
Gardening Top Tips – Get Into Gardening
Plant through sheets of black plastic to stop weeds, make the soil moist and warm and keep the fruits clean so you get an earlier crop.
November is the best time to plant rose plants
When potting up plants make sure your pots are well cleaned from the previous plant to prevent any fungus or virus attacking new pot residents. And you can also click here to learn How to buy the best leaf blower for your garden.
To prevent squirrels from digging up your spring bulbs, wrap each one in the chicken wire before planting – the shoots can come through, but the squirrels can’t get in.
When planting garlic, slightly crush the clove to increase the flavor and put off flying insects.
Plant melons cucumbers in the compost pile – warm, moist, nutrient-rich compost seems to bring out the best in them!
Keep plant labels in the house. If left on the plant they will fade, break or disappear
To maintain a lush, green lawn feed regularly during the season and increase the cutting height on your mower.
When potting up plants make sure your pots are well cleaned from the previous plant to prevent any fungus or virus attacking new pot resident
Rather than direct sowing, start with large seedlings grown on the windowsill or purchased at a nursery for quick results especially in cold climates
After sowing seeds, put opened packets in airtight containers and store in a dry-frost-free place to keep them fresh
Try planting strawberries in hanging baskets – it keeps the fruit clean and makes strawberries really easy to pick
fruit, vegetables, and herbs will thrive in a raised bed filled with equal amounts of topsoil and well-rotted organic material
To prevent squirrels from digging up your spring bulbs, wrap each one in the chicken wire before planting – the shoots can come through, but the squirrels can’t get in.
To deal with slugs, put a jam jar in the ground with a beer in it – they’ll then be attracted to it instead of your plants and drown in alcoholic heaven
Keep cutworms away from seedlings with the cardboard centers of toilet paper rolls
Grass clippings can be composted or used as a garden mulch
Plant melons and cucumbers in the compost pile – warm, moist, nutrient-rich compost seems to bring out the best in them!
Rather than direct sowing, start with large seedlings grown on the windowsill or purchased at a nursery for quick results especially in cold climates
Large bags used by builders merchants for delivering sand, gravel, etc make good containers for leaves to make leaf mold, or for transporting prunings, weeds, etc.
If you’re growing strawberries in a jar, put a piece of plastic pipe down the middle before filling it with compost. This allows water to reach the plants easily at the bottom of the container.
Plant through sheets of black plastic to stop weeds, make the soil moist and warm and keep the fruits clean so you get an earlier crop
fruit, vegetables, and herbs will thrive in a raised bed filled with equal amounts of topsoil and well-rotted organic material
Tomatoes are especially needy plants, check they have enough water every day and feed once a week with Tomato food.
To make bulbs look more natural, plant them in small pots in the autumn and then plant out in January, this way you can see where to put them and avoid digging where you planted in previous years.
Tie old CDs onto string and bamboo canes to frighten away pigeons – old foil cake cases work too!
Plant melons and cucumbers in the compost pile – warm, moist, nutrient-rich compost seems to bring out the best in them!
Add height to a vegetable garden with a tepee covered with bean and pea vines. This space saver works similarly to a trellis but has a different look
Keep cutworms away from seedlings with the cardboard centers of toilet paper rolls
Rather than direct sowing, start with large seedlings grown on the windowsill or purchased at a nursery for quick results especially in cold climates
Try planting strawberries in hanging baskets – it keeps the fruit clean and makes strawberries really easy to pick
For lots of fresh salad leaves, just cut a long panel in the top of a grow bag and sow rows of your favorites across it.
Buy tumbling tomato varietals and plant them in hanging baskets in the garden. More fun and less ugly than canes in grow-bags.
Ground cover can also help to keep the moisture in the soil by stopping it from drying out from direct sunlight.
There are usually lots of seeds in a packet, team up with a friend/s, agree on what to grow and swap the excess plants
Cover your garden rubbish in Autumn if you are planning to burn it. Once it gets wet it never dries out
Old cardboard boxes make great winter covers to keep the weeds down.
Worms in your lawn can be added to your beds to enrich the soil. To find them, pour some soapy water onto the lawn, and wait twenty minutes.
When raking up leaves put a large bag (the type used by builders with handles) in the wheelbarrow, you can collect more that way and they don’t fall out all the time when wheeling them to the pile.
Save plastic trays such as the ones mushrooms are packed in, pierce holes in the base, fill with compost and sow mixed lettuce in them. Keep moist and stand outside in the shade.
Rather than planting peas, broad beans, and runner beans direct into the soil, start them off in small pots in the greenhouse and plant out when 3ins high. They will be less prone to weather, slugs, and bird damage.
To stop beans, cucumbers, and melons sprawling across the ground, plant them vertically – it’ll save you space and look nice as they grow up the trellis
Add height to a vegetable garden with a tepee covered with bean and pea vines. This space saver works similarly to a trellis but has a different look
To deal with slugs, put a jam jar in the ground with a beer in it – they’ll then be attracted to it instead of your plants and drown in alcoholic heaven
Encourage birds in your garden to deal with snails. When you hear a ‘tap-tap’ noise, it will be a thrush cracking the snail shell on a stone.
It’s a good idea to attract frogs, toads, and hedgehogs into your garden – they’ll not only eat the slugs and snails, but also all manner of bug eggs
To make bulbs look more natural, plant them in small pots in the autumn and then plant out in January, this way you can see where to put them and avoid digging where you planted in previous years.
Some of the easiest plants to maintain indoors are coleus, geranium, begonia, and ivy. Replant them in containers and give them plenty of dirt to keep them healthy. Keep them watered and enjoy your plants for longer each year.
If you’re growing strawberries in a jar, put a piece of plastic pipe down the middle before filling it with compost. This allows water to reach the plants easily at the bottom of the container.
Get free plants by allowing some of your plants to produce runners or offshoots. Once baby plants have produced roots they can be detached from the main plant and put in a pot, or replanted in the strawberry bed.
The British strawberry season is really short, so to make it last longer pick early, mid, and late fruiting varieties – that way you can eat strawberries from June-August!