This weekend may be all about celebration but gardeners don’t need a reason to celebrate. I have been enjoying the tulips for many weeks now: the cool weather has helped them to last well. The red tulips with the wallflowers have coincided well and done exactly what I wanted – colour and scent. They are not ‘Kingsblood’ as planted outside Buckingham Palace but ‘Unique De France’ but purely by coincidence, they are very similar.
Whether you have been enjoying barbecue treats at Nags Hall or having your own party, gardening may not be uppermost in your mind but if you want to work off some of those extra calories during the week there is always something to do in the garden. A light job that needs tackling, if you have not already done it, is to prune spring-flowering shrubs.
We prune these shrubs to maintain their shape and size and also to cut out old, twiggy growth. We are talking about plants including forsythia, ribes, white spiraeas and climbers including spring flowering clematis (C. montana and C. alpina).
We prune now, cutting away some of the flowered stems, to allow the new growth to grow and mature. It is this that will carry the flowers next spring. If you do not prune, the shrubs can be congested with dead twigs and the flowers will all be on the outside of the bush and at the top.
Although it is common practice, it is best to avoid clipping over the shrubs into mounds. This does not thin out the inner stems and can lead to lots of congested dead wood. You only get flowers on the ‘whiskers; that grow from the main ‘blob’. You can cut out a few of the old, main stems to thin out the growth.
Be careful about hard pruning: cutting back all the old stems. The shrubs will not be damaged and they will make lots of new growth. But these strong, upright shoots probably won’t flower next year. They will bloom the following year though and you may want to do this with very overgrown plants.
Cut off the old flowered stems.
Does it matter when you prune? Absolutely! You can’t leave this job too late. If you leave it till June there won’t be much time for the new growth to mature before autumn. Certainly don’t prune these shrubs in late summer or winter because you will be cutting off all the potential flower buds.
Another job that is needed now is to shade the greenhouse. It may seem odd that we need to protect greenhouse plants from the sun but greenhouses get very hot on a sunny day and some shading will protect the plants from scorching sun and prevent the air getting too hot. The simplest way is to apply shading paint, which is easily rubbed off in autumn, when dry. A large paint brush or a kitchen sponge is ideal.
Other weekly jobs:
Think about planting summer bedding. But be aware that late frosts are still possible.
Check lilies for lily beetle regularly
Repot houseplants
Sow sweetcorn and courgettes and the veg
This is an ideal time to add more plants to your pond