Gwen'S Gardening

Weekly wonder???? These beautiful forget-me-nots in one of my clients gardens look stunning, a beautiful sea of blue covering the ground. They do however tend to take over and very quickly self seed, so if you don't want them everywhere, now is the time to remove some! The seeds do seem to be popular in wildflower mixes /seeds packets because they are so easy and quick to germinate. However, it is important that you don't let them take over and dwny other plants light, air and moisture. So just remove clumps around other plants and still enjoy the wild garden effect

Weekly wonder???? It's time to cut back hydrangeas. But not a hard prune, just cut off the old flower heads back to a set of leaves and also cut of any dead wood or any crossed branches to ensure they don't rub and create open wounds that could get infected. Later on in the summer you will have beautiful large flowers :)

Weekly wonder????? If like me, you didn't cut back the old growth from last year, now is the perfect time to do it on perennials. Cut back to the new lush green to give the new plant plenty of light and air and encourage growth. I should have taken a before picture, but I was far too keen to get going!!!!

Weekly wonder..... This year the crocuses, wild and in the garden have been beautiful. I love how they open up in the sunshine and protect themselves tightly closing at night. They also make cute indoor plants. If you have been lucky enough to have any bulbs growing inside, crocus, tulip, daffodil or hyacinths, once they have flowered put them outside. Plant them while they are still 'in the green' and you know where your other outside bulbs are positioned. I can guarantee come September you will have forgotten where the bulbs came up!!

Weekly wonder??? This week has seen some beautiful weather, and so is the perfect time to just take a wander around your garden and look for signs of spring. Tidy up around bulbs coming up, but be gentle and still be a little hesitant about cutting back still as we are not free of frosts yet. But spring is very nearly here... I promise!!!

Weekly wonder??? Although it's wet and cold outsude you can still do things in the garden and enjoy it!! The best thing you can do at the moment is to feed the birds. Many pet shops and garden centrea sell a variety of wild vird foods. Here is the cheeky robin feasting on a suet block.... Apologies for the poor photo quality, as ir was taken from inside, through a window, in the warm!!! Feeding the birds allows you to still enjoy your garden, without the rain!!

Weekly wonder???? Try and get out in the garden early in the morning or later in the evening and do a bit of dead heading. Its far to hot for you and your plants, to be out there in the middle of the day so please wait till its a bit cooler!!!! Then just remove any dead or fades flowers with a sharp snip and hopefully more flowers will come!!

Weekly wonder??? Now is the perfect time to cut back your geraniums. If you look in the picture, the larger greener leaf is the one you need to cut off to make space for the smaller light green leaf. It may make them look bare for a while but very quickly they will spring back with a whole new load of flowers!!

Weekly wonder???? Support your plants! With the recent sun and rain, plants have grown so much recently. It would be so sad if all the hard work of the last few weeks/months disappeared in a small gust of wind. Make sure tall plants are supported to prevent this. If using canes, like on these sweet peas, remember to tie the plants gently to them to give extra support. It does take time, but for beautiful flowers, it is worth it :)

Accidents will happen!!! I have been growing pumpkins to harvest for Halloween and in one of the cells these little beauties arrived!!! So I quickly potted up these lovely little violas and they are perfect!!! (I have since grown 4 pumpkin plants so all is good!!!!).... The garden knows what it wants to grow!!!

Weekly wonder????? It's time to check your pots. Now the weather is warming up, insects are waking up and looking for homes. This photo shows an ants nest in a potted rose. It really is a fascinating structure, with tunnels, worker ants, grubs and Queen ants in it. A whole colony. However, the rose was a beautiful David Austin rose, that has great sentimental value to the client, so the ants had to go! After leaving the plant out of the pot for a while to feed the local bird population, we were left with no choice but to submerge the soil in warm water, so as to not shock the plant, until all the bubbles had gone... About 30 mins. It's constantly a gardener's quandary, as encouraging a healthy eco system is really important, but sometimes decisions have to be made!!!

It may be hot, but if you start early enough and work in the shade as much as possible, amazing transformations are still possible!! Ps... I did have a little help too!!!

Weekly wonder.... If you do nothing else this long sunny weekend, please just go outside and spend some time in your garden! It really doesn't matter what you do... Just enjoy being out there! If you do have any spare time and have too many forget me nits, then now is a perfect time to split them and move them to a new place. A great way to get free plants just with 5 minutes work! Try and dig up roughly half of the forget me nots, fairly carefully, then dig a big enough hole to put the dug up half in. Then remember to water the new plants for the next few days, as it's going to get hotter!!!

The client and I started this 'brambley bed' when the weather was cold. The middle picture was after just one session and the third picture is how I left it today! Brambles are clear (although not completely gone, but under control!). The Buddleia has been cut back and moved to the middle of the bed and the bed will soon be full of colour and looking wonderful again. I love these kind of transformations!!!

It's often hard for me to get out in my own garden, being so busy with everyone else's!! But I did find time in the autumn to plant some more bulbs and am now reaping the rewards. This include daffodils, tulips, amaryllis and alums to name a few!! Especially proud of the daffodils from my new cutting patch in the vegetable patch, they look stunning on my table!!!

After what feels like an eternal winter, spring has finally sprung this week!!! Now is the perfect time to prune back some plants like Buddleia and hydrangea back to new growth. Buddleia can be cut back quite hard to the first set of new growth. Don't worry they are very hardy and will thrive on this hard cut later on in the summer. Hydrangeas, need to have there lovely crunchy flower heads off that have protected the plant all winter. Again, cut back to new growth, maybe not as hard as a Buddleia, as hydrangeas won't grow as prolifically. But you can cut to the shape you want!! In the photo, the Buddleia is on the left and the hydrangea is just peeking in the right!!