March Digital Sampler - Modern Gardens

EASY IDEAS
Prune bushy roses
When small green buds start
to sprout, cut each stem down
to about shin height, just
above a shoot. Sprinkle a bit
of plant food around the base
while you’re there, to get it
off to a flying start.
Scatter
poppy seeds
Californian, opium
or ladybird poppy seeds
are easy to find in garden
centres. Scatter a packet
over freshly weeded
and raked earth. They’ll
soon sprout into plants
with feathery foliage and
orange, purple or red
flowers in June.
Cut back
climbers
Honeysuckle, rambling
roses and other climbers
will be overgrown by now.
Prune them back to just
above where new shoots are
showing. This will tidy them
up and stimulate new growth
that will produce the best
flowers. Honeysuckle can be
cut back to 60cm tall, and will
flower again in late summer.
Get more from
snowdrops
Dig up clumps as the flowers
start to fade, and split them into
smaller parts of just a few plants
each. Replant them and they’ll
soon grow into bigger clumps,
flowering again next spring.
Beat the slugs
Slugs are on the move, munching tender
new leaves, so sprinkle slug pellets
around vulnerable plants such as hostas,
delphiniums and dahlias.
Put in plant supports
Support tall plants with long stems
and top-heavy flowers such as
echinacea, peonies and shasta daisies,
before they get big and floppy. If you
don’t, as soon as there’s a windy day
they will topple over. You can push
a bell plant support (£55.99,
waitrosegarden.com) into the ground
over the plant to support their weight.
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MARCH 2018 MODERN GARDENS 51