Amateur Gardening – 29 June 2019

Your compost heap will be filling

up with weeds and soft prunings.

Turn it regularly so the contents are

properly mixed.

Decomposition usually stops in

hot, dry weather, so add several

cans of water every few days.

If you have covered the heap with

carpet to boost its internal heat,

remove the covering if rain is forecast.

During dry spells, garden wildlife

will appreciate saucers of water.

Keep birdbaths filled with fresh

water and clean them out regularly

to reduce the risk of disease.

Catch up on midsummer jobs

Ruth suggests ways to keep the garden ticking over

B

Y this point in the season most

of the ornamental garden

should be ticking over nicely.

So what else can you be

getting on with now?

Apart from watering and feeding

containers, and making sure you keep

on top of weeding and deadheading,

there are a few other ‘regular’ jobs to do.

Early flowering clematis may have

finished blooming, but they will be

growing fast and can start to spread

outside their allotted space so keep

them in check by simply cutting off

wayward tendrils. Always clean and

sharpen your tools after use, as young

growth is full of sap that makes blades

sticky and can attract diseases if left.

Keep an eye on greenhouse

temperatures and protect plants by

attaching fleece to the inner frame or

putting a shading wash on the panes.

You can also lower the temperature

by damping the floor in the morning.

Go through your plastic pots and add

any that you no longer need to your local

garden centre’s pot-recycling scheme. If

they don’t already have one, encourage

them to set one up! The remainder of the

pots should be washed and dried, and

I’m trimming back our Clematis montana

as it was stretching over the patio

Pricking out healthy cosmos seedlings

2

Dib holes in each pot or module,

making sure they go deep to create

enough space for all the roots.

3

Using an old spoon or plant

label, and holding the seedling

by its leaves, carefully dig it free of

the compost.

4

Lower it into a hole so all the

roots are contained. If you bury

some of the lower stem, that will

develop roots too.

1

Fill 3in (7cm) pots or large modules

with John Innes No1 compost and

dampen with fresh tap water.

5

Gently firm the compost

around the roots and move

the seedlings to a coldframe so

they can harden off.

Step

by step

Composting care

Turn your compost

to get a good mix

of ingredients

Plant your cosmos out when they are

large enough and they will extend the

garden’s fl owering season

atch up on midsummer jobs

Keep tools sharp

and clean

Wash pots so they

are ready for the

next sowing

tidied away in readiness for the next

batches of seed sowing.

Finally, if you have any late-sown

seedlings, now’s the time to prick them

out (see below) so they can be planted in

their final positions in the garden later to

extend the flowering season.

6 AMATEUR GARDENING 29 JUNE 2019

Lower greenhouse

heat with water

Composting care

Keep your birdbath

full and clean