow fly resistant varieties such as Flyaway or Resistafly
·         Sow seed thinly to eliminate the need to thin
·         Cover the seed bed with garden fleece

 Nows the time to be earthing up your potatoes . When the plants have reached 20-30cm (8-12inches) tall then you need to draw the soil up and around them by scooping it out between the rows and using this soil to almost cover them over. This encourages potatoes to form higher up and ensures that light does not reach the developing tubers and turn them green. Ideally they should be ‘earthed up’ again in about 3 weeks.