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Forthcoming events

Jobs for June

In the Greenhouse

• Open the door / windows on hot days and spray the floor with water to ensure a damp atmosphere that will deter whitefly. Remember to close both at night as the nights can still be cold! planting up.

• If you haven’t already it’s time to grow tomatoes and cucumbers and sow some biennials – like Foxglove and Sweet William. It is still worth hardening off and plants grown in the greenhouse by putting them outside and bringing them back in for a week to help acclimatise them. Watch for possible frosts though! .

In the Garden

• If you are growing bedding plants in pots or hanging baskets it is best to mix multi-purpose compost with John Innes no.2 at a ratio of 2:1. This does increase the cost, but modern multi-purpose composts tend to dry out quickly causing plants to die / stop flowering earlier in the current hot spell. Remember to mix both water retaining gel and plant feed with the compost before planting up.

• Dead head bedding plants regularly to keep them flowering.

• It’s time for the ‘Chelsea chop’. Cut Ice plants (Sedums) stems by half their length – it stops the stems flopping over in September. If you have clumps of flowering perennials (Phlox, Michaelmas daisies) you can also cut around 50% of the stems; the stems you’ve cut back will flower later and so, prolong flowering.

• Place pots on saucers to catch any run off and save water.

• Keep on top of the weeding by hoeing/ hand weeding.

• Leave the blades on the mower a little higher during really hot weather. The grass is likely to be under stress and under a lot of feet! Keeping the grass little higher helps the lawn to cope better.

• In hot spells concentrate on watering pots/ hanging basket, veg and anything recently planted in the borders. Water in the morning and at night so that it does not evaporate in the hot weather. Give plants a thorough watering once a week than daily as it encourages the roots to go deeper into the soil and cope better with hot conditions.

• Prune any early flowering shrubs (e.g. Weigela, Exophora) and dead head roses by cutting them to the second left below the old flower.

• Cut early flowering perennials (Pulmonaria and Oriental Poppies) to near the ground after flowering.

Vegetable / Fruit growing

• After the start of June plant out French and Runner beans, Tomatoes, Courgettes, Pumpkins etc.

• Water as required and feed plants weekly.

• Keep on top of the weeds by hoeing

• Watch for pest damage and make you sure you follow the manufacturer’s instructions if using pesticides.

• Spray at the first signs of mildew (again follow the instructions given).

• Earth up potatoes as they start to make growth.

Do you have a question? Send us an email: info@mersthamhorti.org.uk.

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