Surrey Homes | SH18 | April 2016 | Garden supplement inside

FOR ALL YOUR TREE
SURGERY NEEDS
Crown reduction, lifting
and thinning
Stump grinding
Deadwooding of tree canopies
Hedge trimming and reduction
Supply, planting and aftercare of new trees
& hedges
Removal and responsible recycling of
green waste
Tree Protection Order (TPO) research,
application for planning consents with local
authorities and conservation area trees
completed free of charge
Kent Garden Show
& NAFAS Regional Flower Show
Sat 28th, Sun 29th & Mon 30th May
Gates Open 9.30am - 5pm (last admission 4pm)
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Featuring over 300 exhibitors with a wide variety of goods.
Floral marquees with stunning fl oral displays including
medal winners from Chelsea. There is a food hall,
craft pavilion, brass band & children’s rides.
Garden furniture, water features, garden sheds and
buildings, tools, sculptures, & much more.
Jacqueline Aviolet & Tom Hart-Dyke will be in attendance
all weekend to give answers to your gardening questions.
Tickets available now.
Tickets
available at
the gate & online
Prices: Adults £8.00,
Seniors £7.00
Children up to
age 16: Free
01795 474660
www.kentgardenshow.com
The Kent Showground, Detling ME14 3JF
Feeding, Mulching
and supporting
Most shrubs need a little pick-me-up now, in the form of a general
purpose fertiliser. A general purpose feed will have a balance
of nitrogen for leafy growth, phosphorus for healthy roots and
potassium for flowers and fruit. Sprinkle – at the recommended
rate – at the base of shrubs. Perennials don’t need much feeding.
Too much nitrogen will encourage leafy growth, often at the
expense of flowers. Feed with potassium, if anything. Plants in
pots will need fertiliser, as they will quickly run out of nutrients.
Only feed plants in the growing season; once the summer
arrives, all bar the bedding plants must concentrate on ripening
and strengthening in readiness for the autumn and winter.
Apply a generous layer of mulch to your borders while the
soil is still damp. This will prevent excess moisture loss and help
stop the weeds. If you use an organic mulch, like manure, or
spent mushroom compost, it will gradually be incorporated into
the soil by earthworms and will improve the soil structure.
Support the emerging shoots of perennials before they
put on too much top growth. There’s not much point
trussing up a limp, wind-blown bundle of stems and
hoping it’ll look gracefully well-supported, trust me.
Vegetables, herbs and fruit
This is the perfect month for sowing vegetables. Direct sowing is
less time-consuming than sowing in pots to plant out, but you
will have to thin your seedlings (see sowing section above). Weed
regularly and watch out for pests – tiny plants are irresistibly
delicious to every creature that crawls, flies or hops across your plot.
Feed fruit bushes with general purpose, slow release fertiliser
to encourage good fruiting later in the summer. Keep the
beds weed-free with a layer of mulch. Herbs will be growing
strongly now and will benefit from a good haircut to keep
them looking neat with lots of fresh new growth.
Lawn care
I feel tired now all of a sudden at the thought of all the mowing
that needs doing – and edging, and patching in, and more
mowing. It is a thankless task and too much like housework in
its repetitiveness, but a well-looked-after lawn with neat edges
(stripes if you have to) will make the whole garden look better.
The soil is warming, the sun is rising in the sky and
the April showers are providing plenty of moisture. It’s
definitely the gardening season, but even if you can’t face
doing any actual gardening, you can enjoy just going
outside and breathing it all in, celebrating the three ‘b’s
(buds, bees and birds of course). Let’s rush out there.
For border designs and planting, and gardening ideas,
contact Jo on 01233 861149 www.hornbrookmanor.co.uk
FreeImages.com/Aureliy Movila
www.wealdentimes.co.uk
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