-
How to deal with collapsing plants
Every gardener has at some point had to deal with the problem of a plant that has at least in part collapsed. There are two main courses disease or mechanical damage usually due to wind or snow. Where a disease is the course there is no obvious sign of damage and normally all of the…
-
How to prune plants
Pruning plants causes a lot of heart-ache amongst gardeners and a great deal is written about how it is done, often with little thought as to why it is done. It must always be remembered that all plants are either originally wild or descended from the wild and nobody prunes plants in the wild. Before…
-
Making garden compost
All gardens produce some waste be it weeds, grass cuttings or dead flower heads and virtually all have soil which benefits from some additional organic matter. The local authority will take it away, often for a charge, or you can recycle your garden waste as compost and reduce the amount you have to buy. The…
-
Establishing a garden hedge
Hedges have been an integral part of gardens since the earliest times and encompass a vast range of ideas. Their main purpose though is to divide up space; be it marking the boundaries of a garden or dividing up the area within them. Many people shy away from hedges on the grounds that they take…
-
How to prune a rose bush
Equipment: Secateurs Long armed pruners (parrot bills) Strong gloves Before you start: You are going to get scratched even with gloves on. Use good quality tools which will give a clean cut and are safer to use. Cut the stems just above an outward pointing bud. You will see these if you look carefully just…
-
How to cut back over grown shrubs
Before reaching for the pruning tools you need a clear idea of what you are hoping to achieve and in the context of this post it is a healthy plant which fits, both physically and aesthetically into its location in the garden. When you have finished you want something which does not overwhelm the area…
-
Tackling an over grown garden
The first stage is to have a really good look around your garden and decide what you like, dislike or simply don’t understand. Look where gets the sun and when, are you over looked and to what extent; most gardens will be overlooked by some bedroom windows but in practice people spend little time looking…
-
Autumn Tidy Up
With the arrival of dark mornings thoughts turn to tidying the garden up for winter. The first frosts will soon finish off the annuals and tender perennials, while the hardy perennials die back for the winter and the deciduous trees and shrubs will take on their autumn colours before dropping their leaves. Any tiding up…
-
Cutting back – the plan
Before reaching for the pruning tools you need a clear idea of what you are hoping to achieve and in the context of this post it is a healthy plant which fits both physically and aesthetically into its location in the garden. It must not overwhelm the area around it or in the end look…
