Summer


Hot tips for a vibrant garden


Whether the summer is wet or dry, weeds will still be growing as fast as they can to establish their seeds in the soil for next year and ever after.


War on weeds is the big priority. If the ground is dry, get the hoe out and chop them down. They are far less likely to re-shoot if the ground is dry.


If you are off on holiday, try to get as much maintenance done as possible before you go.


Mow the lawn, trim the hedge, water the beds copiously, dead-head every plant in sight and get those weeds up. Apply mulch as thickly as possible and, when you return, your garden should look blooming beautiful.


Look to the tall, lanky plants. Michaelmas daisies, heleniums, phlox and other plants with a similar growth pattern will need staking up or they will eventually fall onto the soil and spoil.


Clumps of irises can be divided at this time of year if the soil is damp enough. Lift as much of the clump as you can with a fork or spade.


Divide out the young, healthy looking rhizomes and roots and replant as fast as possible in well watered, humus enriched soil. In a heat wave however, leave the plants alone till the temperature drops and the rains arrive.


This is the right time too to be planting autumn crocus. Put them in, six inches deep in well drained soil with plenty of room for growth upwards and sideways.


Autumn flowering cyclamin can also go in, one to two inches deep in well drained, partial shade. Once in, you can forget about them till the flowers spring up.


Keep and eye on your dahlias. Earwigs love them, so a light dusting with an insecticide should do the trick.


The vegetable garden will need particular attention now. Early potatoes can be lifted as the foliage turns yellow.


As soon as the ground has been cleared of the dead haulms, prepare it by raking and adding a light dressing of some complete fertilizer. You can then plant carrots, turnips, round beet, and cabbage. Choose quick maturing varieties and water them well with a fine mist.


Garlic and shallots may be lifted as soon as the tops look yellow. Do this on a cool, dry day, make sure the bulbs are dry then store them in a cool, dark shed to keep till later in the year or even into next.


Sprouting broccoli, savoy cabbages and cauliflower seedlings can go in now. They should be ready for harvesting in the spring.


Keep an eye on French and runner beans and outdoor tomatoes. Help them set by watering them gently, early in the morning, with a very fine mist.


And the hotter it gets the more water your marrows, cucumbers and courgettes will need if they are to be a luscious delicacy on the table. Black fly can be a real nuisance at this time of year and they love beans in particular. Don’t allow any infestation to begin by dusting gently with a little derris.


Plant out leeks after soaking the soil, place them nine inches apart in rows at least fifteen inches apart, then water then again. Leeks just love being soaked.


In the strawberry garden, harvest daily. Pick also all the damaged,


CORNISH GARDENER - summer 2012 5


diseased or mouldy fruit and burn them.


As soon as the last fruit has been picked, clear away all loose mulching materials and straw and burn it.


Now you can sort out the beds. Remove and destroy all plants over three or four years old.


Prepare beds for new plants by trenching, weeding and incorporating as much well rotted manure, or other ‘matured’organic material, as you can get hold of.


New plants should go in around the end of August or early September.


Lawns will need regular watering if the weather is hot. If hosepipe restrictions are in force however, spray from the can with a liquid foliar feed. This will keep the grass well fed and encourage growth, even in a drought.


If your lawn has frankly ’had it’ there is no point in trying to resurrect it. Remove the old, dead turf. Cultivate the area, manure and fertilize it, roll it, rake it, give it a thin layer of silver sand, then re-seed it and water from the can with a very fine mist.


Put up some bird scaring contraptions and in not too long a period, you will see the misty green of new grass. Don’t allow anyone to walk on it until you have given it at least two cuts but keep it as well watered as possible in the meantime.


In the rose garden this is a good time for propagation of your favourite bushes.


Gardens at Mount Edgcumbe,Cremyll, Torpoint.Picture courtesy of Ela Cowling


Take a nine inch mature shoot of this year’s growth. Cut below a bud. Remove all the leaves from the lower six inches. Dip in hormone rooting powder - just to be sure, then insert in the soil and cover with a cloche.


This usually works quite well with all bush roses except hybrid teas.


Climbers and ramblers can be propagated by layering at any time from mid- month onwards.


Bend the chosen shoots to ground level. Slit the shoot half way through making sure there is a nodal bud at least eighteen inches from the end.


Peg or weight the shoot down so the slit is touching the soil. Cover with soil and leave in place till next spring when the new plants should be ready to be severed from the parent and transplanted to a new location.


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Picture courtesy of Stephen Tolley stephentolley@btinternet.com


Picture courtesy of Ela Cowling


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